Glen Helen Opener - Exciting start to the season for Yoshimura!
Chino, CA (2/4/06) - Team Suzuki/Yoshimura
ATV started the season with a mixed result today. Perennial
crowd favorite and ATV racing legend "Digger"
Doug Gust put the all-new Suzuki QuadRacer LT- R450 on
the box with a 3rd place finish. Teammate Jeremiah Jones
suffered bad luck though and was forced to take a back
seat.
In the first race of the day both Jeremiah and Doug
gated well and were running at the front of the pack.
Going into a packed corner, virtually all of the leaders
came together causing a large melee. Another rider drilled
Jones right in the rear axle/swingarm area. Jeremiah
and several other riders ended up on the ground and
scrambling for their machines.
Jones ended up climbing back on and up to an eventual
14th place finish for moto-one while Gust finished 4th.
In between motos the bikes were gone over and prepped
for moto-two. But what no one noticed was that the impact
on Jeremiahs Quad had been so severe, it had bent his
swingarm.
Moto-two saw Gust get a good start and start the moto
in 3rd. Jeremiah meantime was further back having been
pinched coming off the gate. Jeremiah was on a mission
and started climbing through the pack. Just past the
halfway point he was up to second place and starting
to close in on the leaders when the rear suspension
broke on his quad. The bent swingarm had created a bind
that after half the moto finally let loose. A dejected
Jones limped back to the pits. It took the crew the
better part of two hours and a lot of measuring to finally
figure out what happened. Although imperceptible to
the naked eye, when the bike was placed on a chassis
jog, the swingarm was indeed bent to the side by almost
an inch!
When asked what could be done to prevent a future occurrence
of this happening again, team manager Wayne Hinson said.
"Nothing really, it's just one of those racing deals.
It takes about an hour to jig the frame up and get the
measurements. There isn't enough time in between races
to do it. There's no way to prevent it either, you get
a 400 pound quad wide open in 4th gear hitting your swingarm
and there's nothing on God's green earth is going to keep
it from getting bent!"
On balance Wayne was happy with the outcome of the
race. "I found out that we are very competitive
today. We had some bad luck, but this new bike is really
fast. I think we are going to win a lot of races this
year and be in serious contention for the title. I've
never brought a brand new quad to a race and been this
dialed in so quickly. The LT-R450 is unreal."
Gust was philosophical after the event, "I had
trouble getting my head into the race today," the
Wisconsin native said, "I didn't really feel 100%
for some reason so I tried to ride smart. It paid off
in the end. I'll go into Texas with good points and
we'll whip 'em out there hopefully."
Watch for the Jones and Gust show to put their LT-R's
up front in Texas as the series hits round two.
Joe Byrd ended up winning the race. The Yoshimura supported
rider went 2-1 for the win
1 Hon Joe Byrd Union City, TN*
2 Hon John Natalie Houtzdale, PA
3 Suz Doug Gust Salem, WI
4 Hon Keith Little Russellville, AL
5 Hon Joe Haavisto New Ipsmith, NH
6 Hon Travis Cain Mckinleyville, CA
7 Yam Jason Luburgh Zanesville, OH
8 Yam Jason Dunkleberger Trevorton, PA
9 Hon Chad Wienen Galena, IL
10 Hon Jeremy Lawson Battlelewn, KY*
16 Suz Jeremiah Jones Bowling Green, KY
*Yoshimura supported rider
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