Wharton and Demuth are in position to win a Toyota truck
The first round of the Toyota/DeMontrond RV Three Palms Triple Crown, the American Suzuki Memorial Day Classic went off this weekend with a BANG. Incredible, intense, and very entertaining are some of the words that would describe the race action. First of all, Friday practice saw the Three Palms main track in PERFECT shape. Two or three 5 minutes rain showers provided the right amount of moisture on the track. Saturday was day one of racing with all of the minibike classes along with the beginner classes. All the motos were treated again to perfect track conditions, except for the last three motos of the second round of motos. One class that stood out on Saturday would be the 65cc Open class. In the first moto, Curren Thurman pulled the holeshot over Andrew Pierce and Andrew Segovia. Thurman turned it up a notch and pulled a slight lead over Pierce on the first lap, then as they came to the Toyota finish line table, Pierce did something extraordinary, he landed perfect on the table before the finish and pinned it and cleared the 90 foot finish line table on his KTM 65! With that move, Pierce was right back on the fender of Thurman. Thurman then turned it up another notch until later on lap two, he washed out in a turn handing the lead to Pierce. Pierce went on to win the moto, clearing the Toyota finish line jump every lap, with Segovia second and also clearing the finish line jump on his KX-65. Thurman remounted for third. Another impressive ride would have to be Louisiana native Lance Vincent. This rider was on top of his game, with incredible corner speed in route to a sweep of both motos in the 85cc 12-15 class.
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Andrew Pierce | | |
With all of the rain that came on Saturday afternoon, it looked like Sunday was going to be a mud fest. This is where Three Palms shines. The crew got on the track at 5AM and the sun was shinning by 7AM. Practice was delayed to get the track ready, and race action started with a very decent race track. Here are some interesting facts on a couple of amateur classes. Macy Kimbrell took control of the Womans class in the first moto with fast female Brandee Payne trying to real her in for three laps. Finally Brandee got bye and went on the win both motos, but Macy found some new speed that was very impressive for a few laps. Jarret Hughes got his first win the B class, after one of the class favorites was DQed. It's amazing what good starts in the B class can do for a rider.
On to the pro classes. Toyota and Three Palms have teamed up and will be giving away a new 2007 Toyota truck if a pro rider can win all three rounds of the Three Palms Triple Crown Series. This had to be some of the most intense race action in the Houston area in a long time. First off, Kyle Williams showed that a full time college student with a part time job, can be competitive, with riders that ride motocross 24/7 and have training facilities in the back yards. Brandon Fulton holeshot the 16 rider pack, but after a mishap on lap two, Kyle put his Highlands Kawasaki/Pro Works KX-250F in front of the most talented field of pros that have ever been to Three Palms in the first moto of the Lites pro class. Then Kyle started to pull away from the pack. Young sensation Tyler Wharton on his factory KTM, got busy and caught Kyle around the half way mark of the 20 minutes plus one lap moto. Wharton got around for the lead and Kyle kept him honest for the rest of the moto with a very inspired ride. Look at these name behind Kyle, 3rd Josh Demuth, 4th Brandon Fulton, 5th Will Hahn and 6th Robbie Reynard. Moto two in the Lites classes was ran about 30 minutes after a pretty good rain shower. This time Williams pulled a fat holeshot from the outside and again started to but distance between him and the rest of the pack. Again Tyler Wharton but his head town and slowly started to catch Kyle around the mid way part of the race. Both of these riders were about 10-12 seconds ahead of third place Demuth and forth place Reynard. As luck would have it, Kyle's chain locked up with about 3 laps remaining, a lap later Wharton crashed and had Kyle's chain not gotten locked up Kyle would be looking at a moto win and the overall and the first step at a chance to drive away with a new Toyota at the Dealers Challenge. Wharton then gets is bike running just as Demuth and Reynard are about to pass him. Now we have a lap and a half left with three riders with in five feet of each other. Demuth almost goes down about three turns later and Renynard goes down almost at the same time. Wharton brings it home for the win, Demuth 2nd, Ryan Grantom 3rd with an impressive ride, Reynard remounts in 4th.
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Jarret Hughes | | |
Now for the Motocross class. Moto one had 18 450F's heading into turn one with Will Hahn in the lead. Will puts down some of the fastest laps of the day in route to a easy win, followed by Reynard, Demuth and Grantom. By the way, Grantom was on borrowed bikes in both classes. The second moto was the next to the last moto of the day, and after the earlier rain shower there are a couple of good lines starting to form on the track now. Young gun
Tyler Wharton leads early, but does not figure in a good overall because of a first moto crash. Demuth and Reynard are locked into a battle for second and eventually Wharton goes down and now Demuth and Reynard are dicing for the lead and the overall. These two seasoned veterans, Demuth (28) and Reynard (30) are pushing their CRF-450R's to the limit. Both bikes start puking coolant after the half way mark. At the checkered flag Demuth took the win by a couple of seconds over Reynard, Wharton got back up and finished third with Hahn finishing 4th after two crashes in the moto and Grantom 5th.
So now you have two riders in position to drive home in a brand new 2007 Toyota truck.
Tyler Wharton in the Lites class and
Josh Demuth in the Motocross class. Round 2 of the Toyota/DeMontrond RV Three Palms Triple Series will be September 15th & 16th when the Pro Circuit Series comes to Three Palms. Round 3 will be October 20th & 21st at the Parts Unlimited Dealers Challenge.
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