Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wharton Debuts; Top Rookie at Millville

August 13-14 ~ Every year at the Millville round of the AMA National Motocross Championship, the newest and brightest stars make their debuts, up from the amateur ranks at the previous week’s Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National Championships presented by AMSOIL, and into the pro class.

Last year, that rider for the Geico/AMSOIL team was Trey Canard. Canard finished fourth in the second moto at Millville in 2007 before going on to win the Lites East Supercross Championship.

This year, the team’s understudy making his pro debut was 17-year-old Blake Wharton, of Pilot Point, Texas.

Coming into Millville, Wharton expected to be in the top 10, but hoped to be in the top five. In the first moto, he fell twice, but still managed to finish 10th.

“The first moto, it showed me a lot,” Wharton said. “My times were pretty good, and I was coming from the back. I went down twice but still managed a top 10. That showed me that the next moto, if I just got a good start and put myself in a good position, that good things could happen, and that’s what happened.”

In the second moto, Wharton fought his way through from a decent start near the front of the pack to run second in the early going behind Ryan Dungey. Wharton eventually finished fourth.

“I was just riding my own race out there,” Wharton said. “I just got a start in the top five and then I just rode my own race. I wasn’t trying to beat any one person or block anyone or try to pass anyone back or taking any chances. Ryan Villopoto was going his speed, which is faster than everyone, so it really made no sense for me to do anything dumb and try and block him. What I did was finish up the race in fourth, and that was one of my goals.”

The end result for his professional debut was fifth overall.

Jake Weimer had a decent start in the first moto, but fell right away, meaning he had to dig out from a hole he dug for himself. The second-moto result was better, but Weimer wasn’t as happy with his ride the second time out.

“I should’ve gotten a good start, but basically I let off when I shouldn’t have in the first turn, and I ended up with a not-very-good start,” Weimer said."

Weimer finished fourth overall, just in front of his rookie teammate.

After sitting out the last few rounds with an injured shoulder, Aussie Dan Reardon made his return at Millville. In the first moto, he ran around the tail end of the top 10 for most of the race, eventually finishing 11th. In the second moto, however, Reardon dropped out after an early fall tweaked his injured shoulder.

And finally, the top single moto of the day for the AMSOIL team went to Josh Grant, who grabbed third place in the opening moto. However, during the second moto, he started inside the top five, moved up to fourth, then dropped out of the race after lap six because of illness.

Still, Grant is now tied with teammate Trey Canard in the championship chase and is less than 20 points out of sixth place in points, despite missing the first five rounds. Canard is out for the remainder of the season with a broken leg.

The GEICO Powersports/AMSOIL/Honda team now heads to Delmont, Pa. this weekend for the final round of the AMA National Motocross Championship. AMSOIL is the Official Oil of the AMA Outdoor Nationals.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.