All Terrain Vehicle Cross Country Series Round #10 - Rabbit Creek Kilgore, Texas September 24, 2006

By: David Culpepper

The Young Racers Recieve their Trophies

It was great to be back at Rabbit Creek, it had been over a year since ATVCCS had raced at this location. The park has had several events for the MUD riding ATV enthusiast over the past year and the ruts pretty much describe a lot of the trails in the woods. Previous rains had left lots of rain erosion to deal with too. After a full week of seeks and rescue a track was born. The PeeWee track was limited to .6 miles due to a creek crossing that cut off access to the rest of the track. The main track was 6.8 miles long and had a good mix of high-speed open stuff and virgin tight woods. Even though this area has been in a drought rain was in the forecast. Since the temps were in the low 90’s I was kinda hoping that we’d get a little rain. But since the last race was a mud bath I think most of the racers were ready for a dry race.

Saturday at noon the PW 6 under class blasted off the starting line. It didn’t take long for these young racers to all get tangled up. Everyone finally got through the first turn and the race was on. This turned out to be one of the most exciting races of the entire weekend. Terry Bohanon got off to the early lead and held it for the first three laps. Gage Smith moved from third to first on the third lap while Wesley Pruitt remained in second place. On the next lap Bohanon moved into second dropping Pruitt to third. On the next lap Bohanon regained the lead. Bohanon held the lead until lap twelve, which was the white flag lap, when his rear swing are broke. A few laps before this Pruitt had passed Smith for second so Bohanon’s mishap put Pruitt in the lead with only one lap to go. Pruitt went on to win, Smith got second, and Bohanon third. Rounding out the podium was Jace Hardin, and Tyler McShane. The PW 8 under class was a run-a-way victory for Broc Watkins, who managed to lap the entire field. Second was Kaden Walters, third was Braeden Hardin, fourth was Cody Price and fifth was Braden Mize. Nathan Clague won the PW 10 under class and looks to be on his way to a class championship.

Wesley Pruitt		Gage Smith

Next race was for the ladies, 50+, and youth. The Open Lady class was won by Porscha Knowlton who put a pass on Heather Best shortly after the start on the gnarly off camber up hill. Best stayed close enough to keep the pressure on but by the end of the race Knowlton had the win by 40 seconds. Morgan Nichols, Becca Stanley, and Crystal Perry rounded out the top five. Dennis Wilson is still the man to beat in the 50+ class. He had his competitors covered by more than 6 minutes at the finish line. Just like Dennis, Sarah Sellers has been on top of her game in the Lady 30+ class. While Sellers was riding out front all alone Amy Lee and Dorothy Rogers was in a heated battle. These two riders passed each other several times before Lee emerged as the winner. Tina Burkett finished fourth. The Youth Beginner class series championship is probably going to come down to the last race of the year. Lacey Tincher, Jarod Roberts, Tori Oliver, and Travis Brown all have a shot at winning. This was Travis Brown’s day to take the win and the points that go with it. Jarod Roberts finished second while Lacey Tincher had to shake off a first lap crash just finish the race. Third went to Trevor Enis, I believe this was the first trophy this first year racer has earned. Tori Oliver finished fourth, and Shelby Spencer fifth. After the Saturday races were complete all you could hear was talk about the weather. Rain was falling less than 30 miles from the track and the radio was telling us it was headed our way.

Well Sunday morning brought us clear skies and cooler temps but no rain. On the Pro/Exp starting line was Josh Hahne on a brand new Honda which had just been uncrate the day before. Hahne didn’t have time nor the goodies to put on his new machine since his garage is stacked full of Yamaha parts and aftermarket items. This race starting line was a pretty much a long straight that tapered off to a left turn followed by a few up and down hills. When the green flag flew it was Josh Hahne on his bone stock Honda who took the holeshot over the rest of the field. Gerald Dowden, Shawn Hess, and Taylor Blackwood were all in tow. By the halfway point Hess had moved from third to first, Hahne in second and Dowden in a close third. The second lap turned bad for Dowden who lost several lug nuts on one of his rear wheels. The second lap was very good for Kyle Porter who was leading the Open A class and had chipped away a 53-second starting differential from the Pro/Exp class. Porter had passed the entire Pro/Exp field and was within 10 second of Hess at the end of the second lap. You could tell Hess was caught by surprise when he looked over his shoulder and saw Porter. For the next lap the race was on. Porter was still charging hard and managed to make up one second on Hess. The next lap was different story; Hess pulled away from Porter by more than 20 seconds. Kyle’s father Jeff stopped Kyle on this lap and made him drink some water and told him to ride safe because he had a big lead on second in his class and he needs to win the remaining races this year to win the championship. Porter took his dads advice and put it on cruise control the rest of the race. So much so that Garrett Oliver was able to edge Porter out for second overall in the A Program.

The next race is October 22, 2006 at Diamond S Ranch in Graham Texas.

www.atvccs.com
200 Sharon Kay Drive
Longview, Texas 75604
903 295-0761