North Adams, MA (7/21/2010) - For the 7th round of the 2010 NEATV-MX Series we headed to Hurricane Hills in Clifford PA. It was the first time that we had been there, and it was an awesome facility and track. A few of the AMA Pro & Pro-am riders also made the trip which made for a full gate in both the pro & pro-am divisons.

Bobby Ross who was not feeling %100 for this race still made the long trek North & still came away with a 3-7 set to put him in 6th overall on the day in Pro-Am

Bobby Ross made the trip up from New Orleans again even though he wasn’t feeling 100%. In the first moto of Pro, while dodging the tangle up in the first corner with Miller & Haavisto, Bobby got together with Moser who spun him around. He completed the first lap near the tail end of the field which had already spread out do to multiple incidents. He would eventually make his way up to the 11th spot. In moto 2, he would dodge multiple quads in the first corner only to be pushed into a haybale in the second corner.

As he started making his charge through the field the quad started cutting out, so he backed off and saved it for the second moto of pro-am.

Caleb Schatz finished 6th place in his Pro-Am heat & 12th in Moto two to finish 9th place overall on his 450MXR ATV

In Pro-am they had to split the gate and both Bobby & Caleb where put into the 2nd heat. Bobby would get out in the 3rd position and set a good pace behind Brown & Plante to hold on to the spot to whole moto. Caleb would get out near the back of the pack, but worked his way all the way up to the 6th spot, which was great since Caleb hadn’t ridden the Polaris in over a month because he is currently leading the points in the TQRA Series. In moto 2, with a full gate of 20 Bobby & Caleb would both get out in the top half of the field and Bobby would go on to finish the moto 7th and Caleb 12th, and they finished a respectable 6th & 9th overall.

Caleb who made the trip up from Oklahoma again, also ran the Open A class, and held strong with both the locals & the series regulars. In moto one he would get off the gate 4th and was running with the front group when he would get stuck on a berm and fall back to the 9th position. He would make his way back up to 6th. In moto 2, tough luck would again strike while he was running fourth, he would get stuck on a different berm and fall towards the tail end of the field but Caleb would manage to grab a few spots back and finish 9th. He would finish the weekend 7th overall.

#33 Bruce Gaspardi

Bruce coming off of great back to back weekends, wasn’t overly comfortable with the track, he said quote “I’m gonna treat this kinda like walkin’s glen for the nascar guys, just get through the weekend with me & the quad in one piece and in the top half of the field and move on”. His first moto of the day was in 4-stroke B, and when he got to the first corner he was last, but quickly began picking riders off and moving through the field even though he wasn’t doing a few of the jumps like the elevator and he made his way up to 6th. In his next moto which was Open B, it was the same story, he was last to the first turn but made his way up to the 5th spot by the end of the race. Next moto was Production B, where he got out 2nd and ended up 3rd right with the front 2 riders. In collegeboy, he got out 2nd and that’s where he finished. So half way through his day and his plan was working pretty well.

So, after a short intermission he headed up to the line for the 2nd moto of 4-stroke B, he would get out 6th this time make his way into the 4th position keeping 3rd in his sights but just couldn’t make up enough time on the rest of the track that he was doing so he would end up 4thin the moto, and 4th overall. In Open B he would get out 4th and make his way into 2nd by the halfway point and would pressure the leader the whole race but just couldn’t make the pass and settled for 2nd place, and 2nd overall. In Production B he would pull the holeshot and lead the first lap and a half when he would get passed in the uphill woop section, he would retake the lead in the corner, do the first step up but then rolled the elevator while Cochrane jumped it, it would be a drag race into the next corner, Bruce on the outside, Brian on the inside when he would blow a tire which sent him into Bruce, throwing him over the berm and cart wheeling into the chain link fence.

Track officials would help Bruce to his feet, blood running down his arm from a cut on his shoulder and down his legs from cuts to both his knees, they would help get his quad out of the fence and he would proceed to finish the race. Beat up and bleeding he would grab a quick drink before heading back down to the gate where they were holding his moto of collegeboy, he would grab the holeshot and lead the first 2 laps before falling to 3rd, but on the last lap the leader had problems which put him into 2nd and give him the overall for the day.

#67 Paige Whipple pulled one of her famous holeshots in the Open B Class

Paige came into the weekend with a comfortable points lead in the womens class and who also didn’t feel overly comfortable with the track managed to get first moto womens holeshot and lead for a lap before being passed by Maher, but Paige didn’t let her get away, she reeled her back in and took the lead back and went on to take the win. In the Open B class she currently sits in the 5th spot after missing the first couple rounds of the class. She would grab the holeshot but shortly after would start to fall back but managed to finish a respectable 8th.

In moto 2 of the womens class, it would be angie getting the holeshot with Paige in tow. Paige again would keep angie in her sights and would reel her in and make the pass taking the lead and going on to take the win and the overall for the day. In the Open B class, she would get yet another holeshot on the day and but would again fade due to being uncomfortable on the track, and would finish 11th in the moto and overall.

Nathaniel Whipple made his debut on a Polaris 450MXR ATV at Hurricane Hills after his primary Suzuki ATV had some issues before the race weekend

For this weekend Paige’s brother Nathaniel’s Suzuki was out of commission so we let him use the Polaris, and with only a couple days of the practice on it was able to go out in his Open C class and still battle up front. In moto one he would get out 6th and make his way up to 4th by the end of the moto.

In moto 2 he would get out 4th but get pushed into Chamberland opening the door for someone to slip by, and he would end up 5th in the moto and 4th overall. So a very good weekend for only having a couple days on the machine.

Team Southside Polaris sponsors: South Side Sales, MotorsportVisionz.com, Scott USA, Fox Shox, BCS Performance, Markertek.com, Rath Racing, Dwt Racing, IdolSpeed, Goldspeed Tires, Walsh Racecraft, FMF Exhaust Systems, Budlight, OGIO, Powermadd Handguards, NGK Sparkplugs, EVS-Sports, Precision-RP, Markertek.com, Polaris Industries, Ringer’s Mechanics Gloves, Web Cams, Wiseco, Hinson Clutches, Atv’s Only UK, Acker Excavating, Paintballparken.se, Tatro Contacting, G.C. Holdings LLC, and Pink’s Salon.