2008
AMA Pro ATV Open Invitational
Steel City Raceway
Delmont,
PA
August 30, 2008
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AMA Pro ATV
Open Motocross Race Report
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AMA
Pro ATV Open MX Links
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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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