Paducah Raceway, Paducah, KY 2003
- Updated: September 14, 2003
GNC TT Round 6
Paducah International Speedway
Paducah, KY
Sept 14, 2003
Rain fell on Saturday night’s pro and pro-am program. Most of the amateur heats and mains were completed on Saturday prior to the rain. The pro and pro-am heats and mains were ran on Sunday. This was the day that Shane Hitt (Sparks/Kames/PEP) made ATV racing history. Shane “Dog” took home yet another GNC victory but this one was a little extra special.
In case you haven’t been counting, this last win makes it a clean sweep for the year. Hitt won the entire TT series with nothing but rock solid wins in all six events. Hitt also won every single heat race this season, except for the Orrville, OH GNC pro heat – where he seized a motor. He also won every single heat and main event in the popular Pro-Am class. And this victory marked nine out of the last ten GNC TT main event wins for the mighty “Dog”. Hitt now owns TT racing! He’s won the last seven pro GNC TT championships! This season’s incredible domination is the icing on the cake. Is there any question as to who is the all time best ATV TT racer ever? Not as far as we’re concerned. Hitt, with Curtis Sparks by his side, has won more GNC nationals than any rider ever!
Walsh leads Hitt but not for very long. Hitt made his move in lap one. Much like the entire season, once Hitt made the pass — the race was for second place.
In today’s finale, Hitt had to drive by Walsh, who pulled a beautiful holeshot. As laps progressed it was Darrin Ogden (Dirt Track ATV/Fischer Cycle Racing) doing most of the passing. Ogden worked his way from fifth to second. Walsh held on to take the final pro podium spot. As for the total TT points for the year, Hitt wins by a landslide while Ogden narrowly edged out Little for the season podium. Little’s sixth place finish today cost him the runner up spot.
After his twenty lap domination, Hitt had this to say, “It seems like everyone else is just backing up by changing different set ups all year. We’ve just kept our same proven set up and not messed with it over the years. Why change a good thing? I have to admit I was a little nervous going into this one. I didn’t want to go all Winter long with the thought of not conquering my goal of being the first rider to ever sweep an entire season.
Darrin Ogden passed his way into the runner up spot at Paducah, which also, rightfully so – earned him the runner up spot for the season.
While on the podium, Hitt also talked about the OEM’s renewed involvement with the sport. “Our sport is really taking a different direction very recently. Tim Farr was just signed by Honda and they want him to race the motocross and the TT nationals. This is a good thing if you ask me. They feel the TTs are just as equal and important as the motocross events are. With their commitment to both halves of the GNCs I would think Suzuki would want to have an impression at the TT nationals as well with their factory effort — so I wouldn’t be surprised if they send Doug (Gust) to all the TTs next year as well. It’s kind of a shame that the series is split up right now. I strongly feel that we should put the series back together like it was intended to be from its inception. I feel that we’re racing All-Terrain-Vehicles and the national champion at year’s end should have excelled in at least both parts of the series, maybe even cross country racing as well. Anyway I think this is definitely something that should probably be looked at. All in all, I’m really excited about the sport’s future.”
Meadows airs out his Kawasaki and distances himself from the rest of the pro production field.
Meadows out runs the pack. Walsh claims first TT pro production national championship!
In the final pro production race of its inaugural year, Jackie Meadows (Kawasaki/Brad Covington’s Thumpers) put it all together and won his first professional GNC. The victory also marked Kawasaki’s first GNC pro main event win. Meadows had to go through Chris Fristoe (Sparks) in order to claim his impressive victory. Fristoe, known for his roaming in and out of the sport, often shocks people with his raw talent. On this coming out of retirement outing, Fristoe pulled the holeshot with a pretty much stock Yamaha YFZ. Meadows found room to pass in early laps and walked on the field shortly after. Last year Meadows won a 250 Pro-Am main event in Greeneville, TN. Behind him on that day was Hitt, Farr and Ellis — a handful of the best riders in the sport, to say the least. Meadows compared that night with this one. “This win is probably bigger because it means a lot more to everyone than a Pro-Am win does. It’s been a long hard season. To close it out like this is really great!” He added, “I’ve raced everything, but these ATVs are my passion. They always have been and always will. So I’m really happy to have claimed a pro level national main event win in the sport that I respect so much.”
Chris Fristoe was extremely fast on his new YFZ. He finished second in his latest coming out of retirement outing.
Mike Walsh (Walsh Racecrafts/SRP) didn’t win this battle but won Suzuki a hard fought war with his Sparks Racing Z400. Walsh finished up behind a hard charging Brad Covington (Brad Covington’s Thumpers) for fourth place. Covington rode the wheels off a borrowed bone stock YFZ, which didn’t even have an aftermarket axle on it!
Meadows finished up the season in the runner up spot while Covington rounded out the 2003 production podium. “It was a good season. We managed to pull it off. I ran pretty much the same combination all year and it worked well. I crashed out at one race and would have liked to have finished the season a little stronger than today but I can’t complain at all”, said Walsh about becoming the first ever pro production national TT champion.”
Fristoe, Meadows and Covington (left to right) ham it up for the camera.
Pro
1 Shane Hitt
2. Darrin Ogden
3. Mike Walsh
Pro Production
1. Jackie Meadows
2. Chris Fristoe
3. Brad Covington
