Pleasure Riders is tucked away on the Illinois and Indiana state line and is primarily known for holding District 17 and 15 hillclimb events, but they also have a top notch motocross track. Riders filled the gates for their first motocross race of the year. After a few days of rain, the track crew added a bunch of sawdust and worked up the track, which kept the turns nice and soft for race day, making for exciting passes and great racing action. Pleasure Riders’ next motocross event is July 31st. Also this year, Pleasure Riders will be hosting a points paying fair race at the Georgetown Fairgrounds on August 11th. 

Eleven riders took to the track for fast-paced racing action in 125B. In moto one, Matthew Guderjan started with a holeshot followed by Tyler Brock and Kenneth Honn. John Gocken and Richard Vaughn piled up in the mud after the first double. Guderjan looked to have the moto win in his pocket, but Brock and Ted Rogers turned it up on the last lap. Brock crossed the finish line first, with Guderjan and Rogers right behind. Second moto, Brock had the early lead with Guderjan, Rogers, and John Gocken in tow. Rogers picked off Gudjeran in the first lap to move into second, and then set his sights on Brock. But Brock handed it over without a challenge when he went down in a rutted turn, moving Rogers into the lead. Rogers picked up the moto win and overall with a 3-1 finish, with Brock (1-3), Guderjan (2-4), Gocken (5-2), and Joel Conley (7-6) completing the top five.   

In 65 Junior, Keeze Carver started moto one in the lead with Zach Loehr and Conner Robinson in tow. Loehr went down in lap one, moving Robinson and Luke Kinkade into second and third. Carver lead wire-to-wire, while Loehr rallied to finish second followed by Skyler Sabo in third. In moto two, Loehr had the holeshot and crossed the finish line out front for the overall (2-1). Carver (1-3) went down mid-moto but still finished second overall and Robinson (4-2) finished third. 

In +25A, Bob Gardner rounded turn one out front followed by Andrew Brown. As they completed the first lap, Brown went down in a muddy turn, moving Matthew Burrell into second. Burrell went to work on Gardner and made an aggressive pass into the lead in the muddy section after the finish line. Gardner settled for second after the pass while Burrell picked up the moto win. In the second moto, Brown had the holeshot while Gardner went down in the start. Brown lead from start to finish, but it wasn’t enough for the overall. Burrell’s second place moto finish, despite going down in a turn mid-race, carded the overall win. Burrell also used consistency to earn the +30A overall with 2-1 moto finishes edging out Chad Dalton (1-2). 

Nathan Campbell started the first 85 Junior moto out front, but Dakota Blakeney turned it up and moved into the lead on the first lap. Campbell fought back to retake the lead on lap two attacking on the big tabletop and double into a turn. Campbell opened up a lead, while Blakeney and Trevor Lawrence battled for second, with Blakeney getting the edge. In the second moto, Lawrence picked up the holeshot with Campbell in chase. Lawrence held the lead, but gave it over to Campbell on lap three. Campbell carded another win for the overall (1-1), with Lawrence (3-2) and Blakeney (2-3) rounding out the top three. Most of the 85 Junior racers also completed in the Mini 1 class, with Campbell (1-1) taking the win, followed by Lawrence (2-2) and Quentin Jones (3-4).  

In the Women’s class, Nikki Duranczyk picked up the first moto holeshot and pulled a little each lap on the way to victory. Megan Jordan and Kalee Meyer rounded out the top three. In the second moto, the Women’s class dropped with the Mini 1 class, and Duranczyk rounded the first turn out front again, but this time Jordan was on a mission. Jordan closed the gap on Duranczyk towards the end of the moto and the two crossed the finish line within bike lengths of one another, with Duranczyk getting the edge. 

The 50 riders had a tough time with the deep and soft rutted sections of the track. In the first moto, 50 Senior rider Keeze Carver rode a solid race for the win, but behind him there were yellow flags everywhere as the small bikes tired to navigate the track. Second moto had better track conditions, and Carver (1-1) collected another win for the 50 Senior overall, followed by Bradlee Williams (2-4) and Bryce Ivey (4-3). In 50 Junior, Braden Meyer (1-1), Jonathan Mandelke (2-2), and Chase Sexton (4-3) rounded out the podium. 

Pleasure Riders is the home track for Danville’s Damon Duitsman, and it showed as he was on the gas in practice. Duitsman grabbed the holeshot in the first 250B moto and turned blazing fast laps on his way to victory. But an ankle injury suffered in the first moto of 14-24 ended his day early. 

With the track soft in a few sections, 125C lived up to its reputation as an exciting class. In moto one, John Buhs piloted his Kawasaki to the holeshot followed by Wade Frerichs, Donald Hayes, and Todd Schull. But in the first rutted section of the track and downhill jump, Buhs, Frerichs, and Schull all went down, moving Hayes, Derek Bassett and Matt Bristle into the top three. Hayes was on the gas and had a big enough lead that he went down on the last lap in a soft turn and still won the moto, followed by Bristle and Bassett.