FERNLEY - The Sierra Motocross series began its spring series here at this sandy track on a cold Sunday. Despite a cool, gray day and lower than expected rider count, the action on the track was as hot as ever.

After taking the 250/450 final pro moto, winner Taylor Bittner said, "Nate and Harvey are really good riders so I just got off the hole shot, rode my own race and came out on top. The track is awesome right now and it's pretty rough."

Bittner's second moto was not cakewalk. Even though he got the hole shot, Nate Tiearney and Aron Harvey were in hot pursuit.

In fact at one time, Tiearney closed the gap to less then a second, but he began to fade a bit around the halfway point. That put him into the clutches of Harvey, who finally took second.

In those final laps, Harvey just couldn't close the gap and Bittner stormed off to claim the day's overall victory.

Harvey, who was hurt this summer while racing in Canada, is on a comeback from those injuries. He rode in two classes and swept the 125/250 pro motos.

Unlike Bittner, things were all Harvey's way as he showed the pack his heels right after the gate dropped. In both motos, everyone else was racing for second.

"I've been back for a while and just trying to work on my speed," he said. "I feel like I'm getting faster so it's going good. This is just a practice to come out and have fun with my buddies."

Harvey has the distinction of being a two-time Canadian champion and is working on conditioning for the up coming summer campaign.

"I signed with Toyota, Yamaha, Red Bull and Black Foot again for '09 and I'll be going up there at the end of May," he said. "I'll be around for the local stuff and probably be down in California a lot and I'll probably to the first couple of Outdoor Nationals down there."

Harvey allowed that, while he's good at things like Arenacross, he doesn't know if he'll compete in the event here in Reno.

The only other pro winner was Willy Heiss, who took the 30+ honors for the day.

This season Sierra MX has made a place for those that want to race their 2-stroke bikes. The 2-Smoker class is for fun and Christian Huber scored the division's first victory.

On the veteran side, Dave Shelton was the 50+ winner but in his final moto, he was chased by the Women's victor Shami Potratz, who was closing on him during the final laps. Behind Potratz her niece, Hope Stillmock ended up fifth, not bad for a 12-year-old.

The "Iron Man" award, had there been one, would probably have gone to Christian Huber. He scored victories in four different classes, which meant a lot of high-speed riding around this sandy circuit.

Two younger riders each scored double wins as Austin Walton, in 65cc Intermediate and Junior, and Dean Mannschreck topped 85 Junior and Supermini.

All during the day there was some intense competition as many riders staged side-by-side or nose-to-tail duels for positions. And the weather, that started getting worse, didn't seem to faze any of the riders.

While the medics did check on a few riders, most of them only suffered bruises. Unfortunately, during the final moto of the day one rider was in enough pain to earn himself a ride to the hospital to be checked.

•Now local racing takes a week off until the final weekend of February. That's when the Arenacross series, now taking the name of Arenocross, returns to the Livestock Events Center.

The pros will race on Friday and Saturday evenings, beginning at 7:30 p.m. while Sunday is amateur day with action beginning around 10:30 that morning.

OTHER RACING NEWS

•NASCAR'S Nevada trio began its racing year at the Daytona International Speedway in a three-day long spectacle of speed.

Kyle Busch came from 19th to finish second in Friday's Camping World Truck race, while Sparks native T.J. Bell, who ran as high as ninth, finished 11th in that race. On Saturday, in the Nationwide event, Busch went for the win but had to settle for fourth as Brendan Gaughan ended up 16th after starting 35th.

On Sunday the Daytona 500 was shortened by rain and Kurt Busch finished 10th while Kyle was involved in an accident, which dropped to him to 41st.

RESULTS

Fernley Motocross Track - Feb. 15

Sierra Motocross Racing Association - Round 1

65cc - (Jr.) 1. Austin Johnson, 2. Trent Cocking, 3. Blayde Jones, 4. Mason Olson, 5. Tony Giusti

- (Intr.) 1. Austin Walton

- (Open) 1. Austin Walton, 2. Austin Johnson, 3. Mason Olson, 4. Blayde Jones, 5. Tony Giusti

85cc - (Beg.) 1. Riley Nebille, 2. Blayde Jones, 3. Trent Cocking, 4. Tony Giusti, 5. John Bussard

- (Jr.) 1. Dean Mannschreck, 2. Austin Nelson, 3. Zach Zito, 4. Jorge Albarran, 5. Eddie Gelineau

- (Intr.) 1. Zach Clauser

Supermini Open - 1. Dean Mannschreck, 2. Zach Zito, 3. Kevin Novotney, 4. Caleb Frandsen, 5. Robert Cord

Women - 1. Shami Potratz, 2. Danielle Rosequisy, 3. Leslie Pollen, 4. Susan Smith, 5. Hope Stillmock

20+ - (Beg.) 1. Jeff Jaramillo, 2. Mario Mandera, 3. Kellen Cracraft, 4. Frenando Mandera, 5. Kevin Hlade

- (Jr.) 1. Forest Heston, 2. Chad Olson, 3. Scott chick, 4. Sam Glaster, 5. Dustin Gregg

- (Intr.) 1. Brian Kuelper, 2. Mikey Chick, 3. Kyle Fye, 4. Leo Glaster, 5. Kenny Fye

30+ - (Beg.) 1. Brian Orr, 2. Keuy Hilbert, 3. Frank Homen, 4. Josha Phillips, 5. Kevin Hlade

- (Jr.) 1. David Brown, 2. Harry Trainor, 3. Micheal McGill, 4. Bryan Hammond, 5. Ernest Gonzales.

- (Intr.) 1. Brian Kuelper, 2. Paul Beyer, 3. Chad Olson, 4. Richard Mannschreck

- (Exp.) 1. Tony Fagundes

- (Pro.) 1. Willy Heiss, 2. Chris Ponsock

40+ - (Jr.) 1. Carl Lucas, 2. David Huggans, 3. Chris Duran, 4. James Lamonte, 5. Brian Wagoner

- (Intr.) 1. Max Brokaw, 2. Rick Lehrer, 3. Scott Chick, 4. Richard Mannschreck, 5. Harry Trainor

- (Exp.) 1. Dave Shelton

50+ - 1. Dave Shelton, 2. George Haas, 3. Patrick Fye

125/250 - (Beg.) 1. Colton Dobson, 2. Frank Homen, 3. Chris Chick, 4. Kevin Novotney, 5. Hunter Ferguson

- (Jr.) 1. Korie Haas, 2. Bobby Morello, 3. Preston Joy, 4. Hunter Kelly, 5. Jamie Eisemann

- (Intr.) 1. Christian A. Huber, 2. Anthony Walsh, 3. Jesse Gore, 4. Willie Welch, 5. Kenny Fye

- (Pro.) 1. Aron Harvey, 2. Brian Bodden.

Schoolboy 15-24 - 1. Christian A. Huber, 2. Willie Welch, 3. Seth Johnson, 4. Tyler Jack Pfeifer, 5. Jesse Gore

2-Smoker - 1. Christian a. Huber, 2. Jeremiah Gottas, 3. Seth Johnson, 4. Willy Heiss, 5. Tyler Pizorno

250/450 - (Beg.) 1. Trevor Deruise, 2. Dylan Hansen, 3. John Phillips, 4. Tyler Arttup, 5. Zach Parker

- (Jr.) 1. Jason Chapman, 2. Tyler Pizorno, 3. John White, 4. Kale Perry, 5. Beaudean Frandsen

- (Intr.) 1. Christian A Huber, 2. Kenny Fye, 3. Tyler Jack Pfeifer, 4. Peter Attashian, 5. Robert Egesdahl

- (Pro.) 1. Taylor Bittner, 2. Aron Harvey, 3. Nate Tiearney, 4. Mitch Carvoth, 5. Donnie Weber