Blue skies, a vastly improved, well prepared and well decorated Eagle Motorplex greeted the Gente Bella BC Motocross Championship crowd for the first outdoor motocross race of 2013 this past Sunday in Ashcroft, BC. The Future West crew were hard at work Friday morning staking banners and adding it’s presentation to the Eagle Motorplex complex. An enthusiastic turn out off riders set the scene for a great weekend and the long awaited first round of the brand new no licence fee Future West Genta Bella BC Motocross Championship.
Lee Coutts Skies it out in Ashcroft (John Bowman photo.)
With $9,000 in Big Steel Box series contingency cash plus KTM contingency , 150% pro pay back and riders meeting prize drawings courtesy of Cycle North, Mongoose Machine and Kal Gard Lubricants riders were attracted from as far away as Alberta and Vancouver Island for the country’s first outdoor MX event of the year.
Great turnout for round 1 of the Gente Bella BC Motocross Championships (John Bowman photo.)
Big Top’s new partner and long time BC Pro Lee Coutts and Western Powersports Zane Wyper and Brayden Stuart led the charge in the Pro classes with the absence of several top BC riders who migrated South for Spring Break training. Coutts had his hands full with Zane Wyper in the Pro Am Lights class all day with only a few bikes seperating the two in each moto. The Pro Open class was no different with Western Powersport’s Yamaha’s Brayden Stuart added to the mix. Coutts and Stuart traded moto wins with Stuart taking the overall. With the Big Steel Box contingency Coutts walked away with $300 in contingency plus prize money and Stuart with $200 plus prize money! More pro’s are expected as the series moves further in to the spring.
Coutts 445 and Wyper 435 were this close each moto (Garry Radford photo.)
The unique 2 kilometer track snaked up and down the scenic panoramic ridge back dropped by the beautiful high desert mountains of BC adding to the diversity and attraction of this new series The weekend kicked of with a full day of optional practice on Saturday giving riders an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the new track layout.
Colby Wellings winds through the scenic Eagle Motorplex track! (Garry Radford photo)
Cole Widrick walked away with the overall in Supermini and 85cc 12-15 (John Bowman photo)
Julien Benek carried on his Arenacross championship form taking the 50cc 7-8, 65cc and 85cc 7-11 overalls! (John Bowman photo)
Off track on Saturday evening the riders were treated to live coverage of the Monster Energy Supercross followed by a Xbox fun in the new Future West big tent.
With Ashcroft in the books the series moves on to the Provincial capital in Victoria next weekend at the Westshore Motocross track.
Point standings after round 1: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhFesveU5Mr3dHU4YXZwU203N1Z3QnU3bjhEdkxidlE&usp=sharing
BIG STEEL BOX CONTINGENCY WINNERS ROUND 1:
LEE COUTTS PRO AM LIGHTS: $200 PRO OPEN: $100
ZANE WYPER PRO AM LIGHTS: $100 PRO OPEN: $50
BRAYDEN STUART PRO OPEN: $200
$30 SIGN UP CONTINGENCY WINNERS (FIRST CLASS FREE ENTRY AT YOUR NEXT FUTURE WEST EVENT.)
QUADS: ANDREW VINCENT
50CC 7-8, JULIEN BENEK
85CC 12-15, COLE WIDRICK
BEGINNER, JESSE NIEFER
LADIES, RACHEL SPRINGMAN
PLUS 30 JUNIOR, MICHAEL RENSHAW
PLUS 40, OLIVER BENEK
PLUS 50, RON VISSIA
OPEN JUNIOR, BRANDON SMALL
OPEN INTERMEDIATE, KYLE COCHLIN
NEW SCHEDULE
Quite a few changes to the series after this weekend. Kamloops has now been added to the Gente Bella Salon and Spa BC Motocross Championships. Kelowna has also been added to the schedule with 2 rounds of the series. The first Chilliwack has also been moved a week later to April 21st. Please see new schedule below.
Round
1 Ashcroft – Eagle Motorplex – March 17th
2 Victoria – West Shore Motocross – March 24th
3 Mission – LMMC – April 7th
4 Chilliwack – Heritage Park – April 21st
5 Mission – LMMC – May 5th
6 Kelowna – KDBC – May 12th
7 Pemberton – Green River MX Park – May 19th
8 Kamloops – GKMA – May 26th
9 Kelowna – KDBC – June 16th
10 Chilliwack – Heritage Park – June 23rd.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause but we are very excited to bring more races to the interior in our grand vision to reunite all areas of the province with no license racing. In addition all racers will have to choose a throw away event for the points standings. (only one).