| ATVA
Extreme Dirt Track Nationals
Round #8 - Paducah, KY
Paducah International Raceway
October 7, 2006
By: David Screws - ATV Racin Extra
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Farr Wins
the Championship, Goodman Wins the Race
| ATVA
Extreme Dirt Track
Round #8 - Links |
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| Just
two weeks after flooding rains, the water truck
was out keeping the dust down |
Paducah, KY - After the scheduled date
for the final round of the 2006 Extreme Dirt Track ATVA
Nationals was rained out on September 23rd Steve Nace
of Steve Nace Racing went to work and immediately re-scheduled
the event for October 7th, two weeks later. Skeptics ranted
about the inability of the EDT racers to return to the
Paducah International Raceway, and although the numbers
didn’t hover around 350, the average per round rider
count all season long, 240 entries signed up to put their
mark on the last round of the ’06 EDT season.
The moon was full, the skies were clear, the temperatures
were cool and the 16 to 18 feet of water that had infiltrated
the PIR oval had been pumped off. All was high and dry
and ready for racing. As a matter of fact, Steve Nace
and his crew spent a good deal of time watering the
track to keep the dust down and to aid in bringing in
the blue groove of the Kentucky clay circuit. As usual,
Nace and his staff laid down a first class track. In
an effort to get the races done so that the people could
head home after bearing the expense of the return trip
to Paducah, the days racing began with a practice at
8 a.m., heats at 10 a.m., and all was said and done
by 10 p.m. that Saturday evening.
PRO
Ever since 2004, Tim Farr and Keith Little have been
tearing at each other’s plastic all season long
to see who will reign as the EDT National Pro Champion
each year. In ’04, after a nail biter of a final
round in Texas, Little came out on top. In 2005, after
a not so intense, chewed down to the quick, final round,
Farr found himself as the national champion. This year,
after 7 of 8 rounds it appeared that Farr would gather
up his second consecutive national championship. That
was, if Farr’s race luck held out through the
Paducah round and Little didn’t pull off some
sort of miracle. And, as with year’s past, the
EDT National Pro Championship didn’t let anyone
down. It came down to this…
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| Honda's
Tim Farr |
Lonestar's
Keith Little |
Little needed eighteen entries in the Pro class to
have enough positions in case Farr did falter to win
the championship. Only sixteen signed up. Farr, on the
other hand, only had to finish the event to take the
championship away from the challenge of Little. The
way this one unfolded followed true to form for finales
of the EDT series for the past few years. A brief synopsis
of the main event can be told in a few sentences.
Harold Goodman and Farr rounded turn one neck to neck
with Goodman getting the edge at the holeshot. Little
found himself buried back in the pack after spinning
his wheels and a staggering bump with another Pro. A
few laps into the main, Farr, who was trailing Goodman
by a quad length, had a rear shock go South on him,
all the way South to where his plastic was rubbing on
his rear tires. He attempted to keep the pace for a
couple of laps but fell off to just cruising around
the fluff area of the PIR circuit, pulling out of the
way as the other Pros zipped by. Meanwhile, Little clawed
his way up through the pack and, after taking second
from Frank Batista, set out to catch Goodman. After
several intense laps Little realized that Goodman, who’d
been in front of Farr when Farr’s shock problem
bottlenecked all the other Pros behind him, was long
gone and pretty much un-catch able. Little settled into
a solid second place pace with Batista holding his ground
in third as the final laps of the 20 lap main wound
down.
When the checkers waved in the Paducah moonlight, Goodman
had the win followed by Little in second and Batista
in third. Farr finished last but had retained his championship
title. If Little had of won the event, the low number
of entries combined with his second place finish would
not have given him the overall championship even though
Farr had experienced the worst of worst race luck. When
the numbers were tallied and all the rounds added together,
the Pro top three consisted of Tim Farr on the top of
the podium with 171 points, Keith Little in second with
163 points and Harold Goodman in third with 153 points.
Following the Pro main Farr had this to say. “Obviously,
I’m disappointed with tonight. Our setup was perfect
and I felt like we could have taken home the win. But,
the most important thing is the Championship. I’m
extremely happy for our Motorsport/Honda Team and would
like to thank all of my sponsors for getting us here
tonight.”
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| Sparks
Racing's Harold Goodman started out the 2005 season
with a win and finished out the 2006 season with
a win, so now he only has to fill the gap in 2007 |
California's
Frank Batista didn't waste much time in earning
himself a spot on the Podium in only his first
year of racing nationally in the EDT Series |
On a side note concerning the Pro Main, all three,
Goodman, Little and Batista were powered by Curtis Sparks
Racing engines, a feat within itself, and all three
were on Hondas.
PRO/AM
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| Zac
Willet |
Not to compare apples to apples, but the Pro Am Production
class was once again a battle between Little and Goodman.
Going into the final round Goodman had the lead in the
class with Little in second. As with the Pro class which
had Little and Goodman battling for the 2nd and 3rd
positions, the duo did battle in the Pro Am Production
class prior to the Pro Main. With Goodman winning the
Pro Am Main and after deducting their single throw out
in the class, Little took back to his Lonestar sponsored
Honda and his home state of Alabama the national championship
in the class. Goodman remained in second overall. Zac
Willett of Kentucky hung tough and with a fifth place
finish at the event captured the third place overall
standings in the series’ championship chase.
In the Pro Am Unlimited class, Mitch Reynolds of Greenbrier,
Arkansas couldn’t make the return trip to Paducah
but still retained his national championship in the
class for the ’06 season. Chris Gary of Kentucky
rounded out the overall season championship podium in
second with Rath Racing’s Daryl Rath taking back
to Minnesota the third overall position.
Amateur / Youth
One amateur and one youth EDT racer stood out in the
harvest moonlight on that fateful Saturday at PIR. Michael
Blanchard of North Carolina had the Production B class
championship wrapped up but had to pull in at least
a second place finish at Paducah to nail down his second
national championship in ’06. In the 16/24 class
the chase for the championship had come down to him
and Ryon Partee of Ohio. With Blanchard pulling the
holeshot and leading Partee in the 16/24 main for about
half of the laps, Partee continually pushed Blanchard
and instead of taking the risk of a mishap with Partee,
Blanchard chose to ride smart, letting the hard charging
Partee by for the lead and then, as if a seasoned Pro
with Pro smarts under his helmet, Blanchard cruised
home in second place to capture his second national
championship during the 2006 EDT season.
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| Mathew
Carter |
Joel Hetrick and Mathew Carter, both young and talented
dirt track young guns, had a battle waging in the 90
Modified class and each racer’s championship hopes
had come down to a shootout at the final round in Paducah.
Hetrick couldn’t make the final round from his
home in Pennsylvania. Carter made the trip from his
home in Arkansas to go toe to toe with Hetrick, but
that wasn’t going to happen. And, even though
Hetrick was absent, Carter still had to win the event
to beat out Hetrick for the championship. After exploding
an engine in practice on Friday, all was not calm in
the Carter pits. Edges were sharp and nerves were worn
ragged after a night of tearing an engine down and rebuilding
it.
But all was well because all ended well. In both the
heat race and the main, Carter jumped out front and
stayed out front. With his persistence and the help
of his dad, Matthew Carter collected his second national
ATV championship by winning the 90 Mod National Championship
this year. This new championship added to his 2003 national
championship in what was at the time the 90 Limited
Class, made young Carter and his dad, David, two happy
Razorbacks from Arkansas.
| ATVA
Extreme Dirt Track - Pro ATV Results |
| Finish |
Rider
Name |
Brand |
1 |
Harold Goodman
| HONDA |
2 |
Keith Little
| HONDA |
3 |
Frank Batista
| HONDA |
4 |
Trent Powell
| YAMAHA |
5 |
Chris Fristoe
| SUZUKI |
6 |
Daryl Rath
| HONDA |
7 |
Danny Mcgraw
| YAMAHA |
8 |
Adam Anderson
| YAMAHA |
9 |
Zac Willett
| HONDA |
10 |
Michael Coburn
| HONDA |
11 |
Richard Schoeberl
| YAMAHA |
12 |
Kelsey Stamm
| HONDA |
13 |
Chad Winfrey
| SUZUKI |
14 |
Brad Riley
| YAMAHA |
15 |
Tim Farr
| HONDA |
16 |
Scott Morris
| HONDA |
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Fighting for your
Rights
All Terrain Vehicle Association
P.O. Box 800
Pickerington, OH 43147-0800 |
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