All Terrain Vehicle Cross Country Series Round #3 - River Run Jacksonville, TX March 19, 2006

By: David Culpepper

Not only was the main track long and technical the Pee Wee track was over 2 miles long and nested in the deep woods of East Texas. Passing was going to be a challenge on this race course. At 12 noon on Saturday the PW 6 Under riders lined up to start their 30 minute + one lap race. We had 11 little racers lined up on the starting line. When the green flag flew it was Wesley Pruitt who quickly pulled out into the lead. There were only 4 riders that could stay within the same minute on each lap but none were able to get close enough to make a move. Pruitt went on to win the race followed by Trey Carrell, Kenzi Potteiger, Jace Hardin, and Gage Smith. Just after the scoring area Melanie Dunn was soaking in the loud cheers of the crowd and didn’t quite maneuver her quad far enough between two trees and the end result was clipping the tree on the left which caused her to get pitched off the high side. Dad and Mom were quick to consul her and she was uninjured from this mishap. The PW 8 Under class was won by Britney Cox and the PW 10 Under class was won by Halston Munoz.

As the Pee Wee races were coming to a end the rain clouds let lose. Up to this point it had just been over cast. I guess it was ok since it was a little dusty on the roads in camp, however I bet the ladies who were about to race probably had a different opinion then I about the rain. Back from the first two rounds of the GNCC was Lexie Coulter who ran with the fastest women cross country racers in the nation in Florida and Georgia. Lexie won the Lady Open class by more than 6 minutes here at River Run. Since the track was so long and so tight the riders were informed that the checkered flag would be displayed at 45 minutes. Lexie came through at 42 minutes but was told she didn’t have to make another lap because she was the only rider to make a lap under 45 minutes. Currently second in points is Heather Best and she was able to hold off a charging Kacy Coulter for 2nd place. Kacy is sister to Lexie but she is only able to race every now and then because she is currently attending college out of state. Fourth went to Porscha Knowlton and fifth to Morgan Nichols. In the 50+ Class it is “Cajun” Dennis Wilson who is continuing to dominate his class. Tom Clark jumped out to the early lead but could hold off Wilson who took over the lead and went on win the race. In the Lady 30+ class Sarah Sellers had found her grove and looks to be one to beat in this class. She started off quick and pulled away to a 3 minute win. Second went to Amy Lee and third to Dorothy Rogers. The current points leader in the Youth Beginner class Lacey Tincher, had a little mishap Saturday morning while doing a practice lap. It seems a vine had hung her face and cut her lip. When she pulled up it look like she’d been in a fight with a wild cat out in the woods but after the blood was wiped off the cut was not as bad as it appeared. Well it didn’t shake her up to bad as she went on to win her 3rd race in a roll. The young ladies are tough in this class, you have to go back to forth place before you find your first young man. Tori Oliver, Becca Stanley, Jarod Roberts, and Aaryn Giles rounded out the top 5.

Rain, Rain, Rain. The track conditions on Sunday were wet and soggy. The A program races for 1.5 hours plus one lap. The overall leader Shaw Hess came through scoring at 78 minutes which is really two minutes to early for the white flag but due to the track conditions it was decided to go ahead and pull the white flag anyway. Randy Lewis got the holeshot in the Pro class but found himself bouncing off trees way to many times to hold off Hess. Randy said after a while he had to just start laughing to himself every time he hit a tree. Randy is one of our West Texas riders who has not had much experience in the forest. Hess on the other hand does know his way around trees and went on to win the Pro class by more than 14 minutes over second place finisher Chris Cozart. Randy held on to finish third followed by Josh Hahne. Talking to Shawn after the race he said it looked like a Yamaha mine field out on the track. He said there seemed to a Yamaha sitting on the side of the track every other turn. My guess is some better water proofing might need to be done. Open class riders were stacked 20 riders deep on the starting line. At the end of the first lap Steven Bryant was in the lead followed by Austin Aldridge. Austin had to pull into his pit to have his nerf bars removed on the clutch side as a bolt had broken and it was just dangling down. He rejoined the race after a few riders in his class went by but he was able to quickly move back into second and by the end of the second lap he’d taken over the lead. He went on the win the race followed by JoJo Carboni, Brian Firth, Jeremy Latham, and Tanner Alcorn. Ethan Jones took the victory in the Junior class and Glenn Hess in the 30+ class.

The B program was told on the starting line that they were racing a 2 lap race and all they had to do was complete one lap for finishing points. Larry Gustine took the holeshot in the 40+ class and ran away with the victory by more than 4 minutes. And his son Austen Gustine decided to keep up his end by winning the Open Amateur class. The top four riders in the Open Amt class were all so close together you could have thrown a blanket over all of them. Tim Clanton, Steve Culli, and Micah Ames. Spectators said the big hill climb about 5 miles into the race was the place to be on the first lap. They said there were quads going everywhere trying to get up the hill. The 4-Stroke class was won by Mike Wells and the 45+ class by Gary Davis. The Youth class was won by Cody Ames, followed by Nicholas Kristek, Travis Brown, and Jeremy Best. I was talking to Travis’s father after the race and he said his son was not wanting to race because he’d heard other riders saying how difficult it was to get around the track. But after the race Travis was all smiles and told his dad he didn’t understand what them old men were talking about, the track was great. In the Utility class it was Ron Allen keeping his streak of win in tack. West Texas racer Mike Rogers pulled down second followed by David Lee, Danny Price, and Tom Jordon.

Next race will be at Shiloh Ridge near Alto Texas on April 9, 2006. See ya there…

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