Hitt Shines at Lackluster Event

Hitt leads Little to victory.

Seven time TT champion and American Suzuki's TT go to guy, Shane Hitt, recently pulled the Paducah hat trick by winning the event for the third time in as many years. In the last few months Hitt has been very busy dialing in the Z400 that Suzuki issued him for combat in the 2005 FMF Extreme Dirt Track Series. After his Paducah display, it looks like he's got the Suzuki figured out perfectly.

In total the event logged 352 entries. While braving the highest gas prices in our nation's history, riders made their way to South West Kentucky and into Paducah International Speedway for the second to last round of this year's series. This trip to the races left many unimpressed with what they were greeted with upon arrival. The venue features a decent track, so-so lighting, a half way decent pit area -- but lacks heavily in promoter tender loving care, (more on this after our race report).

Heats

Since Curtis Sparks could not attend due to family issues, Paul Turner (Doug Gust's wrench) made the trip out to help Hitt. Sure enough the idea was a good one. The two had the Suzuki's engine apart in his trailer after a clip in the transmission came loose in his heat race. Thanks to Turner Hitt's Z400 was good as new and ready to roll in the main event. More on this in our Trackside Interviews

For some reason the promoter tried to only allow 16 riders in the pro main, luckily referee "Smitty" ignored him and stuck to the rule book. All nineteen pros would make the main. As far as who lined up where, Honda's Tim Farr finished with the fastest heat race and earned his choice spot on the front row. Brad Covington, riding with our Scene-Cam on his helmet, recorded Tim's every move with a hard charging runner up spot. Brad Riley and Scott Morris followed.

Shane Hitt won his heat race with the #206 Honda of Chris Fristoe in tow. Fristoe hadn't raced since the 2003 Paducah round, where he finished runner up behind Jackie Meadows in the Pro Production class. Fristoe somehow defies logic and doesn't need as much seat-time as most, as he proved by finishing behind legendary TT master, Hitt. Eric Jennings, Kelsey Stamm and Lee Reineccius rounded out the top five respectively.

Lastly, Keith Little beat last event's winner, Darin Ogden, in his heat race. Smooth and steady Daryl Rath, now riding a Honda, took third with Jackie Meadows and Adam Anderson in tow.

 

 

After announcing his official retirement last year, Jackie Meadows got the itch to race again. Thanks to Jansen Motorsports, he did just that. Jackie looked good on the Jansen Yamaha, but a collision with Harold Goodman ended chances of a decent finish. As of this time, he's undecided as to whether he'll race quads again. More on this in our Trackside Interviews		Brad Covington finished second in his heat behind Farr and sixth in the main. Covington will race for a top five for the season at Bullet Speedway in Brashear, TX on Sept 24. More on this in our Trackside Interviews

Main Event

Here's the most common view in the pro class. Now that Hitt finally has his new Suzuki dialed in, more than likely you'll see this view at the final round in Texas. What's worse for the competition Hitt gets to ride the Suzuki's new QuadRacer 450 next year.

Shane Hitt wasn't about to try to play catch up on the hard to pass on one-lined-track, so he concentrated hard on getting a good start and did just that. "I knew if I could get to that top cushion first, I could rail the sweeper without letting off and it would get me the start. And that's exactly what I did. It worked out well," said Hitt after the race. From the hole to the checkers, Hittman dominated.

Following Hitt's yellow Sparks Racing Suzuki was the blue LSR Racing Yamaha of Keith Little and the red Baldwin/Sparks Honda of Tim Farr. Also in the mix was Hickory, Kentucky's Chris Fristoe on his brand spanking new 450R complete with Joe Byrd inspired power from DASA Racing's Dan Lamey. Fristoe didn't get to mix it up long however. A crash took him out of contention early on.

Speaking of crashes, Harold Goodman and Jackie Meadows got hung up early on as well. Goodman aggressively snuck to the inside of Meadows. Meadows didn't take to surrendering his spot so easily however and faught for it tooth and nail. Moments later the two locked together. Any chance of a Meadows heroic come back win was gone as was any chance of a Goodman championship title.

Meanwhile former Polaris factory racer, Daryl Rath, rode his new Honda into the fourth spot and looked impressive along the way. As laps progressed FTZ/Fischer Cycle Racing's Darin Ogden approached from a not-so-good start but could not make a fourth place pass stick on veteran Rath.

Darin Ogden said he didn't have his favorite cam with him, but still managed to finish with a top five. More on this in our Trackside Interviews		Rest assured Alabama's Keith Little will do all he can to win Lone Star and Yamaha another title at the final round in Texas. Little trails Farr by ten points.

 

As is apparent in this shot, the Paducah stop on the series is more of a local go cart race than an ATV national.

As the race drew closer to an end Hitt continued with his dominance while Farr gave Little fits for his second place spot. Little's picture perfect error-free riding would prevail however.

In the end all three factory backed riders represented their teams with podium finishes. Farr's podium points continued his championship series lead but not by much. Ogden trails by eight in the runner up spot. Little is ten points out in third place and Goodman fourteen in fourth. It will all come down to the final round in Texas, where the year-end top five positions will be decided.

Our Fiasco
Now on to saying it like it is....
On Friday night we had lengthy discussions with front gate officials and security guards about how media outlets are there for the sport not themselves. We reminded them that we came to cover the event not to enjoy a night at the races like they might have tought. It was no use however, they had explicit instructions from promoter Steve Nace to not let any media representatives or series sponsors into the event without paying full $35 pit pass fee. After security kicked us out while one of us searched for the promoter to no avail, it was time to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Instead of arguing with them, we simply left a card and asked if they would pass it to the promoter so we could get into the event on Saturday.

It's critical that you get a good start in TT racing. Especially on a hard to pass on track. Check out Daryl Rath's jump from the hole. You can also see why Ogden got a bad start in this shot.

When we showed up on Saturday, we were told that Mr. Nace said that we would need to pay in order to cover their event. We politely disagreed that this is no way to run an ATV national, walked away and started our return road trip much earlier than planned. While exiting we ran into Mr. Nace. He happen to see us leaving and said we should have called and told him we were coming, perhaps he could have gotten us in that way. We mentioned that we're not trying to bog each other's day down with small details like reminding him that media needs access in order to cover the event. After all we've been reporting the news from the nationals for almost ten years now.

He then accused us of being rude to his front gate on Friday night. The opposite was the truth however. After assuring him that our calm, calculated responses to their demands of not letting anyone in without paying might have been taken as us being sarcastic or "rude". Nonetheless, regardless of his care-less-about-the-media attitude, he finally promised that he would reimburse us if we paid at the front gate. Later, much later when the races were over at nearly 2am, Mr. Nace did indeed live up to his promise but not after slamming reimbursement money at us in disgust that he wasn't able to rip us off as he did the other reporters and series sponsors attending his event.

Pro rider, Zac Willet was on hand but not able to race due to a BMX bicycle wreck that nearly cost him his life. Willet messed up his shoulder and punctured a lung. He was hospitalized for a few scary days, but recovering fine now.

More Disappointments
We don't like reporting on a bunch of negative stuff, but the truth needs to be told. There certainly isn't any respect for the sport of ATV racing or the riders in it at Paducah International Speedway. To them, it's all about pulling as much money from the rider's pockets as possible - simple as that.

Our first disappointment was the title of the event itself. Last year, thanks to then GNC Sponsor Coordinator, Ray Christy, it was called the "Jack Meadows Memorial". A class act for a legendary life-long participant of the sport. Not this year however, poor Jack wasn't remembered, instead promoter greed was now the event's theme.

Spectator turnout was dismal. We're assuming poor promoting and $30 to get in the culprit. You would think the one line hard to pass on track would top our list of disappointments, (after all, what's a race without some sort of passing), but the lack of any sort of organization tops our disappointments instead. Although saving on the electric bill by cutting the lights directly after Friday's practice comes a close second. Hope you had your flashlight on Friday.

Next year
Since greed was the theme of this year's event, we're assuming Mr. Nace has no intentions of having an ATV national next year. Maybe he was out to make every last dollar possible before announcing that he's not interested in anymore ATV events. If he's not going away on his own, hopefully the ATVA will instead award his spot to a more deserving promoter like Racer Productions, Twin Creeks, Fischer Cycle, Birch Creek or another worthy contender. If it is indeed on the schedule in 2006, you can be sure we wont attend and suggest you spend your time more wisely as well.

Next round: Bullet Speedway in Brashear, TX - Sept 24

Current Points Race:

1. Tim Farr 115 2. Darin Ogden 107 3. Keith Little 105 4. Harold Goodman 101 5. Shane Hitt 88 6. Brad Covington 78 7. Daryl Rath 75 8. Scott Morris 50 9. Lee Reineccius 42 10. Brad Riley 41 11. Eric Jennings 41 12. Kelsey Stamm 38 13. Nathan Dallas 34 14. Jerry Lauder 33 15. Jason England 28 16. Zac Willett 27 17. Cody Anderson 26 18. Chuckie Creech 23 19. Shane Smith 22 20. Adam Anderson 20

Joel Hetrick		Michael Blanchard
In amateur action Joe Hetrick passed Michael Blanchard to take the win in the ultra competitive 90 Mod class. Hetrick trails Blanshard by just two points going into the final round in Texas.

 

More in our Forums