2011 AMA ATV Motocross Nationals #4 - Budds Creek - Live ATV Race Coverage

[Admin]

Leondardtown, MD - The points lead is beginning to heat up between Motoworks Can-Am teammates Chad Wienen and John Natalie as Natalie trails by a mere six points in the season standings.

Lawson put his Suzuki on the podium Wienen began the season in full swing, going four-for-four in the first two rounds while Natalie put in consecutive second place finishes behind his Can-Am teammate. By round three, Natalie figured out the key to winning involves a good holeshot and a running a steady pace as he swept both motos of the day at Ballance MX.

Other heavy hitters in the Pro class include third place points holder Josh Upperman. The Ohio rider has been putting his Baldwin Motorsports JB Racing PEP Honda on the podium by capturing consistent holeshots and maintaining the pace of the leaders throughout the race.

Then there's Jeremy Lawson and Joe Byrd, rounding out the top five in points after just three rounds of racing. Lawson put his Walsh Race Craft Fox Shox Maxxis FMF Suzuki on the podium in Kentucky two weeks ago, marking his first podium of the season. Lawson's consistency should land him many more top three finishes this year and definitely put him in the running for the championship points chase.

Lawson, Natalie and Wienen on the podiumJBR American Honda Dasa Walsh Race Craft rider Joe Byrd is no newcomer to the front of the pack, but seems to be struggling to keep his flow this year. Byrd has maintained two top five finishes and one inside the top ten, giving him fifth overall in points heading into the Motoworks Budds Creek race this weekend.

[Admin]

Racers were greeted to picture perfect weather on Friday for practice, but today, the the rain moved in over the track shortly after the first round of pro practice, and there has been periods of heavy rain showers.

Only a handfull of pros came out for the 2nd practice in the mud and rain, but rain should taper off before the 1st Moto at 1PM.

[Raptorchick]

pros are doing their parade lap now. racing will start shortly.

[Raptorchick]

pro moto one holeshot goes to john natalie

[tntauto1127]

hows the track condition after the rain or is it still raining?

[Raptorchick]

it's still wet out there

[Raptorchick]

natalie still out front, upperman in second

[JDMXKID]

Are the live results not working?

[Raptorchick]

brown in third

[Raptorchick]

natalie
upperman
brown
moore
lawson
byrd
denoble
swart***er
hetrick
heimes
wienen
clark
snapp
ven john
goodman

[Raptorchick]

lawson is all over moore

[Raptorchick]

the track is slick but there is a huge battle going on for third between brown, moore and lawson

[Raptorchick]

denoble is falling back, not sure what's up with him yet

[Raptorchick]

sorry about that, we are having some technical difficulties.

[Raptorchick]

lap seven

natalie,
brown
lawson
moore
byrd
wienen
denoble
goodman
snapp
swart***er
hetrick
clark
ven john
heimes

[Raptorchick]

upperman is closing in on natalie and the pressure is on

[Raptorchick]

big battle for fourth between lawson, moore and byrd

[Raptorchick]

natalie still holding off upperman, but upperman is not giving up

[Raptorchick]

natalie and upperman have a huge gap on third place

[Raptorchick]

goodman up to eighth

[Raptorchick]

the mud is causing a lot of vision problems for everyone

[Pacheco_450r]

come on Upperman you can do it!

[Raptorchick]

lawson closing in on brown

[Raptorchick]

white flag is out...natalie still leading

[Raptorchick]

lawson gets around moore for fourth

[Raptorchick]

joe byrd down to 12th

[Raptorchick]

natalie takes the moto one win!

[Raptorchick]

moto one final

1 natalie
2 upperman
3 brown
4 lawson
5 moore
6 wienen
7 goodman
8 denoble
9 swart***er
10 snapp
11 hetrick
12 heimes
13 byrd
14 ven john
15 clark

[THARNESS]

live scoring shows Hetrick on a Honda. Did he switch or is that just a typo.

[wnykfx]

pretty sure he switched didnt do him much good though ^^

[Raptorchick]

the track was a soupy mess out there and most riders ditched their goggles shortly into the moto so visibility was a huge issue.

Moto two could get interesting as more thunderstorms are supposed to be moving in right around the time moto two is scheduled to start.

[XC_Raptor700R]

Go John and Michelle !!! Make it a sweep !

[scottproquad]

did the 2nd moto start yet

[Raptorchick]

moto two should be getting underway in about 15 minutes

[Raptorchick]

pro moto two holeshot goes to natalie again

[Raptorchick]

goodman in second

[Raptorchick]

denoble in third challenging goodman

[Raptorchick]

natalie
goodman
denoble
moore
snapp
brown
wienen
upperman
hetrick
heimes
clark
swart***er

[Raptorchick]

lawson was midpack off the start but almost went over the bars and is now up to 4th

[mx3mom]

what happened to Lawson

[Raptorchick]

denoble up to second

[Raptorchick]

Natalie way out front

[Raptorchick]

snapp gets around lawson

[THARNESS]

No Byrd?

[Raptorchick]

natalie has a 15 second lead ahead of denoble who is still hanging on to second

[Raptorchick]

Originally posted by THARNESS
No Byrd?

no byrd...not sure why

[Raptorchick]

looks like wienen is having issues

[Raptorchick]

natalie
denoble
moore
lawson
snapp
goodman
brown
wienen
upperman
clark
swart***er
hetrick
heimes

[Raptorchick]

natalie now has a 21 second lead

[Raptorchick]

if moore can hang on to third, he will take second overall

[Raptorchick]

lawson challenging moore for third

[Raptorchick]

upperman gets around wienen

[tntauto1127]

Originally posted by Raptorchick
natalie now has a 21 second lead


GO John

[Raptorchick]

if things stay how they are, the podium will be natalie, moore and lawson

[Raptorchick]

snapp is challenging lawson

[frito]

go Travis

[Raptorchick]

lap 9

natalie
denoble
moore
lawson
snapp
goodman
brown
upperman
wienen
swart***er
clark
hetrick
heimes

[Raptorchick]

snapp and lawson battling and the rain is starting to fall again

[Raptorchick]

lawson gets around moore and now snapp is going after moore

[Raptorchick]

three laps left

[Raptorchick]

snapp gets around moore for fourth

[Raptorchick]

white flag is out

[syckNtwisted121]

WOW Wienen is WAY off the pace

[Raptorchick]

goodman and brown are battling it out

[Raptorchick]

John Natalie takes the moto two win and the overall!

[Raptorchick]

pro podium will be

1 natalie
2 lawson
3 denoble

[Raptorchick]

moto two unofficial results

1 natalie
2 denoble
3 lawson
4 snapp
5 moore
6 goodman
7 brown
8 upperman
9 wienen
10 swart***er
11 clark
12 heimes
13 hetrick

[BMW Dr.]

Originally posted by syckNtwisted121
WOW Wienen is WAY off the pace
He got tangled up in the first corner on moto 1, and like other riders.......ditched his goggles early. I could see him scrubbing his face a bunch after the moto, and after hearing his interview after the 1st, he wasn't too happy.

Didn't get to watch the pro 2nd moto, but they got it in just in time. We've got a bad storm rolling in up here....

[wppracing]

I dont know what happened to Joe Byrd the 2nd race. They did move the PRO class up some to get the race finished before another storm hit. Joe was standing in all his race gear watching the moto up on the hill close to the finish line.

[Pappy]

Byrd came to the line, then drove off to the trailer.

Pro report is up!

http://www.atvriders.com/atvracing/ama-atv-mx-racing-2011-04-race-report.html

[LT80]

Lady's and gents, this race is why we keep calling him ironman. :)

[BMW Dr.]

Forgot to mention Weinen was picking mud out of his eyes after moto 1, literally. Not sure if that played into his second moto performance or not.

Pappy, are you here? If you are, you must be all camo'd out......haven't seen ya. :)

[rpfeifer11]

It's a shame what happened to the national series.

[Pappy]

Originally posted by BMW Dr.

Pappy, are you here? If you are, you must be all camo'd out......haven't seen ya. :)

Negative, with the bad weather , there wasnt any need for me and Harlen to be there. We can only use so many shots of mud LOL!

Sounds like Natalies choice of tire sure helped!

[wnykfx]

what happened to hetrick? that new honda must not be all its cracked up to be

[Kovatch]

I could be wrong, but I think he is sick of piecing and part together the Kawi. There were a few that have been torn apart for pieces and finally was fed up with it. Not as reliable as he wanted.

New motor/handling, so it may take a little to get used to. He just switched.

[nataliesrjohn]

Hetrick will do just fine .

[LT80]

Originally posted by rpfeifer11
It's a shame what happened to the national series.

Whatcha talking about willis?

[TWISTED]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Pappy
Byrd came to the line, then drove off to the trailer.

Pro report is up!

http://www.atvriders.com/atvracing/ama-atv-mx-racing-2011-04-race-report.html [/Q


Heard from a VERY good source that Byrd was DQ'd for bringing a different bike to the line to race in the 2nd moto then he used in the 1st........ No wonder he keeps that tent all buttoned up so nobody can see what he's up to..................

[rpfeifer11]

Originally posted by LT80
Whatcha talking about willis?

The best pros going to other series. It just seems like the racing hasn't been as good as it has been in the past few years. Especially with manufacturers stopping production of 450s it is getting really bad. Honestly it is looking like it is going back to the old 250r days where the pros that can afford it run the pro class and the others go where they can get money. Don't get me wrong there are still some great racers in the national series but wienen upperman and natalie were never consistantly doing this good and without the guys who made racing so much more competitive it is pretty easy to predict who will be up front now. Just my outlook on it, but things just flat out suck for racing anymore. Our local series that had so many good tracks dropped quads and the local district races are so scattered it's pointless to go to them.

[BMW Dr.]

Originally posted by Pappy
Negative, with the bad weather , there wasnt any need for me and Harlen to be there. We can only use so many shots of mud LOL!

Indeed.....what an adventure it was on Saturday too, just walking around.

Got to meet Harlen down there was well, he jetted out Sunday as soon as he could for SC I believe (I'm lucky I remembered to put my own self in the truck to leave after this long weekend lol.....let alone what anyone around me was doing).

And.......I also ran into that 'other' photo guy as well. :mad:

[boylan300ex]

byrd was told to leave the line after the second moto parade lap by the official. someone noticed he switched bikes in between motos. you can replace the motor and any components in between motos but it must be the same bike

[boylan300ex]

Originally posted by Kovatch
I could be wrong, but I think he is sick of piecing and part together the Kawi. There were a few that have been torn apart for pieces and finally was fed up with it. Not as reliable as he wanted.

New motor/handling, so it may take a little to get used to. He just switched.

your absolutley correct too many troubles turned him away. he was off pace this weekend due to only having a few hours on the honda and not as much motor as he wanted. i have a friend who is a mini quad mechanic for Hetricks he told me personally that they can build 2 honda motors for the price of one kawi. no factory support gotta keep money in mind too

[quadboy38]

joe byrd on PEP shocks now. wonder what happend with axis.

[fastex91]

Come on Byrd are you seriously going to try to bring a different bike to the line for the second moto? That was no accident dude, you tried to cheat if thats what you did. Shame on you, you should be ashamed. :huh I use to think you were an all right guy. Disappointing!!

[the4billa]

all of the byrd comments are correct he did indeed bring a different bike to the line, its plain and simple hes a cheater in every which way, from getting away from jumping on yellow in 06 and 07 to make passes, to his mechanic having screws in his shoes to pack his gate, He is a cheater and shouldnt get the exposure he does.

[diangelo#67]

I tell you what, the pro-am race was amazing. jeff 728, mark 41 and casey 75 were on it son....those three had bumpers tied together for the entire race with 7-10 seconds on 4th.....amazing heart pounding action

[BMW Dr.]

Originally posted by diangelo#67
I tell you what, the pro-am race was amazing. jeff 728, mark 41 and casey 75 were on it son....those three had bumpers tied together for the entire race with 7-10 seconds on 4th.....amazing heart pounding action
You are correct......that was the race to watch. They were literally bumper to bumper every lap. I was standing down by the podium near the finish line.....and had a good perspective on most of the track. I was so entertained, I barely remembered I had a camera in my hands....so I only got 3-4 shots of the three way battle. :D

[400grl]

There are cheaters in every series.....at least Joe gets caught and gets DQ'd. How can he even look people in the face these days?

[TWISTED]

Originally posted by 400grl
There are cheaters in every series.....at least Joe gets caught and gets DQ'd. How can he even look people in the face these days?


He doesn't.... He has ZERO interaction with anybody....... I also find that it's VERY unusual that the ATVA has EVER posted any of his cheats, but called out others for things they've done...........

[wppracing]

I asked Joe what happened and he told me that he blew a motor in moto 1 and fixed it , drove to line for moto 2 and noticed a broken front rotor ( missed it when fixing motor ), drove back to his tent to fix that and didnt make it back in the allowed time to start.

[boylan300ex]

Might be what he told you but its fact that he was dq'ed

[TWISTED]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by boylan300ex
Might be what he told you but its fact that he was dq'ed [/QUOT



Exactly............. They said he got away with at the last race cause Harv Whipple wasn't there...........

[ltrracer]

Originally posted by diangelo#67
I tell you what, the pro-am race was amazing. jeff 728, mark 41 and casey 75 were on it son....those three had bumpers tied together for the entire race with 7-10 seconds on 4th.....amazing heart pounding action

I was the one running 4th that second moto and they didnt have 7-10 seconds on me....maybe 3-5 tops

[diangelo#67]

OH STOP!........ris this ronnie?
that zuki is suiting you well.

[diangelo#67]

Originally posted by wppracing
I asked Joe what happened and he told me that he blew a motor in moto 1 and fixed it , drove to line for moto 2 and noticed a broken front rotor ( missed it when fixing motor ), drove back to his tent to fix that and didnt make it back in the allowed time to start.
an they dont dq for broken parts

[TWISTED]

Originally posted by diangelo#67
an they dont dq for broken parts


AMEN!!!!!!

[DEVINF450R]

Originally posted by rpfeifer11
The best pros going to other series. It just seems like the racing hasn't been as good as it has been in the past few years. Especially with manufacturers stopping production of 450s it is getting really bad. Honestly it is looking like it is going back to the old 250r days where the pros that can afford it run the pro class and the others go where they can get money. Don't get me wrong there are still some great racers in the national series but wienen upperman and natalie were never consistantly doing this good and without the guys who made racing so much more competitive it is pretty easy to predict who will be up front now. Just my outlook on it, but things just flat out suck for racing anymore. Our local series that had so many good tracks dropped quads and the local district races are so scattered it's pointless to go to them.

But all in all, the a mature support at the tracks is still the best in the business. DWT, Axis, Maxxis, ITP, Fox Shox, Titan Motorworks, Walsh, Motowoz, Baldwin, Motoworks. They all have the ability to have parts and or repair motors, get rims, tires, service/repair products. It's still the best place to race IMO. Sure pro class is down on support but look at what Media All Stars is doing! They support a ton of amateur riders...

[DEVINF450R]

Originally posted by diangelo#67
OH STOP!........ris this ronnie?
that zuki is suiting you well.

Yeah, He's on it this year. Gonna be on top before the season is over. I wish they did this live scoring on the proam prod. Class