Budds Creek MX, Budds Creek, MD 2005
- Updated: May 1, 2005
GNC MX Round 6
Budds Creek MX Park
Budds Creek, MD
May 1, 2005
Honda’s Tim Farr took over the point’s lead with two more moto’s of pure brilliance. Farr continues on as the most predictable, respectable, smoothest, consistent and likeable guys our sport could ever ask for. Shine on TimRR!
Familiar rainy weather greeted riders and their pit crews for the half way point of the ITP Grand National Motocross Championship Series at Budds Creek, MD. The Budds Creek track, built in a valley, offers excellent drainage so the rain really did nothing more than help keep the dust down.
Honda mounted pro riders did exceptionally well at Budds Creek. East Coast ATV’s Dustin Wimmer annihilated the competition in the pro qualifier, while New Hampshire’s Joe Haavisto (Walsh, Baldwin, PEP) finished in the runner up spot. Haavisto loves the Budds Creek layout and rides well here. He would later finish with a top five overall. Jason Luburgh (Lone Star, Nac’s Racing) crashed during the slippery site lap just before the pro qualifier. Unfortunately, he broke his collarbone and will be out of commission for six weeks. Enough with qualifying details, lets move on to one of the most exciting and controversial races of the season.
New Hampshire’s Joe Haavisto (yes people actually live in “The Granite State” of New Hampshire) turned some pretty impressive laps at Budds Creek to pull a top five overall. Learn more about Joe Haavisto in his mini video interview found at the bottom of this page.
Moto One
“Ironman” Natalie lost valuable points by crashing at this round.
He now moves out of the point’s lead. His moto one victory still has us in awe however.
The Budds Creek start, with its hard right hand turn that quickly leads to a down hill, is not one of the most favorable start stretches to most of the pro riders, – that is unless they nab the holeshot and can quickly distance themselves from the usual tangles that frequent the first turn like Honda’s Tim Farr did. Speaking of Honda, Ironman John Natalie followed closely in Farr’s shadow. Yoshimura Suzuki’s “Digger” Doug Gust took over the three spot from Jason Dunkelberger (Lost Creek) while Dustin Wimmer rounded out the lap-one-top-five.
It didn’t take Natalie long to flex his right thumb muscle and sprint past Farr for the lead. While Natalie charged hard and started to put some ground on Farr, PA Rausch Creek regulars Dunk and Wimmer were on the move to try to catch the wounded Doug Gust. Would Gust be able to ignore his badly battered body, hold ground on third place and make his way to a podium finish? Anyone who witnessed his high speed get-off at the Birch Creek GNC in Danville, VA two weeks prior — would probably answer no to that question. In fact, Gust was told “just finish as strong as you can and try to come out of here with a few points” by his Yosh / Suzuki team captains. Gust took a massive shot in the ribs and to his back in Virginia. He rode with patches that numbed the pain and made it a little easier for him to ride.
Look out! The last guy on earth still not online just got a digital camera! Don’t tell Rausch Creek’s Quinn Lickman that he made the Scene. Let’s see how much longer it takes him to figure out how the whole .com thing works.
As laps progressed, Natalie absolutely dominated with an enormous lead. Farr continued to hold on to second but it wasn’t easy. Gust simply didn’t fade as many thought he might. Instead he paced his battered body and challenged Farr’s runner up position in later laps. Wimmer rode the wheels off his East Coast Honda 450R and caught up to the Farr/Gust runner-up-battle. With two laps to go, Wimmer pulled along side of Gust but couldn’t make the pass stick. If you’re a fan of exciting wheel-to-wheel professional ATV racing but don’t go to the nationals – our words here don’t do it justice. Get to a GNC and check this out for yourselves. This race, even with the Natalie runaway, was a thrill to watch – as most have been this season.
As laps drew closer to the end of the first moto, Wimmer proved to be on top of his game and continued to keep Farr and Gust in check. A smart, smooth and precise Travis Spader eventually slipped his TC Racing Yamaha past Dunkelberger to round out the top five.
Jason “Slam” Dunkelberger looks over his downed Lost Creek YFZ with team owner and mechanic Kevin Mummah. Dunk has logged a few very impressive motos as of late, but continues to have some rotten luck. Speaking of rotten luck check out the conversation with Dunk shot from JP’s cell phone at the bottom of this page. Be warned, you’re teeth might hurt a little.
Moto One Notables
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Jeremiah Jones was busy picking up pace from yet another bad start. Jones eventually passed from 11th to 6th. Yamaha’s Kory Ellis (Alba) and Keith Little (LSR) both pulled to a stop with engine problems.
Here Yoshimura / Suzuki head mechanic Paul “Wooooo” Turner assist “Digger” on the line. Gust continues to amaze. He finished on the podium in spite of one serious crash only two weeks prior.
Moto Two
Moto one was indeed thrilling, but moto two saw more than just thrills. This time out there were a few bumps, grinds, crashes and WWF style comments to report on. There was even a few shoves and fists afterwards in the pro pits.
Once again Tim Farr led the thing off just as he planned in his pre moto visions. And once again his Honda counterpart, John “Ironman” Natalie followed with the one-two Honda punch. Not allowing the red riders to walk away, team Suzuki’s Jones and Gust quickly made their way through the nerve-racking down hill that leads to the second turn. As riders sliced and diced for position some shoving and bumping prevailed. Natalie got the worst of one of the bump and grinds and was forced out into the soft outside berm where he lost momentum. He quickly hammered on his Sparks built 450R and dug his way out of the soft muddy dirt where he slipped into the six spot and began his chase to the front.
This time out, Natalie’s charge to the front wasn’t so polite. He didn’t take kindly to what happened back at the start of the race – where he later said that Suzuki’s Jeremiah Jones unnecessarily nerfed him into the berm. A hard charging agitated John Natalie is every pros worst nightmare. Ironman was on the gas and taking names. He quickly picked off fellow Honda rider Joe Haavisto and set his sites on the the 55 of Gust. Meanwhile Jones took veteran Farr’s lead – but only for a second. Farr would have none of that and slipped past the white Suzuki Z400 to take his lead sot right back.
I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that the pro riders are happy as you readers to have Travis Spader back on the track with them. In the last two events alone T-Doc has consulted about 25% of the pro field with injury treatments and physical therapy remedies, The list includes Gust, Little Natalie, Luburgh and more. Above, Travis. with wife Amy by his side, makes his way to and from this year’s nationals out of their Toyota pick up. Hey team Yamaha, did you catch that?
Dustin “Just Doesin’ Say Much” Wimmer may not have much to say, but on the track he and his finely tuned East Coast ATV 450R sure do scream together. Wimmer came close to winning the race and once again proved he’s got everything it takes to win a championship.
Natalie charged hard after the Suzuki’s of Gust and Jones. Gust was first on Natalie’s momentary-Suzuki-shit-list. Natalie slipped to the inside of Gust on a hard right hand turn and ended up bumping him right off the track. Next was Jones. Natalie put a bump-pass on Jones by nudging him from behind. Jones ended up spinning out while Natalie sprinted away hot after Farr’s lead. Jones had some trouble getting going again and didn’t join the pack any sooner than the 16th spot. “Both the Suzuki guys rammed me off into the mud at the start. I got a little hot under the collar because of it as I was coming through after them. I admit I ran into both of them and gave them both a little push to get them out of my way. It was something I shouldn’t have done. But I did it. If they’re going to get rough, – it’s going to have to be given right back. It’s all a part of racing you race how you’re raced with”, said Natalie about his aggressive charge past the two Suzuki riders.
With Natalie’s moto one speed and domination, he probably should have taken some more time in finding a place to get around Farr, as he more than likely would have checked out and won the second moto as well. That’s not how it went down however. Natalie got a little too close to Farr as they left a badly groomed table top take off. The jump had a nasty kicker right on the face of it. Natalie ended up crashing into the back of Farr’s Honda. Unable to save it, Natalie went down.
Left to right: Wimmer, Farr, Gust and the beautiful t-girl is the one and only, Tracy Solomon.
Meanwhile, Wimmer rose to the inherited runner up spot occasion and gave chase to Farr. The two were side by side on more than one occasion.Gust followed in third while Suzuki privateer Harold “The Bee” Goodman (Sparks) rode a respectable fourth until he pulled to the side with mechanical problems. Travis “T-Doc” Spader once again rode another smart moto and finished up in fourth. “It was mayhem out there. I just held my ground and things kept working out for me. I’ll take it”, said Spader about his near podium finish.
Back up front, Farr showed who’s boss and took honors as he’s done so many times in the past. “I tried to get out front, stay smooth, not make any mistakes and run strong. It worked out great for me today”, said Farr about his recent Budds Creek win which put him back on top of the point’s race. While on the podium, a slow moving and sore “Digger” Doug Gust had this to say about Natalie’s bump passes. I think John thought we were running bumper cars out there. It kind of torqued me a little”.
One cool couple.
Tracy Solomon and Gil Attix. Here Tracy holds Tim Farr’s trophy at the podium. Out on the track, Gil tore it up! He finished with his best ever pro overall score of 12-6 for 8th overall. Looks like someone’s been eating his Wheeties.
Joe “Big” Byrd rode great and recovered from two bad starts but had problems in both motos. In each a rock worked its way into his front brake caliper! This has to be the end of Joe’s bad luck. We predict bigger and better finishes than tenth for Byrd in the second half of the season.
Moto Two Notables
Yamaha’s Keith Little had a minor get off while Kory Ellis never got going. The Alba Yamaha team did not recover from moto one’s problems and once again had problems in moto two.
Gilbert Attix (East Coast ATV) finished his best pro moto ever in sixth. He finished the day with a 12-6 for eighth place respectably.
Pat Brown rode in Spader’s wake for a while in fifth, but later had problems of his own when he pulled to a stop with a broken tie rod end. He ended the day with 9th and 17th moto finishes for 14th place.
A disappointed Jason “Slam” Dunkelberger pulled to a stop with engine problems. Once again “Dunk” rode much more impressively than his 18th overall position reflects.
Ironman Natalie was given a “rough-riding-warning” from ATVA official “Smitty”. No warnings were given to team Suzuki.
