SS RD 5 was a cooker!
June 22
By Rolfe Otterness
Round 5 of the Super Series was a test of heat endurance for the hearty racers in attendance as the first real heat of summer enhanced the event. Temps in the 90s and humidity added to the challenge of the track for all the riders who attended. One benefit of the heat was that the jump faces were nicely baked to a hard surface and thus eliminated ruts for the most part. There was a decent rider turnout with entries at about 638.
Schoolboy 2 got off to a great start for Louie Etzel as he ripped off the line on his Katoom to lead the pack around the first turn. James Schaffer slotted quickly into second with Caiden Rutledge providing pursuit in third. Etzel had he situation under control and he started to edge away from Schaffer while Myles Mahowald displaced Rutledge on lap two. Etzel continued on to win the race with a safe six-second lead over Schaffer, who was challenged on the last lap by Mahowald but prevailed by a small margin at the checkered. Logan Bennett and Luke Carlson followed them in for the 4-5 positions.
Etzel reprised his first moto start as the second moto gate dropped. Bennett apparently had some issues in the first moto but was ready to rock in the second one as he quickly took possession of second and hounded Etzel for most of the race. Etzel withstood the pressure and took the checked by less than a second. Schaffer was solid for third with William Markkula topping his first moto seventh place finish as he took fourth just ahead of Luke Carlson.
Dalton Hein zapped the start straight to lead the 16-24B class onto the track for moto one. But Tanner Schlegel was immediately on his tail and quickly took over the lead. Schlegel was hauling out front as Vincent Harens dialed his throttle up to take over second from Hein. That set the order for the finish as they proceeded in that order for the remainder of the moto, with Harens keeping Schlegel in sight but not able to challenge him. Hein led Bryce Rauner and Stan Smith across the line as the moto was concluded. Schlegel snapped up the holeshot and led all the way in moto two with Harens once again in tow. Rauner improved to take third with Hein in fourth over Smith.
Louis Oswald looked really strong in the Supermini class as he took total command of both motos to win by large margins. Ashton Lovick was not quite up to Oswald’s level but took two solid second-place finishes while Beckett Dahl was third overall by pulling of a 4-3 score to top Caleb Bothun’s decent effort of 3-5 finishes.
Results: https://www.resultsmx.com/springcreek/class.asp?c=&e=459&s
