--press release--

Denver CO -. Nova Scotia/ British Columbia native Ryan Lockhart loaded his OTSFF Suzukis in his pick-up and made the trek to Denver Colorado for round three of the BOOKOO arenacross series. Not knowing what to expect with an unknown series, Ryan did not set his hopes too high and walked away from the event with mixed emotions. Ryan’s first eye-opener was the track, much tougher than what he has been riding in the Canadian series. The whoops were 4 ½ feet deep, bigger than anything he ever rode before, including last years supercross rounds. Next, was the high number of competitors. There were 70 riders fighting for 16 gates in the mains, qualifying positions being determined by timed practice, which was a total of 10 laps per bike. With having that many bikes, little practice and not being seeded, Ryan ended up on the track with inexperienced riders that had him uncomfortable going into the first night.

Friday nights program saw Lockhart in the Last chance qualifiers for both the 250 and 450 classes. The class structure is made up that the top three advance from each of 3 qualifiers. Then there are two semi-finals which advance the top 2 positions and lastly the LCQ sending forward the top three. Long story short, Ryan made it into the 250f class and missed the 450f class on his RM250R by just one position. Some of the series top riders such as Shane Bess and James Povolny also were in these LCQ’s so the fields were pretty thick. The 250 main event had Ryan starting in the back row which resulted in a poor start, fighting the whoops and making his way to eight place at the checkers, the middle of the field.

Going into Saturday, Ryan had a little more confidence and was starting to make up some time in the whoop section. In the 250f class, Ryan got the holeshot in his semi on his OTSFF/ TwoWheel RMZ250 and was riding in second place, when a crash with Shane Bess took him out of contention. In the LCQ, he missed the transfer spot by one position. The 450 class saw Ryan getting poor starts all the way to the LCQ, when he finally transferred, but to a back row start. In his only main of the night, Ryan rode to an eleventh place finish, crossing the line in a pack of riders all battling for every spot.

The mile high city was a good experience for Ryan. He learned a lot, got experience and exposure. He now knows what his program is lacking to be competitive in the US. His mechanic got in lots of time changing jets to get the bikes to work in the thin air. (seven jet sizes leaner, and definitely lacking power) NEWF is currently making his way back to the great white north. He plans on coming to the east coast for a family visit before heading off to Toronto for the first round of the World Supercross series in the “LITES” class.

Ryan would like to take this time to thank his sponsors, OTSFF, TWO Wheel Motorsports, PRO-ACTION Suspension, SHOT MX gear, Pirelli tires, SPY optics, Gaerne boots, sixsixone, sunline, OGIO, CTI2, TSS Graphics, Orthoflex and M2R helmets.