2007 through my lens

[Pappy]

I have been wanting to put together a year end review of the 2007 year with pictures from events we have attended all over the east coast this year.

It may take to the end of the year to get it completed, but we still have a month to add to it so it should all work out:D

2007 started for us with really no plans of racing anything past a few locals and some fun events at our home track, Breezewood Proving Grounds. The first race of 2007 for us is usually the Hangover Harescramble, a District 7 race. It was cold, misty but a damn fun event that would kick off a year long run for me being trackside at a ton more events then I had envisioned:p Someone snapped this shot of me in January, kicking off the year in much the same manner as I will end it:cool:

btw, I am the big handsome dude with a Nikon stuck to my face;)

[Pappy]

Lucky for us, the winter was mild and we stayed busy doing ride reviews and tests on many new quads. Running around chasing the riders in January with just a sweatshirt on was a treat!

[Pappy]

February was an indoor month, and March started out much the same way, until a phone call a few days prior to the Opening round of the GNCC series. With a sick family member in a hostpital very close to the race, Cody and I packed up 2 days before the race and headed south where temps were much warmer and a needed break away from our winter work was needed!

20 hours of driving found us in Vero Beach Florida with temps in the mid 80's:D Seeing Traci Ceccos smiling face in the warm sunshine sure can do wonders for the winter blues!

[Pappy]

I caught the current champ out for a practice session as the start of the 2007 season was just a day away. Having sand hit me in the face was worth it knowing that back home temps were in the teens and snow was coming!

[Pappy]

This was my first trip to the opening round and it wont be my last. getting away was something i'd never done and I am so hooked:p

The new machines were all shiney and new.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2135/1722067284_22a1aae14e.jpg

And getting a glimpse of the factory involvement in a sport I love so much was incredible. Thinking back to the dark days of atv racing, it was a pleasure to see where the sport is headed!

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As for Cody....well...he was coming off almost 4 months of no riding due to an knee issue and with 2 days notice he was pretty nervous about racing in the Morning race with the big guys. After a practice session, he was all smiles and the butterflys were all gone..almost:devil:

[Pappy]

Bill Ballance was the victor and came out with a strong opening round win as he was on his way to try and win his 8th GNCC Championship! Little did any of us know that the season would be such a knock down drag out fight!

[Pappy]

We left Florida with every intention of heading somewhere to spend a few days before the next round, but after a lengthy discussion, Cody stated he did not feel he was ready to run the Youth Production class at tougher tracks so a decision was made. 20 hours back home to pick up a 90cc mini that he could run in the youth classes one more season. DRR had us a quad in my shop by the time we got home, and we turned back around to once again head south to Georgia.

[Pappy]

Ok, so I take full credit for forgeting to remove the throttle limiter and letting him race with only 1/2 power...:p hey theres always the next round:D

[Pappy]

GNCC Pro rider Matt Smiley walks the start as spectators find every vantage point they can:huh

[Pappy]

Support sometimes means a pitboard ..alone...in the middle of nowhere:p

[Pappy]

Round 2 saw the begining of the end for parts:p

[Pappy]

The win went to Bill Ballance after some serious rubbing on the track between him and Chris Borich, and some heated words in the pits between crews. This picture sums up the general attitude that was fast developing.

[Pappy]

With a weekend without a National, we were off to Breezewood to relax, and assemble some quads:p

[Pappy]

Getting to the track for the first time for some meant getting newly built rides tweaked for the fast approaching race season.

[Pappy]

Plenty of riding as always ensued as another weekend passed by way to fast

[Pappy]

Borichs mechanic looks over every detail as we headed into round 3 in North Carolina.

[Pappy]

The first 2 rounds can be iffy for alot of racers who dont have the funds or time off work to do that kind of travel. Steele Creek is one of my favorite tracks and the numbers on the line were looking good.

[Pappy]

I had broken my foot in 2004 and with all the walking at the races each weekend had it throbbing. I ended up shooting several laps while standing knee deep in this creek to bring some relief to my foot:p

[Pappy]

Cody had one hell of a race as we had the DRR dialed in and he was back in shape to run 110% for the entire race. A lapper cost him a top 5 this round as they tangled on the last lap:scary:

[Pappy]

Borich had it dialed in and took his first win of 2007 at round 3.

[Pappy]

Returning home and looking for a restfull day that was short lived as I had to run to get a few shots of Dunk. Had a ton of fun as usual, but man was I getting wore out:p

[Pappy]

The month of March sure was busy, finding me working in some form or another every day with no time off. I was loving every minute of it and the photography end of the deal started taking off.

[Pappy]

Cody was training harder then he ever had, knowing he could run with the leaders now that we had his DRR ripping. April came in cold but dry and he was riding the wheels off every bike and quad we have:p

We had just finished up his 400ex and back to breezewood we went for some seat time

[Pappy]

Lap after lap he got stronger and stronger by running the full size quad. he was looking forward to the next round!

[Pappy]

Between my day job, my own business and running on the weekends, Cody was going to have to do alot of wrenching on his own. For almost 3 months, he kept 3 quads and his bike in race ready form almost by himself.

[Pappy]

The following weekend we were at round 4, not one of Cody's favorites but he was ready

[Pappy]

he had a fair start and got caught up in a big bottleneck but was riding hard, making things happen and was running 5th on the last lap

[Pappy]

I gave him a big thumbs up as he headed out for the last lap....but he never made it to the checkered flag:(

[Pappy]

Wide open in a field section, a dropped piece of firewood alongside the course was kicked up by his front tire and lodged in the nerfbar, sending him over the bars. A concusion and fractured elbow ended his racing for the next 6 weeks:(

[Pappy]

It could have been worse and we were thankful it wasnt.

he would get some downtime to heal up, however we would still be running non stop as the race season continued!

[Pappy]

The next weekend found us covering the Cernics Series race at Pleasure Valley. Cody got a ton of advice from the ironman John natalie and even had lunch with Johns dad:p

[Pappy]

Cody appreciated greatly that he was only banged up after meeting with Anthony Mastracola. Anthony went down hard last year and suffered spine damage. Just chatting with Anthony made everyone think about alot of things that can go wrong with such a dangerous sport.

[Pappy]

April wasnt kind to us, but Cody had kept himself busy by putting together his Honda 90 and was itching to break it in.

[Pappy]

He felt up to breaking the new bikes cherry and took it out for a few easy laps

[Pappy]

I know it had to suck for him heading to round 6 only to watch, but his head needed some time without it getting shook non stop:p He had fun cheering on his friends at Loretta Lynns!

[Pappy]

Traci Cecco was just racking up win after win and it seemed noone could stop her

[Pappy]

I saw some pretty cool stuff and we were only at round 6:p

[Pappy]

Ballance and Borich were mixing it up and the battle for the championship was tight!!!

Round 6 saw the return of Matt Smiley to teh podium and for many, this was a huge deal knowing what Matt had dealt with for the last year and a half.

[Pappy]

I was gone so much on the weekends that my trailer became a second home:p The spring ride at breezewood was chocked full of fun and some great riding!

[Pappy]

another weekend, another race for the Cernics series.

[Pappy]

Cody wanted to run his new quad to see what it could do and he promised to take it easy:p

[Pappy]

It was pretty crazy bouncing from the warm temps in the south and then heading north for the mx races that were just getting underway

[Pappy]

One weekend in Pennslyvania, the next in Ohio for round 6 of the gncc series.

[Pappy]

Joe Borich...beastmaster:eek2:

[Pappy]

The points battle was so close that niether Ballance or Borich could afford a mistake.

the drought in the region was wreaking havoc on the racing and my poor camera gear:p

[Pappy]

inbetween the Cerics race and the GNCC, over the Memorial Day weekend, I managed to re break my foot that had been slowly healing for 2 years:mad:

so now im eating dust and hobbling around like a damn gimp:scary:

[Pappy]

The good news is that cody was back in action at round 6, the bad news is that the quad wasnt nearly set up as it should have been and he had issues all day long

[Pappy]

Once we returned home, it was busy busy busy with daily life and work and trying to dial in the quad:p

[Pappy]

then it was off to a local to see if what we did helped:p

[Pappy]

I wasnt scheduled to cover round 7 of the gncc's so we did other things, and more tweaking and testing on codys quad. once again we headed to the national confident we had the issues worked out

round 8 for me was a nightmare. my foot was killing me and they had parking spread out all over....and no pitbikes:ermm: combine that with some snowshoe security that needs a hobby and this race started out bad for us:p

[Pappy]

watching some unnamed folks take aim at rent a cops with water balloons was a surefire way to release some pent up anger:p

[Pappy]

well, we had codys quad handling well, and running strong but now he was riding it WFO and the chain wouldnt stay on it. he was running up front when it derailed and back he went.

after this race and heading into the summer break, we knew a big change was needed because a mini quad just wasnt going to withstand his riding

[Pappy]

The summer break for us doesnt really exist, as other forms of racing are still in full swing. From the tops of the WV mountains, to high in the PA mountains we were soon at an ATVA race getting more coverage for the site

[Pappy]

shooting pro mx was a big change and we loved it, but the 100 degree weather was murder:p

it was the middle of june and the seasons was only half way over:macho

[Pappy]

June was a memory and July found us in Tennessee covering another round of theATVA series.

[Pappy]

Thats right darlin', stare at the guy with the biggest lens:devil:

It was smokin hot and humid but we had a great time.

[Pappy]

We ran the entire month of July, ending it on my birthday at the Unadilla GNC. This was a great weekend as both my sons came with me and we made a weekend full of fun.

[Pappy]

that wraps up the first half of 2007, and the best is yet to come!

[spanky101]

pappy, i love when you make posts like this full of great pics! Thanks for doin it for us all!

[born2ride14]

Are you gonna keep that built trx90 for next season?If youre gonaa sell it i might be intrested

[Pappy]

we will be selling it after I have the rear shock line fixed.

[born2ride14]

pm'ed you pappy i know you dont like pm's so whats your email?

[NPelletier]

thsi is some good stuff pappy:devil: is Cody still sponsored by Robb?

[Pappy]

if he raced minis i am sure it wouldnt be an issue keeping robb as a sponsor, but running the new raptor 250 would pose some problems as i dont think robb does much on that particuliar quad. robbs a great guy, an excellent sponsor and we continue to promote him and his company(i bet i get 3 or 4 pm's a week asking about his stuff and when we take the 90 to races just to display it people go beserk...lol)

my youngest son rips on it, but he has no desire to race much and its a race quad that was built to race so it shall be, it just wont be us running it:scary: with ryan on it, its scary fast!

[NPelletier]

yeah, robb is wicked cool, ive talked to him online a bunch of times, talked to him in person, hes a really cool guy, and his kids are scary good:eek2: :D

[Ghost-Rider]

Nice pics !


I like the water balloon launcher. The cops took mine :devil:

[KXRida]

Originally posted by Ghost-Rider
Nice pics !


I like the water balloon launcher. The cops took mine :devil:

the *******s took my potato gun haha

[TWISTED DINLI]

nice pics!

[Pappy]

August was typical with high temps and tons of humidity, but we managed to get some rest in here at home.

Cody was busily riding and having fun

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Ryan had grown enough to ride his 65 better

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A trip to Breezewood now and then kept me sharp with the camera and the boys always have fun there, even though the heat was so repressive

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Polaris had given us a razor to test and I have been having fun riding it!

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August was nearing and end but we were just getting ready to start the 2 1/2 month run to close out the GNCC series

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[Pappy]

Quadfest was thrown in our schedule for a weekend of fun filled trail riding. Cody was stoked because the next GNCC would be held at this location and it gave him a chance to ride much of the terrain he would be racing on

[Pappy]

Quadfest is always a blast.

[Pappy]

Cody had so much fun riding with Pro GNCC rider Johnny G and doing the obstacle course.

[Pappy]

The fun ended abrubtly the week befor ethe GNCC race as Cody fell out of a tree and broke his tailbone. All his hard work and practice would have to be redone as he would miss that round:(

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The GNCC went well, and although we did not race it, we still did our thing getting coverage of the event
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It was a rough track to try and take pics on due to the dust and my shoe leather express wasnt in high gear
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Cody and I got a chance to just kick it with friends and he tagged along to pick up some photography tips

[Pappy]

We left the GNCC and headed to Breezewood to catch the pitbike racing and labor day ride that was happening all weekend

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back home, with no riding allowed, Cody kept busy as did the rest of us as summer started drawing to a close

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At the races he was bored to death with not being able to compete:p
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An OMA race would fill a saturday somewhere in the backwoods of Pennsylvania as another weekend found us trackside

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I was really starting to get down the lighting I wanted to use as the summer flew by.

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After 2 hours of covering the XC race, we hopped in the car and headed an hour north to catch the EDT Series
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A bad storm ended our day but not before ripping off some shots of the nations fastest TT riders
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[Pappy]

With some time off his butt:p Cody finally started healing and went back to doing anything he could to get ready for the next GNCC, however he would still miss one more as he wasnt cleared to ride by his doctor

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My youngest son is a camera ham and never misses a chance to goof off for me:p

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1111/1429441270_e32526f9f0.jpg

Ryan is also my number 1 bug collector:eek2:
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[Pappy]

Back to New York for the Unadilla GNCC

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It seemed like just a few days later I was in Yadkinville NC covering another round of the GNCC series

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I was alone for the Unadilla and Yadkinville rounds as Cody did not want to miss school if he wasnt racing. I sure missed having his help:p
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[Pappy]

Back home, Cody had a surprise for me as he was starting to really rip it up on the new Raptor 250.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1347/1492101888_986f46a36b.jpg

The quad fit him perfectly and he was wasting no time as he only had a week or so before he could get back to racing.

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From daylight to dark he rode

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[Pappy]

Powerline park was another dust fest, with some drame thrown in at the end of the Pro race. It all worked out though:p
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Cody's plan was just to finish the race and he did great on the new quad and for not riding/racing in several months

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This round would mark the end of our GNCC season as the final round was dated to run during a time when I deer hunt...and besides harlen was flying out to cover it so I finally caught some down time:p
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2371/1593378956_eabd98627f.jpg

[Pappy]

With deer hunting in full swing and racing winding down, it was cool to get a shoot with Pro MX rider Jason Dunkleberger as we head into winter

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/2045861328_27458c230e.jpg

His switch to the Honda should be interesting for next year
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That pretty much brings us to mid november, and except for working and writing articles, should end our season away from home. Lots of plans for the winter and I will keep this thread updated to round out the year. Hopefully for the next few weeks, this will be the things we shoot around here;)
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