MTA Louisiana Cross-Country Series
Round 2: The Big 8
Howell Has Back-To-Back Wins
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By: Acadiana Racing
Photos by: Bob Hatcher and Terrie Shaw
Dubach, LA
After a long break in racing due to weather delays, the LACC series finally got kicked back off with “Round 2”, The Big 8, in the beautiful hills of Dubach, LA. The turnout was great and around a dozen talented XC1 Expert racers lined up on the front row ready for battle.
Hutchinson once again gets his Kawasaki 250 2-stroke around the first turn before everyone else. Hatcher Photo |
Kevin Hutchinson (KAW / Hutchinson ATV
/ Team ¾) once again took the holeshot. Round 1 winner
Martin Howell (SMS KTM / JM Suspension / Answer / Motorex /
FMF) ducked right in behind Hutchinson off the start and
then quickly made his move around him during lap one to
start trying to stretch out a lead. KTM pilot Bryan Vaughan backed by Rekluse/Dunlop/System Tech Racing/Asterisk/EKS Goggles and OMA Pro Michael Williams (KAW / BHR) had their work cut out after both having bad starts. |
Williams was able to move all the way into second place overall by the end of the second lap. By the end of the fifth lap Vaughan had worked his way into third place overall. Howell was obviously on a mission, and put in eight fast, consistent laps. In doing so, he also set the fastest lap with a 12:01 on lap seven and took home some extra purse money from Transmissions, Inc. for the fast lap award. After only two rounds, Howell is quickly establishing himself as the man to beat by taking home another win this weekend. After an hour and forty minutes of racing, Williams took home second trailing just over one minute behind Howell.
Howell #31 is fast, in shape, and going for the championship. Shaw Photo |
Williams came up through the pack but couldn't get Howell. Hatcher Photo |
Vaughan landed another valuable podium
spot taking another third place finish. Past two time XC2
Lites Champion – Ryan Breaux (KTM/Performance Cycles/Chuck’s
Appliance) – put in a strong ride on his 350 4-stroke to work his
way into fourth overall. Although Hutchinson showed up at the
last minute from a late night DJ gig, he put in a solid ride to
round out the top five overall.
Vaughan had no problems with the optional sections. Hatcher Photo |
Altazin won the XC2 Lites class. Shaw Photo |
Some other usual XC1 Expert class front-runners had some back luck and didn’t finish such as Jason Harvey, Cheyenne Harmon, Forrest Smith, and Jonathan Plunkett. Defending series champion Andy Beebe (HSQ) made a wise decision to stay home with their newborn son Drew. Congratulations to Andy and Frannie from the LACC family!
In the XC2 class, Corey Altazin
(KTM/WPS/Fly) dominated by getting the holeshot and leading all
seven laps. He was followed by Clint Woods (KTM/Mike’s
Outdoors/Wood’s Tank) who captured second and Lance Ford (KAW) who
grabbed the last podium position. Two Senior A riders, Kelly
Crenshaw and Gary Little, put in some incredible rides finishing
inside the top 10. The Transmission’s Inc. optional hillclimb
and the Spectro Oils optional log crossing provided great
entertainment for the spectators. Video footage of that coming
soon!
A special thanks to the Barnett family
for allowing the event and donating the proceeds to their Wheelin in
the Hills handicap hunt! As usual tune into AcadianaRacing.com
for great coverage of this event. See you all at Round 3 – The
Angola Bike Rodeo in the Tunica Hills!!
About the series:
The
Louisiana Cross-Country Series is a 10-round championship series promoted by AcadianaRacing.com. Venues test each rider’s overall ability by offering motocross sections, hills, roots, occasional rocks, woods trails, grass tracks, extreme obstacles, etc. In addition to pure speed riders must have the endurance to push hard for over an hour and a half. The series is brought to you by title sponsor MTA, Filter Solution.com, Gas Gas Offroad US, Honda of Lafayette, Performance Cycles, Enduro Engineering, Spectro, Transmissions Inc, Southern Trophy, Chiropractic Spine & Sports, Team 3/4, Evangeline Specialties, API Control System Solutions, Moose Racing, RidePG.com, Deb's Prints, KTM, OutOfBoundFilms, Dirt Wise Schools and Instructional DVDs, SideLineFilms, Bayou Fabrication, Honda, Bayou Suspension.com, MXPrints.com, and Husqvarna.Results Summary