Parts Plus / Nitro Fish' Dalton Millican Aonia Pass MX Race Report
AMA Pro ATV Motocross – Round 1 – Aonia Pass MX – Washington, GA

Millican, the reigning 450A National Champion has moved up to the ultra competitive Pro-Am Classes for 2012. The Team came into the weekend with a new major sponsor in Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear and new equipment to get the job done. The weekend proved to be a competition lesson for Dalton, 19 year old son of NHRA Top Fuel racer Clay Millican, that sometimes no matter how much training and how much work is done to your equipment in preparation for an event, things happen.

Things started to happen right away for Millican with initial mechanical issues that forced the team to go to a back up motor for timed qualifying, which allowed him to complete the final session of timed qualifying in 12th spot. When the gate dropped on Moto1 of the Pro Am Production class, Millican was battling mid pack when a water pump failure caused the bike to overheat, ending his run in Moto1.

The Nitro Fish Team scrambled to get the bike ready for Moto2 with yet another motor change. With the bike ready, Millican had to start from the far outside gate, as a result of not finishing Moto1. Making the best of a bad starting spot, by the time the field got to the first turn, Millican had advanced to the 16th spot. As the race developed he made a steady run up through the field, eventually finishing the race in 9th place.

“This was not the way we were planning on starting the season with this many weird mechanical issues, but these things are just part of it. I was amazed at the never quit attitude of the team, in getting the bike fixed no matter what was wrong. Along with our mechanic Bill Micke, we had some big time players working on this bike. It was awesome seeing Micah MacDonough of Custom Axis and Brandon Lamey of Dasa Racing, thrashing with Bill to make sure we were ready for Moto2. It was tough getting a good start with the 20th gate pick but we had a solid finish. I know the team will get this bike all sorted out and we are going to be strong at the next race.” Millican said.

Millican noted, “I feel so fortunate and grateful to several people that are participating in our program, Mark Pickens of MPE Motorsports, Kenny Koretsky and Nitro Fish, Parts Plus, Jeff Maxey of Maximum Cycle, Jeff at Cernics, Mike and Nate Walsh of Walsh Race Craft, Micah MacDonough and Adam Lambert of Custom Axis, Dan and Brandon at Dasa Racing, Neil Cowman of Hoosier Racing Tire, Wayne Hinson at Hinson Racing, Jen Rath of Rath Racing, Ian Harris at SSI Decals, Jason Rueckert of VP Racing Fuels, Bob Harris of K&N Filters, Dan Fisher of Lonestar Racing, Chris Harris of Fly Racing, Gary Meier of JE Pistons, Laurie Dunlap at WebCams, Larry Mills at DP Brakes, Colleen Asch at Asterisk, Kyle Sugiyama at KG, Bill at Quad Tech, Scott at Cometic Gasket, JoJo at Sidi and Ryan at Works Connection.” He added, “The fact that we were able to salvage a decent result last weekend and that we’ll be ready at our next event is because of these individuals, and companies and I can’t thank them enough.”

Millican’s next event will be at Muddy Creek Raceway in Blountville, TN, May 5-6.