Pine Lake, Ashtabula, OH 2005
- Updated: July 25, 2005
Extreme Dirt Track
Round 3
Pine Lake
Ashtabula, OH
July 25, 2005
From the hole to the checkers, Yamaha’s Keith Little rode a hard error free heat race. He later told us, “with threats of Sunday rain, I purposely rode as fast as I could even though no one threatened my heat race lead.”
This past weekend, approximately 500 riders flocked to the coolest piece of property in the ATV racing scene, the legendary Pine Lake venue in Ashtabula, Ohio. Bill “Ole Man” Fischer continually lays out the red carpet for current and former riders and spectators alike. He and the entire Fischer Cycle Racing family, along with many volunteers from the Sheffield Fire Department have done so for 31 years! That’s longer than any track in ATV racing history! Their past exceeds the AATVA and now ATVA national series by a decade! One could even argue that ATV racing was born and raised in North East Ohio when the Fischer’s introduced six wheeled and later three wheeled racing to early 70’s dirt bike alternative riders in the Mid West and Eastern half of the country.
On this modern 2005 day, the six wheeler and the three wheeler riders have been replaced by hundreds of four-wheeled pilots, many with big dreams of becoming the next big thing in the exploding sport of ATV racing. Unfortunately for the third consecutive year, riders couldn’t show their main-event-talent due to wet conditions.
K&K / FTZ / Fischer Cycle’s Darin Ogden was prepared to win his career-first National event. He even had droves of Ogden family members and friends there to support his every move. They infested the Pine Lake pits — ready to cheer him on and celebrate afterwards.
Ironically, the slower six and later three wheeled riders of past might have poked fun of riders closing the gate of their $20,000 enclosed trailer today. They might ask, “why can’t you ride your ALL Terrain Vehicle in a little mud like we used to? Today’s TTer might respond back, “our TT (or now referred to as “Dirt Track”) quads have evolved into a specific dirt track racer and are not made for mud riding”. Regardless of old schooler opinions on the matter, referee Bob “Smitty” Smith announced that heat races would stand as overalls and cancelled the race after a few hours of rainfall. Unfortunately, the announcement was made just as the rain stopped. What’s worse is only moments later, the sun peaked out. “I think Smitty made a bad call here”, said Suzuki’s Shane Hitt. “We could have chopped a few laps off of each main event and run this thing without a problem today. They announced that they were going to give it an hour, then only a half hour later, he called it!” Yamaha’s Keith Little was all smiles about the call, as he posted the faster of the pro heats — a few seconds ahead of Ohio’s Darin Ogden’s impressive heat win. “I knew Ogden would be my main competition. I would have liked to have raced with him today, but hey, I’ll take this”, said Little of the call.
Harold “The Bee” Goodman finished up with a solid second in his heat race. This was good enough for third place on the day. More importantly, for him, at the half way point of the series, Goodman continues to remain at the top of the current point’s race.
In Smitty’s defense, several angry riders and fathers of riders informed him that they should not be racing on a slippery track as it would put riders in danger. In addition, the entire main event program would need to be run in a short period of time. The many heat races were not over until nearly 9pm on Saturday night. This may have contributed to Smitty’s call. With all those events, he probably had visions of one long muddy day with no daylight ending.
So there you have it, another Pine Lake cancellation, but not before a Friday and Saturday’s worth of fun filled, swimming, jet skiing, barbecuing, Saturday Night partying, socializing and most rider’s favorite – well organized practice and qualifying races.
As tradition calls, we’ll see ya in Ashtabula next year!
Pro Top Ten (Overalls were scored from Saturday’s heat races)
1. Keith Little
2. Darin Ogden
3. Harold Goodman
4. Tim Farr
5. Daryl Rath
6. Shane Smith
7. Shane Hitt
8. Brad Covington
9. Scott Morris
10. Nathan Dallas
Current Pro Points
1. Keith Little / Harold Goodman 76
2. Tim Farr 69
3. Darin Ogden 61
