Wienen Sweeps Motos at Sunset Ridge National

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Chad Wienen brought home his first win of the season at his home track during round five of the AMA Pro ATV MX championship at the Sunset Ridge National in Walnut, Ill. on May 3.

Wienen went 1-1 in perfect weather conditions to move into third place for the Championship. This is the first round since series leader Dustin Wimmer has been out with an injury and he drops to second in the points behind new series leader Joe Byrd, who struggled during the day with 6-19 moto scores. Warnert Racing Can-Am’s Cody Miller nabbed second followed by Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Doug Gust in third.

“I just felt really comfortable and got great starts which helped me along the entire weekend,” says Wienen. “It was just a weekend where everything came together and I don’t think anything could have gone better for me. Having my fans cheering me on made my job a lot easier.”

Chad Wienen picked up his first victory for Kawasaki.

Cody Miller was consistent on his way to a second-place finish.

Wienen was the top qualifier heading into moto one, but it was his teammate Josh Creamer that grabbed holeshot. Creamer held the lead until the third lap, when Wienen rocketed past him to take over the top spot all the way to the checkers. With more than half the race over Motoworks Can-Am’s Jeremy Lawson, who started in the middle of the pack, also passed Creamer to move into second place. The lone Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider for the weekend, Doug Gust, turned the pressure on Creamer in the last lap, but Creamer outlasted him to come in third.

After the first four riders left the inside gate pick option open in moto two, Warnert Racing Can-Am’s Cody Miller snagged it to secure a great starting position. Miller not only earned his team their first moto lead of the year, but also grabbed his first Pro holeshot ever.

“On the hot lap it really hooked up for a good line and when I came around in the start, I was like, ‘holy [cow], I’ve never been up here before, this is wild,’” Miller said of his first Pro holeshot ever. “Then I got passed four times and I started to settle down and concentrate and when the race was over, I thought there might have been a chance I was on the podium so to get second overall I couldn’t believe it.”

Wienen stayed close behind Miller in second place, with Lawson, Baldwin Honda’s Josh Upperman and Creamer following in lap one. Having a less than perfect weekend, Honda’s Joe Byrd finished sixth in moto one and stalled in the first lap of the second and did not re-enter the race.

Creamer spun out in lap two and dropped to 16th place, leaving space for Lawson to move in second place until the eighth lap when his axle broke. Creamer recovered enough to salvage eighth and securing just one spot shy of the podium in fourth overall. Upperman was able to move into second place all the way to the finish collecting fifth overall. Motoworks Can-Am’s Frenchman, Jeremie Warnia from Paris, France had a stellar weekend by moving up the pack from seventh to fourth by the moto’s end taking home sixth overall.

Yamaha’s Patrick Brown found his way back into the Top 10 after a rough start to the season by finishing seventh and tenth for a 7th overall.

Rounding out the Top 10 were the rest of the Can-Am field including Brandon Smith earning his highest overall of the season in 8th, followed by John Natalie in 9th after a stellar second moto finishing 3rd. Jeremy Lawson’s tough break relegated him to 18th for the second moto but still managing a Top 10 with 10th overall.

Kawasaki’s Cody Gibson continues his Pro-Am Production domination collecting the two moto wins for the overall followed by Cody Grant who earned consecutive 2-2 scores and Josh Williams who has improved each race this season landing him on the podium for the first time this season.

The ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross Championship continues May 23 and 24 with the Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Penn.

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