Did you really think we’d leave you hangin’ all season long? C’mon. You guys know us better than that. We could never do such a thing. We’re too hopped up on dirt bikes and good times. So race recaps are back — and what better race to get back into the swing of things than the legendary Pikes Peak Supercross for Round Two of the RMRA Supercross Series?
Over the years (33 to be exact), this annual event has earned a well-deserved reputation of being one of the largest and raddest supercross races in Colorado — and this year was no different. The Colorado Springs local news coverage draws a crowd like no other and talent travels from all over to put on a show for the fans! Back in the day, big-time pros like Shorty and some other old-school wicked-fast dudes I don’t know the names of because I was still in the womb at that time in racing history used to throw down at the Norris-Penrose Event Center and, well, it’s pretty dang cool to see future supercross legends being made at the very same stomping grounds decades later!
Speaking of making legends, we here at Elevated MX partnered with some rad humans to pull off the first EVER Elevated MX Training camp the day before the race to help riders develop their supercross skills and prep for the track they’d tackle the following day. The participants enjoyed breakfast and a presentation from Fast Life Ministries, then picked up some priceless suspension info from the folks at Applied Technologies, and were taught by pro riders/trainers Blake Wharton, John Short, and Mitchell Gifford. If you missed out on this training event, don’t you worry, there will be more in the future!
Okay we’re done shamelessly plugging our event. Thanks for listening. Let’s get into what you actually clicked to this site for, shall we? Race recap in three, two, one.
Pros
We’ve been debating whether or not to even cover the pros… because chances are you’ve already heard all about what went down via social media. We’re tempted to just write the words “total s*** show” and leave it at that. Yeah. Maybe that’s what we’ll do. Moving on.
Just kidding. Both 250 A and 450 A were both snooze fests in comparison to what went down in Open Pro, so we’re just gonna skip to over those for now and jump into the juice.
During the Open Pro main event, John Short found himself up front early to ride his own effortless race like he did every single time he took to the track. The Texas-rider was mesmerizingly smooth all night. Behind him, things were definitely *less* smooth, though. Mitchell Gifford, who frustratingly found himself mid-pack at the beginning of most of his other motos, finally got off to decent start to the race with an early second position followed by Gared “Stank Dog” Steinke. During that first lap, things got a little heated and a lot aggressive, which eventually led to…well…you’ve all seen the videos and can make your own mind up about what happened.
In the end, John Short out of Texas came away with a dominating win, Preston Taylor out of Nebraska followed in second, and local Cole Shondeck came away with the last spot on the box.
450 B
The top two riders in this class, #46 Grey Ottenstein and #100 John Douglas, just moved up to the Bs this year after racing at Loretta Lynn’s in the C classes last year and it’s pretty clear that they mean business.
In the first race, Douglas settled into the lead early with the #195 of Tino Cervantes and #151 of Jason Hopkins following close behind. By lap two, Ottenstein passed his way into second and the top two checked out from the rest of the pack. Ottenstein took over the lead with two laps to go, and Douglas made a solid effort to keep the gap close until the checkered.
The second and final time they took to the track, Ottenstein made his lead effort early and left the rest of the pack without a second thought. Douglas on the other hand, came around the first corner in fourth and had to work hard over three laps to get around Cervantes and the #316 of Trevor Boden to move into second. Cervantes eventually went down hard in a rhythm section and left room for Boden to advance. Ottenstein celebrated his B class overall with a sweet no-footer celebration over the finish, Douglas came in second, and Boden landed third.
Supermini 12-16
We write about this class year after year because the battles that go down and the talent that’s represented just can’t go unnoticed. In moto one, Ryan Hadley came out of the gate with the holeshot, but Ryan Boutillier quickly stole the lead from him through the whoops. The Ryans wouldn’t hold on up front for long, though, as Jace Hinrichs made his way to the lead position by passing Hadley and then passing Boutillier when he made a mistake through the whoops.
Moto two is where things got a little more interesting. This time it was Hinrichs with the early lead and Boutillier and Hadley in tow. The battle that ensued between the Ryans that first half of the race was INTENSE as they swapped positions the whole first half of the race. The back-and-forth battling allowed for Hinrichs to gain easy distance in the lead and come away with another comfortable win. In the end, it was Hadley that took hold of the second place position and Boutillier with the third.
Jr. Mini 9-11
Equally as impressive are the young 85cc riders. We can’t wait to see these guys tear it up when they’re battling it out in the above mentioned Supermini class soon.
Not a single rider in the top-five overall came away with consistent finishes in either moto. The results were all over the place and that should give you an idea of how these kids keep the fans on the edge of their seats whenever they take to the track! The first moto results were Carter Cochran, Brendan Schwartz, Steven Street, Travis Head, and Gavin Smith but the second moto was all kinds of mixed up!
Moto two saw Cochran come out of the gate hot, until he tucked his front end in the first corner and left room for Schwartz to rail around the outside to grab the holeshot. Cochran ended up coasting around the track before pulling off to remove his dangling front plate and getting back on the hunt. The leaders sat comfortably in their positions while Cochran worked his tail off to catch all the way back up to third from dead last with one lap to go. Schwartz won the moto and Street got second by the skin of his teeth with Cochran almost catching him in third.
The overall looked like Schwartz on top of the box, then Cochran, then Street.
65cc 7-11 Open
This class of young rippers was so full that they had to split the first moto into two divisions. A lot of the other classes throughout the day were pretty underwhelming in terms of rider turn out, so it was nice to see the full gate!
After witnessing some first turn pile ups, huge sends through rhythm sections, some heated battles, and some gnarly crashes in both divisions, the second moto started off with the #116 of Riley Ward securing the holey and the #211 of Steven Street and the #135 of Blake Williams behind. Street did his best to keep pressure on Ward the entire race, and even made a last lap effort to make the pass happen through lapped traffic, but couldn’t quite get er done. The top three overall were Riley Ward, Steven Street, and Nash Duncan.
50cc 4-8 Class 4
This open 50cc class was another one that had to split into divisions for first the first moto and we love that so many mini riders showed up to throw down!
These little dudes were riding with some big moves. In division one, the #85 of Kahne Paulsen launched out of the gate with a HUGE holeshot and the #111 of Ezekiel Kibler jumped around the whole track in second with some SERIOUS finesse, but otherwise the race was pretty smooth going and uneventful. Things got crazier in division two where the holeshot was looking to go to the #144 of Paxton Walter until he went down in the first turn. The lead fell into the hands of #56 Lliam Stopa, followed by #16 Liam de Luna and #728 Blake Inman who battled it out mid race. After a consistent second moto, the overall went Paulsen, Stopa, then Inman.
Take this racing and add rowdy pitbike motos under the lights, some youngins railing around the track on two wheels, and a Best Whip contest turned impromptu FMX expo, and you have yourself one heckuva race day! Thanks to the man, the myth, the legend, John Murray, and tons of helping hands (and sponsors) for putting on such a wild event for so many years and hopefully many more to come! See y’all at the next one.
