AMX Races Held Under Fair Lights

The Grandstands at the Phillips County Fair were packed for the AMX Racing and Crash for Cash events on Saturday, August 7, in Dodson.

The AMX Super event was won by Willie Bice of Plentywood, who had never raced at the Dodson Track before. Bice edged out Great Falls' Dustin McKinney who had previously won at the P.C. Fair for four straight years.

Bice said that he had raced with McKinney and was able to read his moves. McKinney had led in the event for the first four laps before he had a steering issue pull him off track.

Bice, who was driving a 450-horsepower 1976 Malibu capitalized on the issue, grabbed the lead, and fought hard to keep McKinney from passing him for the rest of the race.

Bice, who is currently in second place in the Eastern Circuit, enjoyed the P.C. Fair atmosphere.

"The crowd was awesome," Bice said. "The track was a lot of fun, the crowd was cheering the whole time, and it was a great time."

Bice has been racing for 15 years, but he will remember the Dodson AMX Track for one very important reason.

"This was my first win ever," Bice said. "It feels awesome. I got out of the car and I was shaking. I will be back next year."

The Crash for Cash was won by Havre's Ryan Erickson. He was asked about his approach to the event after his victory.

"Stay calm, stay aggressive, use the (rear), stay calm, and hit them in vital spots," Erickson said.

Erickson plowed an opponent past the berm and almost into the gate, causing the judges to stop the championship, to make sure that no one in the crowd was injured.

"I was a little scared and thought I hurt somebody over there," Erickson said.

Erickson drove a 1985 Ford LTD Wagon, which he shaped into a sedan, or what he calls a "sedagon,". A wagon that he has competed in three times over his career and is undefeated in. The other wins came in Kalispell and Great Falls in previous years.

"It sits pretty low and it's pretty lethal to those cars," Erickson said.

Erickson was appreciative to his pit crew and said that he and all of the competitors were good friends.

"In the end, win or lose, it's about having a good time," Erickson said.

He said that the P.C. Fair is always an excellent show, though he hadn't competed at the event in ten years.

"It was a good time and they did an excellent job putting it on," Erickson said.

Second place in the championship went to Johnny Austin, and third place went to Garrett Powell.

AMX Race-By-Race by Millie Kindle

Stock Heat 1 winner was Jeremy Jessen of Grass Range, Stock Heat 2 winner was Justin Lamb of Malta, Stock Heat 3 winner was Seth Hamilton of Havre, and Stock Heat 4 winner was Bobby Vanek of Cascade.

Super / Mods Heat 1 winner was Willie Bice of Plentywood.

D-Main race winner Logan Kent of Malta, 2nd place Cody Monfils of Lewistown, and 3rd place to Jaden Keeling of Havre. 1st place Logan bumped up to C Main.

C-Main winner was Gage Abrahamson of Malta, 2nd place was Tyson Jones of Malta, and 3rd place was Logan Kent of Malta. 1st place Gage declined to bump up so 2nd place Tyson Jones bumped up to B Main.

B-Main winner was Tony Bibeau of Havre, 2nd place was Frank Kindle of Malta, and 3rd place was Austin Jaynes of Great Falls. 1st place Tony Bibeau declined to bump up, 2nd place Frank Kindle bumped up, and as two were allowed to bump up 3rd place Austin Jaynes bumped up as well.

A-Main winner was Seth Hamilton of Havre, 2nd place was Bobby Vanek of Cascade, 3rd place was Anthony Jaynes of Tracy, 4th place was Frank Kindle of Malta, and 5th place was Jeremy Jessen of Grass Range.

Super /Mods winner was Willie Bice of Plentywood, 2nd place was Dustin McKinney of Great Falls, 3rd place was Nick Novak of Lewistown, and 4th place was Travis Anderson of Dodson.

Due to time issues, there were no powderpuff or pitman races, though there would have been 6 -10 powderpuff drivers and the same for pitman.

We saw several new first-time drivers and new to the track drivers this year included are Logan Kent, Willie Bice, Jalen Lamb, Jaden Keeling and Mike Katterman.