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GNC MX Round 9 Hi Point MX Mt Morris, PA June 21, 2004

"Ironman" Natalie fends off Gust for the win and third straight moto victory
by John Pellan

"Digger" Doug Gust congratulates John Natalie for two incredible motos.

High Point Raceway's Round 9 of the ITP GNC MX series is now in the books. John Natalie rose to the occasion and won his first GNC of the season. With his win, he become the third rider of the season to knock the mighty "Digger" Doug Gust from victory.

Before we get to the race report, please pray with us that Iowa's Nate Frees recovers well. Frees crashed hard this weekend at Mt Morris. It's reported that he fractured several vertebrae in his back and has some internal bleeding.

Now on to how Mt Morris was won...

Moto 1

Natalie is on the gas if you haven't noticed. Although this is his first GNC victory of the season, he's been a major threat at every round.

The start of moto one could be described best with one word, - chaos. As the field made its way to the uphill left hand sweeper, Team Honda's Tim Farr (Baldwin/DG/PEP) and Yamaha's Jeremiah Jones (Sparks/Media/JPMX/ITP) intertwined. This quickly led to a multi-quad pile-up on the fast uphill start. As Suzuki's Doug Gust (Yosh/Hinson/Weekend Warrior) pulled the lead on John Natalie (East Cost ATV/Yosh) and the rest of the twenty rider field, Jones, Farr, Kory Ellis, Harold Goodman, Gilbert Attix, Joe Byrd, Donald Lysinger and Jason Luburgh all scrambled to get untangled from the wreckage. Luckily none were hurt. Ohio's Jason Luburgh (Nac's/TC) was the first to get free. Luburgh passed his way to a respectable seventh.

Determined to make some good out of the bad situation, Farr and Jones picked up the pieces and took off after the distant field. The two chased each other while picking off riders one by one. At the end they would end up 12th and 13th, -- not bad considering the amount of track they had to make up.

photo by Julie Farr Kory Ellis knows the Mt Morris track well. He's won here the last two years. This time out, he finished fourth. He was disappointed but considering the fact that he passed nine riders to get there, we're still (and always will be) extremely proud that he rides in ATV Scene's behalf.		Pro mechanics calculate their "moto-math" while anxiously watching moto two's action.

 

(4.11MB) video by: Sean Berkey First moto mayhem ruined hopes for a good finish for several riders. Hey Kory, this isn't football, you're supposed to pass the other riders not tackle them.

Enough talk about the rear of the pack, let's get to the front. Gust tried to hold Natalie at bay in early laps, but it was no use. Natalie was on a mission. He wanted Mt Morris and proved it by easily passing Gust, then putting a 15 second lead on him. While Natalie and his white and blue East Coast ATV Yamaha YFZ dominated out front, his teammate, Dustin Wimmer, on an identical white and blue East Coast YFZ, played havoc on Gust. Gust has yet to show any sign of tiring. In fact, amazingly as it may sound, it's Gust, at 37, who pours it on at the end of the moto and out rides the entire younger field with incredible stamina. This time out, try as he may, Gust could not seem to shake the rookie phenomenon. "He's going to be hard to beat as time goes on. He's got what it takes to win and has a great future ahead of him", said Gust about Wimmer.

On the last lap, 18 year-old Wimmer, took an inside line just prior to the downhill High Point Stair Case and passed Gust for second! Ironically, Gust finished up on the Mt Morris GNC podium his rookie year of 1990. Perhaps Wimmer's last lap pass on Gust is a passing of the torch of sorts. Regardless, Wimmer is on the move. As you'll later read, he did the same to Farr in the second moto to finish with his second pro podium of the year.

This was taken seconds after rookie Dustin Wimmer put a classic pass on a classic rider - Mr Doug Gust. FYI: Wimmer is half Gust's age.

Pulling lap times on par with the Natalie, Wimmer and Gust was ATV Scene.com's own Kory Ellis (Alba Action/Kenda/PEP). As you remember, Ellis was one of the many casualties of the moto-one-chaos. His all too familiar blitz through the pack happened again. This time from a 13th place starting spot. In the end his charge netted him a heroic fourth in the moto.

 

 

 

 

(2.16MB) video by: Sean Berkey		(1.69MB) video by: Sean Berkey		(1.20MB) video by: Sean Berkey
Ellis passed an incredible nine riders in route to his fourth place moto one finish. Here he disposes of Canada's Jasmin Plante.		Gust and Wimmer throw some roost.		Could this be the passing of the torch? Here rookie, Dustin Wimmer passes ATV racing legend, Doug Gust.

Moto 2

Natalie, Gust and Wimmer celebrate good times center stage at the the Mt Morris podium.

Moto two saw a clean entry to twenty minutes of professional seat-of-the-pants racing. Again, Gust and his Yoshimura Suzuki ripped out of the hole and led the field. And again, John Natalie followed. Kory Ellis, Tim Farr, and Dustin Wimmer instantly gave chase. The top five quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the field.

Natalie and Gust traded the lead a few times, making the paid admission all the more worthwhile. Natalie eventually took over the lead for good. Meanwhile, Ellis, who won this event two years in a row, studied the battle for first carefully. It would take a Natalie/Gust tangle for him to pull off a Mt Morris hat trick, but stranger things have happened.

As laps continued it looked as though Natalie would be untouchable this time. Just then, with about three laps remaining, his head pipe came apart from his engine. His Yamaha popped and stuttered and he began to loose power. "I definitely made sure I took the inside lines all the way around the track. I was a little worried about hitting some of the jumps with it. I didn't know if it was going to quite on me or not", said Natalie about the pipe coming loose.

(4.18MB) video by: Sean Berkey Natalie leads the race through the mechanic's area.

Gust quickly approached in an effort to sweep up a moto win, but after thinking about the situation, he chose not to get too close. Even if he passed for the lead he could still not do any better than his current second place overall position. Nonetheless, the crowd ate this up. Natalie gave them a dramatic finish. He held his ground and rode a flawless-calm-cool and collective last few laps while Gust peaked over his shoulder more than once. In the end, Natalie maintained just enough speed to make it too hard for Gust to get by. "I kept waiting for it to break. I didn't want to get too close incase it did. My hat's off to him, he rode two great motos today", said Gust.

As mentioned above, rookie Wimmer was having another glorious moto. He hunted Farr down and passed him for fourth place in a tight corner. "It's pretty cool to be racing with my heroes. To pass them and finish ahead of them is just absolutely incredible! I'm having a really good year", said Wimmer about passing Gust and Farr. Wimmer's pass on Farr stopped Ellis from taking the third place podium spot. It was Wimmer earning his second consecutive podium instead. Worth mention is the fact that earlier in the race Farr’s rear brake pedal caught something on the ground and nearly got ripped off. He rode without rear brakes.

Just prior to popping the quark on his first victory of the GNC season, Natalie had this to say. "I need to thank all my sponsors, especially East Coast ATV. I would also like to thank my chiropractor for getting me in shape. Like I said in Casey, I really want to thank you fans as well. When you guys cheer and we see shirts waving and everything, that's what keeps us going. It pumps me up to really reach down and ride my best".

Thanks to Jorge Cuartas and his Media All stars team, Giovanni Colon, Puerto Rico's National Champ was able to race in America for the first time. Giovanni finished (16-19) for 19th place, but he and his family had a blast all weekend. To his defense the borrowed Honda 450R was pretty close to stock and not working to his liking.		Jason Luburgh lost the ability to score points at the Casey GNC by failing to sign up in by the Saturday deadline, (according to the ATVA). He and his father are appealing the decision. Meanwhile, Luburgh impressed more than one at Mt Morris. His (7-6) come from behind score netted him a top five overall.

Pro Point's Race
1. Doug Gust 255
2. John Natalie 181
3. Kory Ellis 158
4. Tim Farr 158
5. Jeremiah Jones 156
6. Tavis Cain 128
7. Dustin Wimmer 120
8. Keith Little 113
9. Jasmin Plante 101
10. Jason Luburgh 101

265 A
By Sean Berkey

(4.11MB) video by: Sean Berkey The 265 A second moto start.

The 250 A class use to be one of the premier classes on the GNC circuit, but that was when it was the only A class going. Now, with the dawning of premier production racing, the 250 A class (now called 265 A) has to share center stage with the new Production A class.

The class didn't’t manage to attract a full twenty rider gate, but shared the limelight with it's Production A cousin well and featured some of the toughest competition in the country.

Moto1
In moto one Bryan Chaler pulled the holeshot aboard his JH Racing machine, followed by Lost Creek Cycle's Jesse Shaeffer, and Chad Wienen. Shaeffer would power by Chaler in the back section early and the front three would pull away from the rest of the pack.
Rocco Arno Jr. put the moves on Cory Ellerbroek for fourth, as Wienen stole second from Chaler. Shaeffer went on to take the moto one victory followed by Wienen, Chaler, Arno, and Ellderbroek.

Moto 2

In moto two Chaler pulled the holeshot again followed by Wienen and David Leichliter. Wienen pressured Chaler early and by the end of the first lap put his Baldwin/SF Racing/Wiseco machine into the lead. Leichliter soon followed suit and passed Chaler for second as Rocco Arno aboard his TC/Nac’s Racing Yamaha again settled for fourth. Yosh/Axis/Moose rider Cory Ellerbroek finished up fifth respectively.
Wienen would take the overall followed by Chaler, Arno, and Ellerbroek in fourth and Leichliter in fifth. Shaeffer finished up tenth in moto two which earned him sixth overall.

265A Point's Race
1 Jeremy Lawson (207)
2. Bryan Chaler (191)
3. Chad Wienen (173)
4. Rocco Arno (146)
5. Tom Barry (110)
6. Cory Ellerbroek (94)
7. Kevin Nowakowski (86)
8. Jesse Sheaffer (85)
9. David Leichliter (73)
10. Mike Willm (73)