Glen Helen QuadCross, Devore, CA 8-1-04
- Updated: August 1, 2004
ITP QuadCross Round 8
Glen Helen Raceway
Devore, CA
Aug 1, 2004
by Lance Farwick with special thanks to dirtfiendracing.com
Nelson has caught on to quad racing fast and is a major threat to win each time he suits up.
Round number eight is in the books. This round’s race was took place at the national track at Glen Helen Raceway. Glen Helen’s national track has huge hill climbs and berms that seem to reach into the sky. If you ride the track the day before the race you won’t have much of an advantage, because the Glen Helen staff does an amazing job of almost reconstructing the whole track for the race.
Besides the track changes there were also some rider changes. What? Where’s the green machine? Point’s leader Jeremy Schell (Alba/ITP/PEP) retired the KFX for a sleeker YFZ. Unfortunately he didn’t have his bike set up yet, so he had to borrow Alba’s Steve Bielman’s YFZ. Bottoming out was going to be an issue for Jeremy in the race to come. He is much heavier than Bielman and the YFZ’s shocks were not made for his weight.
Even Worcs series point’s leader Doug Eichner( Duncan Racing/Golden West/Roll Design) and Josh Fredricks attended the race. This was definitely going to be an exciting day in the dirt.
Duncan Racing’s Veteran, Doug shows no sign of slowing.
Heat 1
Dustin Nelson (Two brothers/Motoworld.com/Yamaha) got the holeshot and took control of the race early. He separated himself from the rest of the pack leaving plenty of action for the fight for second and beyond. Jeff Spooner (DFR, LSR, Rat Industries) looked like he was on a mission. Spooner was riding in 2nd with pure intensity as he started to pull away from the rest of the pack. As lap five of seven came around Spooner lost some his intensity to conditioning. Sage Baker (Big Gun, ITP) caught back up to him and waited patiently to pass him. Josh Fredricks turned on the heat midway through the race. Fredricks came from no where and passed several people. He eventually got by Jeff Spooner and his next victim was Baker. At the end of the race it was Nelson in first with Fredricks, Baker, Spooner and David Lindsay (Wiseco) rounding out the top five.
These two were Duncan Racing teammates a few weeks ago. Now Jeremy “the So Cal Hick” Schell rides for Alba Action. Here he trails Eichner on a borrowed YFZ (Steve Bielman’s).
Heat 2
Coming around the first turn was the big red machine of Doug Eichner grabbing the hole shot with Jeremy Schell hot on his tail. Eichner and Schell were battling the whole first lap until one of the track workers excessively watered the corner after the first hill climb. Schell stated “I noticed going uphill that the turn was a lot wetter than last lap, so I decided to let off the gas.” It paid off for Schell as Eichner slid out and tumbled. Eichner was OK, but he was down to 7th place by the time he got his Duncan Racing 450R going again.
Amazingly Eichner regained his composure and was attacking the track like a pit bull. After all the time he lost he still managed to pass all the way up to a 3 rd place finish! Danny Ragan (Roll Design) was riding too good and was too far away for Eichner to catch him. At the end it was Schell in first with Ragan, Eichner, Tony Munio and Theo Lusardi working pulling in for the top 5.
Mike Machado pictured.
Schell took to the Yamaha well and finished up with a respectable third place overall.
Final
The pros decided to option out the watering and go with a dry dusty track. In front was Dustin Nelson with Jeremy Schell and a whopping 19 other pros behind them. Darrel Patton looked like he was going to make a charge this race. Patton was in 3rd when he and Sage Baker got tangled up in the 4th turn of the race. It created all kinds of congestion behind them. Many riders took the clean outside line and benefited greatly. Others there were already committed to the inside line and were forced to stop and rethink the best exit strategy around the mess.
Dustin Nelson continued his lead with Jeremy Schell well within striking distance. In the back section Schell had pulled up next to Nelson to challenge the lead but couldn’t hold on to make the pass. Nelson remained in the lead as Schell started to lose ground. A couple laps later Eichner was knocking on Schell’s door. It didn’t take long for Eichner to take over second as Jeremy looked on watching Eichner take the inside line in the turn. At the end it was Nelson winning his second in a row with Eichner and Schell behind him. Cody Smith finished 4th and is proving to be a very strong and consistent rider as he always finishes in the top five overall.
Dustin Nelson has made it two in a row, stay tuned to see if he will make it a hat trick. The next Quadcross is September 18th at LACR. It should be a good one with all the west coast GNC racers back home.
