Story and Photos by Lance Farwick
The heat was turned on for one of the biggest events in the west. Wes Miller and the H Bomb crew out did themselves. This was a spectacular event! They had several hard pounding bands, an ATV Expo, Trophy Truck racing, ATV Freestyle, ATV Supercross and last but not least the H Bomb girlies. The day was so packed with events it was a major dilemma keeping up with all the action. In the end we all ended up surviving the dirt riot savages that were all hungry for some hardcore ATV action.
SX practice
This was the first the racers got to check out the track. There were some major events in practice that changed the evening. First of all, the jumps looked bigger and steeper than ever. For safety sake some of the jumps were cut down and the landings were made to perfection. Kory Ellis shorted the double in the back of the track and tumbled end over end. A little later he said he wouldn’t’t race due to his injuries he sustained to his wrist and ankle.
The big decision to cut down the enormous double in front of the stands came after Jason “The Bird” Luburgh literally flew off of it in practice. Spectators honestly thought wings were strapped to his quad as he prepared to win the ten million dollar prize for the first privateer to reach space. To everybody’s amazement the angels brought him down safely except for breaking both ball joints. He got up, walked away, repaired his quad and prepared to get ready for some heated racing.
Freestyle Qualifier
The freestyle competition was loaded with talent and high flyers. This year they set up two ramps that transitioned to a monstrous mound of dirt that was the landing for both jumps. Practice really showed that many riders upped the ante from last year. There was going to be no easy win today. Unfortunately for all the back-flip fans, there wasn’t’t a show for you. Nobody attempted the death defying trick. On the other hand, there was some crazy combination tricks that were debuted like a superman to heel clicker. After all the mammoth tricks August Goebel was declared the winner for the qualifier and it gave him the right to go last in the Freestyle Final.
Qualifiers
They decided to run two qualifiers. One with all the riders east of the Mississippi River and the other with all the riders west of it. We didn’t’t get threw the parade lap before Ellis’ Alba teammate decided to follow his footsteps. Jeremy Schell came short on the same exact jump that Ellis did. Jeremy looked pretty banged up but was able to shake it off and run in the second qualifier.
The east coast qualifier was pretty intense. John Natalie instantly made his way to the front with a nice holeshot. Jason Luburgh was right next to him. The first few laps were good tight racing but Natalie figured out the good lines and soon separated from the rest. Keith Little was trying to recover from a bad start. He didn’t’t spend much time behind Jason Dunkleburger so he could set his sights on the leader. Next Little had to get by Jason Luburgh. Little tried his best in every turn to gain some advantage that would allow him to squeeze by Luburgh. Unfortunately due to Luburgh’s skillful riding Little was unable to get by as the running order for first qualifier ended like this; Natalie, Luburgh, Little, Dunkelberger and Baker.
The west coast qualifier was even more dramatic. Robert McClure road away with the holeshot with Nelson, Schell and Cody Smith trailing. After the first turn Nelson was back to last and Smith slid into second. Close, tight racing was in order for this qualifier. All the racers took to a snake-like formation around the track as positions were changed constantly. By midway through the race the lead was transferred to Schell when Smith swung his rear end out too far and left a hole for Jeremy Schell to pound his way through the whoops for first place. Dustin Nelson was able to get by Smith on the next turn. Unfortunately, McClure was forced off the track with technical difficulties. At the end of the heat it was Schell, Nelson, Smith and McClure.
Freestyle Final
Everybody stepped up their game in the final. This was for all the loot and it showed they all wanted it. The scoring was definitely a difficult one as August Goebel and Derek Guetter were throwing out holy mans.
Guetter sported red hair for the occasion. After his final run was finished, he jumped off the bike while it was still running and let it crash into a couple cones and barriers. He also decided to bust a big back flip too, but not with the quad. Not on this night at least. He climbed to the top of one of the jumps and sent the two footed back flip perfectly however.
August Goebel put on an incredible show. Goebel was trying to make as much noise as possible. The crowd followed his lead. They were screaming and shouting as he busted out trick after impressive trick. In the end he won Dirt Riot just like he did last year!
The Main Event
H Bomb went big as they usually do and announced a trip for two to Hawaii and a $5000 cash prize for first place. This must have reminded Kory Ellis that he needed to put the pain aside for twenty minutes and mount up. Since he didn’t’t race in the qualifier he was going to have to start from the back row.
The flag went up and they were off racing for the big prize. Keith Little got a great start and had a good lead heading into the first turn. As they rounded the second turn the race was red flagged due to one of the racers not being ready on the line.
The second attempt to start the race went without a hitch. Little got a great start again but so did John Natalie. They were side by side going into the first turn. As they went around the sweeping second turn Natalie had edged out Little for the lead. Jeremy Schell and Jason Dunkleburger were right behind them. There was intense racing as the racing order constantly changed. Unfortunately during the third lap, Keith Little was running in second place when he suffered a tear in the sidewall of his right rear tire that left him unable to finish the race. Little’s misfortune left Schell, Luburgh, Sage Baker, Dunkleburger and Nelson in hot pursuit of Natalie who was still in first. Shortly afterwards, Luburgh made the big move to grab second place from Schell.
Coming around for the fourth lap Schell and ITP Quadcross rival Nelson. The two got tangled up with Dunkleburger in a sweeping left turn. It played a helpful role for Kory Ellis who was now hot on their tails. This left Kory Ellis on a mission to go for it, even though he started from the back row at the start. Ellis started picking riders off left and right. If the race was a few more laps Ellis would have had a great opportunity at challenging Luburgh for second place.
As the race progressed the amount of passing and action started to calm down. In an instant it was all over. John Natalie took the honors, the cash and the vacation to Hawaii with a well deserved outstanding ride.
