Spectators at Caddo Point come in all shapes and sizes.
6 Hours of ATV America at Caddo Point
Caddo Point Motorsports
Greenville, TX
Feb 21, 2004
The success of the Maxxis 12 Hours of ATV America held each year in Iowa has spawned a new generation of ATV racing excitement. Enter the inaugural Maxxis 6 Hours of ATV America at Caddo Point Motorsports in Greenville, TX. The 6 Hours of Texas, as many were calling it, was the first of the three installments of Fast-Trak Promo’s 2004 6 Hours of ATV America franchise. Each event is co-produced, this first one under the wing of Twin Creeks Promotions. “This kind of racing is sure to catch on and we’re thrilled to work with John Pellan and all the people behind the 12 Hours of ATV America”, proudly boasted Twin Creeks’ Terry Reynolds. Reynolds and his Twin Creeks is known for holding several TT races as well as a GNC event at their Twin Creeks Raceway in Greenbrier, AR.
The quads await their riders for the start of the first ever Maxxis 6 Hours of ATV America.
Heavy rains a week earlier kept several teams from attending. Perfect weather and perfect conditions welcomed the 26 teams that did indeed make the trip to Joe and Barbara Miller’s Caddo Point property. Mud-fearing teams missed out on one heck of an event. The track did just as it was supposed to. It perfectly featured a combination of TT, MX and cross country terrain. Reynolds, with help from Mike Purcell of the Oklahoma Cross Country Racing Association built a fun safe track that will be hard to top in years to come. Lap times averaged the 12 minute mark.
Thanks to Michigan based Bay Racing, this ground breaking event boldly featured a state-of-the-art, modern day scoring system. The race was scored with transponders, which electronically displayed each team’s statistics on the nearby ATV Scene.com plasma display. This was the first time an ATV race was scored exclusively with transponders. Riders were awe-struck with instant updates and how perfectly the system kept tabs on their team’s progress. With this advancement in ATV racing Fast-Trak Promo scores yet another first in the ATV industry. We’re very thankful to Rick and Jodi Zenner of Bay Racing for allowing us to once again take ATV racing to a higher level with this incredible piece of modern-day-technology.
Overall winners, left to right; Team Thumpers, JB Racing and Team Wild Child Racing.
The ATV Scene.com plasma displayed real-time updates throughout the event.
As for the race, it was team Thumper’s Brad Covington’s quick sprint to his Yamaha YFZ that got him out front first. Jathan Seale teamed with Covington and went runner up at both Maxxis 12 Hours of ATV America events as Team JB Racing (first with Matt Bartosek, and the second year with Matt White). This time out, in the name of more fun for more people, Team JB split up. Jathan Seale sided with his brother Joshua and Brad Fredrich while Team Thumpers rode with Covington, Zac Willett and Dustin Kramer. Seale and their JB Racing team, ridding the new Honda 450R, started the day poorly but finished heroically by coming from almost last to finish in first.
Along the way team JH Racing kept the front running Thumpers and JB teams honest and boasted the fastest laps of the day while doing so. The JH team was being cheered on the loudest since two of the members, Hunter and Cody Miller, were from Greenville, TX – more specifically, they were literally racing in their own back yard. JH Racing had all the confidence in the world going for them. Johnny Hale just defeated Doug Eichner at the last WORCS event and Cody Miller just about pulled a hat trick at the Glen Helen GNC opener, where he won the highly competitive Production A class as well as the 16-24 class. Nonetheless, team JH and their Trinity Racing YFZ rolled to a stop with too many problems to list. Topping their DNF status was a broken frame (the foot peg was no longer attached to the quad) and a broken pipe. They’re day in sun wasn’t meant to be.
The Caddo Point motocross track was a rider favorite. In fact, many viewed it as a GNC worthy track.
Here Zac Willett powers through a turn as fast as he can for his Team Thumpers teammates.
As the day went on, Greg Livan, Steven Lucas and Jimbo Gipson (aka; Team Wild Child) passed their way to the runner up spot and left team Thumpers by three minutes. These guys were moving, and surprised a few people along the way. The popular team name of Twin Creeks made their presence known by advancing to fourth overall. Impressive, since they were riding in the A class. What’s more there was only two of them, while most teams went with a three man roster. Daryn Capitena and Mitch Reynolds (Terry Reynold’s son) represented Twin Creeks respectively to say the least. Rounding out the top five was Team Sandbaggers’ Chad Willson, Caleb Moore and Justin Chance.
Notables
The two-man team of Mike Purcell and Phil Hughes took honors in the new +30 class. They rode a bone stock 450R and ended the day with a respectable 9th place overall. Their race was probably the most exciting as they battled it out with Team Three M (Jeff McFarlan, Samuel Maynard, Micheal McDonald) all the way to end. In fact they came through the finish only second apart.
Who says this machine is just for work? Not the troop behind FD Racing. They finished up first in class and ahead of half the teams that entered!
Fort Dodge, IA (home of the grand daddy Maxxis 12 Hours) made its presence known in Texas. Alex Gronbach, Josh Mickelson and Randy Meyer rode their Four Stroke Tech Kawasaki Prairie to victory in the Utility Expert class and while doing so finished the day with a 13th place overall. Not bad for a “work” quad.
Team Wild Child surprised many by taking the runner up spot from the TT speedsters on the Thumper team.
Pit Talk
Joe Miller, owner of Caddo Point Motorsports
“I was thrilled with the opportunity to have an event like the 12 Hours here on my property. The track really turned out well, the weather was fantastic, no one was hurt and I’m tickled to death with how many good comments we had today. Lets stretch more of these babies out across the country and give other riders a chance to experience how much fun these kind of events are. I would like to thank Fast-Trak Promo, Terry Reynolds of Twin Creeks Promotions and Mike Purcell from the Oklahoma Cross Country Racing Association for all their hard work. We can’t wait to do this again next year.”
Rick and Jodi Zenner, Bay Racing (AMB)
“The scoring and timing system was invented in 1984 in Holland. It’s just now coming to America. We noticed many riders running our stickers today. It looks like they’re just as proud of this system as we are. I think that’s pretty great. We love this sport and we’re happy to help John (Pellan) with his mission of taking ATV racing to a higher level. We have the same kind of passion for the sport as he does and we’re constantly experimenting and making things better. This is only the beginning.”
Brad Covington, Team Thumpers
“Up until now I was a member of the JB Racing team that finished second at both 12 Hours. We changed up our teams. No hard feeling, we just wanted to allow a few other riders to experience this so we broke our team into two. I like this track better than the one in Iowa. Mainly because of the speed. We’re TT racers and this track caters to our riding more. We are going to hit all of these 6 Hours events. This thing will grow fast and no one will be disappointed. I love the new scoring they brought in too. Now that this is being used there shouldn’t be any other way to score a race event.
Jathan Seale, Team JB Racing
“The start didn’t go too well for us. We were just about last. The track was fun. My brother, Josh and I have been riding a lot. Our strategy was to stay on the track as much as possible. I was impressed with everything. It was a blast.”
Jodi Bateman, Team JB Racing
Everything was great in Texas. I just wish Honda would have released their 450R sooner. I’m tired. It was easier to set up than the Z400s were, but everything we’ve done to the new Hondas have been last minute. I don’t like to hurry with our set ups like that, but it all worked out and the Honda held up really well for us.”
Cody Miller, Team JH Racing
“Yeah I raced the 12 Hours of ATV America and now the “6 Hours of Our Back Yard”. I loved them both. I like how there is no pressure at these kind of events. It’s more of a relaxed day of fun with your friends – only they score you.”
Chris Robinson, Team Hampton Racing
“I was on the Hampton Racing team and we finished 6th overall and 3rd in the “A” class. I would like to thank you guys for putting on such a good race. And also for everything you are doing for the sport, you guys are making a huge difference in the success of ATV racing and I know a lot of people feel the same way I do. We really had a great time. In fact we are going to all of the 6 Hours events and the 12 Hours, even though I live pretty far away in Houston, TX.”
Joseph Evans, Team WE Racing
”I like this kind of racing a lot. I really liked the track”
Nicole (girl friend of Kasey Willis of Team WE racing)
”This is different. It’s a really big event compared to what we’ve been to. To other girlfriends out there – it’s a long day, be prepared. I feel like I’m a part of the race instead of just watching from the other side of a fence. It’s a lot of fun.”
Phil Hughes, Team OCCRA
“Mike may be 58 but I honestly can tell you he beats all the young guys. There was no disadvantage on our team that’s for sure. We also ran a bone stock quad, (Honda’s new 450R). We even left the stock radials on it, which give a smoother ride and don’t wear you out as much. Not many people believe us on that though. I guess you could call us the turtle today. We were prepared and we just kept steadily moving along. At the end of the day we beat the rabbits, won our class and finished pretty well overall.”
Daryn Capitena, Team Twin Creeks
Mitch tumbled on the first lap. He got a little excited out there. Other than that, we had a good race. We went with two riders to help us get in shape for this season. This was a great race to get ready for the big 12 Hours too. We had a blast.”
Mitch Reynolds, Team Twin Creeks
“Without my dad I wouldn’t be doing anything, I need to thank him first. He built a great track and helped me get my Honda ready for us. I’m a little better at the TTs so this track suited me well. Every place we race should have a scoring system like the one they had here it was top notch.”
Corey Graves, Team TQRA
“I was making a lot of time on the motocross track. This is my second time racing cross country. The first time left a bad taste in my mouth. This time out – I’m loving the cross country portion of the track. Iowa here we come!”
Tom Prendergast, Fast-Trak referee
“You can tell the difference from the teams that have raced the 12 Hours and the ones that are new. The more experienced teams know how to pit. They are more prepared and have a good game plan. That’s how you do well in an event like this. It’s not a sprint race.”
Alex Gronbach, Team FD Racing
“I would like to thank Jim Dahl for all his hard work, Bob Fleege for letting us use his quad and Four Stroke Tech for making it go so fast.”
Jason Mickelson, Team FD Racing
“You need to remember this is a 6 hour race. Ride smart, look out for trees and pace yourself. No one wants to be the one that wads up the machine and stops the team from having fun. I would like to see it turn to a point series. The new scoring is awesome. This event sets a new presidents for ATV races of the future if you ask me.
Angela Mickelson, (Jason’ wife), Team FD Racing
“I think a lot of Texas teams might show up for the 12 Hours event now that they have experienced this. These things really involve the whole family more than any race we’ve been to.”
