Pat Brown AMA ATV Open Invitational Champion Interview
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When you took the checkered flag and knew you had the first Pro win of your career, how exciting was that for you?
It was just awesome! I was screaming and pumping my fists…head butting Paul. It was just a great feeling! I felt like I had it that last lap, but I never settled in at all, I was just scared the whole time that I was going to do something stupid so when I finally got to that finish line it was a good feeling.

AMA Pro Open Winner, Pat Brown, along with his mechanic, Paul Turner(left) and father, Fred Brown (Right)

To earn a #1 plate at the AMA ATV Open is that a pretty big deal for you?
Yeah, just being out here in front of this new crowd, it was great to come out here and win this race…it’s such a big race. It was an awesome race to win.

How was it racing in the AMA ATV National series this year with only a handful of top pros?
There was definitely fewer of the top guys there in the AMA series than there was in the WPSA series, but I don’t think it made the racing any less difficult. We never had a chance to pull away from each other. There was never a situation where someone who wasn’t that great got a holeshot and separated the crowd so, all those races were me, Joe (Byrd), and (Jeremy) Lawson went at it all out for 24 minutes every time. I think it made me a better racer just being able to stay right there with those guys and do that battle every weekend.

Were you happy with all the changes this year in the AMA?
It really made a big difference. Having our own personal referee to monitor over everything and it’s been so cut and dried…it’s been really good solid rules. The series got a lot better and a lot more organized this year.

You’ve also raced a few of the WPSA races…how do the two series’ compare?
The AMA is good because it’s bigger tracks; I think the national tracks are a lot better. The WPSA tracks are tighter, more like a supercross format. You race three times in one weekend, but the main is the only real race. It’s more of a sprint to because the races aren’t as long. Both series’ are really fun, but the WPSA has the TV coverage, which is great and is the reason we all want to be over there. They both have their pluses and I would race both if I could.

Since the AMA is wrapped up and one race left in the WPSA series, do you plan on heading out there for the last race?
I haven’t made up my mind if I’m going to do that one yet or not. There’s also GNCC that weekend that I would like to do to.

After the Pro ATV Open this weekend, what are your thoughts about ATV’s attending six rounds of the Motocross Nationals and having six rounds of the regular ATV Nationals?
I think it would work out pretty good. Most of what I’ve been hearing from the dirtbike riders is good…we haven’t interfered with their track and that was really the main concern, that we were going to tear up the track since quads and dirtbikes make different lines on the track. They were able to maintain the track really good here and it worked out pretty good. It would also fill a void in their schedule and bring us out to a whole new group of people who probably never thought that 4 wheelers could do some of the stuff that we are actually doing.

There have been rumors that some of these bike guys are pretty impressed seeing you guys, especially doing that triple-double.
Yeah, I heard that Kevin Windham was just amazed that we were jumping through there. That’s cool to hear coming from a big name that we all look up to. To have him impressed by what we’re doing is awesome.

Do you think it will really open up the sport of racing by attending more of these events?
I think we really opened up a lot of eyes. A lot of these people didn’t know that quads could do this kind of stuff that we were doing out there. I had guys come up to me and say that they have been racing dirtbikes out here for years and couldn’t believe that we were jumping through this stuff, because they had never done it on a bike.

What are your plans for the off-season?
I’m going to try and do a couple of GNCC races, keep training, and really just keep practicing for next year.

Do you have any plans yet for the ’08 season?
Hopefully if it all works out, I’ll be back out there on a Blue (Yamaha) bike and we’ll be going after another championship.