#312
Story & Photos: Aaron Kennedy
The second round of terrain racing on the USXC circuit this year brought teams back to Seven Clans Casino in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The two-day race featured 250 miles of racing split between two, 60 mile loops tackling the region’s ditches with the odd stretch of river thrown in for good measure.
Regardless of the conditions, riders across the field put on a clinic in launching approaches. While perhaps not a perfect correlation, the casual observer may have noted that many of the winners at TRF had no problem stressing their suspension setups.
While the weekend did not feature any major mishaps, it wouldn’t be ditch racing without some issues. Notable crash/mechanicals on Saturday included Pro riders Re Wadena (#52) and Ben Langaas (#231).
In the Semi-Pro class, the usual suspects were in the mix for the win. The Revering Bros. (Charles #187, Dan #101) and David Brown (#871) led the field after Saturday, and this placement would hold through Sunday.
It took the full two days to sort out the field of Pros. On Saturday, Zach Herfindahl (#312), Aaron Christensen (#10), and Wes Selby (#15) finished 1-2-3 with less than one minute separating the three of them. Not far behind (within another minute) was Ross Erdman (#311), Justin Tate (#28), and Taylor Bunke (#14). With the field leaving in order and by time on Sunday, the target would be on each-others’ backs.
Early on, the top 5 was mixed up as Erdman had mechanical issues, allowing Tate to move up, and Taylor Bunke (#14) to take the 5-spot. By lap 2 (and after a gas stop), Herfindahl padded his lead by a few dozen seconds, with Christensen still staying within sight behind him. While these two would maintain their positions, the remainder of top 5 came down to the last lap. The gas stop led to Selby losing positions to Tate and Bunke, with this order maintained with ~15 miles to go. In that short distance, however, Tate would run out of gas, and Bunke had a sensor problem causing a DNF. This late race drama allowed Wes to regain his position for a 3rd place finish.
With a one-week hiatus for the SOO, USXC returns to the ditches for the Goodridge-Grygla 500 on Feb. 9th-10th. With 500 miles crammed into two days, the circuit is in for an endurance treat!
