| ATVA
ITP / Moose Racing
National Motocross Series
Amateur Race Report
Round #4 - Echeconnee
March 18-19, 2006
|
|
| ATVA
Motocross Nationals
Round #4 - Links |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Macon, GA – Just one week after
invading the Gatorback Cycle Park in sunny Florida,
the fastest motocross racers in the world were set to
conquer the famous Echeconnee motocross track just west
of Macon, GA for Round 4 of the ATVA National Motocross
Series, This exciting round of racing was hosted by
multi-time ATV Sport’s Peoples Choice Promoter
of the Year and former ATV pro racer Donny Banks.
Pro Am Production & Unlimited
Ater the sands of Echeconnee settled, the Pro/Am Production
class found itself in a shuffle-bop-step mode. The top
5 overall standings changed like the ever shifting ruts
of the Georgia track. Going into the 4th round of this
year’s National MX Series, the top five were as
follows: Matt White, Josh Upperman, Kory Ellis, Clay
Holmes and Cale Downen. Coming out of Round 4, White
and Upperman still retained their 1st and 2nd places,
respectively, in the overall standings but the 3rd through
5th standings saw a turn around. Taking over the third
place, Mitch Reynolds of Greenbrier, Arkansas pulled
down a 3rd place finish in the class to jump from a
7th place in the overall standings to 3rd. Ellis, who’d
held the third place in the overalls after rounds two
and three, fell to 4th in the overalls and Holmes, after
a disappointing outing at Echeconnee , fell out of the
top five to a 6th place overall position. Replacing
Holmes in the 5th spot overall was Downen. Now, if that’s
not confusing enough, get ready. These guys have just
begun to set the stage for a season long battle which
will more than likely see more turn arounds than a NASCAR
Nextel Cup Champion doing donuts on the infield of Atlanta
Motor Speedway.
|
|
| #99
Derek Fesmire made an impressive debut in the
Pro Am Production Class by running with the front
runners and finished out the day in 4th place |
#17
Rodney Gentry is getting back into the groove
after a rough start to year, he finished out the
weekend with two top 3 finishes in the Pro AM
Classes. |
If there was an affinity for the newcomer, Derik Fesmire
of Lexington, Tennessee would take to that type of liking
like a coon dog to a ham bone. At his first national since
attending Loretta’s in ’05, Feslmire and his
Tom Miller Motorsports sponsored Honda made his presence
known in the Pro/Am Production class in a not so subtle
way. Fesmire, taking on the best of the Pro/Ams at one
of the hardest tracks on the circuit to conquer, finished
4th overall at Echeconnee just behind the top three runs
of White, returning veteran racer Rodney Gentry, and Reynolds.
Gentry, as stated, a well liked and known veteran racer
who’s making his comeback after a long retirement,
gave the young guns of the Pro/Am class all they could
stand from a man who’s almost twice their age. In
Doug Gust style, Gentry relied on past experience and
race wisdom to wear the younger Pro/Am’ers down
and convincingly take the second place finish much to
their dismay and wonder. Perhaps, know they know that
it’s more than speed that counts when you’re
headed toward the front.
| |
|
#20 Josh Upperman continues to roost the competition
in the Pro AM Unlimited Class as he remains undefeated |
Unlike the Pro/Am Production class, the standings of
the Pro/Am Unlimited class didn’t shift with the
Echeconnee sands. Josh Upperman continued his dominance
with yet another top podium which put him with four
straight wins in the class and a 20 point lead over
Cale Downen who, with four straight second place finishes,
continued to grip a firm hold on second place overall.
Forty one points behind Downen and retaining his third
place position in the overalls, Clay Holmes didn’t
have the best of outings in both Pro/Am classes in Georgia.
He managed to retain his overall standing by a whisker
over hard charging Mitch Reynolds who moved into the
fourth place overall standing just eight points behind
Holmes.
Veteran & Senior
They may be known as the “Over The Hill Crew”,
the “Ben Gay Brigade”, or the “Rider’s
Rheumatism Racers”, but the veteran and senior
classes of the National MX Championships are none the
less just as competitive as the Pro/Am classes. With
racers such as Richard Slayton, Brian Giles, Brad Skelton
and Kevin Kern in the Veteran 30 Plus class, each and
every round, regardless of the terrain or weather, will
bring out the seasoned competitiveness in these vets
of ATV racing. Slayton, of Mansfield, Texas cuts no
competitor any slack what-so-ever at any event. He’s
taken across the board wins at the early rounds and
sits atop the standings stack in the class. Right behind
Slayton, Giles, an Alabama type of home-vet, consistently
challenges the class to step it up a notch or two. Sitting
in second, fourteen points behind Slayton, Giles holds
onto a 33 point lead over Skelton, a South Carolina
based vet racer, who rounds out the top three in the
overall standings in the 30 Plus class after the first
four rounds. Giving Skelton a little heat and topping
off the top four, Kern of Lithia, Florida needs one
meager point to tie Skelton and give him a run for the
podium as the series continues.
| |
|
#112 Tony Tantillo is once again on a roll in
the Senior Class as he has won the last three
races with James Perry finishing in second |
He hails from Manorville, New York. He walks, talks
and acts like a Yankee but this one stout and stamina
filled Senior 40 Plus racer from the North brings Southern
heat to the action every time he squares off against
the elders of the vet classes. Known as Tommy Tantillo,
he’s been given the name of “Tasmanian Tommy
Tantillo” by the National MX Series color announcer
David Screws and lives up to this perception each and
every time he takes to the track. After finishing third
at round one in California where he injured his wrist
and chest but got back up to drive it home, Tantillo
has taken across the slate wins in the Senior 40 Plus
class. He leads James Perry of JPMX 22 points who sits
comfortable in second in the overall standings. Behind
Perry, and way down in points, Carlos Sobenes of Miramar,
Florida holds onto the third place overall position
with 37 points.
Women ATV Racing
Billed as the “Byrd & Butler Battle-Rama”
of ITP/Moose Racing National ATV Motocross Championship
Series, Heather Byrd and Angela Butler continue to square
off in the Women's Production class as the top two ladies
in the world of ATV racing. Byrd, wife of Pro MX’er
Joe Byrd, had one heck of a run going, winning three
of the first three rounds until she got behind Butler
at Echeconnee and just couldn’t quite pull a win
out of the sandy soil. During both motos, Butler bolted
to a good start and led the entire way with Byrd struggling
to find her ride in the “Georgia Sand Box”.
After Echeconnee, Byrd still retained her #1 position
in the overall series standings with a 17 point lead
over Butler.
|
|
| #2
Angela Butler proved she still has what it takes
to win, which has given her a confidence boost.
Unfortunately, she won't be able to continue the
momentum because she will miss Budds Creek while
she goes on her Honeymoon |
#236
Alex Kirchner has really turned some heads this
year battling with the two fastest women in the
World, but after one of her best Motos on Saturday,
she broke her arm on Sunday, which will sideline
her most likely for the remainder of the year. |
Charging through the ranks and making her way to a
solid third place in the overalls, Jami Luburgh of Zanesville,
Ohio runs a few seconds behind Byrd and Butler, but,
with two top three finishes in the first four rounds
held a cushioned lead, third in the overalls, over Alex
Kirchner of Florida. Kirchner, one strong lady of racing
and showing the potential to step up her pace and run
with Byrd and Butler, took a second place finish at
the Texas round and a third place finish at the Florida
round. As fate would have it, after taking the holeshot
and leading the second moto at Echeconnee she suffered
a get off which injured her arm and early reports have
it that she will be out for the rest of the season.
Tough luck for a lady from Florida who could have possibly
made the Women’s Production class a trio of a
struggle and given Byrd and Butler some one else to
contend with rather than each other especially with
Michelle Reiser out for atleast one round after wrecking
hard in practice.
| |
|
#26 Candace Lee won the Women's Extreme Dirt Championship
in 2005, and she is now also racing MX and doing
extremely well as she took the win at Ecechonnee
this weekend |
Women ATV racers who haven’t mastered the skills
and speed to contest the Byrds and Butlers of the Women’s
Production class have the Women’s Sport class
to set their style of competition. Topping the ranks
since round one, even though she missed the Texas round,
Adrinne Cooper of Simi Valley, California continued
to lead the points after the Echeconnee event but had
begun to feel the pressure from a Tennessee gal type
of ATV racer. Briann Stout, of Martin, TN didn’t
begin her run for a national title until the Texas round,
missing round one, but has ever since been right up
there in the mix in the top three. With a win in Texas
and a second place finish at Echeconnee, Stout narrowed
the gap between herself and Cooper in the two’s
bid for the Women’s Sport ’06 title.
Another Tennessee native and daughter of well know
ATV National doctor “Doc Ragon”, Leslie
Ragon of Milan, TN continues to give Stout and Cooper
all the tussling they can stand as she sits in third
overall only two points out of Stout’s second
place overall position. Also tossing her hat into the
Women’s Sport arena at round 3 in Florida, Candace
Lee of North Carolina took the Georgia round win in
a exhibition of “I’m here and we’re
going to race.” style of women’s racing.
Lee won the Echeconnee round over Cooper and Stout who
finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively and currently sits
fourth overall in the standings.
Youth ATV Racing
Back in 2004 when the Youth Production class was formed
by the ATVA to accommodate the newly designed OEM machines
only a handful of 13 to 15 year olds participated in
this newly offered class. The norm then was a half-dozen,
if that, racers at each event. Today, the norm is qualifiers
and last chance qualifiers. Over the past three years
this class has grown beyond all expectations. Youths
from all across the nation embraced the opportunity
to be able to race on production machines and not spend
an arm and a leg to do so. This also brought out the
best of the best pre-amateur ATV racers in the country
to test their budding skills on larger, more powerful
machines in the Youth Production (200cc 2-Stroke / 300cc
4-Stroke) class.
|
|
|
#30
Neal McGrath and #5/ Richard Lindsay lined up
side by side, and in the end Lindsay took home
the win ove McGrath as these two are in a battle
for the Championship. |
#98
Daniel Cooper had his 300EX and himself covered
with the number 23 in memory of Youth Production
Rider, Zak Griffin who lost his life in a tragic
accident at the Gatorback |
Hailing from Bradenton, Florida, Neal McGrath and his
300EX Honda have made his name an ATV Youth Production
name somewhat like Jeremy McGrath’s name in the
world of motorcycle Supercross action. McGrath leads
the overall standings with 97 points. He’s won
two rounds and placed second in another with only one
non-top five finish in his tallies. Sitting in second
place overall with one win, Ryan Anderson of Huffman,
Texas on a Yamaha trails McGrath by 31 points after
4 of 14 rounds and has his work cut out for him if he
intends to dethrone McGrath by series end. Rounding
out the top three with 61 points and one round missed,
Robert Mazey of Belle Mead, New Jersey trails Anderson
by five points. Jumping into the Youth Production class
at Florida’s round three, new comer to the circuit,
Richard Lindsay of Atco, New Jersey seems poised to
push to the front. Lindsay took a second place finish
in Florida and snagged the Youth Production class win
in Georgia. He’s on the move and looks to posses
the talent to upset the egg cart as the season wears
on and the Youth Production class chase for the championship
unfolds.
|
|
|
#51
Jeffrey Dodson wins his second race in a row,
which made the trip home from Georgia to Virginia
a much more enjoyable ride |
#717
Mike Gleason is the current points leader, but
he wasn't able to work his way to the front this
weekend, which allowed Digby and Dodson to close
the gap |
If one ever wonders where it all begins with a racer
in the National ATV-MX Series they need look no further
than the 50cc Stock Limited 4 to 6 year old class. This
class is full of tiny machines, tiny racers and a mechanic’s
area full of nervous parents. Billed as the “Future
of ATV Racing”, the 50 Limited class is just as
competitive, on a respective level, to the Pros. Young
racers focus as they navigate the shortened national
tracks in their quest to conquer their fears and take
home a first place plaque. Leading the charge in the
2006 series, Mike Gleason, a Slidell, Louisiana based
mini racer, has placed first, second and third to lead
the points after four rounds on his trusty DRX race
machine. Trailing Gleason in the overall standings by
only one point and hot in the hunt for the championship,
Jordan Digby of Fulton, Mississippi and son of well
known national vendor “Big Daddy-Stan Digby”,
continues to press Gleason as they press their DRX machines
to the limits at each and every event. Running third
in the overalls to date, Jeffrey Dodson of Catlett,
Virginia needs only six points to overtake Digby and
seven to unseat Gleason. Dodson also races a DRX as
well as the mini racer who sits just outside the podium
bubble in fourth place after the Echeconnee round, Conner
Fuhman of Brighton, Michigan. With only twelve points
separating fourth from first and some highly, over tweaked
50cc machines which are apt to malfunction at any given
time, this class championship struggle has only just
begun.
|
Fighting for your
Rights
All Terrain Vehicle Association
P.O. Box 800
Pickerington, OH 43147-0800 |
|
