Wienen Races to Third Straight Win at Sunset Ridge MX

Baldwin Motorsports PEP Upperman Racing rider Josh Upperman snagged the SSi Decals Moto 1 Holeshot Award. Upperman lead the field out of the first turn but it wasn’t long before the 2011 Champion John Natalie made the pass into the leading position. Natalie’s MotoSport.com Motoworks DWT machine came out of the first turn in second and was on a mission to grab the front spot.

Wienen got off the gate inside the top five and quickly made work of the field, moving himself into the second place position within a few laps. Wienen then set his sights on Natalie who was out front early on, gaining time on the Ironman with each lap that passed. Around the halfway point, Wienen took over the lead from Natalie where he went on to take the checkered flag.Natalie followed behind in second.

“Coming off my injury last round I was really happy to find myself out front and able to not only stay in the front of the field but keep myself healthy,” says Natalie. “I lost some valuable championship points in Indiana and know I now have to keep my head down and keep to the front of the field.”

Wienen Motorsports SSi Walsh Yamaha presented by Maxxis Tires & Team Vollmer’s Thomas Brown had a rough start off the gate and came through the first turn just inside the top 10. Brown had to make quick work up through the field to find the top five and then proceeded with a three-way heated battle for the third place spot.

Veteran Joe Byrd was maintaining his third place start on top his Joe Byrd Quad Riding School Dasa machine and Upperman was sitting in fourth. After a few intense laps, Brown made a pass on Upperman but Upperman didn’t lose any time and continued to pressure the battle. Upperman attempted to make a pass back on Brown but instead went end-over-end to the ground. Upperman recovered quickly from the fall, maintaining a top 10 position.

Meanwhile, Brown and Byrd had an intense battle for the third place position. Brown and Byrd are not strangers to each other this season after their battling at Round 4, but Brown was able to make a clean pass on Byrd with a few laps to go, crossing the line in third place, with Byrd following in fourth.

BCS Can-Am rider Josh Creamer also came out of the first turn just outside the top five and moved quickly into the sixth place spot by the end of the third lap. Creamer then went on to have an intense battle with Walsh Race Craft’s Nick Denoble. Denoble came out of the first turn in the top five and sat in the sixth position until Creamer made a pass on him about halfway through the moto.

The rain rolled in right before the pros went to the line for Moto 2 but that didn’t hinder the racing. As the gate dropped it was Natalie who came out of the first turn in the front of the field but before the end of the second lap Creamer passed for the lead after Natalie stalled his machine. Even in the muddy conditions Creamer was able to defend the position and not only take the moto win but also third place overall.

“My machine was set up really well for the conditions of moto 2 and my ITP tires really hooked up off the start and I was able to come out with the holeshot,” says Creamer. “From there on I had to ride really smart to keep the position with the pressure I had behind me but I’m really happy to be back up on the podium.”

Brown got off to another rough start in Moto 2, sitting just inside the top 10. The Texas native put his head down and made his way up to sixth by the end of lap one and sat in third by the end of lap two. Natalie only lost three positions when he stalled his machine on lap two and sat in the fourth place position until he made a pass on Brown for third with five laps to go. After Wienen spun out, Natalie reclaimed second place where he ultimately finished in Moto 2.

Byrd grabbed his second top five start of the day and was passed by Upperman for his position by the end of the fifth lap. Upperman had a rough start to Moto 2 but was able to work his way up and crossed the checkers in fifth taking sixth overall for the weekend. Byrd crossed the Moto 2 finish line in sixth and took fifth overall in Illinois.