ESPN Great Outdoor Games 2005

“Right from the start I had (and still have) the utmost confidence in our committee”, said Sewell. “I think they understood what ESPN was looking for very well. We really wanted to make the sport look as good as possible on television. The committee was asked to choose riders not only for their riding ability but also for their ability to act as good ambassadors for the ATV community.”

“ESPN really stressed that they wanted an interesting 24 person roster for both the Four Wheel Frenzy and the Terracross events. I’ve personally worked with Fox Television segment producers when we promote Matt Coulter’s Guinness World Record ATV Jump in Orrville, OH. I remember all the digging they did to find interesting angles and behind the scenes stories. I fully understood that they didn’t just want to televise ATV racing – they wanted to gain the attention of the average television viewer as much as possible. We included young personable riders like 17-year old Cody Miller, who told an interesting “Lance Armstrong” story of beating cancer to follow his dreams. Sure we could have chosen another pro rider with a less interesting story, but I agreed with Tes and went after riders that I knew would best reach many television viewers. I think we hit the nail on the head and delivered exactly what ESPN wanted”, said committee member, John Pellan.

An equally interesting story was the invitation of two female ATV racers. Between the two, Heather Byrd and Angela Moore have eight national championships, Moore with five and Byrd with three. “We agreed that ATV racing’s fastest motocross females should be a part of this event. They’ve earned the right to represent the fact that women are just as capable of following their dreams as men. Heather even races the men in the Open A class at the nationals and beats most of them! As a bonus, with Heather being the wife of Joe Byrd, I think ESPN can capture a real positive side bar story. People are going to love these two”, proudly mentioned committee member Jorge Cuartas during an interview at the event.

Four Wheel Frenzy Seeding
As most predicted “Ironman” John Natalie logged the fastest lap and won first pick in his heat race. Jones, Wimmer, Luburgh, Byrd, Ellis, Cody Smith, Creech, Gust and Rocco Arno finished with top ten scores. Pro Am riders Cody Smith and Rocco Arno finished with an extremely respectable 7th and 10th in overall seeding. Who says young Pro-Am riders don’t belong? Smith, Miller and Arno were definitely the underdogs and America loves to root for underdogs. Below is the entire seeding order:

Position	Bib	Time	First Name	Last Name
1	13	00:01:14.713	John	Natalie
2	2	00:01:15.301	Jeremiah	Jones
3	191	00:01:16.613	Dustin	Wimmer
4	8	00:01:17.269	Jason	Luburgh
5	7	00:01:17.378	Joe	Byrd
6	53	00:01:17.711	Kory	Ellis
7	71	00:01:18.208	Cody	Smith
8	52	00:01:18.286	Dana	Creech
9	55	00:01:18.583	Douglas	Gust
10	101	00:01:19.437	Rocco	Arno
11	6	00:01:19.459	Tavis	Cain
12	19	00:01:19.573	Jason	Dunkelberger
13	199	00:01:19.873	Pat	Brown
14	1	00:01:19.895	Bill	Ballance
15	14	00:01:19.990	Jeremy	Schell
16	94	00:01:20.889	Dustin	Nelson
17	107	00:01:21.337	Giovanni	Colon
18	11	00:01:21.526	Doug	Eichner
19	18	00:01:22.808	Johnny	Gallagher
20	5	00:01:22.929	William	Yokley
21	88	00:01:27.005	Angela	Moore
22	30	00:01:27.700	Travis	Spader
23	22	00:01:36.468	Cody	Miller
24	7x	00:02:37.739	Heather	Byrd

Four Wheel Frenzy Heats
LSR’s Jason Luburgh with mighty Yamaha YFZ power beneath him won his heat impressively. Luburgh finished a whopping 18 second faster than the second heat won by Joe Byrd. Keep in mind the sandy track got rougher as laps progressed, so don’t go calling Byrd-man slow. Yoshimura Suzuki rider Jeremiah Jones closed on Luburgh in heat one but decided to ease off and not risk the chance to not make the main event. The same can be said for Natalie’s situation. “Ironman” finished fourth behind Gust and Wimmer in his heat. Perhaps Natalie’s non-win helped inspire riders to think that Natalie could be beaten on this track, a scenario that didn’t happen too often this year. As you know, Natalie has won just about every event possible in 2005.

Four Wheel Frenzy LCQ

Duncan Racing’s Doug Eichner looked like a million bucks on his red Honda 450R. Eichner, the field’s oldest competitor at 41, absolutely dominated the race from start to finish. Eichner’s win undoubtedly sends a message that age means nothing. This guy is all heart and never gives up. What a ride!

Obviously the track favored the skills of motocross riders more than cross country riders. Nonetheless cross country riders, Bill Ballance, William Yokley and Johnny Gallagher handled the track well and represented their GNCC series respectfully. Fittingly for them, Hurricane Dennis left Florida in a trail of wet cross-country-type weather. Both Yokley and Ballance advanced with second and third place finishes. Gallagher however, was not so fortunate. He limped off the track with a broken tie-rod.

Rounding out the final spot was Greeneville, Texas’ Cody “Uni-Baller” Miller. Miller got to go to the big show after passing his way from 12th place (last) all the way to fourth! Miller blew a motor in his heat race the day before. He spent most of the night wrenching on his quad with brother Hunter Miller. Considering he only had three hours of sleep under his belt for the biggest race of his career, he did extremely well.

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