Round 3 of the AMA/WMA National Motocross Championship took place this past Saturday, July 23rd, at the new Thunder Valley MX National in Lakewood, Co with Tarah Gieger taking home the overall win.The WMA racers had the honor of christening the inaugural National track as the race of the weekend. In moto one, Sherri Cruse (Yam/#774) had the advantage on the uphill start getting the holeshot just in front of Sarah Whitmore, Jessica Patterson, Kaide Garret (Yam/#14), and Tarah Geiger. Cruse led for half a lap before crashing in a deeply rutted corner with Whitmoreright on her back tire. Whitmore went down as well and lost several positions. Jessica, who came into the race with a fractured collarbone, now took over the lead with Geiger in second; Patterson slowly began stretching out her lead. By lap two, Tania Satchwell had taken over third place position with MDK's Sheena Patterson (Hon/#6) and Alisa Nix (Yam/#87) behind her. Whitmore was charging, she made it by Patterson and Nix in the corners and finished in fourth place. Jessica maintained her lead for first, Gieger second and Satchwell third.Moto two was the last race of the day. Cruse repeated her performance on the start, edging out Jessica for the holeshot. Jessica crashed immediately after that on the steep downhill that follows the first horseshoe turn. She landed hard on her back and didn't get up until the entire gate had gone by. She remounted and was back in the chase of championship points. Meanwhile, Satchwell took command of the lead being followed by Stefy Bau, Cruse, Aubriana Dunn (Yam/#120). Whitmore, and Geiger. Whitmore and Geiger began hunting down Satchwell. The two switched places several times as they passed the other racers for second and third place. With two laps to go, Geiger passed Satchwell and shortly after Whitmore did as well. Satchwell railed the outside line of the corner before the big uphill and three racers came into the horseshoe turn nearly side by side. Whitmore passed Gieger, and the three remained close. Geiger passed Whitmore back but it did not stick and at the checkers it was Whitmore in first, Geiger in second, and close behind was Satchwell for third. According to fans, it was one of the best pro (women or men) races of the year. Jessica Patterson managed to work her way up to 6th place.Gieger won the overall for the day with a 2-2, Whitmore went 4-1 for second, and third on the podium was Satchwell with a 3-3 finish. With only two races left in the series, Washougal July 30th and Steel City Sept. 3rd, the championship is tight. Patterson leads with 128 points, while Whitmore and Gieger are tied for second with 125 points.Hitachi, Z1R Helmets, Honda, Kawasaki, Scott USA, Dunlop, Alpinestars, Sick Racing, VP Fuels, Thor MX, Mirage Trailers, Pro Clean, Ready Filter and Northwest Motorsports sponsor WMA.
