Maxxis 6 Hours of ATV America — New Hampshire
Round 3 – Mt Madness, Old Whittier Ski Area
West Ossipee, NH
Aug 26, 2006
This was the view riders got as they traversed down the Old Whittier ski area in West Ossipee, New Hampshire. America never stops amazing us with its beauty.
I remember the phone call. “Hey John, I have the perfect place for one of your 6 hour events. It’s an old ski resort in New Hampshire”, said Brent Sellew of Falcon Extreme Motorsports. I was excited right from the get go. I’ve worked with Brent before. He’s a fellow hard-working risk-taker with a creative mind. I get along great with him. And based on our past 6 Hours of PA events, I knew we might be able to pull teams. There’s a ton of riders in the New England states.
I wasn’t surprised when Brent later called and excitedly informed me of a few spectator friendly side show events that he had in the works. Come race weekend, thanks to Brent’s crafty promotional skills, we had five different tracks set up at the Mount Madness Old Whittier Ski Area. For the first time the Maxxis 6 Hours of ATV America shared center stage with stadium trucks, buggies, rock crawling Jeeps and hill climb machines that were down right scary. All in all, Brent’s vision of pairing the 6 Hours with a few other exciting disciplines was a hit, especially with the locals – as several hundred spectators roamed the hillside taking in all the motorsport sites, smells and sounds.
Is Elka’s Scott Samuel not of this world? We’re not certain – no protests questioning his life form were made after Scott nearly finished with a top five overall as he easily won the Ironman class. Scott even stopped to watch the Jeeps compete at the Rock Crawl. What’s with this “guy”?
Ironman Record
It’s supposed to be one quad, three riders and six hours, but anytime you dangle the impossible in front of a die hard ATVer determined to accomplish a three man job by themselves, well, — ATV Scene ends up with another cool story.
In New Hampshire a record nine riders ignored the idea of pairing up with one another and signed up to solo ride the six hours.
Out of the nine, ATV Scene’s coolest story comes from winner Scott Samuel of Elka Suspension. Scott rode the wheels off his number 15 Honda 450R. In the end he logged 38 laps, a whopping four more than runner up rider George Ellis of Peterborough, NH. After the race Scott was very nonchalant about finishing only eight laps shy of the overall winning team and placing 6th overall out of the 21 entries in the race. Someone should have probably protested his alleged human being, because we’re not so sure. “Scott”, as it calls itself, was never winded, showed no sign of blisters, no arm pump and no indication of exhaustion whatsoever. What’s more, he actually stopped, had a sandwich and watched the Jeep Rock Crawl event during the race. Hmm, very peculiar if you ask me.
Mark Roy Jr. did the unthinkable at the inaugural 6 Hours of New England. He and his trusty Powerhouse Performance Yamaha Blaster not only finished the grueling event, but logged a respectable 7th place in the Ironman class, 17th overall.
This Polaris Outlaw of New Hampshire resident, George Ellis treated him well. The plush 4wheel independent suspension ride allowed George to take home runner up honors in the Ironman class. He finished just out of the top ten with an 11th overall on the day.
In case you’re actually thinking you too can conquer a future Maxxis 6 Hours of America event all by your lonesome, rider beware, fourth place Ironman rider Rick Serino puts it best. “I will tell you this! I will never Ironman again for 6 hours. I am so spent I got off my quad and I couldn’t stand up. I was shaking like a schoolgirl waiting for a spankin’.” With all due respect to Rick, he and his Polaris Outlaw finished up an impressive fourth after helping us with course duties all day on Friday. Not too shabby. And thanks Rick for all your help!
Young vs Old
We were told the undefeated team of Chris Borich and John Natalie would be racing, so Fast-Trak Promo put out bounty on their head. If anyone could beat the most successful duo in American ATV endurance, we had $200 for them – plus the regular purse money. No strangers to the Maxxis 6 and 12 Hours of America, Tony Botticello, Mike Bard and Roy Lampron of Team New England ATV MX showed up ready for the rumble. Unfortunately, Honda’s aces, Borich and Natalie could not attend, but thanks to yet another die hard Maxxis 6 & 12 series contender by the name of Maxxis / Dirt First, a heavy weight bout would indeed be fought in New Hampshire.
Look out Team Honda at the 12 Hours of America in Texas. Tony, Mike and Roy of Team NEATV are getting pretty fast these days. The boys promise to make the long trip to battle for the big bucks in the pro class in Texas worth while.
You readers over thirty should like this. Team Maxxis Dirt First (Michael Kyte, David Kyte and Markham Donovan) has the +30 class tucked under arm securely. The trio has won every 6 and 12 hour event they’ve entered and they’ve entered many. If you plan on winning the +30 class in Texas this year, you’ll have to go through these guys.
Like Team Honda’s Borich and Natalie, Michael Kyte, David Kyte and Markham Donovan aka Maxxis/Dirt First are also undefeated. They’ve won every +30 class in multiple 6 and 12 Hours events throughout the country. At the first 6 hours of New Hampshire they wanted more than a class win, they wanted to take the overall from the young NEATV studs and it showed.
This fight to the finish could have made a great pay per view special. It had all the drama for good pay per view television; old vs young, Connecticut vs Maryland and Yamaha vs Honda. After fighting tooth and nail in all six rounds, the main attraction of the weekend went the distance. Plus thirty guys be proud! In the end Dirt First fell only five minutes short of defeating the New England ATV Motocross young guns.
Rounding out the top three was Canada’s Bomb Squad Stadium Team of Eric Lessard, Dave Larochelle and Paul Andre Faucher. These boys didn’t speak English very well, but they communicated well with their roosting ability on the track. No worries my lens is ok I’m just as quick with my feet as they are with their wheels. In the end the boys from the North finished up only one lap short of the leaders. And thanks to this team, footage from the inaugural Maxxis 6 Hours of New England just might end up on H Bomb Films Huevos Nine. They were busy filming all day.
Brent Sellew throws the checkers at the winning team of NEATV. The all Connecticut team liked the track and looks forward to more East Coast events like this in the future.
The Canadian “Bomb Squad Stadium” team finished up third overall. They also rolled tape all day for future Wes Miller H Bomb Films projects.
Our own Lance Schwartz and his Team TPC Power Center showed up with ATV Scene’s soon to come Suzuki King Quad project. After a long hard battle with Team ATV Innovations, the sharp dressed black King took honors and TPC finished the day with an impressive 7th place overall.
Utility Expert
Only two teams were present, but this race was one of the most talked about in the pits. Our own Lance Schwartz and his teammates Dave Porzi and George Richards of TPC Power Center debuted ATV Scene’s upcoming Suzuki King Quad project. Meanwhile, on another King Quad, was Team ATV Innovations with the Quadfather himself, Markus Markow on board. Chris Maher and Glenn Schlude also manhandled the big red King.
After major suspension adjustments and a broken pipe TPC Power Center needed to make up about eight minutes with only an hour to go if they wanted to claim the inaugural Maxxis 6 Hours of New England. With only minutes to go the pass was made and victory was had. In the end only fourteen second separated the two after six hours of racing. How’s that for a duel to the finish? The two teams had major respect for one another and look forward to the day when more utility ATVs show up to make it all the more fun.
No it wasn’t Scene Girl Audition Day, these cute girls head up the QuadGirls Quebec team. Cute and fast, on this day they finished up with a top ten overall and runner up in the B class.
QuadGirls Quebec
At first I thought a few models showed up for my favorite kind of photo shoot. Soon after I realized the three cute girls hanging out in the pits were actually there to race. When it was over Andeanne Ferland, Bianka Beaudet and Annie Duchesne finished up with a respectable top ten overall and runner up in the B class. You go girls~!
Special thanks to Terry Lacomb of Stadium Suspension for bringing all the Canadian teams to New Hampshire. And if you’re wondering what Stadium Suspension is all about – check out our “Project KFX Grass Roots Racer”
Austin Findley loved everything about the event. No hill was too steep for him and his mighty Hetrick Racing Kasea.
Pee Wee Class of One
90 Production Modified GNCCer regular, Austin Findley made the long haul from Quarryville, PA. His Team Element Racing.net came prepared to win. The problem was, the competition must have heard how fast this kid was and stayed home. Nonetheless, Austin ripped up the track and impressed the track side riders waiting for the six hour race to start. We were concerned that the little 90’s might not make it up some of the hills we had included on the mini course, but Austin’s mighty little Kasea Skyhawk 90 never stumbled once during the hour and half outing.
As for Pee Wee races in the future, we will run the last one of the year in New Lexington, Ohio on Sept 16. If turnout continues to be poor, we will more than likely scrap the class for 2007.
Summing it up is simple. For a first year effort the 6 Hours of New England was a smashing success in every way. Next year we predict 50 teams. See ya there.
