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2008 AMA Pro ATV Open Invitational
Steel City Raceway
Delmont, PA
August 30, 2008


AMA Pro ATV Open Motocross Race Report


AMA Pro ATV Open MX Links
Delmont, PA – The 2nd Annual 2008 Steel City AMA Pro ATV Open Invitational proved to be an incredibly exciting race that was full of racing action and big crashes, with Josh Creamer, Greg Gee, Russell Shumaker, and Mitch Reynolds all taking dirt samples, but Suzuki’s Chad Wienen managed to avoid the carnage and came away victorious in front of the biggest crowd of the 2008 AMA Pro ATV Motocross racing season.
2008 AMA Pro ATV Open Invitational  Steel City Raceway
Steel City Raceway track was extended since last year, and it included the Dunlop tire step-up, which attracted a huge crowd of spectators on Saturday

Conditions for this Labor Day weekend’s AMA Motocross National were near perfect, and the Racer Production crew once again were on top of their game as they kept the track in pristine conditions, and thousands spectators packed the hill sides to witness motocross history in the making, and they wouldn’t be disappointed with all the great racing action, concerts, and fireworks, which provided a festival atmosphere for the AMA Motocross Nationals season finale.

Monster Energy Concert Stage
Steel City AMA Motocross National Fireworks Display
In 2007, Racer Production's Carrie Coombs went to bat for Pro ATV Motocross Racers by creating the AMA Pro ATV Open at the AMA Motocross National Season Finale, and for 2008, took the season finale at Steel City to another level by turning it into a motocross festival with the addition of a concert and fireworks. Also, the biggest change was that all the Pro racing was wrapped up on Saturday instead of the usual Sunday, so the Pro ATVs, WMA, and Bikes all raced on the same day, which had never been done, so on Sunday, the track was opened up for the Amateur Bike & ATV Racers

Nineteen Pro ATV Racers attended the Invitation only event, which included Rath Racing Polaris Race Team with their racing debut of 2009 Polaris Outlaw 450MXR at Steel City with newly signed Mitch Reynolds also making his Pro Motocross debut on the Outlaw 450MXR and he was joined by Jason Dunkelberger.

Mitch Reynolds - 2009 Polaris Outlaw 450 MXR
Jason Dunkelberger - 2009 Polaris Outlaw 450 MXR
Mitch Reynolds made his Pro ATV Racing debut at Steel City on the updated 2009 Polaris Outlaw 450MXR , and for 2009 Reynolds will be focusing 100% of his attention motocross racing, and will retire from Extreme Dirt Track racing
Jason Dunkelberger made the switch to the Rath Racing's Polaris Outlaw for the Steel City event, but with only a few days of seat time prior to the event, it was apparent that the team didn't have enough time to dial in their ATVs perfect before the race

Unfortunately, Reynolds, during Saturday’s timed qualifying, over jumped the knarly uphill triple on his third attempt cased into the next jump, which end up breaking his forearm just above his wrist, which will have him out of commission for the next six weeks.

Joe Haavisto - Kawasaki KFX 450R ATV
Joe Haavisto - Kawasaki KFX 450R ATV
Kawasaki's Joe Haavisto has focused his attention on winning the Pro & Pro-Am Championship in the NEATV-MX Series in 2008, so he only attended one ATV MX National at Unadilla this year, so it was a big honor for him to be invited to the ATV MX Open, but unfortunately, the uphill triple sidelined him with a knee injury, which kept him from racing in the Pro ATV Main

The uphill triple would be the cause of many more spills over the course of the race weekend. Kawasaki’s Joe Haavisto also crashed on the uphill triple and hyper-extended his knee. which resulted in him not being able to compete in the Pro ATV Main as well.

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