2005 GNC MX Round #6 BUDDS CREEK RACEWAY Mechanicsville, Maryland April 30 - May 1, 2005

OVERVIEW
The Globally known motocross track of Budds Creek Maryland hosted round #6 of the MOOSE / ITP Grand National MX Championships. The Southern Maryland layout of rolling hills, loomy soil and a bay full of Maryland Crab always seems to light the spices up as well as lay the ground work for some great racing action! A year ago, the Sun filled Budds Creek track welcomed a record of 572 entries and laid the ground-work for record setting entries ever since. This year, the weather would come into play as mother nature hid the sun and filled the skies with gray clouds. The Forecast for the weekend looked like a chance of rain on Friday (50% chance), Thunder Showers on Saturday (80% chance), and Partly cloudy skies on Sunday (20% chance). Highs ranging from 68 to 75 Degrees. Not to worry though, the third highest ever entry count of 721 riders showed up to challenge their skills. This is the reason we race All-Terrain Vehicles is because we race in every type of weather! The track was fast with only a few minor changes since last year. Most notably was the backwards running of the track from last year! (Same layout as 2003) (Every year the track switches directions just to throw everyone in a loop). Other sections were taken out due to the forecast of rain. Most notable was the big bowl turn next to vendors row! Suzuki's Doug Gust wanted to give some input towards track grooming on Friday as he spent a few hours reshaping some turns and straights! They don’t call him “Digger Doug” for nothing! It was nice to see Digger ready to go for round #6 after the bad wreck from Birch Creek. Doug said he was a little sore and didn’t get much seat time during the two week break but was itching to cross the gate and get back into action! Other news from the Suzuki pits; it looks like Jeremiah Jones and Jamie built their house just in time for another roommate, as they are expecting some company in the next 9 months (7.5 actually). Jim & Momma Jones said they are expecting the baby for a Christmas present! Congratulations to the happy soon to be family. Hey Doug, Timmy, John and Joe, ever heard of keeping up with the Jones’s ;-) ! Saturday morning’s wake-up call would have the sound of rain drops with it as the skies opened up and dropped an inch and a half of rain on the track Friday Night! Many amateurs would be daring enough to try and make a few practice laps but the damage was done! The promoters made a wise choice of moving the 50cc motos to Sunday in luck of drier weather! The rest of the amateurs wouldn’t be so lucky as they had to do their best with the conditions they were dealt! Another wise decision was mad to move all amateur laps to 3 instead of 4 and all Pro-AM laps to 5 instead of 6! The rain also caused a few more sections of the track to be cut out from the risk of everyone getting stuck. Sad to say that YZ hill and the Pepsi Off Camber sections were cut out due to the forming of Bass Pro Shops next Practice ponds! These two sections were the best passing sections on the whole track, needless to say, the racing would be the holeshot then one line racing for most of the day! The rain would take a break for a few minutes every now and then but stayed pretty constant at a light drizzle until 1 or 2 P.M.. Most of the Amateur riders would spend the day waiting in line for 3 hours to fill up their water barrels. The rest of the spectators would spend the day waiting lap by lap for their riders to pass them just to look on their backs to make sure they were cheering on the right rider! The word to the wise was to “Stay on the choosen path”!
PRO QUALIFIER
Sunday’s Pro Qualifier was called to the line at 3PM! Luckily the rains stopped at 2 and left 4 or 5 motos to clear out the remaining mud from the track! Twenty-two entries tallied up the pro class and 12 riders would have to qualify! A great group of talented riders lined the gates with the names of Wimmer, Cain, Haavisto, Luburgh, White, and Attix! The parade lap would let the riders take a closer look at the conditions of the track. All but one rider made it back to the gate with a new line and outlook! Jason Luburgh took off up the hill towards the tunnel jump after the start and hit a lip just as he was ready to launch off the other side! The high speed crash looked pretty bad and left Jason laying on the ground for a little while! Jason started his machine back up but was limping back around the track towards the starting gate. As he was riding back you could hear a squeaking noise coming from the ATV just showing how bad the crash actually was! As Jason pulled back up to the gate he was hunched over on his right side and you could tell he was hurting! It turns out he broke his collar bone in the crash and would not be in contention for the weekend’s bout! Doc Ragon took a look at his shoulder after the race and confirmed the break! Jason was walking around on Sunday with his arm in a sling! He would wait to see the doctor back home and find out just how bad the break actually was! Speedy recovery Jason! I thought Kory Ellis was the only one who wrecked on the Parade Laps! The gate dropped for the Qualifier without Luburgh and none other than Sheridan Race Product’s Joe Haavisto leading the pack into the first turn. Joe’s holeshot would be short lived as a last blurp from the throttle threw him sideways blocking the track and playing pinball with the rest of the field. East Coast ATV’s Dustin Wimmer missed the short lived pileup and came out in the lead! Haavisto would have some great luck as the rest of the riders ended up turning him back around and with the bike still running he took off in third place! Tavis Cain and Don Lamborn would end up tangled up after the maylay! The Honda red would end up 1-2 in the qualifier. Wimmer looked smooth and comfortable on every part of the track and Haavisto was like a raging bull toward the new red plastic of Wimmer! Attix, White and Bres would have a good battle for the 3rd spot! The domination that came from Wimmer in the qualifier’s changed the mind’s of many when it came time to pick who would win the overall on Sunday! A lot of spectators were saying watch out for #191! The rain would come down once again just as the white flag lap of the Pro qualifiers came to a draw! It rained long enough to water log the track for the rest of the Amateur races! So what was going on after the Pro Qualifier? Well Most of the racers were back in line waiting for 3 hours to fill up their water tanks once again! Saturday night Featured a cook off between myself (RemNS) and Rocco Arno Sr. Well, at least somewhat of a cook off! Just a little smack talking! Believe me I would never challenge this crew to any kind of seafood or Pasta cook off but the bill of food was BBQ! No way he can beat me in a BBQ cook-off! He talked his smack so I just had to cook up some BBQ chicken as a sampler of what he was getting into! I took some chicken down to his trailer with about 50 people waiting around for some of Dill’s (Rocco Sr. Dad) great seafood Pasta! I had him bouling down to me by the end! Curtis Sparks, Rocco Jr. and a few others would have to confer that there was no competition! I tried to warn him that BBQ is my field of expertise! I think that Curtis might have came back for 2nd’s and 3rd’s and finished off any of my special BBQ sauce that was left! It was a great time as usual in the Arno Pits! We caught it all on tape so you’ll have to get a good laugh from the behind the scenes sections from Budds! Anyway, the fun was short lived as the rain moved back in somewhere near midnight! It rained so hard that it woke me up at 4 or 5 in the morning! Ooh well another day of mud racing! Maybe not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday's weather couldn't have been better, the rain was gone and some wind would help as the blue skies and temperatures in the 70s would turn the track around for the day. The promoters decided to delay practice so they could push off all of the mud and let the track dry out a little. They also shortened the amateur laps by 1 once again. The racing action started off great. Particularly in the Pro-Am classes as the return of Mike Walsh would see Josh Upperman knocking on the tires in an all out brawl in the Pro-Am Unlimited class. Ex or Returning Pro rider Walsh took home the win and a ton of respect for being out of the scene for a while. Mike wasn’t taking it easy just setting up his new home and shop near Lakeland, FL. When questioned after the race both racers were quoted as saying “it was the most fun they'd had racing in a long time”. “The Ragin CAJUN” Brian Chaler took home the Production Pro Am win.
PRO MOTO #1
The PRO class would have the makings of a Foreman vs Frazier Fight! Controversy and a new found rivalry between Honda and Suzuki should make the second half of the season a memorable one. Here is where it all started! “Gentlemen Start Your Engines!” Or should I say “Cool Your Engines!” Prior to the start of moto one, Tavis Cain (the LCQ winner) returned from his parade lap to discover his oil drain plug was missing. The 2 card was up and Tavis' mechanics had about two minutes to make it clear across the pits and through the crowd to retrieve a new plug and two quarts of oil and get his bike fixed. As the two minute countdown started, Tavis walked away from the line. With a little under a minute left, Wildman Chad Lohr sprinted up with the plug and oil, as the thirty second card went up there were three sets of hands fixing the ATV and Tavis jumped back on his quad. “Hey Dale Earnhardt Jr., I got a pit crew for you!” As the gate dropped, it was all John Natalie. The "Ironman" got out front and was gone. Behind in second was Tim Farr and Doug Gust engaged in a quick bumping match. So much for Gust being hurt! Farr and Gust had an awesome run going. Just before the 15 minute mark, Doug was turning on the heat but Dustin Wimmer began to pressure Gust. This made Digger go from an Offensive style of racing to one that would see him dropping off of Farr and playing defense. Farr would break away just enough to secure the second spot without to much pressure. Gust would hold off Wimmer for 3rd as the last 3 laps was a chess match between the two. Wimmer was applying as much pressure as possible on the 1 maybe 2 lane track. Gust would keep his lines, which would not allow Wimmer to pass and actually gain a little track position back on Farr but not enough at the checkers. Back at the 4th place position, a three way position battle was happening for fourth as Travis Spader, Jason Dunkelberger and Keith Little all wanted to advance a position and get through the crowd. Travis Spader would put down a consistent run for 4th after the heated battle during the first half of the moto. Jason Dunkelberger was running in the fifth spot 3/4 of the way through the moto. “Dunk” was flying and putting down one of the best rides of the year for the Lost Creek Cycles Rider before sliding off the side of the track and losing valuable positions. Then disaster struck. On the last lap, "Dunk" blew his motor which also claimed Matt White as well, and Kory Ellis found himself sitting on the side of the track after only three laps.
PRO MOTO #2
Moto #2 was where all the action took place. Like I said earlier, Foreman vs. Frazier! This is where the drama, crashes, controversy, accusations and whatever else you might imagine started flying. Tim Farr pulled a “Honda Holeshot” (I’ll start a new term in the racing crowd since Honda has dominated the holeshot’s this year) with Jeremiah Jones right on his tail, behind JJ it was Doug Gust, John Natalie and Dustin Wimmer. On the downhill after the start, there was all kind bumping going on. Gust and Jones were jockeying around for spots and Wimmer and Natalie were also in the mix. White on the inside and Red on the outside. I guess that picture is what will start the first punch out of this fight. Jones and Gust kept their inside lines and slid out into Natalie and Wimmer. On the uphill it was Gust, Jones, Wimmer and Natalie loosing some ground after being hung up on the outside berm a little. This is where all the finger pointing starts. After 2 laps were in the book, Natalie caught Gust and put some sort of "Block Pass" on the "Digger" right at the top of the mechanics area turn near the start. I guess this is why all of the mechanics were going at it because they had the best seat in the house. Whether or not any actual contact was made really depends on whom you ask. John's fans say no, Doug's say yes. The only thing I can actually say is Doug was hung up on the berm and lost nearly 5 spots. The next punch came a half a lap later when John caught Jeremiah on the back side of the track and pretty much pulled the same move on JJ. The pass occurred on the turn just before the finish line. JJ would end up pointing straight into oncoming traffic. Jones would loose many valuable spots as he had to get off the bike to move it back into a position to get going again. It happened at a slow corner and JJ was sitting in a bad spot, which would not allow him to just gas it and go again. Once again JJ's fans and John's fans had more to argue about. The fact that JJ and Doug both ride for Suzuki made it more of a "Red vs. White" situation and both camps were already forming opinions. Natalie then charged to the rear tires of Tim Farr's machine. The two swapped a few corners then while jumping a small tabletop at the bottom of YZ Hill, mid air contact sent John to the ground, landing in some soft loomy dirt that locked up the front tires and sent John straight up and over the bars. Timmy escaped unscathed and I just thought to myself for a second, Tim just showed “You aint doin that to me”. Anyway, the contact may have came fro the way Farr was approaching the table all weekend. Most riders were hitting the jump pretty hard and clearing the whole thing but Farr was approaching a little softer and landing on the downside. Every time Wimmer or Gust ran behind Farr, it looked as if he would get landed on but Farr would land and pull away before any contact was made. Meanwhile Wimmer took over second place by default. Not saying that he didn’t get there from not riding hard but Natalie was clearing the way until he cleared himself! Wimmer tried putting some pressure on Farr but Farr’s pace was the same as Wimmers and no actual tire to tire racing was being done! During the melee, Gust made his way to third place with a style of riding that was, well, I guess you can say “Pissed Off”. What followed was a massive three way fight for the lead. Farr vs. Wimmer vs. Gust, but unlike the first few laps of moto#2, not tires were being thrown in at any point of the battle. The pace was the same by all three of the top riders. At the checkers it was Farr, Wimmer, and Gust followed by Spader and Joe Haavisto. There was plenty of great racing action all over the track, but to be honest it was hard to watch anything but the banging going on out front. Some honorable mentions go out to Gil Attix with a great ride on the weekend. Justin Bres having a great ride also. He held onto the 6th position for about 10 laps. And, Matt White who rode with no brakes in both motos and had a respectable run!
As for wars, the real battle heated up after the race as more finger pointing and accusations flew from every direction. Luckily for the GNC series, these guys are all friends and respect each other. With all of the maylay happening at Round #6, there's a heated battle for this year's Championship and emotion and intensity will only make for better racing. Get ready for one heck of a round seven at Red Bud Raceway.