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GNC MX Round 1
Glen Helen Raceway
Devore, CA
Feb 7-8. 2004

Ellis wins West Coast opener

Kory made Southern Cali proud!

West bound ATV racers flocked together and migrated to sunny Southern California to join anxious West Coast residents for round one of the 2004 ITP Grand Nationals. In total some 459 entries proved that expanding the series all the way to CA was indeed a good decision.

Unfortunately irritating winds were present throughout the weekend, especially on Sunday. Nonetheless, many smiles were present under wind chapped and sand blasted faces throughout the pits. And not a single negative comment could be found about the famous Glen Helen racetrack, which features many high speed sections including "Talladega Turn" (motocross' biggest banked first turn) and the centerpiece of the track, for the pro level only, "Mount St. Helen", (a steep hill climb not for the timid). OEM and many ATV industry aftermarket representatives were very much present and respectfully supportive of the event. ITP perhaps tops the most supportive list. ITP's Craig Peterson and Jamie Chisholm have worked hard to gain interest for their two year old ITP Quadcross series. And their effort has been paying off, -- the series has become a big hit. Without question the ITP Quadcross series has boosted the Southern California ATV racing scene, combining this effort with the devoted ATVers traveling from the East, helped make the GNC opener the success it was.

Tim Farr fell off his usual pace and settled for eighth in the first moto and dealt with a faulty throttle cable in the second moto.

Since ATV racing is now done on production based equipment, the big four (Hon, Yam, Kaw and Suz) all had a vested interest in this first big round of the nationals. Many anticipate that this 2004 ATV racing season will be the most exciting ever, especially in the professional class. A whopping 36 riders made up the pro field at Glen Helen! Kawasaki came dressed for the occasion and looked the part of a serious player in the pits but not on the track as their factory supported rider, Jeremy Schell (Duncan/Roll/IMS) failed to qualify. Suzuki caught the eye of many by dressing their team with snazzy eye-catching yellow Suzuki race jackets. Suzuki sported a decked-out Weekend Warrior trailer but didn't look quite as impressive in the pits as Kawasaki did, but sure did make up for it where it counts - on the track, as "Digger" Doug Gust proved convincingly that Suzuki wont be backing down to anyone this year.

2004 promises to be an exciting year for professional ATV racing. Here Gust leads Ellis in moto two.

Yamaha nonchalantly hired Jeremiah Jones, Shane Hitt and Bill Ballance to represent them in this epic inaugural battle of ATV equipment. Yamaha purposely made no official announcement to their 2004 plan of attack on race tracks across America. Their philosophy is nothing flashy or fancy. They intend to let their product speak for itself by simply winning on the track. Lastly mentioned is Honda's GNC race artillery. Their image was camouflaged in the pits as well as on the track at the opener. The big red ATV market share giant got enough of their new TRX450R units in production just in time to legally allow their big gun, Tim Farr to mark the territory with war-paint red, but Honda's tardiness in this interesting battle of the ATV sport segment might hurt them when it comes time to add up valuable year-end points in the racing scene. Tim Farr has been spending a lot of time setting up the machine to his liking and a lot less time training. In fact Farr openly admits, "of all the years I need to be in top shape and ready it's this one. Unfortunately that's not the case. We've been spending a lot of time dialing in my new bikes and driving to events. I can tell in practice today that I just don't physically have what it will take to run up front this weekend. I will be ready for round two in Florida though."

Enough hype, here's how the GNC professional ATV racing season tipped off

"Ironman" Natalie came prepared! His bad start in moto two kept him off the podium this time, but look for Natalie to be a major threat to win the championship this year.

Shane Hitt (Yamaha/Sparks/Kames), Jason Luburgh (Nac's/TC), Mike Walsh, (Walsh Racecraft/Sparks) and Doug Eichner (Duncan/Roll/IMS) advanced from the pro qualifier number one. In the second qualifier Dana Creech (danacreechracing.com/PEP/TC), Nate Frees (LRD), Dustin Wimmer (East Coast ATV) and Matt White (Hetrick/JB) advanced. Nic Granlund (CT) and Joe Haavisto advanced from the last chance qualifier. Top five from the '03 pro class and top five from the pro production class were automatically seeded into the first moto of Sunday's pro event. Since Doug Gust was a top five rider in both the pro and pro production classes, the sixth place overall rider in the pro production class, Jason Dunkelberger, automatically advanced.

Moto 1

Natalie passes Ellis, but gets the favor returned later in moto one.

Honda's Tim Farr pulled the trigger fastest off the start, but ATV Scene.com's own, Kory Ellis (Alba Action/Kenda/Fox) drifted high and never let off the gas and catapulted past several riders and into the lead position by the time the front runners exited the enormous "Talladega" banked turn. John Natalie (East Coast ATV) latter threatened and made the pass on Ellis. Ellis held his ground as Natalie slowly pulled away. As laps progressed Natalie couldn't keep up his pace and slowly tired. Meanwhile Ellis smoothly took back the lead. Jeremiah Jones (Yamaha/Sparks/JPMX) passed Natalie and began to hunt Ellis down. At the end, Ellis almost blew the third to the last turn of the final lap. This allowed Jones to pull along side of Ellis. The two sprinted through the whoops and crossed the finish line only inches apart. Ellis won by a nose as an angry Jones had to settle for second after a hard charge from his fourth place start. Natalie faded to third while Gust progressed his way into the fourth place spot. Lone Star's Keith Little managed fifth after passing Honda's Tim Farr (who eventually finished eighth in the moto).

Moto 2

Much to the approval of Kory Ellis the moto two pack heads up the hill.

You can pick out this rider without the yellow 250R based equipment he rode with last year. It's Jeremiah Jones sporting a factory supported Yamaha YFZ!

The front wheels of Ellis' white YFZ barely touched the ground as he shifted through the gears and moved into the early lead. Keith Little, Dana Creech and Jeremiah Jones followed in hot pursuit, but had to deal with a ferocious Doug Gust breathing down their backs. Gust was on another of his legendary "mission rides" and charged hard throughout the moto. Creech faded after running over his right boot. Meanwhile Gust disposed of Jones after he bobbled in the double jump before the "Mt. St Helen" hill. Then moved past Little by blitzing through the sandy whoops as if he had an extra ten inches of suspension on his Yoshimura/Elka Suzuki.

While Gust aimed at Ellis' number 53, the number 4 of Farr faded from his sixth place position when his throttle cable snagged on him. Creech wished he had Farr's bad luck on the following lap when he collided with Duncan's Doug Eichner. Creech got the worse end of the deal and tumbled end over end. When he came to a stop his hip was dislocated. Trackside emergency crews actually popped his hip back into place. After the race he was walking but not without pain.

Ellis could feel Gust's advances and kept him at bay as long as possible. Gust took over the lead with two and a half laps to go. Ellis would not surrender because over his shoulder was the fast approaching blue Yamaha of Jeremiah Jones. Ellis even took back the lead from Gust while Jones hoped for an opportunity to pass both of them as they battled for the lead. While all this was happening, John Natalie was blitzing through the pack like a mad-man after he stalled at the start. Natalie probably was the fastest rider on the track in the second moto he eventually went from dead last to finish in fourth place!

The new Production Pro/Am race was the premier Pro/Am class of the day. Toping the heap was Las Vegas, NV's Niclas Granlund (left) with a perfect 1-1 score. Granlund looked fast and smooth all weekend and definitely turned some heads. Dustin Wimmer went runner up while Darrell Patton (right) made the long and grueling ten-minute drive from Rialto, CA to round off the podium.

 

Keith Little showed up looking good in his new Lone Star supported big rig. The truck's graphics match his sharp looking LSR YFZ. Little finished up top five for the day after a run in with a brake caliper-wrecking-rock.

Shane Hitt signed a one year contract with Yamaha to ride TTs. Under the contract he is allowed to race MX. Hitt says he plans on racing the GNC MXs only to stay in shape for the TTs. In the process he scored a respective 6-6 for sixth place overall. Speaking of Yamaha's factory racing effort, Hitt said that they simply went after each of the respective champions; himself ('03 TT champ), Jones ('03 MX champ) and Ballance ('03 GNCC champ) - an impressive list of talent to say the least.

When the white flag was thrown, the race got even more intense as Gust took over the lead. Nearly every major ATV media outlet captured either video or photographs of the exciting battle that undisputedly showed just how exciting this year will be. Perhaps the most exciting list of media on hand was Ehlert's new "ATV Sport Magazine Television". The new 30 minute program will cover every GNC MX event as well as selected TT events throughout the year.

As Gust rode to the checkers, Jones gave it all he had and came within striking distance to Ellis. He knew if he could pass Ellis he could take the 30-point win back home with him to Bowling Green, KY and Ellis knew that if he could keep him at bay he could take first place honors to his nearby home, only 45 minutes south of the track. Jones would get close enough to try a move on Ellis only to fade out of striking distance. This went on more than once in the beginning portion of the final lap. At the last half of the final lap it was clear that Ellis was pulling slightly away and had the overall in the bag if he could ride the final minute without a mistake. He did just that. Ellis crossed the finish a few seconds behind Gust and into the camera lenses of several photojournalists eager to capture his every word.

Doug Eichner's Duncan/Roll/IMS 450R looked impressive. Eichner finished 11th overall with it.

"I've been training for this ever since the Glen Helen national was announced and felt ready. I got good starts and rode my own race. That's what it comes down to, me racing my own race. I even told my mechanic Rob from Alba to just write how much time was left on my pit board - nothing more, nothing less. I wasn't even going to concern myself with where other riders were throughout the moto. Today was a great day for me and as far as I'm concerned, the whole sport. This year we finally have a true National series and 459 entries proves that California deserves the spot from now on. Come to think of it, the West Coast should probably have two GNC next year", explained Ellis on the walk back to his pits.