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Story and Photos by Stephanie Hulsey
Round 5 OXC Racing Race Report
Trenton, MO,
June 7th, 2008
Racers waited all season to head to the
northwestern Missouri town of Trenton to race
Round 5 of the Ozark Cross Country ATV Racing
Series at the property of GNCC competitor and
Missouri native, Duane Johnson. A number
of people put many hours into making sure this
was a race to remember, lying out and marking
the seven-mile track, only to see rain test the
track Thursday before any racers showed.
On what was to be one of the best tracks to
welcome the OXC racers this inaugural season,
racers faced yet another vicious battle against
Mother Nature and her love for MUD.
The morning classes took to the track first,
with 7 women and 16 Peewees. Saige Johnson
won the morning Women’s Youth class and went on
to finish second, after Tyler Wyatt, in the
afternoon Youth class. Johnson finished
68th overall out of the 107 racers in the
afternoon classes.
The Women’s class holeshot went to Randee Pindle
with Shellie Robertson on her tail. TT
Pro-Am racer Amanda Howe, took over the Women’s
class and went on to victory in the class of
six. Hannah Payne, class points leader,
placed second.
As the afternoon races got underway, Carson
Coffman grabbed the Fastrax Motorsports holeshot
in the Pro Class, but was joined by the
remaining Pro’s on the lead lap as the entire
class got stuck and had to be pulled out
allowing time for the Pro-Am and A-Class to
catch up and make for a great battle for overall
positions.
Area race fans came out to watch the races, but
many found themselves covered head to toe in mud
as they helped quad after quad get out of the
mud and back in the race. Lots of open
areas through the fields allowed an opportunity
for racers to pin the throttle and clean out the
tires.
As the fifth and final lap came to a close, four
classes were represented in the top 10 overall.
Pro racers, Duane Johnson and Michael Burrows
took their spots on the podium placing first and
second. Pro-Am class racer Josh Eaton
finished in third.
Zac Johnson had jetting issues with his quad
after the practice lap, but was able to replace
the jets and join the Pro Class on the starting
line. Johnson lost his seat during the
race, but luckily Mom was on the track to take
it from him, race (on foot) to the pit area, and
Johnson’s crew was able to zip tie his seat back
on his quad and get Johnson back into the race
and to his 4th place overall finish. Way
to go Mom!
Fifth overall went to A-Class’s Mike Blanton
with Derrick Schrock (Pro) in sixth and Chris
Wyatt (A) in seventh. Overall points
leader, Kyle Martin, had another troubled race
when he broke his chain and case on the practice
lap. Rodney House loaned Martin a quad for
the race, giving Martin the opportunity to place
8th overall and hold onto his lead in the
series. Kentucky’s Richard Stanley (A 30+)
placed ninth and Pro Bryan Baker rounded out the
top ten.
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