Residing a mere two hours away from Sunset Ridge MX Park in Galena, Illinois is Wienen Motorsports/Yamaha/Maxxis’ Chad Wienen. This weekend Wienen’s family and friends are set to turn out in great numbers to make plenty of noise for the local hero. Wienen will be looking to contest Hetrick and return to the center of the podium on his home turf. Wienen will be looking to keep his red number plate as the series moves onto Unadilla in July.

Another rider to keep an eye on this weekend is Baldwin/Jeff Rastrelli Land Grading/Ford Brothers Racing Honda’s Jeffrey Rastrelli. After running in the number one spot at the previous round misfortune struck, and Rastrelli found himself struggling to get his ATV restarted. He ultimately finished third overall, after a moto score of 3-3, but he is looking to earn his first win of the season this Saturday.

Tbrown84 Training/CST Tires’ Thomas Brown is looking to secure his second podium finish of the season as the ATVMX Series heads to Illinois. Brown earned his first podium finish at round four in Indiana, however, he is hoping to battle at the front of the pack for his first win of the season. 

Another rider still searching for a podium finish is GennUSA Racing’s Nick Gennusa. Gennusa finished fourth overall at round three, with a third place finish in moto two, but he is still searching for that overall podium spot. Gennusa has been one of the most consistent riders throughout the last couple of seasons, however he is aiming to improve his overall standing by landing on the box this weekend.

Another Illinois native is JH Racing/Walsh Race Craft/SSi Decals’ Zachary Kaczmarzyk. This year is Kaczmarzyk’s first year as a full-time AMA Pro rider, and he has shown tremendous improvement throughout the season. Kaczmarzyk has consistently finished inside the top 10 at the first five rounds, with his best performance taking place at the previous round in Pennsylvania. Kaczmarzyk will be eager to keep his momentum rolling, and possibly battle for a podium finish in front of his hometown crowd.

GBC Motorsports/Hetrick Racing/Walsh Race Craft/Solo Pilot’s Westley Wolfe has been pulling double duty racing the ATVMX and GNCC Series, and at the beginning of the year faced a shoulder injury causing a minor setback in his racing at the next couple rounds. However, Wolfe is looking like he is back in the groove of racing and ready to battle within the top five of the AMA Pro ATV class. 

Hinson/Walsh Race Craft/Honda’s Parker Wewerka has had an up-and-down season thus far in 2018. Wewerka has been racing in the Pro class on Saturday and Pro-Am on Sunday, and currently sits eighth in the Pro class. Also racing on both Saturday and Sunday is Rockford Fosgate/Ti-Lube/Honda’s Haedyn Mickelson. As of now Mickelson is currently ranked ninth in Pro, but he holds the points lead in the Pro-Am class by six points. Both Wewerka and Mickelson will look to improve their Pro class standings as they head into this weekend’s National.

This weekend Sunset Ridge MX Park will host their eighth annual Susan G. Komen Track Walk for breast cancer awareness, which has raised $49,617 since 2011 for the Quad Cities and Memorial Affiliate. The walk will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 15, at the conclusion of the practice sessions. The cost is $25 if you register at the track, and pre-registered participants will receive a t-shirt and other "surprises." To register, please visit rider registration from 2-4 p.m. at the track.  

Saturday’s race schedule is as follows: practice at 10 a.m. followed by a timed qualifying session at 11:30 a.m. Pro motos are at 2 and 4 p.m. with an autograph session taking place at 4:30 p.m. 

For a complete schedule of the weekend’s activities, please visit the Sunset Ridge ATV National event page on the series website by clicking HERE.