Oak Hill MX, Alvord, TX 2006
- Updated: February 12, 2006
If you haven’t noticed, Big Byrd is serious about winning his first GNC Pro Championship.
GNC MX Round 2
Oak Hill MX Park
Alvord, TX
Feb 12, 2006
Text: Ben Horgen
Photos: Julie Farr
Video: Joe Tolle
Round two of the Moose/ITP ATVA Motocross Grand National Championship series was held at Oak Hill MX Park just outside of Decatur, Texas. Everyone seemed even more excited after passing through the front gates at this year’s GNC in the Lone Star State. Racer Productions found an excellent spot to host their Texas Showdown. The Oakhill facility featured a beautifully fenced motocross track and all the safety precautions required to keep fans and competitors safe. The track is a 17 turn, 10 jump masterpiece composed of a soil-base but includes heavy sand, while jump faces are reinforced with clay. At the end of the weekend the jump faces were as consistent as when the racers hit the track for Friday morning’s practice; however, the approaches to the jump resembled what most tracks look like after hosting a National.
Here Gust jumps in route to victory in moto one. As for moto two’s scenario, Gust said, “when stuff like this happens, you have to stay calm and race to the front. Last week at Glen Helen I never quite felt right, but today I felt really good out there.
Moto 1
Pro moto one started right where round one left off. The field was scattered with new and old names alike. Leading the way was Honda’s ’05 Champ John “Ironman” Natalie followed by Suzuki/Yoshimura’s “Digger” Doug Gust. Behind them the fight for third through tenth was intense but gapped over a quarter minute behind first and second place. Midway through the race Natalie made a few bobbles and that is all it took for Team Suzuki’s to cut down the lead. With a few laps to go Gust was on the rear wheels of Natalie. Another corning error from Natalie was all it took for Gust to sneak by and start pulling his own gap. At the end of the moto, Gust was five seconds ahead of Natalie and the rest of the pack nearly thirty seconds behind them.
Byrd and Natalie battle it out at while Texas winds blow.
After not being able to make Friday’s practice, Ellis got some much needed practice time by signing up for Saturday’s Pro Am class. He won both motos and learned a lot about the track. It paid off as he put himself on the pro podium with an 8-2 score, good enough for third on the day.
Moto 2
For moto two the fences were lined with excited race fans. Everyone was ready to see what would unfold after great performances from moto 1 podium finishers Gust, Natalie and Keith Little. Moto two started out disastrous for the first moto’s 5th place Dustin Wimmer as well as moto one winner, Gust. After a first corner tangle Gust and Wimmer started 1 minute and 18 seconds back from 17th place (Note Farr did not start the 2nd moto). Amazingly both charged hard nonetheless. In the end Gust passed all the way to 10th and Wimmer to 13th.
Yamaha’s Pat Brown pulled the holeshot and impressively showed that he’s got what it takes to win. Meanwhile Yamaha teammate Kory Ellis was off to a much better start and began catching his young apprentice. Unfortunately for Brown his good-looking lead quickly turned as he pulled to a stop with an engine problem. Alba Yamaha’s Kory Ellis who finished 8th in the first moto too over the top spot. Hot on his heels was Honda’s Joe Byrd. The race continued for laps with the front runners in that order until Ellis pulled his tether out while going through Oak Hill’s gnarly whoops section. The mistake cost Ellis the lead but since he logged a pretty nice gap during the first half of the moto, there was time for Ellis to regroup, restart his quad and still finish the moto in second place.
Yamaha showed their stuff in moto two. Here Brown leads Ellis.
Natalie leads Luburgh through a wide, fast left hand turn. The Oak Hill track was impressive and provided good racing throughout the weekend.
The big winners of the day were Honda pilots Joe Byrd and his wife Heather, who both took home overall wins in back to back weekends. Another notable was the #8 of Jason Luburgh who made a last second pass coming over the finish line table top to take third in the moto from John Natalie.
