2012 U.S.D.R. Round 3

THE ROUND WE WILL ALL REMEMBER

by Dave Earll June 05, 2012

Round 3 of the US Desert Racing Series
Dirt Diggers Camp - Spangler Hills SVRA 
Red Mountain, Ca - May 26th-27th 2012
Round 3 would mark the return of the series to the deserts of Spangler Hills SVRA. The courses would be longer and the competition would be tougher. Round 3 would also mark the first time in US Desert Racing history that a rider was lost during the race. Series newcomer Todd Adamson would suffer a fatal heart attack after the start of race 1 and would bring the USDR Family Even closer together. 
The weekend of racing would start with the Kids Races on their very own course that was fast and fun. Reigning champion A.J. Mrozik would jump out to an early lead and and leave the rest of the 50cc field in his dust. He would finish a minute and a half infont of Zack Babcock and Kelly Smith giving him 3 victories in as many races. The 65cc riders were the next to line up and at the green flag A.J. would get to another great start but his little KTM 50 would not be enough to edge out Jesse Knapp into the first corner. Knapp would give himself a 10 second buffer over Kyle Fike and keep it until the final lap where Knapp would tip over. Fike would capatilize on the mistake and take his third win in a row. 
The excitement would continue with the 85cc racers getting the green flag and odds on favorite Dylan Delgado would take the early lead. First time USDR racer Craig Jacobson would get around Delgado on the second lap while Round 2 winner Cody Kurtz would start a race long battle with Delgado. Every lap the the riders seemed to change position with Kurts getting into 2nd on lap 4 and then taking the lead on lap 5. Jacobson would hold off Delgado for the remainder of the event but would never be able to get more then 3 seconds ahead. Kurtz would take his second victory in a row extending his points lead over Delgado towards his first Kids 2 championship.
Next up would be the USDR Signature Team Race. This would be the first of the races held in the desert and it would prove to be just as successful, fun and exciting as all the rest. The Purvines Duo of Nick Burson and Justin morrow would get out to their customary lead and put in solid laps extending their lead by a full minute every lap. They would eventually lap every single team in the field being the only team to complete 11 laps on the 10 mile course in 1:57:13. The REAL story of the event was every other class in the race.

In the Open A/B class the Father/Son team of Austin Keys and Brian Keys would start dead last and half way into the next row when Austin would drop the bike off the start. The Jeff Harper/Sammy Bangert/Taylor Stevens would make their way to the front and would lead for 8 of the 10 laps. Keys/Keys would make up the 4 minutes and on the final lap they would capitalize on a mistake by Stevens and would take the Open A/B Victory and 3rd Overall. IN Open C/D the in camp battle between Fike/Jensen/Jensen and Nespor/Babcock/Prado would go all the way to the finish with Logan Fike bringing his team across the finish line first and in 8th overall. 
The Team Race favorite is always the Family Team with 17 teams of Fathers, Sons, Daughters, Brothers and long time friends. The Father/Son teams of the Cody and Mike Patten and Butch and Kyle Moore would go at it for the entire 2 hours with brothers Corey and Austin Wolff always in the mix. The Pattens would come through with the lead on lap one but Father Mike would end up flaming up an old injury having to give the bike to Cody for the rest of the race. This would give the lead over to the Wolff's but Corey would re-injure his already fragile wrist leaving his younger brother to do most of the leg work. Lap 6 the Moores' would take over the lead and was able to put a good buffer between them and the rest of the field taking 1st Family team and 4th overall. The Pattens' would take 2nd and 9th overall and finishing just 9 seconds back were the Wolffs' in 11th overall.
Sunday would start off with Race 1 at 9am and AS Racing's John Sides would get out to his customary lead. Team mate Greg Johnston would stay close at 20 seconds behind followed by Rick Flores another 20 seconds in 3rd and Mini Expert Connor Hisgen just 6 seconds shy in 4th. Quad Racer and Round 2 overall winner Kyle Gross winner would finish in 5th overall even after getting a flat on lap 1 and changing it in the pits.
Race 1 would also see one of the greatest tragedies and miracles in USDR History. Senior 1 Beginner Todd Adamson would take a spill on the course and the next racers would do what any one would do for a fellow racer. They stopped and directed traffic while others went to get help. A spectator happened to witness the incident and rushed over and being a Fire Fighter would access the situation and immediately start CPR. Within minutes the Rescue Crew and Ambulance was on the scene doing everything they could to take care of the fallen rider. It was later determined that Adamson had suffered a fatal heart attack and the proper authorities were contacted.
Back at camp all of the USDR racers gathered in prayer and remembrance for the fallen rider, most of which didn't know him as he was new to the series. Over 200 racers, friends and spectators would ride together in a final parade lap finishing out the loop for Adamson in a huge display of unity and friendship within the desert racing community.

USDR Series Owner Dave Earll expressed the thoughts of everyone by saying a few words:
 "Friends said that he was having the time of his life out there in the race, and as family and friends try their best to keep this in mind while remembering Todd, there will always be the sadness of such a great loss. 
Todd was new to U.S.D.R. racing, but his memory will live on as we dedicate our future May events him. Last year we lost one of our founding members, my Father, we then instituted our first namesake race 'The Don Earll Memorial.' We now have two."
Race 2 was postponed until the next Round out of respect.
complete results - www.moto-tally.com/usdr
OVERALL RACE 1: 1. John Sides (HON); 2. Greg Johnston (HON); 3. Rick Flores (KTM); 4. Connor Hisgen (HON); 5. Kyle Grosse (HON); 6. Thomas Gibson (HON); 7. Jack Trotter (KTM); 8. Dennis Glass (HON); 9. Brian Sirevaag (HON); 10. Frankie Esquivel (HON); 11. Austin Wolff (HON); 12. Ryan Lazar (HON); 13. Bryan Bouchez (YAM); 14. Duane Quale (YAM); 15. Cory Olesen (KTM); 16. Daniel Johnson (KTM); 17. John Ransdell (KTM); 18. Daniel Seagondollar (KTM); 19. Dustin Oblonsky (KTM); 20. Miguel Jr. Jimenez (YAM);