On The Fast-Trak 12-30-01

 

Farr Wins Opener
(Special thanks to Julie LeMay for pictures and help with this story)
SFX Formula USA Pro Quad Championship Series got underway at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis, MO. This season the Pro Quads compete along with the Wrenchhead.com Monster Jam monster truck events. TNN’s Motor Madness was at this event and they will be at Atlanta and Indianapolis as well to tape the event for a future television broadcast.

Over eighty Pro Quads competed in St. Louis. SFX’s Jimmy White decides just who is a genuine “Pro Quad” pilot and who is not. Needless to say some, some were politely asked not to race. Qualifying heats narrowed the field down to 35 qualifiers. These qualifiers along with the top ten series finishers from last year went on to the heat races. The four heat races were won by reigning stadium Champion Tim Farr (Baldwin/Ferrell/DG), Jeremiah Jones (#2) (Sparks/JPMX), Shane Hitt (#3) (Sparks), and Keith Little (#4) (Nac’s/LRD). Sixteen other riders earned a position in the main event as well.

As the light turned green to start Pro Quad main event, the race to the first corner was a battle between Farr, Jones, and Hitt. Hitt collided into the rear of Jones’ quad and high-sided. Jones hung on to the holeshot followed by Farr and Little. Hitt was left overturned in the first corner and very slow to get up. Farr ended up riding over his good friend as there was no where else to go. Kory Ellis (Bill’s Pipes) quickly passed his way into the third position. “I thought I seriously hurt him. I felt so bad that I didn’t even want to race. I couldn’t fully concentrate until I saw him get up”, said Farr after the race. Somehow Farr held on to the two-spot even though his mind was not 100% on the race. In closing laps, Farr began to catch Jones as they began to encounter lapped riders. On lap 10, Jones two-wheeled going into a corner and Farr was able to sneak inside Jones to take over the lead. Farr held on to his powerful Yamaha YZ 426F four-stroke to take the Round 1 Pro Quad win. Farr was followed by Jones, Ellis, Ben Jackson (Duncan/Roll/Golden West), and Keith Little (Nac’s/LRD) at the checkers. The win marked four straight stadium wins for Farr.

Pro Quad Results:
Tim Farr (Baldwin/Ferrell/DG)
Jeremiah Jones (Sparks)
Kory Ellis (Bill’s Pipes)
Ben Jackson (Duncan/Roll/Golden West)
Keith Little (Nac’s/LRD)
Johnny Hale (K&K ATV)
Derek Wiseman (TC)
Nate Frees
John Natalie (Burgard)
Josh Starrett (JPMX)

St. Louis Notables
GNCC Champ, Bill Balance (Maxxis/LRD) looked impressive but crashed hard over a massive triple in the main event.

250 A Champion and Division 4 Freestyle Champ, Dana Creech (Nac’s/LRD) got a flat tire in his qualifier race. SFX officials gave him a provisional into the heat race. He made it into the main, but crashed into Hitt ending hopes of any decent finishing spot. Creech spent the whole main event doing heal clickers and various tricks. The crowd loved every second of it.

Greg Little (Nac’s/LRD) collided with Josh Starrett in mid air over the triple jump and crashed hard. Little was OK. Starrett – (who was very close to calling it quits) didn’t go down and ended up finishing a respectable 10th place. Starrett now away from the Nac’s Team is riding for close friend James Perry of JPMX as is Jeremiah Jones.

Ben Bettis broke his arm and dislocated his wrist in a nasty endo on the same tricky triple.

Derek Wiseman impressively charged to a 7th in the main – (not bad for a working man that doesn’t have too much time to practice and train).

 

SFX Formula USA Pro Quad Championship Series – Round 2
Pontiac Silverdome – Pontiac, MI
Jan 6, 2001

Jones flat out hauls and conquers Michigan
The Pontiac Silverdome played host to round two of the series. Track layout wasn’t quite as exciting as round one in St. Louis. Interestingly enough, SFX management wanted more excitement from the Pro Quads at Pontiac and planed on building a track that would showcase the high flying, bar banging action of professional ATV Racing. Regardless, true ATV racing fans were on the edge of their seats, as current SFX Stadium Champion, Tim Farr charged aggressively to get a spot in the main event after crashing in his heat race, said Farr afterwards. Farr was the only rider successfully doubling a tricky double before a 90-degree left turn. Track crews slightly changed the jump after practice. “Sometimes you have to just go for it. I knew they made the change, I really thought I could still make it and leave the pack for an easy heat race win and get myself first choice pick on the line for the main”, said Farr afterwards. Farr ended up casing the second jump so hard that it sent him over the bars and under his mighty fourstroke ATV. Somehow he managed to remount, plug his cord in, start the quad and chase down the final third place transfer spot all after being almost an entire lap down.

Oddly enough this round only attracted 32 riders, (last year there was over 80 eager ATV racers trying their hand at getting into the main event at the Silverdome). Heat race winners include Jeremiah Jones (Sparks/JPMX), (who earned the fast qualifier position), Johnny Hale (K&K ATV), Kory Ellis (Bill’s Pipes), John Natalie (Burgard), (riding his not so great practice quad) and Ben Jackson on his new Duncan Racing Power Valve 250R. Five other riders were transferred from a last chance qualifier (won by Kames Sport’s Mark Kandall).

“It’s still not going to be easy”, said Jones about his pole position pick. “There are a lot of great riders here and I don’t care what row they put Tim in, I guarantee he’ll be up in the front of the pack by the time we get a lap in”. The main event got underway in front of <<need attendance>> Jones left the pack with the holeshot and led wire to wire. Keith Little (Nac’s) tucked into second as Jackson, Ellis, Creech (Nac’s) Farr and Diver (Lost Creek) followed. As the race progressed Farr weaved through traffic and passed all the way to the two spot while Creech followed in his wake to finish an extremely respectable third place.

Jeremiah Jones (Sparks/JPMX)
Tim Farr (Baldwin/Ferrell/White Bros)
Dana Creech (Nac’s/LRD)
Kory Ellis (Bill’s Pipes)
Keith Little (Nac’s/LRD)
Ben Jackson (Duncan/Roll/Golden West)
Jason Dunkelberger (Lost Creek)
Matt Bartosek (JB/Kames)
John Bartosek (JB/Kames)
Johnny Hale (K&K)

Current Points
2 JEREMIA JONES BOWLING GREEN, KY. 237
1 TIM FARR CANAL FULTON, OH. 234
53 KORY ELLIS MURRIETA, CA. 226
37 BEN JACKSON RAYMOND, OH. 221
4 KEITH LITTLE RUSSELLVILLE, AL. 220
48 JOHNNY HALE ORISSO, OK. 211
52 DANA CREECH NASHVILLE, TN. 209
114 NATE FREES SOLON, IA. 204
19 JOSH FREDERICK MOAPA, NV. 202
64 JOSH STARRETT SCOTTSVILLE, KY. 200

Pontiac Notables
Shane Hitt (Sparks) – still extremely bruised and sore from round one’s mishap, but doing OK – nothing broken.

Derek Wiseman (TC) — looked impressive in early practice but later crashed and dislocated his shoulder.

John Natalie (Burgard) won heat on his old practice quad. Natalie was extremely fast and instantly charged to second in the main event. The machine he was riding could not handle the beating. The motor seized up. Natalie says Burgard Cycle is putting together a Walsh Racecraft YZ 426 powered ATV for him to race the GNCs with.

Harold “The Bee” Goodman was missing in action from this his hometown event. Rumor has it, he was off on a cruise to the Bahamas.

Kangaroo Kid completes his latest mission
California City, CA — Jan 6, 2001
(All photos by: Greg Carpenter)

Matt Coulter – “The Kangaroo Kid” recently jumped his specially built ATV (a Phillips frame, KTM 550 two-stroke motor) over an airplane in flight for MTV’s Senseless Acts of Video. He jumped over an RV-4 experimental aircraft piloted by Troy Hartman (co-host of the program) at Skydive California City in California City, CA.

Yours truly (Fast-Trak Promotions Inc.) handle Coulter’s United States events. MTV segment producers scheduled the jump for Saturday the 7th then changed to the 6th with less than a week’s notice. All arrangements were made for Coulter, including involvement from Trinity Racing. Trinity’s Harry McDermott was delighted to help the project by being on hand with his 30 foot trailer – packed to the hilt with an extra ATV and parts such as swingarms, axles, A-arms, etc. With only one day’s notice we got word that they needed to bump the jump date up yet another day – or not do it at all! With prior plans already scheduled, Trinity could not be there. Coulter’s management’s flights would arrive too late for the small window of opportunity that MTV gave to complete the stunt. Officials at and around MTV could not afford the added cost of last minute flights. Luckily, Coulter was there early, as was his ATV. In short, Coulter was left on his own with nothing but his ATV.

MTV segment producers were awe-struck when Coulter wicked his quad into warp speed, hit the ramp and succeeded to brake his current world record of 134.5 feet on his very first practice jump! Coulter went 138 feet while the extremely enthusiastic MTV cameramen recorded the jump. The record was not all that the Kangaroo Kid broke. The ramp to flat landing record jump was so brutal that it broke the swingarm, upper shock bolt, brake caliper, sub frame, and shifter. It’s reported that some tension was in the air by segment producers as Coulter (and 4-Leaf Entertainment’s ramp builder – Rob Giustina) scrambled to find a welder. They succeeded in welding up the damage, but darkness fell. Their allowed time for the stunt had run out.

Since producers were so stoked at the footage they were able to capture – they arranged to schedule the Skydive California airfield for the following day to try to complete the mission of leaping the airplane. Coulter, with a scabbed together quad and no rear brakes, was about as ready as he could be under the circumstances – the show went on. He and the airplane pilot Troy Hartman got their timing down. Coulter then jumped a few more times as to make sure his height would be sufficient enough to fly over the aircraft. In these jumps he once again grenaded his ATV into nothing more than a pile of junk. More welding, more frustration and more tension from segment producers. Repairs to the now severely crippled quad were done as best as possible. It was time to complete the mission and “get out of Dodge”.

Coulter proved once again that he is indeed the bravest and the most determined ATV pilot in the world. He waited for the plane to pass its mark, gritted his teeth, dumped the clutch, twisted the throttle to its stops and picked off gears with nothing on his mind but succeeding. Those on hand were terrified as Coulter and his ATV, now travelling at almost 80 mph with no brakes, headed toward the ramp and the fast approaching plane (traveling at 120 mph). The ATV, so badly shattered from the earlier torturous abuse – had only a few inches of rear suspension travel, and more resembled a TT quad than one that would drop 20 feet from the sky at almost 80 mph! None the less, Coulter didn’t let up, instead he went wide open all the way to the ramp!

All the tension and frustration was instantly gone, as the Kangaroo Kid supplied some of the greatest footage the show has ever had! He not only timed the airplane absolutely perfect, (jumping over it’s wings as it flew by), but he broke his record once again by landing 139 feet!
As he and the already crippled ATV landed, it once again broke into pieces. The impact emploded his body into the machine bending the handlebars all the way down and forward and sent a paralyzing shiver through his body’s nervous system. In true Kangaroo Kid style, he shook off the pain, quickly regained feeling from his nervous system and promptly picked up Kimberly – the pretty co-host in celebration. MTV also hugely succeeded. They were able to capture every angle possible, including a look down on the plane as Coulter passed over it!

In the end all was well, frustration and tension had turned to delight and accomplishment. The Kangaroo Kid is now a friend and commodity of MTV – in fact, they want to include much more of him for future episodes.

Making the Scene
Tim Farr, Jeremiah Jones and Matt Coulter
Jeremiah Jones is so focused on winning that at the age of 21 he still does not have a driver’s license! His days are spent on the track aggressively fine-tuning his ability day in and day out. His hard work is more than paying off. Jones rides like a true veteran and never seems to tire out. His first stadium main event win in Pontiac is just the beginning for the biggest up and coming sensation in ATV racing in years.
Tim Farr proves what pure determination can do. Lap times were about 30 seconds at Pontiac. Most riders would accept a DNF after crashing in a short 6-lap heat race, especially after being a lap down. Not the case here, Farr calmly remounted, fired up his mighty thumper and proceeded to catch the pack. Farr then passed his way into the third spot and got into the main event, where he proceeded to real in riders from a second row start – and finished second overall!

Matt Coulter
No surrendering from the Kangaroo Kid! You won’t ever see him complain or whine about anything. His determination to succeed is equal to Farr’s and Jones’ – or maybe we should compare him to a war hero with no fear, — The John Wayne of stunt men.

Jones, Farr and Coulter recently proved that genuine determination is one powerful tool in accomplishing their goals. For this they are front and center in the Scene!

Canfield, Ohio’s David Diver
Age: 22
’01 Sponsors: Lost Creek Cycle, TC Racing, Walsh Racecraft, Smith Optics, DP Brakes, Outerwears, PEP, Thor, Pro Art Works, Motion Pro, Hinson Racing, Mothers,
’01 Racing No: 3 and 99:
Ride: Walsh frame TC Racing YZ 426 bored to 440cc specially built by Kevin Mummah
Favorite MX track: London, KY
Favorite TT: Orrville, OH
Best Race: ’00 Ashtabula, 2nd place behind Tim Farr.

ATV Scene: Tell us about your now famous lake jump — featured in Huevos 3.
Diver: I was talking a little trash, I told Dana (Creech) I would attempt to jump over the 136 foot pond at Fox Raceway Marionville, PA if he did the big triple at Fox Raceway. Needless to say, I knew I was in deep (literally) — Dana not only cleared the triple he busted out a massive heal clicker while doing it.

ATV Scene: Were you actually trying to clear the pond?
Diver: When I took off I thought I was — didn’t quite work out that way.

ATV Scene: Did anyone think you would actually clear the whole pond?
Diver: No – everyone pretty much new I would eat it.

ATV Scene: Any plans to make an annual attempt at clearing the pond?
Diver: Get me Coulter kind of cash and I’ll go for it.

ATV Scene: How are you preparing for your debut in the pro class?
Diver: I’m lifting and running every day. And I plan on going down south for a month to ride before the first national.

ATV Scene: What are you going to race in the pro class?
Diver: My YZ.

ATV Scene: How do you think you’ll end up for the year?
Diver: I’m shooting for a top ten.

ATV Scene: Still going to race the Pro Fourstroke class?
Diver: Yes

ATV Scene: How have you ranked in the last few years in the Pro-Am Fourstorke Class?
Diver: I’ve progressed from 9th overall in 1997, then 7th, 5th in ‘99 and took a 3rd overall last year.

ATV Scene: 9,7,5,3, — Looks like you’re ready for #1 huh?
Diver: I’m all for that!

ATV Scene: What happened at Challenger? Why did you pull off while in third place?
Diver: That’s one I want to put behind me. I lost my rear brakes and made a bad chose to pull off. Kevin from Lost Creek reamed me out pretty good for that one – then Scott (Jerky) let me have it when he was done. That wont happen again.

ATV Scene: Last words?
Diver: I’m looking forward to the upcoming season. I need to give a special thanks to my dad and mom as well as Jackie at Lost Creek (Kevin’s wife). And I can’t forget to thank Walt for all of his help.

New Year’s Resolutions:
Jimmy White — “I have three of them. 1.To help the ATV industry by working with and convincing SFX that Pro Quad racing is the way to go, NOT QUAD WARS. 2. Show up at Ashtabula and have as much fun in 2001 as I did in 2000. And 3, Have my new Kenda BULL DOG ATV race tire developed and at the racetrack by the end of 2001.

Loren Duncan — “My New Years resolution regarding my business is to get my Website www.duncanracing.com up and running in a professional manner just like our catalog.

Crow Canyon MX and Wiseco Piston’s, Steve Johnson – “My new years resolution; Do everything possible to help promote the growth of ATV racing and provide support to it’s riders that make a difference week in and week out such as Tim Farr and others who provide the professionalism
that this sport needs to attract new outside sponsors that will enable its growth and a bright future.
My second resolution is to not put my foot out while cornering!”

Josh Starrett – “I have decided to reorganize my priorities and put what is most important to me back on top where it needs to be. Friends and family, school, and enjoying life to the fullest extent.

Daniel Matz – “Mine is to travel as much as possible, meet as many new people as possible, and have as much fun as possible. Pretty much my resolution every year”.

The Winky Monster, Jim Winkelbauer – “This year I’m going to quit having sex for money”.

Cindy Campbell – “My resolution this year is to quit smoking. Which I have so far!”

Dave Carter of DC Motorsports — “To slow down, take more time to enjoy life and to spend more time with my children and to get my son Josh racing full time this year”.

Sam Jackson — “It was to quit drinking beer, but hell – I blew that last night”.

Jimmy Elza — “Mine’s to break Coulter’s distance record”.

Skip Creech — “I’m going to get all sides of the story before I jump to conclusions”.

Jeremiah Jones — “You know what I want”

Kory Ellis — “I’m going to double check my pipe mounts before every race”.

David Diver — “Annoy the living hell out of Kory Ellis. And I want to find out what planet Jerky comes from”.

Brad Warner — “To go all year without breaking my shoulder”.

Julie LeMay — “To not be single anymore”.

Scott “Jerky” Generke – “Through the roller coaster of a year that I went through in 2000, my New Year’s Resolution is to laugh at those who tried to keep me down and extend my hand to those that want to follow whatever mission I am destined to fulfill.

John Pellan – “I’m going to continue to take ATV racing to a higher level! More specifically, I will make sure ATV Scene.com stays focused on what true sport performance ATVers want to read – say it like it is reports on what’s going on in our great sport. I also want to prove that exposure on ATV Scene is extremely important to racers, aftermarket companies and manufacturers alike.

Chad Duvall throws in the towel.
Duncan Racing Roll Design Golden West Cycle’s Chad DuVall (GNCC #3) has decided not to race the 2001 season. Instead he is going to help his son Thad in his racing endevours. Thad has adopted plenty of dad’s talent would like to race motorcycles. Chad feels that his son should get the ride he never got and wants to help him do just that.

Tulsa Shootout
Greg Bakker was back racing an ATV recently as he won the Open Pro class and scored a second place in the 250 Pro class at the Tulsa Short Track Championships. The extremely fast Chris Bartholomew won the event.
250 Pro
Greg Bakker
Chris Bartholomew
John Perkins (of the TQRA)

Yamaha Raptor Shocks from DeRisi Racing
DeRisi Racing’s new Pro Millennium Race, ZPS, and Standard Series shocks for the Yamaha Raptor should be a hot item as Raptors are selling like hotcakes. DeRisi’s front shocks are reported to increased the suspension travel and add more sag which allows you to run the ride height lower than stock. Their Pro Millennium Shocks are said not to fade away like the stock suspension will after some constant hard riding. Shocks are specifically built for you and your type of riding and offer triple rate springs, threaded preload adjuster, stainless steel reservoir hoses, large capacity 20 position compression adjustable reservoirs, external rebound adjuster, and valve shim style internal damping pistons. They are also fully rebuildable.
The Pro Millennium Standard series shock components consist of steel bodies, ½” chrome plated shaft, triple rate springs, stainless steel reservoir hoses, Large capacity 20 position compression adjustable reservoirs, and valve shim style internal damping pistons.

The current wait time on a set of front shocks is around 2 weeks.

Pricing is as follows:
Pro Millennium Race fronts (5/8” shaft fully adjustable) $1149.95
Pro Millennium Standard fronts (1/2” shaft compression adjustable) $699.95
Pro Millennium ZPS Series fronts (5/8” shaft fully adjustable) $1149.95
Pro Millennium ZPS Series fronts (1/2” shaft compression adjustable) $699.95

For more information on these shocks and other Yamaha Raptor goodies, contact:
DeRisi Racing
420 Moriah Church Rd
Casar, NC 28020
Phone: (704) 538-3512
Web page: www.shelby.net/dracing

Surfin’
Associated Press: Clinton Moves to Protect Forests
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010105/pl/forest_plan_3.html

MSNBC.com: Clinton unveiling historic forest rule
http://www.msnbc.com/news/511867.asp

CNN.com: Clinton to announce national forest protections today
http://www.cnn.com/2001/NATURE/01/05/clinton.forests/index.html

USA Today.com: New forest rule forbids logging, roads
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncsthu03.htm#readmore

The Oregonian: Clinton locks up third of U.S. forests
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/01/01/lc_62roads05.frame

The Oregonian: Wealthy foundations help crusade to protect forests
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/01/01/lc_31bucks02.frame

Reuters: Bush Urged to Roll Back Clinton Environmental Rules
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010104/pl/bush_environment_dc_1.html

Forbes.com: The Paris-Dakar Rally
http://www.forbes.com/2001/01/01/0101rrr.html

MSNBC.com: Showdown over U.S. offroad policy
http://www.msnbc.com:80/news/509226.asp?cp1=1

Salt Lake Trubune: SUWA Loses Off-Road Vehicle Lawsuit
http://www.sltrib.com:80/12292000/utah/57960.htm

PR Newswire: Orbital Forecasts Half Year Results
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001219/orbital_en.html

PR Newswire: Cannondale reduces debt, eliminates warrants and resumes
motorcycle production
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001219/ct_cannond.html

Spokesman-Review.com: Motorcycle skills course wins praise
http://www.spokesmanreview.com:80/news-story.asp?date=121800&ID=s897075

Abercrombie.com: Ezra Lusk featured on Abercrombie & Fitch web site
http://www.abercrombie.com/anf/aftv/html/aftv_top.html

Quotes of the week:
“What if I paid you extra?” – Dave Diver while out on the town in Montreal Canada.

“Show some excitement damn-it, or I’ll stick this flag up your ass” – SFX Pro Quads Event Coordinator, Jimmy White to Ben Jackson just prior to Benny getting interviewed for his heat race win at the Pontiac Silverdome.

Pix of the week:
Mark Kendall and teammate (through Kame’s Sports Center) chill, while Kory Ellis looks in.

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