Natalie Continues Domination
by Nathan Delabar
photo by Chuck DeBault

John Ironman Natalie Jr. grabs the holeshot in moto one and doesn’t look back. His impressive runaway wins in both motos further showed that he's in control of the 2005 GNC title.

It was another beautiful weekend for racing as the 9th round of the ITP ATV Grand National Motocross Series rolled into legendary High Point Raceway just outside of Mount Morris, PA. Everyone expected this season to be exciting. If you’ve kept current with the ATV GNC scene, we’re sure you’ll agree that this year’s racing certainly has lived up to all the hype.

Coming into this round, Tim Farr, Doug Gust and John Natalie were all in the hunt for the championship. But with the way John Natalie has been riding this season the other riders would need wins and Natalie DNFs to keep their hopes alive.

New Jersey’s Travis Spader teamed up with the Suzuki factory big boys this weekend. Spader’s deal with his Yamaha dealer expired recently. He was left looking for some help and needed it fast. Long time friend and former mechanic, Paul Turner brought Spader a Suzuki to try out at his house. A few phone calls were made and now Suzuki will be bringing Spader a race prepped LTZ400 to the track for the rest of the season. “I rode it a little at my house last Tuesday, so I’m still getting used to it, but I was actually able to turn a little bit faster lap times on it than I was on my old ride”, said Spader of his new ride.

Joe Byrd’s 2nd place finish was his best finish of the year. Byrd couldn’t say enough about how well his new Custom Axis high and low speed adjustable shocks worked for him this weekend! We're not so sure it was just the shocks however. Byrd's got tons of talent and determination to win.

Spader’s new ride must have brought him some confidence as rumors spread quick that he would be hitting the big up hill triple behind the starting line. “The jump isn’t the problem,” said Alba Yamaha’s Kory Ellis when questioned about it. “The problem is the speed you carry off of it into the tight turn that follows, but it Travis hits it I am sure we all go for it too.” Spader stuck to his word and hit it during Sunday morning practice. All the pro class riders followed. Enough about the little-big jump, let’s go racing!

Moto One

Suzuki Pro Am support rider, Jeremy Lawson won his qualifier. This put five Suzuki ATVs on the starting line for moto one. As usual, all eyes were on John Natalie as the card turned sideways for the start of the first Pro moto of the day. As the gate dropped Natalie was able to pull the hole shot with help from his Curtis Sparks prepped Honda 450R power plant. Coming around the turn in second was Ohio’s Jason Luburgh. Jason won his qualifier in commanding fashion. “I broke my color bone seven weeks ago and have only been able to ride last week,” said Luburgh before the moto. “Tom Carlson and I have built a brand new bike for this race. It felt great in the qualifier but I don’t know if I have the conditioning to keep it up for 20 minutes.”

Luburgh was followed by Tennessee’s Joe Byrd, Travis Spader, Jeremy Lawson, Tavis Cain and Kory Ellis. Natalie quickly extended his lead and continued to show everyone that this was his year. Byrd made the pass on Luburgh early and it didn’t take Ellis long to pick off riders in his way. He quickly found himself in third right on Byrd’s tail. Typical front runners Doug Gust, Jeremiah Jones and Tim Farr all suffered from poor starts.

Harold Goodman was looking to carry over some confidence from his opening round win in the FMF Dirt Tracks. Unfortunately luck was not on his side. His motor blew up in practice and he later had problems keeping his seat on in the race.

By the third lap the track was beginning to take its toll on the riders. Gust was the first to have problems when his Z400 caught a lip on the rough part of the track while power sliding through a high speed down hill corner. Gust was thrown from the bike landing hard face down. After being knocked unconscious, He had to be carted off the track and taken straight to the ambulance. Luck was not going Pat Brown’s way this weekend either as a wreck sent him to the back of the pack.

Back up front Natalie was stretching out his lead every lap in dominating fashion. Though Ellis was able to pressure Byrd early for the number two spot he began to fall off pace mid moto - giving Byrd some breathing room. As it has been for most of the season Jeremiah Jones was moving from the back of the pack in a hurry. With a lap to go Jones was able to put Tavis Cain behind him and set his sites on Luburgh. With the white flag waving Luburgh was about to find out if the past seven weeks of playing MX vs ATV Unleashed and not riding would cut it. Jones was right on his back wheels and hungry for his position. With the three front runners spread out, the battle for fourth place was the one to watch. Jones tried to make the pass early as Luburgh shut the door on him and was able to pull away for fourth while Jones had to settle for top five in moto one.

Jason Luburgh was looking great after taking seven weeks off due to a broken color bone. Jason was able to take fourth in the first moto holding off a hard charging Jeremiah Jones! He was also sporting one of the sharpest looking quads at the event.

Ellis finished moto one in third. Byrd rode off to his pits with his best moto of the season with second. John Natalie Jr. once again ran away from the pack and took another win. “Since I have been coming here this is the best the track has ever been,” says Natalie after the moto. “They really listened to us on what we wanted and I really felt comfortable out there”, said Ironman Natalie after the moto. Ellis looked to have the speed early to move past Byrd for second but wasn’t able to make it happen. “I felt I could run faster than him (Byrd) early on in the race but I began to over jump some jumps, flat landed a few and lost my rhythm”, explained Ellis of his finish.

Doug Gust was taken to the hospital to be checked out. He was complaining of a very sore neck and loss of breath. We are happy to report that Doug has been released from the hospital with no major injuries. He left with a neck brace and on crutches due to a banged up knee. Doug says he will be back on the track for next round. For more on Doug Gust's (and several other injured riders) progress click here.

 

 

 

Speaking of the Luburgh name, Jami Luburgh (Jason's sister) continues as the Women's B/C point's leader with a third place overall. Jami also helped us out with our trackside video interviews. Check them out by clicking the "Video" button at the bottom of this page.

Delaware's Gil Attix sends his East Coast ATV 450R soaring.

Moto Two

This family, as many did, decided to spend this Father's Day together at the Highpoint - Mt Morris GNC.

Moto two started with further Honda power out front as Factory Honda’s Tim Farr led Natalie around the first turn. While Farr was able to hold him off for a while Natalie was able to make the pass and distance himself from second place much like he had done in the first moto. The #13 Honda was way out front. This was the only thing about moto two that resembled the first moto. Farr quickly put his 10th place moto one finish behind him and looked strong for the second outing. It wasn’t long before he felt the heat from Jeremiah Jones however. Jones was able to get a much better start this time out and his determination to run up front showed as he and Farr battled hard on every inch of the winding Highpoint hills. The two rode wheel to wheel the entire race providing some exciting action for the huge crowd of spectators on hand. In the end Farr was able to hang on and held the second position.

Angela Moore had a great weekend winning 3 of her 4 motos. She won her Women’s A class finished up with an impressive second place in the Open A against all the men. Who says girls can't be competitive against the guys? Certainly not legendary Angela Moore.

Another rider looking to improve on their first moto performance was Lone Star/Yamaha’s Keith Little. Little was riding strong as he made his way up to the fourth spot in front of Joe Byrd who continued with his great weekend. The Jones Farr battle wasn’t the only exciting one on the track. Kory Ellis was pressuring Tavis Cain around the track in similar fashion. While Ellis was looking for the right place to make his move on the Duncan Racing fellow California rider, he came up short on a double and cased it hard enough to crash. Ellis went over the bars. Soon after he had to chase his Alba Action Yamaha YFZ450 all the way down the hill as it rolled away from him along with his chance for a good finish.

Natalie’s run away victories in both motos gave him the win for the weekend. He now moves one step closer to the championship. “With a comfortable points lead, now I need to tell myself that I don’t have to win every race -- just ride consistent”, said Natalie from the podium. Natalie continued on not only thanking his current sponsors but respectfully thanked those along the way who helped him get to this position.

Caleb Moore made the long trip from Texas and put on a great show for the crowd. In doing so he was able to win both his Open B and his 16-24 year old classes.

Joe Byrd’s second place finish on the day was by far his best of the season. “I have been having problems getting my shocks set up just right all year,” explained Byrd. “Custom Axis has been working on some new stuff. They brought me a set to try this weekend. I bolted them in and they felt great.” Jeremiah Jones rounded out the podium for the weekend helping him to move a little closer to that number three spot in points.

Did someone say this season was going to be exciting? With John Natalie pulling away in the points things are tightening up between 2nd place Tim Farr, 3rd place Doug Gust and 4th place Jeremiah Jones. Look for these three factory riders to battle it out all the way to the final race.

As you check the leader board after this weekend only two points separate Kory Ellis, Joe Byrd, Travis Spader and Keith Little for the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th positions. Look for things to really heat up in on the 4th of July weekend when the greatest ATV motocross racers in the world invade the Daniel Boone MX Park in London Kentucky.