On The Fast-Trak 5-3-00

GNC Round 3 – April 29, 2000 – Birch Creek TT – Danville, VA
The first TT event of the 2000 GNC series was promoted by Mark Keen of the newly founded River Bottom Promotions Group. Mark used to be the head wrench for the Duncan Racing team. Most of his time on the team was spent fine tuning Travis Spader’s quads. This year he stepped away from the Duncan team and took over promoting duties of the Birch Creek Motorsports Complex. Rain played havoc on Keen’s event. Friday’s practice and Short Track Nationals were postponed to Saturday. Shoving all the practice sessions, heats, last qualifiers and main events from two separate national events into two days meant for a hectic schedule. As it turned out the Short Track event took up all day Saturday. To add insult to injury, just as the Saturday night Pro and Pro/Am TT program was about to begin, thunderstorms roared into Danville. Heavy rains from a thunderstorm would be disastrous to the track, which was already waterlogged. Lightning struck, wind blew, thunder roared and race teams scurried to batten down the hatches. Somehow the storm went around the track while severe downpours flooded Danville and surrounding communities only a few miles away.

On with the show.
The rain soaked loamy clay material got extremely rough in a short time. Ruts, potholes and braking bumps formed in almost motocross track fashion. Travis Spader, one of the best rough track ATV riders ever, pulled his heat race holeshot on his Duncan Racing/Paul Turner-tuned Roll/Lobo chassis. Spader was clocked in as the fast qualifier. In the main event Spader anticipated the green light perfectly and once again pulled the holeshot and dominated on Keen’s track. Instead of pulling racer’s trucks and trailers out of rain drenched muck, Keen watched his long time rider and good friend, Travis Spader lead the twenty-man field. As laps progressed Spader’s advantage increased. He rode on to his first-ever pro class TT win. In the two-spot, Keith Little (PRC, Nac’s) on a Roll Design quad held ground to Shane “Dog” Hitt (Sparks) for most of the race. Eventually Hitt snuck by Little and finished second. Little held on to third. Ben Jackson (Legacy ATV/TC) deserves mention for passing from 19th to 6th place. During the post race interviews the AMA referee found that Spader and Hitt’s rear width bordered on being illegal. After measuring both quads with straight edges and a tape measure, Spader’s machine measured exactly on the 50-inch mark, while Hitt’s exceeded it. The rule says that the machine is legal if it can pass through a 50-inch spreader bar, with 4-inch high spreaders, without raising over the apparatus. Based on the measurement of exactly 50 inches to Spader’s rear tire width, the machine was found legal and Spader was given the win along with the overall point’s lead. Hitt, on the other hand, measured 50 ¾”. Tire pressure affects the bulge of the tire and therefore the overall measurement. The referee conducted the pass through test to Hitt’s quad and found the machine to be legal since the ATV managed to barely squeeze through the spreader without raising the ATV off the ground.
Pro Class Results
1. Travis Spader (Duncan)
2. Shane Hitt (Sparks)
3. Keith Little (PRC/Nac’s)
4. Jeremiah Jones (Legacy ATV)
5. Tim Farr (Baldwin/Ferrell/White Bros.)
6. Ben Jackson (TC/Legacy)
7. John Natalie (Burgard)
8. Aaron Reisig (FTZ)
9. Doug Gust (Nacs/TC)
10. Joe Byrd (East Coast ATV)

Pro/Am classes were filled with four-stroke entries. For this first time in probably a decade more than 20 riders signed up for the Pro-Am 4-Stroke class (22 to be exact). Kory Ellis (Trinity) pressured Jason Luburgh, (TC) for the thumper class win but could not manage to pass. Luburgh rode on to take the win. The 250 Pro/Am class saw a few re-starts, both times Fischer Cycle’s Nathan Dallas pulled the holeshot. Nathan faded in later laps, while Shane Hitt (Sparks) took home the win with Burgard Cycle’s John Natalie giving chase for second. In the Open Pro/Am class the number 4 Yamaha Banshee of Holly Ridge, North Carolina’s John Porterfield edged out Daryl Rath who showed up on a ticked out light weight Yamaha Banshee of his own.

For full amateur class results just click here:
http://www.amadirectlink.com/amrace/00atv/00atv.html
It’s the ATV GNC results page found on the AMA website.

Division 4 ATV Triple Crown of Freestyle Event Round 1 Danville, VA April 29, 2000
Wes Miller of H-Bomb Films flew into Virginia to run the 1st ever Division 4 Triple Crown of Freestyle. Miller put up an impressive $1000 fist place prize (the same amount that Travis took home for winning the pro class). Dana Creech won the overall by defeating Johnny Hale. Creech-Man busted out a ton of cool tricks that including a full-blown superman and a big ole phat cliffhanger that he stretched out forever. Round two of the series will be at The Orrville GNC July 21, 2000. After Dana’s display in Virginia he’ll be the favorite to take home the big check again.

GNCC Round 5 – April 15, 2000 – Loretta Lynn’s Ranch – Hurricane Mills, TN
By Scott Johnson
A little about about our new author:

I am a Gemini, I like long walks in the park…..Oh sorry wrong little bit about me. I am 29 years old and live in Indianapolis, IN with my wife Kathleen (team manager, photographer, caterer, sponsor, and most importantly physical therapist). I pay for my ATV addiction by working as a K9 officer for the Marion County Sheriff’s Department. I also was a three-year member of the Sheriff’s Department Motorcycle Drill Team, which traveled and performed all over the United States. I rode dirt bikes and ATVs growing up as a child but had been away from them until about three years ago. As soon as I returned to the sport of ATVing my childhood dream of racing began to stir in me again. A short time later, while reading one of my many ATV magazines; I read about the GNCC series. I was intrigued by all the different classes and how it seemed so beginner friendly. It still took me a little while to get up the courage (well, I thought I should practice just a little) to try and enter my first race. I entered the Ironman last year and it was all over — or should I say just beginning! I was hooked! The sport is great and everyone was so friendly and helpful that I plan on sticking with it for a long time to come. It was just like going riding with a bunch of my friends. Recently, I rearranged some finances and bought a new quad to race in the utility stock class. One thing leads to another, and now I’ll be contributing editorial info for ATV Scene on a regular basis. If you like, look me up at the races, and be sure to ask for free ATV Scene stickers.

375 ATV’s showed up to roost the woods at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. They decided to start two different times due to the large amount of ATV’s that have shown up at Loretta’s in the past. The morning race started at 10:00 a.m. (4stk stock, utility, women, and novice). The afternoon race started at 1:00 p.m. and that is where things were not much different. Team Maxxis’s Wild Bill Ballance jumped out to a big lead right off the start. Kawasaki’s William Yokley reeled him in by lap # 3. Yokley and Ballance then battled wheel to wheel the rest of the way. One of the course marshals was following along giving a play by play through the woods. Let me tell you it was intense! When Yokley and Ballance came through to start their last lap Yokley was in front with Ballance close behind. The crowd was going crazy! Half way through the last lap Ballance wore down Yokley and took the lead and his fourth victory of five races this year. These two checked out on the rest of the field. They were so far a head of the 3rd place Bad Chad Duvall that they were already doing interviews before Duvall rode up onto the podium. Duvall attributed his late arrival to getting a bad start. Duvall stated it took quite awhile to battle through the pack because the woods were so tight. In the morning race the big story was in the Utility Mod. Class in which Kawasaki Team Green’s Mike Penland has dominated for several years. The Great Outdoor Store’s Rich Travalena took first place this time on his highly modified Yamaha Wolverine. Penland came in second.
Pro Class Results
1. Bill Ballance (Maxxis/LoneStar)
2. William Yokley (Kawasaki)
3. Chad Duvall (Duncan/Roll)Matt Smiley (Duncan/Roll)
4. Jeff Seegott (Trinity/LoneStar)
5. Brad Page (Roll)
6. Kim Kuhnle (Yamaha)
7. Bryan Baker (Great Outdoors Yamaha)
8. Jared Huffman (Roll)
9. Steve Holbert (Honda)
10. Dan Destefano (Roll)

GNCC Round 6 – April 29, 2000
Round 6 – April 29, 2000 – Sparta, KY
Yokley delivers his first win for Team Green!
Kawasaki Team Green’s William Yokley edged out Duvall for the win at the new track in Sparta, KY. Actually only 14 seconds separated first place and fourth place. Team Maxxis mounted Ballance rounded out the top five about three minutes behind, which is not bad considering Ballance was nursing a busted up thumb. Racer Productions laid out another nice course at this new track. It was about eight miles long with the usual ups and downs. Oh yeah! Lots of big rocks! There was also over 300 ATVs in attendance. Keep them coming we will get some recognition yet! Sooner or later the big sports stations are going to have to break down and cover one of the races. The Great Outdoor Store Team was still hounding long time veteran of the GNCC Mike Penland in the Utility Mod. Class. Randy “Scott” Kilby of the Great Outdoor Store took first with Penland second, and Randy’s team mate Travalena third.
Pro Class Results:
1. William Yokley (Kawasaki)
2. Chad Duvall (Duncan/Roll)Matt Smiley (Duncan/Roll)
3. Matthew Smiley (Duncan/Roll)
4. Bryan Baker (Great Outdoor Store Yamaha)
5. Bill Ballance (Maxxis/LoneStar)
6. Justin Brown LAE
7. Daniel J Destefano (Roll)
8. Johnny F Gallagher LON
9. James L Wahl LAE
10. Steven Holbert (Honda)

A conversation with Mike Penland
By Scott Johnson
For all you people out there that think you can’t have any fun on a utility quad this is the series for you. These guys fly on these things! Granted I don’t think you will see a utility quad take an overall win or anything like that; but they are something to see. I can appreciate that since I am in my first season and run in the utility stock class. One person who has been helped me with getting started is Mike Penland. I didn’t even know Mike when I started but he has offered me lots of helpful advice. He’s one of the nicest guys you will ever meet! Here’s what the veteran of ATVing had to say.

ATV Scene: How long have you been racing ATV’s?
Mike: 10 years.

ATV Scene: How old are you?
Mike: “46”

ATV Scene: Are you going to race the Baja this year?
Mike: Lord willing, if I can get some sponsors.

ATV Scene: Will Kawasaki help you out with the Baja or are they strictly GNCC?
Mike: GNCC, but I’m hoping to twist their arm a little. They are liable to have a new bike later in the year and maybe I can talk them into helping me out. I don’t know if they would give me any money but maybe a bike and parts. Really I need two or three bikes and parts in order to have the spare parts needed for the race. The Baja is extremely tough on equipment. I also have to take a month off work.

ATV Scene: What kind of new ATV are they coming out with?
Mike: Something similar to a 400EX.

ATV Scene: I hear you would like to do the Dakar Rally in Europe. Is that true?
Mike: I have a company that would put up $25,000 and just need another 25 grand to do it.

ATV Scene: I hear they are begging Americans to come race in it.
Mike: I spoke to a guy who said they will hook a microphone up to you and tell you when the helicopter will fly over and do an interview while you’re riding the coarse, sounds petty cool and they love American
coverage, so we’ll see.

ATV Scene: What is a typical day for you during race season. What type of training do you do?
Mike: I haven’t trained as much as I would like to lately. In the winter I stair step and do push ups — not as much as I need too. (Laughing).

ATV Scene: How much bigger has the utility class grown over the years?
Mike: It has picked up and dropped off over the years. Recently we’re seeing a huge interest in the class. When we line up there will be about 25 of us.

ATV Scene: Is Kawasaki in the GNCC to stay now?
Mike: Oh yeah! They love it! It has given them lots of exposure. Mark Kelly (VP of Utility ATV Marketing) told me that they race everything they make at Kawasaki. –and they are going to continue doing so.

Making the Scene
Darren Ogden
This local Ohio TT racer (often seen weekly at Deerfield Speedway), cruised down to Virginia and completely dominated the 250A class. Ogden went so fast, that someone thought he had a little too much motor work done. He was torn down after he won the Short Track event. His FTZ motor was found to be legit though, it weighed in right at the 265cc limit.

William Yokley
Team Kawasaki has to be pleased they got a guy that is going to go out and win on their product. Yokley took delivered and makes the scene with style colored in green.

Travis Spader D
If this race is any indication of what’s to come, Travis will add a national championship to his list of accomplishments. He flat out flew in Danville. Travis is plenty fast on motocoss and has proven that by winning many MX nationals, but until the 2000 Birch Creek GNC, he was winless on TT. Congratulations are in order for Dr. Spader. Many more!

Aaron Reisig
In his pro class debut, former 250 A ace (especially in TT racing) earned himself a font row spot in the main event. Reisig got a great start and held his ground in the 4-spot for most of the race. Reisig plans are to compete in just the TT events aboard his FTZ powered Honda.

Tim Farr
“Timrr” makes the scene by having the balls to put his points race in jeopardy by trying something different –competing in the wicked fast pro class on a quad that is unproven. Not only is it unproven, he didn’t even have time to ride it prior to the race. The Baldwin team put together a specialty built Yamaha YZ TT thumper courtesy of Jerry Ferrell Yamaha and White Bros. The setup seemed to work pretty good since Farr dominated with it in the oval race. Farr bettered Shane “Dog” by almost a whole straight stretch. In the TT main, Farr worked his way through the pack and finished in the five-spot. All this with torn ligaments in his back and a broken throttle hand.

Shane Hitt
“Dog” rode a good race behind K Little. In later laps he passed for second place, but the real battle would be the 50-inch AMA rule. After some controversy with just how the measuring should be conducted, Phil Marshall (the AMA referee) managed to squeeze a pretty wide quad through a 50-inch spreader bar and officially declared it legal. I was there and witnessed the “birth” myself.

Jason Luburgh
It’s looking like Luburgh has the skill to take the overall championship in the Four-Stroke Pro/Am class, (among other classes that he competes in) Jason proved himself by not getting flustered by the many “knocks” on his back door by Kory Ellis.

Kory Ellis
Kory wasn’t going to compete in the TT events this year. After winning the first two rounds of the series, he decided to try to earn himself a national championship by racing the entire GNC series. We were amazed with how well Kory looked on the TT coarse (not his specialty in year’s past). Kory raced the 15-lap thumper class and the 20-lap pro class back to back on the rough coarse. Directly after that he tried to compete in the freestyle event and ended up going over the bars. Kory wisely surrendered to fatigue and decided to just watch the remainder of the freestyle event.

Wes Miller
Props to Wes for bringing ATVs into mainstream television and video production. Wes is responsible for the new Division 4 Triple Crown of Freestyle and has a few other projects in the woks that may prove huge for the ATV extremist’s image in the limelight. Look for a tell-all interview with Wes in the near Future.

Dana Creech
I’ve never seen anyone bust out effortless freestyling tricks on a quad like the Creech man can. He stretched out a superman that that had the judges sold on awarding him the Division 4 $1000 fist prize. In his first ever TT race he went from last place to 12th overall. However, the twelve-spot doesn’t do him justice. His natural talent is genuine, as he motored along impressively. His only errors were trying too had to get to the front. He was on the gas a bit too much and got a little to sideways now and then. All in all, I was impressed once again with the Creech-Man. So much so that I’ll say this – This kids got Travis Pastrana kind of talent. He very well could be the guy that represents the sport side of ATVing to the millions of television viewers that are sure to tune into our sport in the near future.

Rise of the Thumpers
All the Pro/Am four-strokers made the scene by breaking a record. For the first time ever, not everyone qualified for the main event in the pro thumper 4-wheeler class. There were 22 entries. In the Four-Stroke A class there were 18 riders, and a whopping 26 in the Four-Stroke B class.

Leslie “The Outlaw” Wells
She’s one of the most enjoyable riders to watch, small, cute, adorable, but tougher than nails made of kryptanite. Wells gave chase to Heather Rose (East Coast ATV) in the Women’s class and creatively made a move to the front on the last lap to take the win. She’s the only female to every win an A class national (Orrville ’99) almost did it again in the Four-Stroke A class! The Outlaw-Leslie Wells (Nac’s/TC) battled with Ken Cornwell (Rocky Ridge) for most of the 12-lap feature. Cornwell aboard his brand new Yamaha YZ powered ATV had his hands full with the 400EX of Wells. That is until the two bumped hard enough to send the 95-pound Wells flying over the bars. She hurriedly got on again and finished 8th overall. She also competed in the Pro/Am class on Saturday night and finished with a respectable 8th place finish. You go girl!

Wiseco Piston’s Steve Johnson
You all know by now that it takes an ex-racer and/or someone deep in the roots of the sport to put on a good event. Steve is the marketing manager for Wiseco Pistons and was incredibly fast on a dirt bike and an ATV. He’s putting all his knowledge and experience to good use his very own motocross park. The track is located in Uhrichsville, OH (south of Canton). It’s on 360 acres of rolling hills and wooded land. Last year Steve hosted a replacement GNCC event at his facility. The track and facility was good enough for a second go around this year (October 7-8, 2000). The motocross track is a grand prix style layout with natural terrain type doubles and fall away jumps. There are a few large 300-foot uphills for the horsepower minded riders and a 42-man national size starting gate. Opening day will be May 21st and quads are welcome and appreciated (proof of this is the 30 foot wide track).
For more information on this track and the District 12 series surf over to www.crowcanyonmx.com
Or call (440) 254-4812

Hooters Girls
An apology is in order. The Birch Creek national in Danville, VA had a few really cute Hooters Restaurants trophy girls that yours truly neglected to take pictures of. One of the girls was Heather Stanley, She’s the exact girl that we shot for our picture of the week about 6 months ago from the ATV Expo in Charlotte, NC. Yeah I know, she’s hot and I let you guys down – sorry wont happen again – promise!
I was busy wrenching all damn weekend all to get a measly 9th place in the Open Pro/Am class – hopefully that wont happen again either.

Ben Jackson
“Benny” almost didn’t even make the main. He got to the feature race by a LCQ. In the main event, Jackson charged from 19th place to finish in the six spot!

Susan Parker
Lebanon PA Women’s class ace, Susan Parker has been absent from the last two rounds of the GNCs. It seems that Parker is training for Golden Gloves amateur boxing. She says she will turn pro soon. In the meantime she’s beating up everyone she fights. In her last bout (a Golden Gloves Championship Event), she earned a first round TKO. Parker plans on continuing to race, but she wont be at every round of the GNCs.

Protect your right to ride
We got a hold of this from the AMA office. Take a quick minute to vote NO on this issue. And if you’re in the mood shoot an e-mail to the group that is trying to eliminate us from our ride spots. Let them know that there is room for everyone and they need to chill on all the whining.

SPECIAL ALERT — ORVs in our National Parks
This is urgent – please visit http://www.usaweekend.com/quick/index.html  to cast your “YES” vote, in favor of banning off-road vehicles (ORVs) in our National Parks. USA Today Weekend is hosting the poll, asking folks if ORVs should be banned from the National Park System. NPCA feels strongly in favor of a ban, as they can cause irreparable damage to park resources and can be an obnoxious nuisance to visitors and harassment to wildlife. Unfortunately, the “NO” votes are winning thus far – we’ve got to make a strong showing to counter these while the poll is still up. PLEASE – pass this along to as many people as you can think of – we really need a strong showing on this. Let us know you took action by sending an email to TakeAction@npca.org mailto:TakeAction@npca.org For more information on why off-road vehicles should be banned from the parks, please visit http://www.npca.org. Watch this space for further opportunities for action on off-road vehicles in our national parks.
Thanks! http://click.egroups.com/1/2758/3/_/10517/_/956689063/

Tennessee National Flat Track
T.N.F.T will have the Tennessee State Quad Flat Track Championships on July 14th and Sept 15th. These 2 races will be for crowning the state champions of quad racing. You can get on their mailing list by contacting them at jbcycle@webtv.net or by phone (615) 325-5197. The track is a 1/8-mile clay, with a slight banking to it. They’ll have 2 rows wide Nascar starts. It will be a non-AMA event with lots of classes (even a stock tire and no sway bar class). The track was a sanctioned sprint car track with high concrete walls and chain-linked fencing. The track is in the North Middle Tennessee only 6 miles from the Kentucky border. For Additional Information Contact JB Cycle Email: jbcycle@webtv.net  or call
(615) 325-5197

Ask Cindy — updated in a few days
Cindy, ATV Scene’s very own trophy girl, is just back from Florida and California (where she hung out with all the big wig famous people at the Oscar parties. She has gotten bombarded with your e-mails, Look for her responses in her next column, which will go live in a few short days. She’ll also introduce a few trophy girl candidates’ for the next Buckeye Nationals for you to vote on. If your interested or know someone that would make a great T-girl at the Orrville GNC, by all means, send Cindy a picture, your name, age, measurements, hobbies and a brief intro about your self – also mention why you would like to be a trophy girl. Pictures need to be 72 dpi JPEG format. Readers will vote and the winners will be chosen and paid to represent the ’00 Buckeye Nationals.
Send to cindy@atvscene.com and info@atvscene.com

Thursday night chat room underway
ATV Source and ATV Scene have come together to provide a weekly Thursday night chat. Glen Hansen of ATV Sport magazine might come aboard as the chat’s moderator. The May 11 premier will tip off at 8 PM EST. During the year, we’ll have plenty of big name guests like Matt Coulter, Tim Farr, Mike Penland, Travis Spader, Loren Duncan, Jimmy White and many more. For the premier, ATV Source and ATV Scene’s complete staff will be on hand to tip of the new chat room. Each week there will be ATV racing and recreation trivia, 1st – 3rd will receive points that will earn the winners prizes from our sponsors. You can enter the chat room any time, but Thursday night will be the best time to log on. All you have to do is click on the link on the left, type your name and you’re in. See ya there May 11.

Honda’s newest news
We’ve heard rumors that Honda has just bought Artic Cat’s watercraft jigs and molds. It appears that they have a powerful four-stroke motor to use in a new line of jet-ski boats. In more Honda thumper news, click on the link below for a picture of their new four-stroker dirt bike. Rumor has it that either Loracco or Tortelli will race it at the first outdoor national at Glen Helen. The motor might be perfect in an ATV. We’ll soon see. Check it out here: http://208.56.125.175/forums/ubb/Forum20/HTML/000492.html

ATV Legends Race 2000 Update
Have you made your travel arrangements for the ATV racing stampede to Ohio? First you have the biggest-baddest-boldest ATV race in the history of the sport, round 9 of the AMA GNCs in Orrville. This event is complete with a Kangaroo Kid world record distance jump attempt, the biggest pro purse and amateur contingency ever! Then the following week the GNC series moves an hour and 40-minutes Northeast to round 10 in Ashtabula. The oldest GNC of the series will feature the first ever ATV Legends Race 2000 promoted by Fast-Trak Promotions and Fischer Cycle Racing. Our office phones are ringing off the hook with excited racers and fans alike. Count on every old school legends to show up. As your reading this, the ex-heroes are busy training for this once and a lifetime event. Latest word is that Team Honda’s Marty Hart will have a full ride courtesy of Duncan Racing. He should feel right at home, after all, Marty spent his whole career with Duncan/Paul Turner Racing. He’ll borrow Travis Spader’s ride, which is proven to be wicked fast and definitely worthy. The rival will continue, as JW will be on hand with major backing from Kawasaki. Rumor has it that Kawasaki is busy setting up and testing a specially built TT quad for Jimmy to go to battle with. If you’re a true long time ATV enthusiast you have to be smiling about now, Hart (Honda) White (Kawasaki) going at it one more time – c-mon is this cool or what?! To us, that sounds better than a Led Zeppelin reunion concert. A quick note on whom has called or shown interest? Forget it, no room to list them all. Invitations go out next week. We’ll give you the official tally later, in the mean time you might think about planning a week long vacation to Ohio — “the heat of ATV racing!” just be sure to act now with those reservations – before all the hotels are totally booked.

Kangaroo Kid breaks world record
Matt “The Kangaoo Kid” Coulter recently jumped (14) 4×4 trucks (Honda CRVs) for the Guinness World Records Prime Time television show (European version). The jump launched Coulter 135 feet from a ramp to a concrete landing area! This is the farthest Matt (or anyone else) has gone on a ramp to flat ground jump. Coulter got a little crossed up but saved it. The landing was hard on his ankle but he’s fine. The impact broke the subframe of his Phillips jump quad. He’ll be doing his standard stunt entertainment shows nearly every week up to the world record attempt at the Orrville GNC on July 22.

Quotes of the week.
After another disappointing supercross finish David Pingree heads to spectate the 250 main event. “How does Jeremy dominate like that”, he says to a bystander? The man replies, “I believe its because he practices on quads”

“Devastation is the true event that makes for a stronger individual and the building block for a winner!” We’ll be back and stronger than ever mark my words. – Scott Generky (Ben Jackson’s right hand man) after the severe clutch problem at round two in KY. “Jerky was right, the team finished up in the six spot at round 3 after charging from 19th.

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