| Powersports
ATV Tour
Round #1 - Links |
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Reynolds, GA (4/29/2007) - John Natalie,
Jr. and Jesse West won the Pro portions of the WPSA
PowerSports ATV Tour season opening ITP Tires Southern
Open Championship races Sunday at Silver Dollar Raceway.
The race will be telecast on ESPN2 on Saturday, June
16 at 1 p.m. EDT.
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Rage
ATV's #13 John Natalie Jr out powered the class
in his last two races of the weekend with the
Pro Main being the most important as he edged
out #44 Chad Wienen around the first turn to
secure the $1,000 Quad Magazine Holeshot Award |
Natalie (No. 13 ELKA, Maxxis/Honda) took the lead
after winning the $1,000 QUAD Magazine Holeshot Award,
and left the rest of the field in his dust. He won
the event by nearly 11 seconds, ahead of Doug Gust
(No. 55 Team Rockstar, MSR, Pro Taper, Yoshimura/Suzuki)
and Dustin Wimmer (No. 191 MSR, Pro Taper, Yoshimura/Suzuki).
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| #98
John Ragon had a scary get-off on the start,
but jumped back up and returned to the race
and was able to charge his way back up to 14th
place |
#44
Chad Wienen was giving Natalie Jr a run until
he machine came to a stop momentarily, but his
machine refired and he finished out the race
in 12th place |
"Sitting out most of last year and watching
these other guys was tough," said Natalie, who
after winning the first two races last season was
sidelined by a severely broken thumb. "I worked
through the pain, tried to pick up where I left off,
and I think I did that. It hurt more, sitting on the
sidelines last year, than the actual injury.
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| #55
Doug Gust and #191 Dustin Wimmer rounded out
the Podium with the pair collecting two wins
in their heat races as well
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"I taught myself not to look back," said
Natalie. "I count on my mechanic to tell me what
I'm doing. I try to use the philosophy of focus forward."
West (No. 888 ITP Tires, Oil Boyz/Arctic Cat) was
elevated to first in the QuadTerrain Challenge Pro
Stock final when Scott Kilby (No. 207 Warnert Racing/Can-Am),
who timed first, was penalized two positions for cutting
the course. The penalty moved Daryl Rath (No. 67 Rath
Racing/Arctic Cat) to second. Kilby placed third after
winning the $1,000 Holeshot Technologies Rock'n'Roll
Award for being first out of the track's rock crawl
section.
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| #207
Scott Kilby out powered the field with his CanAm
Outlander and had a great battle with #67 Daryl
Rath to the last lap with the pair side by side |
#888
Jesse West charged his way from a 5th place
start to take the win after Kilby was penalized
for going off the side of the logs in a traffic
jam on the last lap |
"I'm a little bit disappointed in the way it
happened, but I had a clean race, and I did what I
had to do," said West. "I'm in great shape
and I feel great out there. I wish they'd bump it
up to 20 laps.
"The holeshot winner usually doesn't win in
QuadTerrain Challenge," explained West. "Instead,
the winner is usually the guy who makes the least
mistakes. I bounced back from some mistakes I made
at the beginning, and, luckily I got the win."
Josh Creamer (No. 9 Monster Energy Drink/Kawasaki)
won the $500 ATVSource.com Biggest Mover Award for
moving up the most positions from his qualifying spot
to his seventh-place finish in the SuperQuad Pro 450
race. Josh West (No. 788 ITP Tires, Oil Boyz/Arctic
Cat) won the same award in QuadTerrain Challenge event,
also earning a $500 bonus.
The next race for the WPSA PowerSports ATV Tour,
the Jack Link's ATV Championship, is scheduled for
May 11-13 at South Fork Dirt Riders in Taylorville,
IL.
About the PowerSports
ATV Tour
The PowerSports ATV Championship Tour is North America's
premier professional ATV racing circuit, featuring
QuadMX, QuadTerrain and SuperSport Pro series action
as well as more than 20 amateur classes for adults,
women and children. The Tour is sanctioned by the
World PowerSports Association, North America's most
respected snowmobile and ATV sanctioning body, and
a promoter of ATV and snowmobile racing on both the
regional and national level. For more information,
please visit www.PowerSportsTour.com.
