ATVA ITP / Moose Racing National Motocross Series Amateur Race Report Round #3 - Gatorback March 11-12, 2006

Pro Am Production & Unlimited
When you think about Pro/Am racing in the 2006 National Motocross Series you can’t help but think of the name Upperman. Sponsored by Team Motorsport Honda and managed by Pro racer Tim Farr, Josh Upperman is on fire this year. In the Pro/Am Unlimited class, Upperman has taken three straight wins and in the Pro/Am Production class has taken one win. He’s won almost every moto he’s entered and currently leads the overall points in the Pro/Am Unlimited class. In the Pro/Am Production class he sits in second overall just a few points behind class leader Pro Privateer Matt White. Baring any unforeseen incident, Upperman is by far the man to beat in both Pro/Am classes.

#727 Cale Downen has finished in runner up spot behind Josh Upperman all three rounds in the Production Unlimited Class	#79 Clay Holmes has come on strong with two top 5 finishes in Pro Am Production & Unlimited

#5 Shane Hitt returns to motocross racing for the first time since breaking his ankle while practicing in Florida for the Gatorback in 2003

Making his MX return since a nasty ankle injury back in 2004, Shane Hitt took his new Honda ride to the troops of the Pro/Am classes. Considering he’d only raced Dirt Track events after recovering from his injuries, Hitt pulled down a top five finish in the Pro/Am Unlimited class and hung within the top ten in the Pro/Am Production class. In an interview, Hitt expressed his desire to run MX in order to get himself in shape for the upcoming 2006 Extreme Dirt Track ATVA Nationals which begin in early May.

Women's Production
One would think that the women of ATV racing might take it easy every now and then and just sort of cruise during an event. Not so. Ever since the opening round of this year’s MX Nationals, both Women’s classes have seen the girls scratching and clawing their way around three of the toughest national caliber MX tracks in the United States.

#1 Heather Byrd is one a roll with the Hatrick after winning the first three races of the year in Women's Production	Florida's #141 Chelsea Madl makes her season debut at Gatorback and takes home the win over Adrinne Cooper

Required to race production machines under the rules and regulations of the production classes, the Women’s Production class continues to bring to the table the best battles of them all. 2005 National Champion, Heather Byrd and multi-time champion, Angela Butler, cranked up the heat in California during round one and turned it up even more under the blue skies and mid-eighties temperatures during round three at Gatorback Cycle Park in Florida. Butler, after suffering a crash in Texas, came back locked and loaded and pressured Byrd more so in the Florida sun than in any other round. At times it appeared that Butler would be able to take Byrd and, even though they did some occasional tire rubbing in the corners, Byrd was able to hold off Butler to capture her third win in as many rounds on the series. The overalls after round three in Florida had Byrd out front in the class standings with 90 points, Butler in second with 68 points, Michelle Reiser third with 57 points, Jami Luburgh fourth with 52 points and rounding out the top five, Alex Kichner of Port Orange, Florida with 46 points. As a note of interest, Kichner missed the opening round in California and in the last two rounds has pulled in a second and third place finish. This, by no means, is a slouchy start for her inaugural season in the National ATV MX Championships.

Production Racing

#75 Casey Martin has the points lead in the Production A Class

If you haven’t been keeping up with the new look of the National ATV MX Championship Series, you wouldn’t know that production machines by OEMs are the name of the game in 2006. Beginning back in ’05, the ATVA implemented production classes all across the board in its’ class structure and since the OEMs are producing factory ATVs that are almost race ready, the Production classes have begun to swell to enormous sizes. As an example, take the Production A class for instance. At each round of this year’s ITP/Moose Racing ATVA National Motocross Series, entries in the class have had to go through a series of qualifiers and last chance qualifiers just to make it to the main, or second moto.

Heading the pack after three of fourteen rounds, Casey Martin of Frenchburg, Kentucky has pulled together two wins and one third place finish to lead the overall standings in the class. Wisconsin’s Cory Gauthier, although he missed the Gatorback round, holds down the second place overall position. Topping off the podium sitters after the Gatorback event, Nathan Commer, a Philadelphia, Mississippi based racer, has grasped one win and one fourth place finish to sit in third overall.

#51 Matthew Butler kept the points leader #6 Chris Bowen in his sights, but wasn't able to track him down with Joseph Fairley taking the win

Youth Racing
They may be small in stature and range from four years old to fifteen years old, but, they put on one whale of a show at each and every round of the National MX Championship Series. What we’re talking about are the youth of ATV racing, the cream of the crop from all across the United States. And, like many of the Pro/Am and amateur classes, these young guns of the sport have become accustomed to going through qualifiers to make it to moto #2 on Sunday and a chance at a national win. Many a disappointed youth makes the journey to a National ATV MX race only to find themselves not able to qualify and standing on the sidelines watching his fellow racers duke it out on Sunday.

Bren Marra of Bordentown, New Jersey is not one of those youth. Facing a strong class of quite capable racers in the 90 Production Senior (12-15) class, Marra has been able to snatch two wins in the opening two rounds of this year’s series. Despite a last place finish at Gatorback, he continues to lead the class in the overall points standings. Right behind Marra and gaining steam, Jeffray Rastrelli of Palm City, Florida missed the California round but has come out swinging in the last two rounds. Rastrelli, a veteran of youth class racing at the nationals, raked in a second place finish in Texas and capped that off with a win at Gatorback. He sits within striking distance of taking over the points lead. Rastrelli holds down second place overall, a mere six points behind Marra. Rounding out the top three in the 90 Production class is a little lady from Allenton, Michigan. Snider is her name, Brittany Snider to be exact. With a couple of not so good showings, and one great third place finish, Snider trails the leaders by a few points but not enough to put her out of the running for a shot at the championship.

#7 Brittany Snider currently 3rd place in points behind Jeffray Rastrelli & Bren Marra	#28 Jeffray Rastrelli takes the win over Nicholas Moser while the points leader Bren Marra never started the second Moto

Speaking of young ladies giving the boys of the 90 Production class a run for their money. Tied with Snider and racing out of Amity, Pennsylvania, two girls with the same last name and racing as a sister team are tied with Snider for third overall after three rounds. Kristy and Kelsey Laurine made their debut on the national MX scene in ’05 and have since them made a name for themselves. The fellas knew right off the bat that these two young ladies would be a handful to handle anytime they let their 90 Production machines loose on the track. The Laurine sisters could, and more than likely will, stay in the mix all season long and don’t be surprised if one or the other, or both, jump up into the top three.

He’s about, as they say, “knee high to a grasshopper tall”, but, he’s one formidable talent in the 70cc Shifter (6-11) class. Tyler Pittman, racing for Pittman Racing out of Murray, Kentucky had his share of bad luck at Gatorback. After finishing first in California and second in Texas, Pittman suffered a bad race day under the Florida sunshine and could only pull off a sixth place finish. This forgettable day did not ruin his chase for the 70cc Shifter class title. He remained in first place overall with 70 points, but, his misfortune allowed Dyer, Indiana’s David Beer, currently in second overall, to pull to within six points of him. Although he couldn’t make it to the California round, Dillion Starks, also a Pittman Racing sponsored youth out of Murray, Kentucky, has flexed his Cobra muscle in the class. Starks took the class win in Texas and a fifth place finish in Florida and after three rounds sat in third place overall.

#8 Cam Covil was sporting his ATVriders.com Stickers as he took the win in his first race of 2006

With machines that can take any race dad to the looney bin on any given race day, the youths of the highly tweaked 70cc Production (6-11) class continue to blast their way around national MX tracks that some times seem large enough to swallow them. Heading the pack in the 70 Production class after three rounds, Hanna Sharp, another young lady of ATV racing, continues to deflate young male egos by leading the overall standings. Sharp, a Crestwood, Kentucky based Cobra racer, has amassed fifty five points in the first three rounds to lead second and third place overall position sitters; Jeremy Ledonne of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania with fifty one points and Cole Sepesi of Milan, Michigan with forty six points. Ledonne and Sepesi have both seen their share of not so cooperative race luck in the opening rounds of the ’06 season but will, beyond a shadow of a doubt, take it to Sharp in their quest to conquer her as the three set their sights on a national championship.

#969 Brandon Tittle powers his Cobra to the win in the 70cc Production Class (6-11)

And, as with the 70 Shifter class, the 70 Production class has three other youths who seem poised to turn their season around and make it a six way run for the title. Brandon Tittle, after knocking off a third place finish at Gatorback in the Shifter class, took the win in the Production class with Samantha Cheetham of Bradenton, Florida finishing second and Dakota Richardson of Monroe, Georgia slipping into the third spot. Even though these three range from fourteen to twenty points behind the leaders, there still remain enough rounds in the 2006 ITP/Moose Racing ATVA National MX Championship Series for the 70cc Production class to become one of a topsey-turney nature with who knows who on top when all is said and done.

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