The series has been going to the Canaan Mountain for several years and every year seems to outdo the last.  This year we had plenty of moisture the week leading up to the race and then the night before the race we got about a half inch of the wet stuff which proved to make this track one of the slickest and most treacherous courses so far this year.  I worked the scoring tent during the bike race and swiped all your helmets (thank you for not running us over) to making the scoring process easier and quicker and heard all about the big downhill to the road.  Then I sat in a bottleneck during the quad race and watched thirty or forty guys try to tackle a hill climb thru the tight pine trees.  Regardless it was an epic day in Southern Indiana racing with the crew from IXCR.

The action again started on Saturday night with the PeeWee’s and UTV’s.  In the PeeWee bikes Zarek Corbett won the overall tailed by Gavin Carman and Nathan McCabe.  Alexis Keys, Andy Muskopf, and Austin Quick were our top finishing PeeWee ATV’s.  The UTV’s got in just before the rain came in and Mark Richardson was third overall and Luke Grow our EMT grabbed 2^nd with the Popcornman behind the wheel.  Kevin Chase found his way to another overall win on Saturday night then ran sweep for us and help tow people in all day on Sunday.  Great job to Kevin and THANK YOU for your help!

Sunday morning came and the kids were going to be up against a slick track in the woods.  IXCR does a great job of keeping course workers on the track and helping the little guy/gals moving around the track as best as possible.  Our Podium for the youth riders spanned across three states with Ronnie Beach grabbing winning coming from Troy, IL and Tyle Darmon was second out of Valpariso, In and Riley Walch rounded out the podium coming out of Alexandria, KY.  Landgon Feltner came from Row 3 in the 85cc 7-15 class and picked up 4^th overall while Caleb Pierson took another top five finish.  Tyler Silvia was 8^th overall from row 4.  We had 47 youth bike entries and they all did a great job with the elements that they had to face.

Youth Quads were up next and the front row of the Youth quad race is impressive to say the least.  A few years ago there were very few kids in the sport and now the front row is the biggest row in the youth classes.  We had 43 entries today and Jacob Borszem took his Yamaha slide his Yamaha in to the middle position on the podium.  Logan Rhodes and Matthew Blankenship were second and third.  Ethan McReynolds was our best finishing rider from Row two taking 9^th overall.  Daulton Keyes was 21^st overall on his Honda coming from row 3 and William Witty was the top finishing 4^th row rider.

The adult bikes were up next and the conditions were getting better as the day went along.  With 14 pro entries it was sure to be a good battle up front and as things ended up it was a really good day to be named Chris.  Chris Bach won the overall on his KTM followed up by Chris Douglas and Austin Lee grabbed the remaining podium position.  A cool note about Chris Bach, we were talking before the race and he has gotten 450 and will be racing a few outdoor national races this year as well as competing at the top level in off road racing at the GNCC’s.  He is planning on racing at the Red Bud National and hopefully a few more.  So if you are there cheer on the woods guy as he bangs bars while flying thru the sky!  Our top finishing A Class rider was Marty Michaels putting his Gill Roofing, Fly racing KTM into 6^th overall.  Marc Labelle was 9^th overall coming from Heavy A while Jared Little grabbed the A Lites win and was featured on the plaque this race. Dave McWilliams won Senior A as did Don Rainey in Super Senior A.  For the B Classes Garrett Kirby, Barak Mooneyhan, Bryan Ridge, David Robinson, and William Boyd all won their classes.  C Class winners were Chase Murley, Joseph Meyer, Brad Perkins, and Doug Harris.  Marcus Meadows was our D Open winner and Dawn Silvia was our woman’s class winner.  It does make me laugh at some of you guys when you come thru scoring because you don’t have to tell the story of your race, your eyes do the talking.  Some of you come thru with fire in your eyes as you try to real in the guy ahead of you while others come thru looking like they have been beaten and battered and just had to walk to and from school in two feet of snow and it was uphill both ways.  While some riders come thru just smiling from ear to ear just glad to be hearing nothing but the noise made by the motor of their bike.

While sitting on the line getting ready for the quad race to start, the sky’s opened up and the rain gods delivered a bone chilling shower that the course really didn’t need but it came anyway.  The 134 four wheeled frenzies sitting on the line would be forced to again deal with slick conditions just like the bikes started with.  After a few laps the track wore in great and the last couple laps of the race were as good as it gets in the XC racing world.  Marshall Goings once again found the way to the front on his SICC Racing Honda followed up by Fred Marley and Todd Demaree.  Justin Remley was 5^th overall coming from the A Class while Jacob Ripley, Brent Ertel, Dean Bradshaw and Brian Reusch all won in the B Classes.  The Womens class saw Becky Mullins up front while the C Classes had Kristian Meyer, Aaron Pridgen, and Ben Pierson up front.  I joked with Cory Bartlett on the line that I would need him to clear a path for me on his Utility and he did a great job of opening up a few lines for us and grabbed the win in the Utility class as did Drew Moore in sport class.  For the D classes Justin Kramer and Jon Black both got win’s as did Gage Lindsey and Todd Pridgen and Bryan Chenoweth.

If you haven’t figured it out by now IXCR listens to your comments and concerns and we are committed to making your racing experience a good one.  So if there is ever anything that you would like to suggest feel free to do it at the track or reach out to us on Facebook or shoot me an email at [email protected] and we will be happy to address your concerns.  IXCR has a little bit of a break but that doesn’t mean we want you to stop racing.  The GNCC races will be in Kentucky next weekend and then in Indiana a few weeks later and then Ohio a few weeks after that.  So take this time to get your machine dialed back in and replace a few parts and come back ready for more action on June 22^nd & 23^rd when we will be racing in Medora, IN.

Until then stay between the trees!

Garon Davis