Text: WPSA Press Info and Yoshimura Suzuki PR
Though it took him until the third race of the season, Dustin Wimmer showed the entire field how to win a SuperQuad Pro 450 race on the WPSA PowerSports ATV Tour as he dominated Round 3 Sunday at Cooperland Raceway. Chris Borich won the QuadTerrain Pro Stock final, and Daryl Rath netted his first Super Sport Side by Side victory.
The Southwestern National will be telecast on ESPN2 on Saturday July 7 at noon EDT.
Keith Little (No. 12 Lonestar/Honda) came out strong in the SuperQuad Pro 450 final, winning the $1,000 Quad Magazine Holeshot Award. Wimmer was stronger, though, taking the lead for good on the first of 14 laps in the final. John Natalie, Jr. (No. 13 Elka, Maxxis/Honda) finished second after recovering from serious knee and chest injuries sustained in practice at the last race. Little finished third, marking his first podium of the season.
“I got around him (Little) the first lap, and then put it on cruise control,” said Wimmer, who unofficially retains the points lead going into the next race in two weeks. “We won a convincing race.
“I tried to run a good race, and I relied on my mechanic to let me know where I was in the field,” added Wimmer. “You try not to look behind you, but sometimes it’s difficult not to.”
Borich (No. 2 Warnert Racing/Can-Am), like Wimmer, walked away with the QuadTerrain Pro Stock final. After taking the holeshot and winning the $1,000 Holeshot Technologies Rock’n’Roll Award for leaving the rock crawl first, Borich was never seriously challenged, finishing ahead of Rory Beckman (No. 10 Jack Link’s/Arctic Cat) and Josh West (No. 788 West Racing/Arctic Cat).
“I just went out, and had some fun out there,” said Borich. “We got the holeshot, and we had some tough competition with my teammate Chris Bithel and the Arctic Cats. My goal was to avoid getting hung up and keep my momentum. It worked out today.”
Rath (No. 67 Jack Link’s/Arctic Cat Prowler) inherited the lead on the final lap and went on to victory when the No. 737 Alba Action Sports/Yamaha Rhino of Michael Kneebusch suffered mechanical ills. Kneebusch was second, ahead of Skylar Stewart (No. 72 Yamaha Rhino).
“This feels good,” said Rath, who also competed in the QuadTerrain Pro Stock event this weekend. “I put a lot of hours in this machine. We didn’t have a blueprint when we started, so we broke ground as we went, and it worked!”
Borich and Dustin Nelson (No. 94 Motorworldracing.com/Yamaha) won the $500 ATVSource.com Fastest Mover Awards for moving up the most positions from qualifying in their respective pro finals.
Oklahoma is O.K. for Team MSR/Pro Taper/Suzuki/Yoshimura’s Dustin Wimmer
The third round of the WPSA SuperQuad Pro 450 series in Stillwater, OK was all about Weather and Wimmer.
Friday night alone saw 6 ½ inches of rain fall to completely flood out the Cooperland track and surrounding environs. Marble sized hail and strong winds also worried the ATV racers as many thought they could end up on “Oz” by the end of the day.
Incredibly, the weather started to clear up on Saturday and the track crew somehow constructed a raceable course. The WPSA was forced to switch the planned double header to a single Sunday event. By doing so they had to hold all the heat races on Saturday, and launch the main on Sunday. Through a massive and impressive effort, the WPSA and track crew pulled it off. The track was shortened due to the fact that the back half of the track was now Lake Cooperland.
Saturday’s heat races were up and down for the “Suzuki Squad” as Dustin Wimmer won his first heat race, but came in behind Pat Brown in the second. Gust carded a 2nd/5th, while Wienen went 5th/6th in their respective heats. These “decent” heat race finishes gave them pretty good gate picks leading into Sunday’s main. The stage was set for a shootout… WPSA style.
Sunday dawned a little overcast but soon the sun came out and began to dry up the saturated Oklahoma red soil. Everyone was still sloshing around in a variety of muddy boots, but spirits were high in the Team Rockstar/MSR/Pro Taper/Suzuki/Yoshimura rig. Wimmer was running fast laps all weekend and Stillwater looked to be a likely venue for a “Dustin” win this year. Sure enough, when the main event finally arrived, Wimmer blasted off in second place behind Keith Little at the first turn. However, even before the first lap was over, #191 showed the rest of the field the back of his MSR pants by putting his Suzuki QuadRacer® R450 into the lead.
From there, Team MSR/Pro Taper/Suzuki/Yoshimura’s Wimmer simply set sail and dominated the competition crossing the checkers with a 6.5 second lead over John Natalie.
“I got around Little and put in a couple of really fast laps, then just rode consistent, fast laps for the rest of the race,” Wimmer said after the event. “Jeremiah (Jones) has been helping me in my training and mental outlook, and I really felt strong coming into this race. Sure enough, once the race started, I knew that no one was going to catch me.”
Team Coordinator Jones was really happy with Wimmer’s performace. “We had him training and working on his program overall for the last two weeks. He’s working really hard to be a champ, that’s what it takes. He’s a heck of a racer and is right on the edge of becoming a dominant competitor. Dustin has a great future in front of him, this race is just a sign of things to come.”
Dustin’s teammates “Digger” Doug Gust and Chad “Wide Open” Wienen also had good races but missed the podium. Gust went 5th with Wienen 6th. Although falling short of Taylorville’s Suzuki 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 sweep, it was a respectable finish and all three Suzuki factory riders are very close together at the top of the series points heap.
There were seven Suzuki’s in the SuperQuad Pro 450 final results proving once again that Suzuki is the ATV of choice for professional racers.
Other winners this weekend were:
Pro Am: Greg Gee (No. 10 Fox Shox/Honda)
Open Amateur: Cody Anderson (No. 87 Rath Racing/Honda)
A Class: Cody Brown (No. 04 JH Racing/Honda)
B Class: Randy Richman (No. 40 Honda)
C Class: Chris Harrison (No. 89 JH Racing/Honda)
Women A: Angela Butler (No. 1 LoneStar Racing/Honda)
Women B/C: Michelle Suciu (No. 5 Wheels Performance/Suzuki)
16-24: Josh Williams (No. 714 Mom and Dad/Honda)
Plus 25: Johnny Hale (No. 16 JH Racing/Honda) 71-90cc
Plus 35: Randy Hurst (No. 50 Honda)
12-15: Robbie Jones (No. 53 Scott Cain Racing/Honda)
75-125 8-15: Colby Gilchrist (No. 33 Scott Cain Racing/Honda)
71-90cc 2 stroke, 75-125cc 4 stroke 8-11: Jesse Skvarek (No. 32 Kymco USA/Kymco and Fischer)
90cc Production CVT 8-15: Caston McConnell (No. 204 Sunoco/Xtreme)
90cc 2 stroke Modified 8-12: Jesse Skvarek (No. 32 Kymco USA/Kymco and Fischer)
0-70cc Shifter 6-11: David Nevrotski (No. 24 Rath Racing/JB Cobra)
51-70cc Production Auto Clutch 6-11: Nicholas Gennusa (No. 15 Zebu Forno Bakery and Cafe/Honda Cobra)
0-50cc 6-8: Kyle Stuckey (No. 56 Pittman Racing/Cobra)
0-50cc 4-6: Jordan Digby (No. 88 OMF Wheels/DRR)
QuadTerrain Challenge Stock Unlimited: Ryan Costello (No. 42 Pro Motorsports/Yamaha)
