Story by Danny Brault, photos by Jason Griffiths

Motocross is the most physically demanding sport in the world, and if you don’t agree with me, then you need to jump on a bike and try to make a complete lap around the Gopher Dunes track after the national over the weekend. Promoter Frank Schuster claims that he is going to leave it as-is for a few days at the request of a few die-hard riders so if you are local, go give it a try for 30 plus two.
 
At the end of the day, the Gopher track looked like it fell victim to the latest terrorist attack, but in reality it was victim to over 200 motocross bikes, heavy showers and very little grooming—and I mean very little grooming. Shuster said from the beginning that he wanted to build a track that would separate the men from the boys, a track that would really show who was in shape. He got his wish. The Gopher national was pure motocross—rough, rutted, hot and humid!

Heading into the Gopher national, it was expected that Blackfoot Honda’s Dusty Klatt would be a major player for the win. He is now a one-class man and his performance at the Lierop track at the Motocross des Nations last fall proved that he can ride deep sand. OTSFF Suzuki’s Gavin Gracyk and Keith Johnson looked fast during Saturday’s qualifiers and it appeared they too may be able to steal a win from JSR. Unfortunately, all three were unable to put it together—Klatt just didn’t look comfortable all weekend, Gracyk fell in the first corner of the opening moto and Johnson just couldn’t go fast enough. However, the one man who looks fast and comfortable each weekend—Jean Sébastien Roy, found the smooth line around the Gopher track (an oxymoron if there ever was one) and went on to win each moto by more than comfortable margins.

 
Behind Roy the results get messy and inconsistent. In the first MX1 moto, Johnson finished second but could only manage a sixth in the second moto, even after pulling the holeshot. He finished third overall. Roy’s teammate Damon Huffman was fourth in the first moto, after being passed late in the race by Yamaha’s hard-charging Simon Homans. After a battle with Gracyk in the second moto, Huffman was able to secure second which gave him second overall. Blair Morgan was fourth overall with 6-4 finishes and Dusty Klatt finished fifth.

While the MX1 motos were pretty much sleepers, the MX2 class kept fans lined around the track until the checkers. KTM’s Pierce Chamberlain rocketed off the line in the first moto, and then opened up a gap on the field but a soil sample in the corner before the mechanics’ row dropped him back. He later crashed again and could only manage an 11th by moto’s end. Machine Racing’s Jason Burke and Lightning Powersports’ Joel Saarits looked fast as well while battling for the lead positions but they too suffered bad luck. Burke nailed a hay bale that was on the track, then as he got going again, he tangled with a rider in the front-sweeper dropping him back to 12th. Saarits on the other hand, suffered much worse luck as his RMZ 250 seized in the opening laps, putting an end to his day. Richmond Kawasaki’s Ryan Lockhart joined Saarits on the sidelines, following a bike seizure in the first moto and on the parade lap for the final moto. Canadian Kawasaki rider Kyle Chisholm took advantage of everybody’s bad luck to win the first moto. New England’s Chad Charbonneau finished second, after a brief battle with Homans.

The second MX2 moto proved to be just as dramatic as the first before the board even went sideways! As riders were packing their starting gates, one of Jason Burke’s supporters was caught cleaning his starting area with an umbrella and the Honda rider was forced to start with a dead-engine. Burke accepted his punishment, and did not start his bike until the gate dropped. He still managed to climb his way up to eighth place behind Mitch Cooke.

Yamaha Canada’s Doug DeHaan grabbed the holeshot on his YZ 250F. However, his lead only lasted a few laps as he was passed by KTM’s Michael Willard and Honda rider Charbonneau. Chisholm was up in the mix early, but slid out on the first lap and remounted in last. He began charging through the pack, but after just a few laps, his bike seized causing him to DNF. While the leaders ran away from the pack, Machine Racing’s Kyle Keast provided entertainment as he made his way from second-last to fifth behind Chamberlain. Keast finished fifth overall with a 7-5, while Chamberlain was sixth overall.

Charbonneau took the overall thanks to consistent 2-2 moto scores, DeHaan went 4-3 for second and Willard was 10-1 for third overall. Kyle Snelgrove was running fifth until his bike quit with just a few laps to go. Intermediate rider Tyler Bezzo finished 11th in the second moto and 19th overall in his first pro event.

The Blackfoot boys—Donnie McGourty and Mitch Cooke had less than stellar performances at Gopher. After struggling to qualify on Saturday, McGourty finished fifth in the first moto and pulled off in the final moto. Cooke, meanwhile, went 8-7 for seventh overall but he admits that he is uncomfortable with deep sand so look for improved results this weekend when we move to the harder packed track in Joliette, Quebec.