Round 3 Ballance MX April 2nd-3rd
Mark Gehring again, raced four classes at Ballance Moto-X for the third round of the AMA ATV National Championship. He ran College 16-25, Open A, 4-stroke A, and 450A with great results in all four classes. Gehring struggled with starts on the tricky cement stating gate, and left the gate 10th in the first moto of College Boy. He worked his way up to finish fourth after making some impressive passes. For the second moto, the start was a better, but the finish was the same. Gehring’s consistency paid off with a 4-4 finish for 3rd overall in the very competitive College Boy class. In the first moto of 4-stroke A, Gehring had more holeshot difficulties and was 17th place rounding the first corner. He put his head down and charged all the way back to 5th place. “Once I realized I was in last place, I knew I had some work to do. I just kept charging ahead and made some good passes and somehow ended up in 5th” Gehring said after the race. The second moto of 4-stroke A went well with a mid pack start. Gehring worked his way up to 4th place giving him a 5-4 score for 2nd overall.
Gehring also struggled the first moto of Open A class on the start. He had to settle for a 6th place in the first moto. The second moto was a different story though; Gehring got off to a 3rd place start and quickly passed second place. From there, he stayed right on the leader and on the last lap, made the pass taking the moto win. In 450A’s first moto, Gehring had a sub-par start, but worked his way into 7th place. With only a few turns to go in the 1st moto, Gehring Gehring struggled with his starts again, but and another rider came together getting tangled up, scoring his first moto win of the year made sending him back to 13th place. Gehring made up for up for it it in the second moto with a 4th place finish, giving him 9th overall. Gehring said “The first motos of this weekend didn’t go as well as I had planned, but we made a gearing change to the bike before Sunday and that really helped me out.” Gehring was satisfied with the finishes, but knew he could do better.

Round 4 Budds Creek April 16th-17th
The weather forecast going into round 4 of the AMA ATV National Championship didn’t look very good for racing, but suited Mark very well. Gehring started off Saturday with College Boy. He was out of the gate in about 8th place, and worked his way up to 4th by the end of the moto. Gehring also turned the fastest lap of the race on the last lap by over 3.5 seconds. 4-stroke and Open A classes were very similar to each other. The track conditions were almost identical because once 4-stroke A pulled off the track, Open A was already on the gate. Gehring placed 5th in 4-stroke, and 4th in Open with a flat front tire. 450A was one of the last motos of the day, and was ran in the pouring rain. Mark worked his way up to 2nd place, again turning the fastest lap of the race by 2.5 seconds on his last lap. “I don’t

really like the mud, but it suits my riding While the weather conditions weren’t great on Saturday, style really well. I am happy with how today Sunday’s racing was perfect. went.” said Gehring after the races on Saturday.
Sunday’s track conditions were perfect, and Mark’s riding showed it, even though the finishes might not have. In College Boy Gehring left the line in 5th, and only moved up one spot. This gave him a 4-4 for 3rd overall. In 4-stroke A Gehring came off the line and dove into the corner in first place. A rider behind him hit him and they got tangled up, sending the pair to the back of the pack. Gehring was determined to do good and charged back to 5th place, giving him a 5-5 score for 5th overall.

Gehring rode strong in round 4, but had some bad luck keeping him off the podium in some of his classes. His next race will be at the season opener of the New England ATV Motocross Series.
In Open class, Gehring rounded the first corner in 4th place. On the 2nd straight away, the 3rd place rider cut over and smashed into Gehring sending him flipping into mud on the side of the track. After re-mounting the quad, Gehring finished the race in 9th place. The 4-9 score gave him a 6th place overall. In 450A’s second moto, Gehring came off the line in 3rd place, passing into 2nd on the 2nd lap. From there Gehring ran down the leader but was unable to make the pass. “I began to get a little tired at the end of the 450A moto 2, but I know what I have to do to make sure I don’t get tired next race.”
Gehring heads into round 1 of the NEATV-MX series where he will run the Production A, 4-stroke A classes. He will also run Pro-am on a few occasions. Mark would like to thank My father, Can-Am, BCS Performance, Marks Motorsports, Motoworks, DWT, Fly Racing, Rath, Precision, Elka, G4 Graphics, Scott Goggles, Sixsixone, Tag Metals, One Industries, and Amsoil.