Ryder D Strikes First

The two top classes at the Ranch are the Open Pro Sport and the 250 Pro Sport. The first Open Pro Sport took place around lunch time, and it was a good one. Honda’s Heath Harrison timed the gate perfectly and swung around the first turn in the lead.

Off-road racer Cole Martinez (Honda) went into first momentarily as he battled with Harrison and Ryder DiFrancesco (Kawasaki) for the race lead. DiFrancesco had a mistake early and lost a few positions but put in a moto-best fast lap of 1:56.406 while in fourth and made is way up to battle the Honda boys out front. Late in the race, Gavin Towers (Yamaha) ran second but a last-lap fast lap—a 1:56.716—from a charging Gage Linville (Yamaha) put him in second place behind DiFrancesco at the finish line. Towers finished third ahead of Martinez and Patrick Murphy (Yamaha), who rode solid himself. Jayden Clough (Yamaha) charged from outside the top ten on the first lap to an eventual sixth-place finish as Caden Braswell (GasGas) made his way from 34th to seventh in the moto. Mike Alessi (Honda), Harrison, and Jacob Baumert (KTM) rounded out the top ten. Chance Hymas (Honda) finished second overall in this class last year but was buried off the start. Then he went down, dropping back from outside the top 15 to 35th. By the checkered flag, Hymas made his way to 14th. Talon Hawkins (Husqvarna), who made his pro debut in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship recently at the Spring Creek National, finished 27th. If DiFrancesco can string together a solid rest of the week with a championship or two, he is a heavy favorite to win the Nicky Hayden AMA Motocross Horizon Award at week’s end.

Enzo Temmer-the Man!

In the 250 B Limited, Enzo Temmerman (Kawasaki) had a strong showing taking the win in his big bike debut at the Ranch. Temmerman raced Supermini 1 (12-15) and Supermini 2 (13-16) in 2021, taking 38th and 34th, respectively, but rode well en route to the first moto win. Temmerman bested Blake Gardner (KTM), who holeshot and led the majority of the race, Brock Walker (Kawasaki), and Crockett Myers (Yamaha). Drew Adams (Kawasaki) finished eighth.

Matti Rebounds

Matti Jorgensen (KTM) did not have the start he wanted to in the 450 B first moto. The Denmark native had just made his way into third place when he suffered a rear wheel issue without crashing—which we saw at least a handful of different riders suffer today—before eventually finishing only seven laps and officially scoring 40th. However, Jorgensen came out and rebounded to win the 250 B first moto in impressive fashion in a stacked class.

In the opening lap of that first 250 B class, Evan Ferry (Yamaha) holeshot but went down and it collected Haiden Deegan (Yamaha) as well, as the #38 accidently slammed into his fellow BluCru member’s machine. The collision left Deegan’s rear wheel damaged, and he was soon riding along side of the track as he headed for the pits, with his messed-up wheel kept him from finishing the race. Enter Jorgensen, who capitalized on the situation and took over the race lead. It was not easy though, as Preston Boespflug (Kawasaki) and Ferry applied pressure. Still, Jorgensen rode well and led the rest of the race to take the checkered flag. Boespflug and Ferry finished second and third, respectively, ahead of Daxton Bennick (KTM) and Dayton Briggs (KTM). Deegan scored an official result that matched his race number: 38th. I counted eight broken spokes in photos I got of him as he rode back to the pits. The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider will look to rebound in his first Schoolboy 2 (12-17) B/C moto on Wednesday at 12 p.m. local time.

Logan Best(s) the Competition

In the 125 Jr. (12-17) B/C class, it was Logan Best (Yamaha) besting the field. Best was essentially uncontested as he took his #6 YZ125 two-stroke to a race victory over a late charging Casey Cochran (Husqvarna) and Landin Pepperd (GasGas), as KTM duo of Luke Fauser and Noah Stevens rounded out the top five.

Check out some highlights from the first day of racing below: