Brutal Bithlo

Two riders in 16/24 crossed countries as Canada's Adam Deakon and Brazil's Cesar Popinhak finished on top. Deakon drafted the holeshot in Moto 1 over Kyle Whritenour, Lucas Moraes and Popinhak in fourth. Deakon stretched it out over Moraes while Popinhak and Tampa's Josh Talmadge battled for third. Whritenour dropped back to sixth while Deakon took the moto win over Moraes and Popinhak. In Moto 2, Whritenour had the line going into the corner but Moraes tucked inside for the lead. By the green flag, Deakon led over Whritenour and Moraes, with Moraes finding first before the finish. Deakon was back on top in Moto 3 over Whritenour and Talmadge in third. The Weston rides of Johnny Mejia and David Mejia caught a corresponding fifth and sixth overall.

Three of Florida's top SUPER MINI 105 (12-15) stepped up inside the top 10 overall, behind the undefeated Justin Barcia. "The class of the field without a doubt," said the announcing Jeff Hines as Justin passed through 16/24 class for the overall moto win from the second gate drop. Consistency was critical for the youngest Florida riders as Orlando's Jordan Bailey swept the 50cc STK (4-6) class with a 1-1-1 and Port Orange's Cole Campbell landed third overall with a 3-2-5.

In the (7-8) division, Coconut Creek's Ramyller Alves went 1-1-2 for first overall in addition to taking first in every moto of 50 OPEN. The top 3 riders in 65cc (7-9) represented Florida while Mason Price grabbed three moto wins over Drew Swenson in second with a 2-2-3 along with Hunter Chandler in third overall with a 3-4-2. Mason Price also took first overall in 65 OPEN with a 3-1-1 with Chandler taking another third overall, Dunedin's Joshua Hyde and Eustis's Devon Viera in fourth and fifth overall.

By the last round at Bithlo, Steven Clarke went charging through the first two motos of 125 A on his way towards an overall series win. Steve had 3-3 going into Moto 3 and after nailing a line drive for the lead, Steve held everyone off for the win and second overall for the weekend. Steve ended the series with a second overall in 125 A, in addition to fourth overall in 250/500 A by clearing the way with extended holeshots, or tripling through a clutch rhythm section in the midst of first lap battle. Infrequent attendance in both Pro classes left the England native out of overall contention, but Steve was regularly mixing it up with the fastest guys in the series.

Consistent finishes were the hardest to conquer and the top riders in 16/24 and FOURSTROKE often went hand-in-hand. At Bithlo, Kyle Whritenour went into the final third moto of 16/24 with a 6-4 and a solid second place finish would wrap up his championship win. Kyle went 5-10-6 for fifth overall in FOURSTROKE at Bithlo, which landed him second overall for the series.

In 125 C, Raul Tejada and Nick Forrest battled for the lead at the last round; Nick had the first moto win, while Raul took the second. Neither took first in Moto 3, but the overall win still Raul with a 2-1-2. Nick went 1-4-3 for third overall for the weekend and took third overall for the series.

Consistency killed FL's chances for a podium in 125 B but the holeshots of Sunny Drake undoubtedly paid off in the end. Drake jumped out front early in Moto 1 and rode to a solid second behind Les Smith, beating out fellow MTF riders Trevor Donie and Vince Friese, while Lucas Crespi finished in fifth with no goggles.

In Moto 2, NC's Tyler Clark timed the gate perfectly but Smith had first after the whoops on the first lap. Trevor passed Clark for second while Drake dwindled outside the top 20.

Drake took the holeshot again in Moto 3 with IL's Eric Boyle, Crespi, MA's Cory Eaton and Clark. Crespi quickly passed into second while Donie fell back inside the top 10 and Eaton and Clark battled behind the leaders. Crespi pulled out all the stops in his incredible pass for the lead around the outside going over the step-up. Drake was looking for lines and lost the front end, leaving Crespi all alone out front. By the finish, Crespi had at least 15 seconds on Drake in second, and Erik Boyle taking third overall with a 12-4-3. Donie took the overall win with 3-2-6 and Friese went 4-10-4 for second overall, whereas Crespi bested ninth overall with a 5-DNF-1.

The only Florida rider inside the top 5 in 125 A was the overall first place ride of Hernando's Mike Picone. In 250/500 A, Picone pulled second overall with a 1-2-2 behind Renner's 3-1-1. Picone beat out fellow Floridian TJ Tiffany for third overall in 250/500 PRO. Then in Pro 125, Picone stayed clean out front with a 1-1 as Florida's lone rider inside the top 5 once again. "This year's winter AMs were pretty good and consistent," Picone said. "I'm not really satisfied with my results, because I had a lot of bike problems that took away 2 championships. I think that if my bikes held together, I would [have] swept all 4 classes, but that's why I'm going to be riding Yamaha for the rest of the year! I'm definitely confident going into Texas because BPM is building me a rocket Yamaha 250f and just getting on new equipment should be nice. I'm not downgrading Kawasaki or anything; it's just so hard when u don't have support. Right now, I'm improving on my overall speed and conditioning. I think the tracks are all challenging besides Gatorback and Reddick, because they are so tight and one-lined, but who's complaining? Not me!" he said.


RD 6 2007 WINTER AM
125 A
1 Michael Picone
2 Steven Clarke
3 Jay Weller
4 Pj Larsen
5 Michael Stryker
50cc STK (4-6)
1 Jordan Bailey
2 Adam Duke
3 Ethan Woods
50cc STK (7-8)
1 Ramyller Alves
2 Hunter Teichrib
3 Cole Campbell
4 Chase Fasnacht
5 Jammari Wise
125 B
1 Trevor Donie
2 Vince Friese
3 Erik Boyle
4 Cory Eaton
5 Sunny Drake
125 C
1 Raul Tejada
2 Ian Chia
3 Nick Forrest
4 Anthony Zaffino
5 Tyler Macmillan
150 FOURSTROKE 12-15
1 Joey Savatgy
2 Andrew Marx
WOMEN
1 Jacqueline Ross
2 Lydia Greiner
3 Brianna Mahon
4 Tayler Lacey
5 Ashley Jackson
65cc (7-9)
1 Mason Price
2 Drew Swenson
3 Hunter Chandler
4 Hunter Teichrib
5 Jammari Wise
65cc (10-11)
1 Cj Greaves
2 Rowland Papp
3 Cody Chisholm
4 Corey Balko
5 Zach Duchaine
SUPER MINI 105 (12-15)
1 Justin Barcia
2 Nikolas Desiderio
3 Joey Savatgy
4 James Decotis
5 Grant Ransdell
250 OPEN (NO A)
1 Vince Friese
2 Larry "bo" Partin Jr.
3 Paul Bouchard
4 Jesse Austin
5 Jared Miller
250/500 A
1 Ricky Renner
2 Michael Picone
3 Jay Weller
4 Tj Tiffany
5 Barry Carsten
50 OPEN
1 Ramyller Alves
2 Hunter Teichrib
3 Jammari Wise
4 Chase Fasnacht
5 Jordan Bailey
PLUS 30
1 Barry Carsten
2 Michael Treadwell
3 Kevin Cozadd
4 Allan Assaf
5 Ray Thompson
PLUS 45
1 John Camelio
2 Sam Allen
3 David Bowman
4 Mark Thomas
5 Rick Slavik
FOUR STROKE
1 Lowell Spangler
2 Quinton Bigalow

3 Garrett Toth
4 Michael Ross
5 Kyle Whritenour
PRO 125
1 Michael Picone
2 Steven Clarke
3 Keith Johnson
4 Ken Dedycker
5 Jay Weller
85 JR MINI (9-13)
1 Robert Devonald Batt
2 Nikolas Desiderio

3 Lucas Lowe
4 Cj Greaves
5 Rowland Papp
PLUS 25
1 Keith Johnson
2 Michael Treadwell
3 Keith Oelerich
PLUS 40
1 Barry Carsten
2 John Camelio
3 Keith Oelerich
4 Timothy Eggers
5 David Bowman
125 YOUTH (12-15)
1 Justin Barcia
2 Garrett Toth
3 Michael Ross
4 Grant Ransdell
5 James Decotis
16/24
1 Adam Deakon
2 Cesar Popinhak
3 Kyle Whritenour
4 Joseph Merrill, Jr
5 Johnny Mejia
65 OPEN
1 Mason Price
2 Cj Greaves
3 Hunter Chandler
4 Joshua Hyde
5 Devon Viera
250/500 C
1 Raul Tejada
2 Paul Bouchard
3 Jared Miller
4 Todd Counts
5 Danny Mooney
250/500 B
1 Vince Friese
2 Lowell Spangler
3 William Shatrau
4 Jesse Austin
5 Frank Charamut
250/500 PRO
1 Ken Dedycker
2 Keith Johnson
3 Michael Picone
4 Tj Tiffany
5 Jay Weller
85cc (7-11)
1 Rowland Papp
2 Cody Chisholm
3 Cj Greaves
4 Tyler Meyer
5 Corey Balko
85cc (12-13)
1 Grant Ransdell
2 Joey Savatgy
3 Robert Devonald Batt
4 Luke Renzland
5 Andrew Stocker
85cc (14-15)
1 Justin Barcia
2 James Decotis
3 Wilfredo Guzman
4 Kyle Goerke
5 Jason Benny
125 OPEN (NO A)
1 Sunny Drake
2 Trevor Donie
3 Vince Friese
4 Garrett Toth
5 Kyle Corman
PLUS 35
1 Keith Johnson
2 Barry Carsten
3 Michael Treadwell
4 Allan Assaf
5 Kevin Cozadd