Four-stroke vs Two-stroke in Grantsburg Sand

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After two snow-out cancellations in “The Unending Winter of 2008”, the Straight Arrow Enduro Riders were finally able to have an event, a motocross race held on a mild sunny day. About 200 riders showed up to tackle the sand, and Robbie Malinoski, despite rolling to the line with duct tape numbers, was the fastest rider of the day, winning three classes in dominating style. This was also the first race at the sandy track since the 250 two-strokes were allowed in the “125” (just say No to the name Lites) class. The results were mixed.

Because the soil is so sandy, the club schedules their races early in the year. The track handles snowmelt well, thaws out pretty quick, and can soak up rain. Unfortunately, it can’t handle temperatures in the 30s, with 6 inches or more of snow cover. There were many District 23 races cancelled in April, but May was getting off to a much better start.

Vet A was the largest A class of the day and Malinoski stayed out of trouble by getting holeshots and pulling away. Lee Erickson was close in the second race, but ultimately finished second both times out. The overall and top five were the same. Kyle Love, followed closely by Charlie Forrest, then a back-in-action Chris Weisbrod.


Malinoski was railing the berms all day long

Malinoski used a similar approach for each of his other four moto wins; get out front early and jet away, winning Open A (man, I just like being able to say Open class again) and 25+ A. Chasing him home to the checkered each time was a game Erickson. The track got quite rough as the day wore on, but the veteran riders kept the pace fast all day.

This year, the AMA instituted a major change to the structure of the amateur displacement classes. The first was the addition of a 125-only class, an interesting, and in some ways puzzling change. The next was that 125s and 250Fs run in the “250” class, which now allows 250 two-strokes. The Open class is now similar to the age classes, anything between 125-500cc, although most riders choose 450s. The most interesting question this posed was how much of advantage, if any, would a 250 two-stroke have against the 250Fs in the 250 class. On a power-soaking track like this, the conventional wisdom was that it would be considerable.


Sheldon Fratzke on the gas hard. The track was in difficult, but ideal condition.

The first 250 class out was the C class. Brad Richardson got the holeshot on his 250F, and it became apparent early that no one was going to keep up, as he opened up a huge lead almost immediately. Jay Stevens was in a gap in second, while the fight behind him would end up with Jacob Wilhelm, Nicolas Tufte, and Mike Engasath 3-4-5. Richardson was in his own time zone again in the second moto, while many of the first-moto front-runners ran into trouble in the much rougher second moto. Overall it was Richardson, then Tufte (4-3), local boy Wilhelm (3-4), Women’s class winner Lana Merkley (6-7), and Stevens (2-11). Richardson also won 14-24C, but another Wilhelm prevented the sweep. Justin won the first moto, but Richardson won the deciding second race for the overall.

The A class was next, and probably a better test of the two-stroke advantage theory, if you accept the premise that A riders use more of the available power than C riders do. Giving weight to the hypothesis was long-time, Yamaha 250 rider, Josh Patzoldt, grabbing the lead early in both motos of 250 A and leaving the sweet smell of pre-mix in his wake. Thomas Miller, on a four-stroke got close both races, particularly at the end of moto two, but Patzoldt held the lead throughout both races. Rounding out the top five were Cody Brietbach, Weisbrod , and Dylan Turner. Brietbach and Turner were also on two-strokes.


This is the only view anyone in 250 A had of Patzoldt.

Many of the Arrows used the home track advantage to the fullest. Class winners included Justin Wilhelm in Open C, Taylor Curry in 25+ B, Tom Peterson in 40+ A, Mark Brunsberg in 45+, Bill Corcoran in 45+ A, and Lana Merkley in the Women’s class.

Several riders won two classes, all of them younger, which may say something about the toll the 6-lap races took on the more mature riders. Tallon Parent rode to wins in Micro Oil Injected 4-8 and the lonely Micro Multispeed 4-8 classes, Devin Donaho screamed his YZ to wins in 85cc 9-12 and 85 12-15, Ryan Schusted took Super-mini and Schoolboy, and Korey Beach won Open B and 14-24 B. This is the last race of the year at the track, as the Arrows turns their attention to getting the trails ready for Lafferty and the boys in August.

Results
Micro Oil Inj. 4-8:
1.Tallon Parent (KTM); 2.Gavin Love (KTM); 3.Torsten Strom (KTM); 4.Sam Peterson (Yam);

Micro Multispeed 4-8:
1.Tallon Parent (KTM);

Micro Pre-Mix 4-6:
1.Jackson Lindberg (KTM); 2.Jeremiah Titus (LEM); 3.Andrew Major (KTM); 4.Josh Fedder (KTM); 5.Hunter Gerger (KTM);

Micro Pre-Mix 7-8:
1.Garrett Strong (COB); 2.Travis Frias (COB); 3.Jeret Corty (KTM); 4.Christian Dupont (KTM);

65cc 7-9:
1.Jeremiah Lindberg (KTM); 2.Garrett Strong (KTM); 3.Noah Mcpherson (KTM); 4.Antonio Burton (Kaw); 5.Lane Gerber (KTM); 6.Thomas Frias (KTM);

65cc 10-11:
1.Alex Timmer (KTM); 2.George Hodkinson (Kaw); 3.Bret Holland (KTM);

85cc 9-11:
1.Tristan Titus (Kaw); 2.Liam Strong (KTM); 3.Ryen Swiatly (Yam); 4.Alex Timmer (KTM); 5.Tyler Staege (Suz); 6.Bret Holland (KTM);

85cc 9-12:
1.Devin Donaho (Yam); 2.Tristan Titus (Kaw); 3.Liam Strong (KTM); 4.Colton Arneson (Suz);

85cc 12-15:
1.Devin Donaho (Yam); 2.Keenan Strom (Suz); 3.Dillon Norgren (Suz); 4.Mitchell Masters (Hon); 5.Chris Sundsvold (Suz); 6.Colton Arneson (Suz);

Supermini 12-15:
1.Ryan Schusted (Hon); 2.Keenan Strom (Suz); 3.Ryen Swiatly (Hon);

Schoolboy 12-16:
1.Ryan Schusted (Hon); 2.Blake Kretzman (Hon); 3.John Pintar (Hon); 4.Cory Holland (Yam); 5.Nicholas Staege (Yam);

125 Jr. 14-16:
1.Tyler Allen (Hon); 2.Jacob Riehle (Hon);

125:
1.Blake Kretzman (Hon); 2.Cory Holland (Yam);

250 A:
1.Josh Patzoldt (Yam); 2.Thomas Miller (Kaw); 3.Cody Breitbach (Kaw); 4.Chris Weisbrod (Hon); 5.Dylon Turner (Yam);

250 B:
1.Tyler Allen (Hon); 2.Chad Noaeill (Hon); 3.Chas Kadlec (Yam); 4.Logan Bemis (Yam); 5.Blake Waller (Hon); 6.Loren Beach (Yam); 7.Scott Ophoven ; 8.Kory Kepple (Yam);

250 C:
1.Brad Richardson (Kaw); 2.Nicholas Tufte (Yam); 3.Jacob Wilhelm (Suz); 4.Lana Merkley (Suz); 5.Jay Stevens (KTM); 6.Shawn Mckinley (Yam); 7.Mike Engesath (Yam); 8.Caleb Keppeler (Yam);

Open A:
1.Robbie Malinoski (Hon); 2.Lee Erickson (Yam); 3.Gatlin Norgren (Suz); 4.Sheldon Fratzke (Suz); 5.Thomas Miller (Kaw); 6.Dylon Turner (Yam); 7.Cody Breitbach (Kaw); 8.Matthew Nesbit (Hon);

Open B:
1.Korey Beach (Hon); 2.Kenny Laplante (Hon); 3.Jacob Leclair (Hon); 4.John Schulte (Yam); 5.Derek Maxson (Suz); 6.Blake Dullinger (Hon); 7.Jamie Koch (Kaw); 8.Justin Collins (Hon);

Open C:
1.Justin Wilhelm (Hon); 2.Keith Johnson (Hon); 3.Curtis Reppe (Kaw);

14-24 A:
1.Cody Breitbach (Kaw);

14-24 B:
1.Korey Beach (Yam); 2.Kenny Laplante (Hon); 3.Chad Noaeill (Hon); 4.Chas Kadlec (Yam); 5.Logan Bemis (Yam); 6.John Schulte (Yam); 7.Blake Waller (Hon); 8.Cody Gamble (KTM);

14-24 C:
1.Brad Richardson (Kaw); 2.Justin Wilhelm (Hon); 3.Keith Johnson (Hon); 4.Curtis Reppe (Kaw); 5.Jacob Wilhelm (Suz); 6.Jay Stevens (KTM); 7.Steven Larson (Kaw); 8.Shawn Mckinley (Yam);

25+ A:
1.Robbie Malinoski (Hon); 2.Lee Erickson (Yam); 3.Kyle Love (Kaw); 4.Sheldon Fratzke (Suz); 5.Chuck Thompson (Hon); 6.Robert Kohl (Kaw);

25+ B:
1.Taylor Curry (Hon); 2.Jamie Koch (Kaw); 3.Kurt Knutson (Kaw); 4.Todd Staege (Suz); 5.Andrew Meyer (Kaw);

25+ C:
1.Andy Sloth (Yam); 2.George Suonvieri (Suz); 3.Chris Nelson (Hon);

30+ A:
1.Robbie Malinoski (Hon); 2.Lee Erickson (Yam); 3.Kyle Love (Kaw); 4.Charles Forrest (Hon); 5.Chris Weisbrod (Hon); 6.Josh Patzoldt (Yam); 7.Eric Garvey (Hon); 8.Chuck Thompson (Hon);

30+ B:
1.Richard Blaser (Hon); 2.Bob Housh (Yam); 3.Chad Larson (Hon); 4.Todd Staege (Suz); 5.Daryl Salerno (Hon); 6.John Metz (Hon); 7.Jeff Johnson (Hon); 8.Anthony Radloff (Hon);

30+ C:
1.John Dossett (Hon); 2.Jeffery Titus (KTM); 3.Justin Miska (Yam); 4.Joseph Major (Hon); 5.John Dupont (Yam); 6.Chris Nelson (Hon); 7.Phillip Gerber (Hon);

40+ A:
1.Tom Peterson (Yam); 2.Bill Corcoran (Yam); 3.Jack Parenteau (Hon); 4.Gary Goeden (Hon); 5.Chuck Thompson (Hon); 6.Mike Mineheine (KTM); 7.Stephen Fedyk (Hon);

40+ B:
1.Chad Larson (Hon); 2.Richard Blaser (Hon); 3.Bob Housh (Yam); 4.Daryl Salerno (Hon); 5.Jeff Johnson (Hon); 6.Mark Brunsberg (Hon);

40+ C:
1.Larry Beach (Yam); 2.Brian Baker (Kaw); 3.Mike Duea (Yam); 4.Michael Rapp (Yam);

45+ A:
1.Bill Corcoran (Yam); 2.Stephen Fedyk (Hon); 3.Mike Mineheine (KTM);

45+:
1.Mark Brunsberg (Hon); 2.Don Anderson (KTM); 3.Mike Duea (Yam); 4.Shawn Calligan (Hon);

50+:
1.Jack Parenteau (Hon); 2.Craig Cherrington (Hon);

Women:
1.Lana Merkley (Suz); 2.Cassie Holcomb (Suz); 3.Jessica Kight (Hon); 4.Alyssa Rapp (Yam); 5.Megan Masters (Hon);

 

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