Warnert Racing’s
John Natalie & Cody Miller Both Make Top 10
AMA ATV Motocross Nationals - Birch Creek
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Natalie
placed in the top 10 while dealing with
a severe eye injury
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Danville, VA (4/30/2008) - John
“Ironman” Natalie lived up to his name
this weekend as he competed in round 4 of the AMA
ATV Motocross Nationals despite a serious and painful
eye injury. Cody Miller also came on strong with
a 9-9 finish securing his spot in the top 10.
Birch Creek was the location of choice for round
#4, which saw a huge increase in attendance of
racers and spectators alike. The track conditions
were a bit muddy for morning practice and the
first moto was even delayed for an hour because
of the mud, but that was the least of John Natalie’s
worries.
When Natalie crashed at the last round at Ballance
MotoX he got debris in his eye and ended up scratching
his cornea. The injury became even more serious
when infection set in and John’s vision
was temporarily lost in his injured eye. “It
got so bad the doctors thought that they might
have to do a corneal transplant at first,”
said John. Luckily, he was able to avoid surgery
and is on the road to recovery. All though John
was feeling better, his vision was still impaired
and his depth perception was off, which made thing
difficult for him out on the track, but being
such a voracious competitor, John would not let
his injury stand in the way of racing. As the
gate dropped for the 1st moto, Natalie came off
the line in 4th place. John put up a fight, despite
quite a bit of pain, and finished the first moto
in 5th place.
Once it was time for moto #2, Natalie was feeling
a little worse for wear. John came out of the
gate in 13th and was able to move into the #12
position before the checkered flag was waved.
Natalie ended his day with 8th overall and vows
things will be different for round #5. “My
vision should be back to 100% by the next round,
so I will be back in top form,” he said.
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John Natalie
put up a good fight and finished the first
moto in 5th place
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Cody Miller
was Mr. Consistent this weekend and placed
9th place overall
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Meanwhile, consistency was the name of the game
for Cody Miller this weekend. Miller took 9th
in Saturday’s qualifying round, earning
him a spot in Sunday’s main event. When
the gate dropped, Miller came off the line in
11th place, but within the first two laps, Miller
was able to complete two passes, landing him in
9th place for the first moto. Miller’s second
moto was pretty much a repeat of his first. Miller
once again came off the line in 11th, and had
made his way up to 8th only to get passed by Doug
Gust on the last lap, which put him back to 9th
place. Cody ended his day with a very consistent
9th place overall. “Everything went really
well this weekend. The bike was running great
thanks to the Warnert team,” said Miller.
“Last round I had a thing with 11th place,
this round it was 9th, so maybe next round it
will be the same way, but hopefully with a podium
finish!” joked Miller about his uncanny
consistency.
In just two short weeks, the Warnert/Can-Am team
will be heading to Sunset Ridge MX Park in Walnut,
IL for round 5 that is scheduled for May 10-11,
where both Natalie and Miller have their sights
set on the podium.
www.warnertracing.com
1203 33rd Street South
St. Cloud, Minnesota 56301
(320) 251-9100 - Fax (320) 251-4764
info@warnertracing.com
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