Pine Lake, Ashtabula, OH 2004
- Updated: July 25, 2004
GNC TT Round 3
Pine Lake / Fischer Cycle Racing
Ashtabula, OH
July 25, 2004
Farr congratulates his long time friend Dave Kister.
ATV racer’s favorite stop on the GNC TT circuit is the Pine Lake National. It’s been an asset to our sport for many years. Thanks to the Fischer family and all the hard working volunteers, it will probably remain as one for many more years. Bill Fischer, owner and founder of the event, mentioned otherwise at Sunday’s rider’s meeting. Bill was pretty upset at the foolishness that prevailed Saturday evening when someone backed over a child with a pit bike. Pit bikes were banned and threats of no more races were rumored, but we’re pretty confident that there will always be an Ashtabula GNC on the schedule. Bottom line, – this event is loved and appreciated by too many ATVers, many of these ATVers are the promoters themselves.
Over 500 entries proved that TT racing is alive and well. Beautiful weather graced all three days of the event. The main attraction of the weekend, besides Pine Lakes’ legendary Saturday night party, was the pro main event. While the Suzuki Z400 has dominated the GNC MX series, with Doug Gust at the helm, the Yamaha YFZ450 and the Honda 450R have been fighting tooth and nail in the GNC TT series. First Honda’s Tim Farr spanked the competition at Orrville, then Keith Little, aboard a YFZ, won in Virginia.
Farr smokes the tires while exiting a speedy turn.
The Alabama Slama, Keith Little leads Tim Farr early in the race.
The four stroke thunder collectively roared down Pine Lakes’ legendary front strait with Alabama’s Keith Little (LSR, Sparks, Ronnie’s) leading the way on his Curtis Sparks tuned Yamaha. After one lap Little maintained his holeshot and rode strong and steady in front of factory backed American Honda’s Tim Farr (Baldwin, DG, PEP). Giving chase early on was Fischer Cycle’s Darin Ogden, Walsh Racecraft’s Mike Walsh and eventual winner, Dave Kister (Krank-It, Fischer, PEP).
Later in the race Little got just a tad too sideways in the 180 degree right hand turn before Pine Lake’s famous bowl jump. With Little suddenly too sideways, Farr could do nothing but lock up his brakes and slightly bump him. In the process Kister slipped by both Farr and Little on the outside and moved into the lead. “I was in the right place at the right time”, said Kister about his inherited lead.
Cato, Wisconsin’s Bill Berger had quite a day with his Suzuki 500cc Open class machine. Congratulations are in order. Bill won his first Open Pro Am GNC. He also took top honors in the Open A class with this one of a kind machine.
7th place in the +30 was Ohio’s Adam Cook. Adam should be awarded a “no sleep” award however. No one parties harder than the Cook, Anney, Little “Cross Eyed Racing” pits.
Kister sets up for the right hand turn while jumping a TT tabletop.
Who is a top contender in the GNCCs and the GNCs? Only Jathan Seale. Jathan finished the day fifth place overall respectively.
As laps progressed the two Conneaut, Ohio hometown boys put on one heck of a show for their many friends and relatives cheering them from the other side of the fence. Kister and Farr grew up together and even graduated from the same school. For many years they’ve raced many laps at Pine Lake. As years have gone one, one excelled heavily in the sport and now races ATVs for a living with full factory support, while the other stepped away from the sport in ’94 to raise a family and become a heavy equipment operator. Farr may have a few hundred more Pine Lake laps under his belt but both know every square inch of the track and both put in twenty laps of flawless mistake free racing.
As Farr gave chase only a few feet from Kister, his seat flew off, but this didn’t seem to slow him down one bit. He still haunted Kister’s every move. “I thought the white flag would never come out. I could feel him back there and knew I couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake”, said Kister happily from the finish line sidelines after the race.
After ten years of racing and a ten year retirement hiatus, Ohio’s David Kister finally brings home the gold!
Scott Cary showers his main man, Dave Kister, in victory champaign.
While Farr eagerly looked for Kister’s weaknesses, Little maintained a third with no one near him. The space he slowly built on Ogden would end up to be very valuable. Little spun completely around for the second time in the race, but maintained enough speed to remain in third. Arkansas’ Jathan Seale (JB Racing, American Dream, Sunrise Honda) rounded out the top five respectively.
After the race Dave had this to say about his come from behind victory, “I started racing when Timmy did. Over the years he’s won a lot these things, and I’ve come in second many times but never won one until today. I finished second to Greg Bakker a few times, Shane Hitt, John Scott, Gary Denton as well. That combined with some pressure from Krank-It’s Scott Carey has a lot to do with this comeback. I’ve always wanted to win one and it finally happened today! He (Farr) was right there and I could even see him a few times on the inside of me. I kept telling myself to just be smooth and keep a cool head and I could finally pull off a win. And that’s exactly what happened. I’m really happy to finally say I won one of these!”
Kister’s biggest fan and main sponsor, Krank-It Racing’s Scott Carey celebrates with enthusiasm.
