Extreme
Dirt Track
DURO ATVA Nationals
Round #7- Franklin, Pennsylvania
Tri City Speedway
September 8, 2007
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Photos
By: Darin Wentz & Kenny Hill |
Pro & Pro-Am
ATV Race Report
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Extreme Dirt Track
Round #7 - Links |
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Franklin, PA - Round 7 of the Duro
Extreme Dirt Track Nationals at Tri City Speedway
was once again plagued by rain, and this year there
was no salvaging the main events as the rain wouldn’t
let up and forced the racing action to stop before
the completion of main events. Rich and Michelle
of Hetrick Racing did an outstanding job of hosting
the event, but with rain in the forecast all day
Saturday, it finally arrived that evening and canceled
the remaining main events around 7PM.
The racing was held at Tri Cities Speedway just
north of Franklin and has been hosting race events
since the early sixties. Pine Lakes Raceway promoter
Bud Fischer was in attendance and said “we
raced six wheelers on this track back when we
were kids in the early seventies, it’s a
great place to race”. The ½ mile
oval track offered the riders plenty of both speed
and technical riding. The racers would use part
of the oval along with two sets of split lanes
in the infield. Both sets of splits included rollers
while the second set of splits both had a tabletop
before two 90 degree turns sent them back into
the front straightaway.
Before the rains came, 43 heat races along with
20 of the 28 scheduled main events. The first
rain delay lasted about 45 minutes before the
rain let up and the track was ready for racing
again. After two more main events were completed
and one more on the track the rains began again
and one more time the racing was stopped and delayed
until Sunday morning.
Saturday’s action saw 20 pro riders competing
in three heats. The first heat saw Harold Goodman
take the early lead that he would never give up.
Trent Powell was behind Goodman in the first lap
followed by Mitch Reynolds and Brad Riley. Powell
spun out in lap two making way for Reynolds to
get around and into second while Zac Willett was
also able to get around Riley in the third spot.
Reynolds and Willett were able to hold the second
and third spots behind Goodman to the checkered
flag.
In Heat Two, Shane Hitt grabbed Holeshot in front
of Danny McGraw and Brandon Shipman. Chuckie Creech
was quickly around Shipman in lap 3 and it looked
as if the race would stay in this order as they
began to pull away from the rest of the field
until Creech got into some loose dirt at the end
of the first split lanes and took a tumble. Creech’s
quad did several cartwheels and Creech did not
let go with the first one as the machine came
down on top of him. Creech was taken to the hospital
and according to Neal Pritchard “he has
some fractured ribs and a collapsed lung and they
are going to transfer him to a hospital in Pittsburgh”.
The racing did not stop as Creech was off the
track and Hitt took the win with McGraw in second
followed by Shipman in third.
The final heat saw plenty of action behind leader
Michael Coburn. Coburn got off the line and took
the Holeshot never looking back. Zac Stanley, Brian
Ace, and Frank Batista all followed Coburn and
changed positions several times throughout the race.
Batista passed Stanley and Ace in the front straightaway
of lap 2. Ace was able to get the second spot back
in lap 3 getting around Batista in the second set
of split lanes going back into the front straightaway.
Batista continued to press Ace the final three laps
but was unable to regain the second position. When
Coburn took the checkered flag he was followed
by Ace in second and Batista in third.
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