Glen Helen QuadCross 06-22-07
- Updated: June 22, 2007
ITP QuadCross — In the words of Points Leader, Kory Ellis
The first of three rounds in a row at Glen Helen was held on the 22nd of June. This round was different than all other rounds ever held at world-famous Glen Helen Raceway. Due to the amount of racing they were having the month of June, it was to be held on Saturday. So the normal Saturday practice the day before the race was out. I have been traveling so much for work lately I have not had a chance to practice at all since the last round in Taft with the exception of one day testing that ended just about as fast as it started.
The only real day I would get any practice would be on the Thursday before the race. When I pulled up to the gate on Thursday I spoke with Lorie Brant about the upcoming race. She informed me that the track would be very close to the same as it was the day of practice with the exception of one section. I had not been there for close to a month so I was curious to see the changes made to the track. As I made my way around the track for the first lap there was definitely some new areas. The biggest one was a new whoop section that ran almost the whole length of the front straightaway. I quickly realized this was where I needed to spend most of my day. After putting in a couple of short motos and playing some cat and mouse with Ritchie Owens (AMA outdoor motocross rider #80) I was ready to try to conquer the new whoop section. After watching some dirt bikes and quads go though it I gave it a couple of tries. I skimmed it in 4th but I was going too fast to make the corner so that wouldn’t work. Next I tried to double through them but ended up one short at the end, so I knew I had to throw a triple in there somewhere but the first whoop was not a whoop it was a jump. Tripling in I knew would be a very hard landing so a decided not to go for it and triple some where in the middle where they were beat down a little. I could tell every one on an ATV was going to struggle through these whoops because Cyle Chislock was also struggling on his new Kawasaki. He seemed to be having problems at the end where he ended up stalling the bike in the corner. As I went home for the day I felt I had a pretty good grasp on the track.
Roberto to the Rescue
The next day I took my quad to work with me and took it to the race shop where the team mechanics were working harder than ever so they could try to take their first weekend off in months. I worked until about three that day then went across the street to the shop to get to work on getting my bike ready for the QuadCross race the next day but when I got there half my bike was stripped down. Doug’s mechanic Robert McClure had the thing in pieces and as soon as he saw me he started yelling at me, something about maintenance but I could not understand him he was so mad he started speaking to me in Spanish. Roberto ended up going through the top end and rebuilt the entire rear end. At about eleven that night I pulled out of the shop and started the hour long drive home to load the rest of the van up for the race before I went to bed.
The next morning I met up with Brant Russell and Robert at Denny’s right by the track for breakfast. Robert said after what he had seen on my bike that he was going to come out on his day off and make sure every thing went well. The day was one of the best days for weather you could possibly have. For the first lap of practice I took it easy to see what they had changed on the track. The section they added in was rough already along with the rest of the track, which was a good thing to make it an even better race track. On the third lap of practice I came around and thought I would try to triple in to the whoops to see if it was any faster than the line that I had already picked out. Turns out the first one throws you higher than you might think. As I was coming down I thought to myself this is going to hurt. It took every thing I had to soak it up with out crashing. I was lucky all that happened was my seat flew off mid way through the whoops.
Moto One
For the first moto there was nineteen riders on the line but the biggest news was that defending champ Dustin Nelson was not there because he was out with a broken femur form the London, KY round of the WPSA series. As they started to call numbers I waited and waited. Finally when there was no one left they called my number. I was the last pick but at least it was easy to pick a gate it was either the second from the out side or the far outside. I ended up taking the far outside gate. The entire first half of the starting line was disked up except the out side but the second half was the opposite. As the gate dropped I spun a little but soon as I hit the dirt I was gone. I looked over and saw no one until three quarters of the way up the start then I hit the disked dirt and all 130lb of Chris Riley pulled up next to me. We shot down to the next turn neither one of us wanting to lift. We made the turn bumped a little in it and then climbed up the hill. As we crested the top I had the outside and never lifted. I powered around him through the holes on the outside. For the first lap I was all over the place hitting every hole in the track but I was trying to get away from the pack. On the second lap I looked back in a tight one hundred and eighty and saw the gap I now had on the new second place runner Josh Fredrick. It was about five or so seconds. By the middle of the moto one I had pulled out about a nine second lead. I then put it on cruise and took home the first moto win. In between motos Robert went over the bike and rotated the rear tires. The edge of the Holeshots were a little burnt from getting a little too excited coming of the concrete starting line.
Moto Two
I was glad to get to the gate for the second moto because unlike the first moto I had first pick. I ended up lining right to the right of the dog house with Josh and Jeremy Schell to my right. When the gate dropped I was gone. As we headed into Talladega I dropped to the bottom to protect the inside line. The first lap was the same as the first moto I was riding on the edge and all over the place. When I came around for the first lap Robert told me that I had an eight second lead. I backed it down to a comfortable pace after that and put in the laps. As I came around the last lap I saw Brant standing on the side of the track right before the finish line as I passed him he threw his cigar at me with a big smile on his face. Soon after I crossed the finish line with a two moto sweep.
I don’t know when Dustin will be back but I hope it’s soon he is a great competitor. As far as the Epic boys of Josh as Jeremy, I hear that they might show up on their new Can-Ams for the next round.
I came in to the race with a three point lead and left with a 21 point lead but the series is long and you can not forget about the final round that is double points so anything can happen.
See you at the next round. Long live ITP QuadCross!
