2007
AMA
Pro ATV Open Invitational
Steel City Raceway
Delmont,
PA
August 25, 2007
|
|
Yamaha's Pat
Brown Wins Inaugural AMA Pro ATV Open
|
Delmont,
PA (8/25/2007) –
There's a first time for everything and Yamaha's
Pat Brown took his first-ever win at the first-ever
AMA Pro ATV Open at Steel City Raceway in Delmont,
Pa. Twenty hand-picked invitations went out for
this one-off event, adding fuel to fire for Round
10 of the AMA/Toyota Motocross Championships. The
leel of commitment for the Pro ATV racers astounded
even the Pro dirt bike racers, and once the four-wheelers
started flooring the uphill triples, the stage was
set for this jaw-dropping event.
|
|
After
heavy rain saturated the track & parking
areas the week leading up the event, it
became a challenge to get all the rigs parked
on Friday, which took nearly all day, but
as usual the Racer Production crew overcame
the challenge |
Practice
The track at Steel City offered a little something
for everyone. "[The triples are] a little
separator for everybody to do," Patrick Brown
said. "It's not just the same old everybody
jumps everything."
Kawasaki's Josh Creamer turned the fastest qualifying
lap time with around 2.29, with riders like Gust,
Wimmer, Pelchat and Ellis inside the top 5. Wienen
held sixth fastest lap time, though some riders
relaxed the pace in practice. Not trying for fast
laps, "I had to make sure I got the track
in my head ready to go," one rider said.
|
|
Josh
Creamer turned the quickest laptime of 2:29
on his Kawasaki KFX450 |
Privateers
Michael Brown & Justin Bres were sponsored
by Cernics Racing for the weekend |
Factory Cernic's Honda Pro ATV Team Michael James
Brown pulled the first gate pick. "That's
the first time I've ever done that," he said.
|
Alternate
Rider, Sage Baker, dialed in the track during
practice, but unfortunately wasn't able
to race in the Main |
Second pick went to Patrick Brown. “The
gate pick was good," Brown said after winning
the race. "The gate was pretty equal, so
it wasn't a huge, huge advantage, but it definitely
worked out in my favor," Brown said.
Last-minute entry Cale Downen caught 10th gate
pick, along with his first glimpse of the track
behind the rider's seat. "I've never ridden
here before," Downen said. "I wrenched
here last year for Sage Baker."
The holeshotting Honda of Keith Little drew gate
pick number 18, and figured the familiar holeshot
to come from his days of flat track racing. "The
track was kind of mushy [in practice,]" Little
said. "[We are] so excited, and willing to
go out there and push the limit to get our name
out there as much as we can."
|