All
Terrain Vehicle Cross Country Series
Round #11- Diamond
S Ranch XC
Graham, Texas
Octover 22nd, 2006 |
By:
David Culpepper |
|
Amy
Lee |
What a great weekend for racing, the temperatures have
finally cooled off and on Friday night the smell of campfires
filled the air. Nothing like hanging out at the campfire
talking some pre race trash. I must start off by saying
thanks to the Swetnam Family for hosting this event. The
park has been shut down for more than 8 months due to
health problems within the family but thanks to a lot
of hard work and effort; from the Swetnam men, a great
track was born. The main track was 8.5 miles long and
had everything from fast sweeping turns to tight rock
gardens. The PeeWee track was laid out over a mild motocross
track with a small section of woods added in. There had
been some good rain showers the weekend prior to this
race so dust issues were not going to be to bad, especially
when you factored in a 15 mph wind on Sunday.
|
Heather
Best |
Saturday 12 noon it’s time to start the PeeWee
6 under race. We had 7 young riders lined up the starting
line eager to drop the hammer. Wesley Pruitt jumps out
to the early lead followed by Terry Bohanon, Jace Hardin,
Tyler McShane, and Melanie Dunn. As this race progressed
it was clear that first place was going to be between
Bohanon and Pruitt. Each of these riders lapped the
rest of the field by the halfway point. Pruitt held
the lead for the entire race until 5 turns before the
checkered flag. As the two riders exited the woods Bohanon
made a hard charging pass on Pruitt to over take the
lead. Once in the lead Bohanon was focused on the checkered
flag and could not be beat. Pruitt finished second followed
by McShane, Hardin, Dunn, Kenzi Potteiger, and McKinley
Lee. Next up were the PeeWee 8 under race. Kaden Walters
took the lead and stayed out front for the entire race
to take the victory. Braden Hardin and Cody Price duked
it out for most of the race with Price coming in with
second and Hardin in third. We only had one rider in
the PeeWee 10 under race and the winner was Broc Watkins.
Saturday 3pm, where is Porscha? The C Program race
was on the starting line waiting for me to get back
from doing some course marking back in the back section
of the track. When I got back it was about 5 minutes
after 3pm and for those who don’t know me I’m
a little anal when it comes to starting the race on
time. I quickly made a pass through the campground with
the siren to notify riders the start will happen in
10 minutes. When I got up to the starting line my wife
had told me that Porscha Knowlton had not made it to
the track yet. I told Gayle that I hated to hear that
but I couldn’t hold up starting the race for just
one rider. As I reached down to grab the flags to start
the race Porscha pulled up to the starting line. Talk
about just making it in time. Heather Best starting
off fast and showed her class the fast way around the
track. Best was the “Best” of the ladies
today and pulled away with a victory by more than four
minutes. Back in second was Knowlton, who had not ridden
the track until now. I had to stop and hold Porscha
for going too fast in the scoring chute after her first
lap but she put her head down and charged forward to
move into second place. Becca Stanley was only 20 seconds
behind Knowlton at the finish and took home third in
class. Another 30 second back was Crystal Perry followed
by Ashley Robinson, and Morgan Nichols. In the 50+ class
it was Dennis Wilson taking another victory in commanding
fashion. David Maholick was runner up followed by Mike
Nolan, Butch Troquille, and Jeff Blackwood. Mr. Blackwood
had the early lead until he decided to move a tree with
the rear wheel of his son’s quad. The contact
sent Jeff over the bars and mortally wounded the machine.
I’m glad your ok Jeff and don’t worry about
the machine, it’s not like James hasn’t
torn up any of your toys before. Lady 30+ class had
a first time winner this weekend. Amy Lee, who has been
riding better and better each race, was able to notch
her first win. Lee started off in first and pulled out
a little distance each lap to win by more than 3 minutes.
Sarah Sellers, who is leading the series in this class,
was able to finish a solid second. Third place went
to Annette Price followed by Lynne Whitehead, Dorothy
Rogers, and Mandy Jenkins. Things are getting hot in
the Youth Beginner class. Jarod Roberts and Lacey Tincher
are going to take it down to the wire for the series
championship. While those two riders are worrying about
each other Kyle Potteiger showed them both that he has
what it takes to win a race. Potteiger won this race
by 2:20 over Roberts who finished second. Third went
to Tincher who was only 20 down and fourth went to Tori
Oliver. Rounding out the top five was Trevor Enis who
was only 6 second behind Oliver at the line.
|
Lacey
Tincher |
Sunday afternoon the B Program raced and the first
class on the starting grid was the 40+ class. Larry
Gustine got the holeshot and pulled away from the rest
of the class to win by over 11 minutes. This was also
fast enough to net him 3rd overall in the B Program.
This was an outstanding ride by it’s self, but
when you consider Larry could be racing in the 50+ class
it really stands out even that much more. Way to go
Larry! With Larry out front in clean air the Open Amateur
riders were fighting through traffic trying to keep
pace. By the third lap Austen Gustine and Micah Ames
had passed all the 40+ riders and had caught up to Larry.
On the final lap Ames and Austen got pass Larry and
began to duke it out for the win. Unfortunately for
Austen another rider got upside down in a creek bottom
and while rolling their quad back over they held up
Austen long enough for Ames to pull away. Ames pulled
out the win and has set himself in position to have
a chance at the series championship in this class if
everything goes well at the final race at Caddo Point.
Dan King is the current point’s leader in class
and he finished third in this race leaving him atop
the point’s lead going into the last race. Fourth
was Tim Clanton, and fifth was Eddie Tincher. I believe
this was the first race on a quad for Eddie. In the
4-Stroke Amateur class it was Big P. Enis who pulled
off the win. Things didn’t look so good on the
start for Phil but he managed to work his way through
the field to take over the lead and the victory on the
last lap of the race. Taylor Pierce looked to be off
to great start but had problems in the middle of the
race and dropped back to 5th with only one lap to go.
Somehow Pierce managed to move all the way back up to
second by time he caught the checkered flag. Things
didn’t go as well for Marty Buchanan who lead
the entire race until the last lap when bad luck forced
him back to fifth. David Maholick finished third and
Erik Strange fourth. In the 45+ class Gary Davis made
a showing to nail down the championship in winning fashion.
Ken Watkins finished second for the day followed by
Scott “Goggles” Robinson, and Dennis Wilson.
Seems like there was a story floating around camp about
Davis and Phil’s dog but I’m not sure if
I’ve got all the facts straight. Maybe more on
this topic later? Clint Yount went wire to wire with
a win in the Youth class. Garrett Day kept Yount honest
but didn’t have enough to challenge for the lead.
Third went to Cody Ames, fourth Travis Brown and fifth
Jeremy Best. These guys have been racing hard all year
and as a result there has been a big improvement in
their racing abilities. The UTE class saw the return
of Ron Allen, which was good for Ron but not so good
for the rest of the class. Allen was the only 4x4 that
got 4 laps in, the overall winner in the B Program Micah
Ames lapped all the rest of the class. Mike Roger who
normally races in this class had to sit this one out
after doing a little Prairie 4x4 surgery on Saturday
during practice. Something about a creek and going in
way to hot and hitting the eject button etc etc etc
sending Mike to the ER room for a laceration to the
leg. On a better note, how about Gabe Jones, second
place in class. I guess your brother is not the only
one who brings home the hardware! Danny Price finished
third followed by David Dillard, and David Lee.
Sunday morning top 10 in the A Program Overall was
as follows: Shawn Hess, Garrett Oliver, Austin Aldridge,
Kyle Porter, Ethan Jones, Josh Robinson, Chase Honeycutt,
Gaylon Knowlton, Glenn Hess, and Josh Hahne. Just a
little reminder, there were several riders in the A
Program that were stopped and held by scoring for traveling
through the scorring chute too fast.
The final race of the 2006 Series will be held Nov
12 at Caddo Point in Greenville Texas. This is the same
location that the 12 Hours of ATV America was held and
we will be racing the same course. See ya there………….
www.atvccs.com
200 Sharon Kay Drive
Longview, Texas 75604
903 295-0761
|