AMA ATV Motocross Nationals
Round #4 - Birch Creek MX Park
Danville,
Virigina
April 18-19, 2009
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Suzuki's Dustin Wimmer
Battles Back at Birch Creek MX
Kawasaki's Chad Weinen &
Honda's Joe Byrd Podium
AMA
ATV Motocross Nationals
Round #4 - Birch Creek |
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Suzuki's
#1 Dustin Wimmer Wins 3rd Race of the season
& extends his points lead over Joe Byrd
to 6 points |
Danville,
VA (4/20/2009)
– As the points race tightens in the AMA ATV
Pro Motocross class, the racing action does as well,
leading round four of the series, the Trianglcycles.com
ATV National at Birch Creek Motorsports in Danville,
Va., to produce the best battle of the season. In
the end, series' leader Dustin Wimmer managed to
edge Honda's Joe Byrd and Monster Energy Kawasaki's
Chad Wienen for the victory via 2-1 scores in the
motos, giving the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider his
third win of the season. The Birch Creek event also
marked round three of the amateur portion of the
ITP Tires/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross Championship
presented by Parts Unlimited.
"That was a pretty crazy moto," said
Wimmer of his intense second-moto battle with
Byrd and Wienen. "The start wasn't too bad,
I got up into that first turn and there was a
bunch of bumping. I got hung up a little bit and
a couple people got around me but I worked my
way up through and caught up to Chad. My shocks
were working great so I was able to out power
by him over a jump and just stick it."
The win also pushes Wimmer's points lead up to
six, as Byrd had closed the gap to one point coming
into the race.
Under overcast skies that made for perfect racing
weather, Byrd and Wienen drag raced to the first
turn first in moto one, with Byrd snagging the
$250 Holeshot Award and Wienen coming out right
behind the two-time champion. Cody Miller, Clay
Holmes and Wimmer tucked in behind the lead duo,
and soon Wienen made a pass on Byrd to take the
lead. Wimmer also moved around Byrd and chased
Wienen. Wimmer pressured Wienen all the way to
the finish, but Wienen ultimately held on to win
his first moto of the season in a close battle.
While Byrd settled into third, Warnert Racing
Can-Am teammates Miller and John Natalie battled
for fourth and fifth position with Natalie making
way to grab the higher of the two.
Heading into the second moto, the stage was set
for a race few have seen in years. Wienen was
the man to beat, but a wheelie on the start gave
the edge to the rest of the field. Byrd grabbed
his second Holeshot Award for the day and lead
for much of the moto, but he had zero room for
error with less than a second lead over Monster
Kawasaki's Josh Creamer, who suffered a mechanical
problem in the first moto. Creamer led a pack
of hungry riders behind Byrd including Greg Gee,
Miller, Natalie, Wienen and Wimmer. Both Wienen
and Wimmer stayed with each other as they moved
through the group to fall in behind Byrd. In dramatic
fashion, Wimmer finally made the move over Wienen
and Byrd in the same lap to take the lead, and
he pushed his gap out to two seconds to take the
moto and overall win. Wienen rode smart to the
checkers to take third behind Byrd. His 1-3 score
still netted him second overall over Byrd's 3-2
score.
"I was just thinking to stay close to everyone
so they didn't run away with it and we did,"
said Wienen. "My setup was really good the
first moto, but the second moto, I was getting
beat up a little bit, but we made the most of
it and we got up on this box so I'm really happy
about that. It was bar-to-bar really. You know
everyone just put it in and I gave it everything
I got. The biggest thing the fans, I can see the
fans waving their arms out there and that really
gets me motivated to going and do my best."
"I got a good holeshot both motos,"
said Byrd after taking home a $500 bonus for both
Holeshot Awards. "The first moto I just didn't
have the setup, but the second moto we did and
I just made a mistake and [Wimmer] got around
me and then I was trying to charge back but ran
out of time."
Byrd's machine began smoking almost immediately
even though he spent nearly the entire moto in
the lead. "We had the power, but it was just
in my mind and I didn't want it locking up over
a jump," said Byrd. "We had a vent line
pop off on the hot lap and we tried to patch that
before the race so luck was just on our side that
moto."
Natalie, who has suffered an onslaught of mechanical
problems recently, finally showed he hasn't slowed
once things click and pulled a consistent fourth
for both motos collecting fourth overall. Teammate
Cody Miller grabbed a 5-7 taking home a top 5
for the weekend.
Clay Holmes went 7-9 for sixth after dueling
with veteran Doug Gust, who fought his way through
the pack to gain positions he lost on his starts.
Gust took 6-10 scores for seventh, while Jeremy
Lawson snagged 12-6 finishes for 8th overall.
Privateer Greg Gee is proving the change from
last season has little affect on his program taking
another top 10 and finishing top 10 in both motos
with 8-10.
Rounding out the top ten was Creamer, who rallied
from trouble in moto one to take 14-5 scores and
finish tenth overall.
The Pro-Am Production class featured yet another
exciting race with the young guns vying for the
title. Although Cody Gibson took both moto wins
for the overall, Devin Heimes applied as much
pressure as he could. He took second in moto one
and pressured Gibson again in the second moto
until a crash ended his weekend. Kentucky riders
Casey Martin and Cody Grant rounded out the overall
podium, though neither picked up a top three for
their motos.
The ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross Championship
continues May 2 and 3 with the Sunset Ridge National
in Walnut, Illinois. For more information visit
www.atvmotocross.com.
AMA ATV Motocross Championship Pro Point
Standings
1. Dustin Wimmer (184/3 wins); 2. Joe Byrd (178/1
win); 3. Josh Creamer (120); 4. Chad Wienen (114);
5. John Natalie (104); 6. Josh Upperman (102);
7. Thomas Brown (101); 8. Jeremy Lawson (97);
8. Doug Gust (97); 10. Clay Holmes (96).
About the ITP Tires/Moose
Racing AMA ATV National Motocross Championship
Presented by Parts Unlimited
The ITP Tires/Moose Racing AMA ATV National Motocross
Championship Presented by Parts Unlimited is the
nation's premier amateur and professional ATV
motocross series, and competes at top motocross
facilities nationwide. The 11-round series features
the Nation's best racers, teams and sponsors,
and is America's largest and longest-running ATV
National Motocross series with more than 20 years
of competition. The series continues to expand
and produce top talent from the amateur ranks,
while keeping close to the grassroots fun that
makes people love to go to the races. For more
information, please visit www.atvmotocross.com.
About MX Sports Pro
Racing, Inc.
MX Sports Pro Racing, Inc. manages the Lucas Oil
AMA Pro Motocross Championship and the professional
racing side of the AMA Pro ATV Motocross Championship.
MX Sports Pro Racing, Inc. is a second-generation
family owned business that has been in operation
for well over 26 years and is an industry leader
in the segment of off road/action sports race
promotion in the United States. Through its various
racing properties, partnerships and affiliates,
MX Sports fields more than 60,000 action sports
athletes each year and attracts millions of active
fans, spectators and enthusiasts. For more information
on MX Sports, please visit www.mxsports.com.
About the ATV Promoters
Group (ATVPG)
The ATVPG is composed of the individual promoters
that host the ITP Tires/Moose Racing AMA ATV National
Motocross Championship Presented by Parts Unlimited.
The goal of the ATVPG is to raise awareness of
ATV motocross through the production of professional
and amateur championship racing events. For more
information on the ATVPG and the ATV National
events they produce, please visit www.atvmotocross.com.
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