| ATVA
SuperMoto Grand Championship
State Fairgrounds Music City Motorplex Nashville,
TN - October 15, 2006
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| NASMOTO
Grand Championship - Links |
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Nashville, TN - The recently rescheduled
NASMOTO pro and amateur ATVA Supermoto Grand Championships
took place on Sunday, October 15th at the State Fairgrounds
Music City Motorplex in Nashville, Tennessee as part
of “X'treme Cycle Jam '06”, The event was
pulled from the schedule of Troy Lee's "Duel at
the Docks" AMA Supermoto Final weekend at the Queen
Mary in Long Beach (which is scheduled to run later
this month). The controversial rescheduling followed
threats by Honda to pull their sponsorship dollars from
the event if ATVs were allowed to participate on the
partially paved course.
"There were some insurance liability issues with
regard to running ATVs at the Queen Mary," said
NASMOTO VP Ted Baker. "Although the venue change
has inconvenienced some racers - and believe me, we
feel badly about that - we are nonetheless fortunate
to be able to wrap up the ATV season on an incredible
track in Nashville."
The upside to holding the ATV final in conjunction with
the “X'treme Cycle Jam '06” was the great
course, which was shared with AMA Supermoto stars like
Doug Henry, & Cary Hart. The downside was a non-existent
crowd, and low racer turnout. Despite the drama, some
very serious contenders showed up to do battle for the
national pro and amateur titles, and surprisingly almost
half of them commuted from the West Coast.
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| Zac
Willet heats up his tires before hitting the asphalt
and big air metal ramp jumps
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Representing the East Coast in the pro class were series
front-runner Zac Willett (Kellogg’s/ LSR/ Krank
It/ Media Allstars/ Duro Tires), Gray Parker (TMM),
& Erik Jennings. The West side (insert silly, crackery,
“W” hand gesture) was Nic Granlund, Jason
Anderson (Pin It Motorsports, KTM/ NGR/ APR/ Texiera
Tech), and Joe Arrowsmith (LRD, LTP, FullBore, Quad
Tech). During the morning practice session two serious
racers stood out as threats to take home the Championship,
and as luck would have it they were from opposite coasts,
Nic Granlund and Zac Willett set the stage for an East
vs. West shootout. As luck would have it, the first
50 yards of the Heat race nixed the possibility of a
showdown when Willett and Jason Anderson went into the
first turn side by side and Anderson unexplainably attempted
to turn through Zac’s machine sending him in a
spin and off course with a stalled machine. As a result
West Coaster Joe Arrowsmith put his machine out front
followed closely by the East Coast machines of Gray
Parker (who had just come off the track from a two wheeled
heat race), and Eric Jennings. The two practice standouts
were buried at the tail end of the pack in last and
second to last places. Out front Arrowsmith held off
charges by Parker, & Jennings, but a hard charging
Granlund proved too fast as he made his way by for the
Heat race win. Willett, who started the heat nearly
a full lap down managed to work his way through the
tail end of the pack, but finished well out of site
from the front-runners.
The Amateur class was an almost all East Coast affair
with the exceptions of Russell McWhorter and CJ Moore.
As the eight racer pack made it’s way through the
first turn, it was Tennessee’s Justin Pugh (TMM,
Peacemaker) who nabbed the holeshot, Missouri’s
duo of Phillip Schwartz and David East weren’t far
behind in second and third places respectively, The West
siders rounded out the top five with McWhorter looking
ready to pounce. Brandon Welp and William Key (Cycle Addicts,
Wire Nutz) brought up the back of the pack. On lap three
Schwartz made his move into first while McWhorter passed
riders at will and was up to third. Schwartz kept his
cool and the heat race win with McWhorter a strong second,
and Pugh in third. What happened next can only be described
as “Unfortunate”, with the majority of the
racers through the checkers and off the track, McWhorter
made a wrong turn and found himself facing the wrong way
on the track, it was an innocent mistake and a result
of disorientation rather than malice or irresponsibility.
McWhorter eventually found his way back to the pits where
he was summarily penalized for his lack of direction.
The Pro Main event lined up with series favorite Zac
Willett somewhere near the 190th row (third actually)
and Granlund up front on the first row (so much for
showdowns). As the green flag waved, it was Granlund,
Arrowsmith, & Anderson out front with the Eastern
contingent bringing up the rear. Granlund wasted no
time in putting his Yamaha YFZ450 out of reach from
the rest of the pack. Anderson who passed his way into
second did his best to apply pressure, but was never
a real threat to the leader. Willett in the meantime
started off last but made short work of Gray parker
and began to pressure Jennings for fourth. The battle
for fourth ate up Willett’s chances of contention
for a win or podium for that matter. At the checkers
it was Granlund with the win and the Championship. Anderson
was second followed by Arrowsmith in third. The West
siders managed to claim the entire podium making the
trip East well worth their while. Willett who had dominated
the entire NASMOTO series up to that point was the first
East Coaster finishing a strong fourth with Jennings
and Parker not far behind.
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| Jason
Anderson |
Gray
Parker |
The ATV amateur main event started off with Russell
McWhorter pulling the holeshot followed by Pugh, Schwartz,
& Key. By the time the pack made it’s way
around for the second lap McWhorter was at the back
of the pack; apparently he was black flagged for either
jumping the start, or was being penalized for his heat
race infraction, it’s still a bit unclear. Either
way he was made to sit trackside until the entire pack
made their way past, and was then allowed to re-enter
the race. Meanwhile Pugh held his inherited lead for
about as long as it takes you to read this before being
passed by Schwartz & Key. The Schwartz vs. Key battle
lasted a couple of laps before the hard charging McWhorter
was back in the mix and fighting his way towards redemption.
Pugh had a mechanical problem and pulled out midway
through the race while McWhorter took the lead and began
to stretch it. Key moved by Schwartz on the sixth or
seventh lap and the pack stayed in that order to the
white flag lap at which point Justin Atkinson moved
into third place. Washington’s McWhorter took
the checkers followed by Key, Atkinson, & Brandon
Welp. McWhorter who proved beyond a shadow of a doubt
that he was fastest was celebrating his win when he
was once again penalized and stripped of his win. Why,
is unclear to me and to be honest, seemed quite unfair.
But, I’m no referee and as this was my first ATV
Supermoto event I’m not well versed in the rules.
As a result, the likeable, and extremely fast William
Key (Cycle Addicts, Wire Nutz) took home the win and
the Championship.
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| William
Key |
Russell
McWhorter |
ATV Supermoto can best be described as a niche within
a niche, but it’s apparently (and rightfully so)
here to stay. The ATVs seem better suited for the tracks
than dirtbikes and often set way faster lap times. Supermoto
may just do what TT racing has never been able to do;
break into the mainstream.
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(Left
to Right) Nic Granlund, Joe Arrowsmith, Jason
Anderson |
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Finish |
Name |
Location |
Model |
1 |
Niclas Granlund |
Las Vegas, NV |
YFZ |
2 |
Jason Anderson |
Dublin, CA |
YFZ |
3 |
Joe Arrowsmith |
Red Bluff, CA |
TRX |
4 |
Zac Willett |
Henderson, KY |
TRX |
5 |
Eric Jennings |
New York |
LTR |
6 |
Gray Parker |
Humboldt, TN |
TRX |
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Finish |
Name |
Location |
Model |
1 |
William Key |
Monroe, NY |
LTR |
2 |
Justin Atkinson |
Centerville, TN |
TRX |
3 |
Brandon Welp |
Ferdinand, IN |
YFZ |
4 |
Phillip Schwartz |
Warsaw, MO |
YFZ |
5 |
Russell McWhorter |
Olympia, WA |
YFZ |
6 |
C.J. Moore |
Pahrump, NV |
ATK |
7 |
David East |
Jefferson City, MO |
YFZ |
8 |
Justin Pugh |
Jackson, TN |
YFZ |
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www.nasmoto.com
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Scarborough, Ontario
Canada, M1B 4T4
416-907-6817
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