Pro Quads, Phoenix, AZ 2005

Formula USA Pro Quad Stadium Series
Bank One Ball Park
Phoenix, AZ
Jan 29, 2005

story and photos by Lance Farwick

In Phoenix, AZ it rarely rains, but this weekend the Phoenix land of the sun was the land of the rain. Luckily, Bank One Ballpark had a retractable roof so there wouldn’t be a mud race to deal with.

Bank One Ballpark is the biggest venue of the five Formula USA Pro quad events. It was deemed the crown jewel of all the tracks, but when we arrived we realized something wasn’t right. In between the supercross event held a week prior and the pro quad race, Formula USA staff removed a lot of valuable dirt. On a good note though, the track was still a challenging and more technical track than last year’s Phoenix event. The show would go on and still be a hit.

A few of the California pros weren’t in attendance but their places were quickly filled by the local pros in Arizona, including local phenom and pro-am national racer Skyler Stewart (LSR, Laker Custom, Skar).

Practice and Qualifying
27 racers signed up to try and run the big show later on in the night. For some of the racers it was their first pro race. Justin Patti (Weller Racing, Houser, Axis) was one of the local guys in his first pro race battling for a spot at the line in front of 50,000 spectators.

After the first couple laps John Natalie (East Coast ATV, Fox Shocks, Shift) looked like he was going to be the man to beat. We would soon find out as practice was coming to a close shortly with only an hour’s worth to dial in the track. John stated “I think the track is easy but there are still some technical sections that will separate the experienced riders to the inexperienced.” After practice was over the field was down to 21. Six of the riders decided to call it quits due to bike problems.

Qualifying wasn’t going to be too difficult as 21 riders had to battle for 20 available spots. Later on organizer Jim White gave a few riders their money back and asked to watch the race from the stands due to lack of experience. Safety is a priority with Jim White and his Formula USA crew. They don’t want anyone getting hurt or having a chance of making a mistake that could jeopardize a top pro rider’s series score.

Heat 1
Natalie Jumped immediately out front from the get go. He grabbed the holeshot and had an open track ahead to start pulling from the pack. Around the first turn Natalie was followed by Jason Luburgh (LSR, TC, Shift) and Kory Ellis (Yamaha, ALBA, Fox). Luburgh had the inside line but pitched the rear end out too much and let Yamaha’s Kory Ellis slip past for second. Luburgh was hot on Ellis’s tail. Meanwhile, Natalie continued to pull from the rest of the pack. Natalie was so smooth he made the 100 foot long whoops look non-existent as he floated through way faster than anyone else. Behind the top three were Brock Lyons (Innervision, Dreyer, PEP) and Sage Baker.

During the third lap Ellis made a mistake and had to double instead of triple the jump before the whoops. His mistake cost him his number two spot and Luburgh happily took it over. Ellis however was not done as he stayed right on his rear number plate until Luburgh made his devastating mistake that would earn him a ninth place heat finish. Luburgh was almost through the whoops when he got bucked off the bike and he started to tumble. Ellis narrowly missed hitting Luburgh as he passed him up for the number two spot. Sage Baker eventually fought his way around Brock Lyons and rounded up the top three.

Heat One Finish Order:
1. Natalie
2. Ellis
3. Baker
4. Lyons
5. Leaver
6. Robert Vanbeekum
7. John Patterson
8. Jack Bednar

Heat 2
Heat two started out with Tim Farr (Honda, Baldwin, White Brothers) taking the holeshot with Keith Little (LSR, Sparks, DG) and Skyler Stewart trailing. The field started to spread early. Little was several bike lengths behind Farr and Stewart was about twelve bike lengths behind Little. Darrell Patton was Cruising at a steady pace in 4th place. All of a sudden Justin Patti and Jason Ware got tangled up just after the triple. Patti got up and rode off but Ware was obviously in need of medical attention as he was bleeding pretty bad from his nose.

After the crash by the triple, Skyler Stewart decided to give the crowd something to cheer about. He rode hard and caught up to Little in no time. Stewart almost got his pass but Little poured on the throttle just enough through the whoops to edge pass Stewarts attempt for second. The remainder of the race Little defended his second spot from a hard charging Stewart in front of his hometown crowd. Stewart exclaimed after the race “I could have put a wheel on Little but I decided to play it safe and not take any extreme risks.”

Heat Two Finish Order:
1. Tim Farr
2. Keith Little
3. Skyler Stewart
4. Darrell Patton
5. Ernest Delgado
6. Justin Patti
7. Erin Robinson
8. Jason Ware

The Final
This is for all the marbles. The main event was about to start. John Natalie and Tim Farr earned their inside choice at the gate. John Natalie immediately jumped out for his third holeshot of the night leaving Farr, Little, Ellis and Baker in the hunt. Meanwhile Farr was keeping it close between him and Natalie. The first few laps they kept it a good clean race for the thousands of spectators.

Brock Lyons was off to a good start as he stayed right on the heels of 5th place Baker. Lyons had more trouble behind him than in front of him. A hard charging Skyler Stewart was looking for the perfect opportunity to get around. Eventually Stewart would get around Lyons and Baker to slip in to 5th place for the night.

There wasn’t much action in the final, except for Natalie’s incredible run. He was passing lapped traffic over and over again. His pace was truly something to see. Look for Natalie to be a strong contender in the GNC championship series. After seeing his display at the Pro Quad stadium events, it’s safe to call him the favorite to win the 2005 stadiums and the GNCs. For his opinion on this we asked him if this is his year. “I’m going to win this thing this year. I haven’t been working at home and I’ve been riding non-stop. It’s mine.”

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