Miles By Kory Ellis

Factory ATV racing lives again!
It’s been a wile since I sat down and typed for you. There has been many column-worthy topics that have come about these last few months. So many in fact that I’m kind of at a loss for where to start. I think you’ll agree the factory ATV racing topic is tops though, so that’s what I’ll talk about.

The dream that probably every inspiring racer has had for our sport for the last 16 years finally became reality. Factory backed ATV racing is back and I’m excited as ever for our sport because of it. And I’m sure you all are as well. I’ve wanted to hear the words “factory ATV racing” ever since I started racing these things.

When I heard that Honda signed Tim Farr to represent them and their new TRX450R I was as speechless as if they asked me to do it. I had an idea that this might come about but I didn’t think things would come about as quickly as they did. Strange that I’m saying the word “quickly” after 16 years have passed, but I think you know what I mean. I first heard it from John Pellan who talked with Tim shortly after the announcement. It took me so off guard, that I just sat there on the phone in a disbelieving daze. “Still there bro? What, did you fall over? Hello?”, said Pellan. I came to and realized that this was probably the biggest and best news the sport has received for as long as I have been riding.

I cannot think of a better and more deserving person in our industry for this to happen to. Tim will represent Honda just as well as Marty Hart, Curtis Sparks, Steve Wright and the other dedicated factory racers of the eighties did.

Shortly after, thanks to this very site, I read that Suzuki announced Doug Gust as their factory backed rider.

Again I sat their in a daze. Or perhaps woke from my daze because reading about this news made me realize all this was in fact reality. I never thought that by the end of the 2003 season there would be two factory backed ATV riders! I understand that all the details are not in place for Team Suzuki and Doug Gust but nonetheless the’re talking of factory racing and I’m sure they’ll come to an agreement soon.

The next few months are going to be very interesting to say the least. I think we might here some more OEM racing news real soon. Hopefully we will see the big four step it up even further and give some badly needed support to not only the pros but the amateurs, the series and the sport in general. And like you, I cant wait to see how factory ATV racing is presented at the track next year. I hope they are as serious as they were in the eighties.

Yamaha
I thought about how fast things were already changing since Honda’s announcement. In my opinion Yamaha needs to counter this news and announce a rider or two to go to battle on the mighty new YFZ450. I haven’t heard any details from Yamaha, but if they do announce something I’m sure you’ll read it here first. In the meantime, I’m anxiously waiting and eagerly digging for news just as you guys probably are.

Speaking of Yamaha and what they might or might not do reminds me that I should talk a little about what they already did do. I’ll never forget it.

I don’t know if I want to refer to myself as a writer but since I am part of ATV Scene.com, I was invited to attend the YFZ450 media intro at Las Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale, CA. Before the group of us “magazine guys” went out to ride the new YFZ, we were invited to a conference room at the hotel to hear how the machine came to life. I sat in the center right up front, eager to learn all I could. After all, as you all probably know, sport quads are a favorite topic of mine. Especially ones that were built to race!

There I was tuned in – in full attention mode from my front row chair, or backstage pass if you will, in the Holiday Inn conference room. They instantly started using terms like “for track use” and “racing”. This was probably the first time I ever heard an OEM mention such “vulgar” terms. Those words might as well have been “*uck you” in OEM vocabulary in year’s past. Now they were being used in every other sentence! And I was loving every minute of it! Sitting in that chair in Palmdale, CA – I was never so proud of Yamaha for what they gave to this sport.

Evolving
“It got so bad I thought of throwing up.”All this talk of the exciting future has given me time to reflect on my own past and how I got to this point of possible being on a short list of potential ’04 factory backed ATV riders. I remember racing the Mickey Thomson series back in 1992. I was just 15 back then. I stood in mortal shock watching time qualifiers from behind the bars of my yellow Suzuki Quad Racer at my first pro race in Seattle, WA. I remember it clearly. I was the second to last person to go out. As the line got shorter and shorter I got more and more nervous. It got so bad I thought of throwing up. I was a head-case and now it was time to go ride.

By the time I got my chance for them to time my laps, I could barely even pull the clutch in. In fact I think I even stalled it while moving into position. I went out and made so many mistakes I nearly crashed! I pulled into my pit area and saw one hell of a confused look on my dad’s face. I had made so many mistakes he didn’t know where to begin to tell me what I was doing wrong. I think he could see how nervous I was even though there was not a sole in the stands during qualifying.

Later I could over hear Donny Banks talking to some kid that was pitted with him. They were talking about the track and the quickest lines. I was too shy to talk along with them so basically I was just eavesdropping. The whole day I walked around and looked at everything in amazement. This was big time professional ATV racing and I wasn’t spectating – I was racing them. I was way too shy to think about talking to anybody but the couple of pros that I knew from the local races in Washington. To say the least, I was star-struck by all the big name riders. Only one year before I was the kid that collected autographs from these guys. And now I was there racing along side of them! Well maybe not along side of them – I guess it’s more accurate to say that I was there racing in the same class as them.

The moral of the story…
Sitting in that chair in Palmdale, CA – I was never so proud of Yamaha.My first pro race was bad, but ended up actually a lot better than I thought it would. My dad helped calm my nerves down and I qualified for the main, where I finished second to last. I really didn’t want to come in last place in front of all those people – so all in all I was happy.

Fast forward about eight years later. I went to race at the Kingdome in Seattle again (this time a Pace Pro Quad Stadium event). This kid comes up to me and tells me that it is his first pro race. He told me how excited he is to see all of the pros and how nervous he was to be there with them – me included. I smiled as he talked. It was all too familiar I saw myself in this kid and remembered my first pro race in the same place. Like this kid, I wasn’t very outspoken at that age either, and to be honest I’m still not. It was refreshing to be on the other side of all this nervousness and I bonded well with the pro rookie. Actually it’s pretty cool how well ATVers tend to get along with each other. With or without OEM backing I think our sport will always be made up of a lot of great people. I’m happy to have evolved into the “idol-like” status that I used to look up to, and I’m proud to be a part of this whole thing.

Until next time, keep your aspirations and don’t be shy!
–Kory

PS
By the way the kid with Donny Banks was a shy young Shane Hitt. The kid a few year’s later that approached me was Dana Creech.

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