Southwick 338 MX, Southwick, MA 2004
- Updated: August 1, 2004
GNC MX Round 11
Southwick 338 MX
Southwick, PA
Aug 1, 2004
Gust hammered through the world famous Southwick sand berms with ease.
Only the strong survive the Southwick GNC. The berms and sand at Southwick MX 338 are reserved for riders that are in shape, prepared and laugh at what some might call torture. Equipment needs to be in top shape as well. Even spectators at Southwick better eat their Wheaties. Incredibly, after winning two grueling motos, (his eighth overall victory of the season) in the hot humid sun on a sandy whoop infested track with no place to rest whatsoever, Suzuki’s Doug Gust not only survived Southwick – he looked ready for a third moto.
“Since I already wrapped up the championship, a lot of people were saying that I would show up and just cruise for the last two races. I got beat here last year and I guess I wanted to prove my critics wrong”, said a barely winded Gust after the final.
Making a lot of noise is Paul Turner’s middle name. However Turner couldn’t talk his nearby 2000 national champion rider, Travis Spader into even showing up. Turner says Spader knows he would get the itch too bad if he came to watch and can’t afford the expense of chasing another GNC title.
Jones dominated moto one before a pipe silencer malfunction cost him six positions in moto one. His YFZ did not start in the second moto.
Moto 1
It was Harold Goodman (Nichols, Sparks, PEP) who got to the first turn first. Jeremiah Jones (Yamaha, Media All Stars, Sparks, JPMX) found traction on the extreme inside of the track and quickly slipped past Goodman for the lead. From there on it looked like Jones was shot out of a canon. Following Goodman was John “Ironman” Natalie (East Coast ATV, Yoshimura, Maxxis) in the three spot. The soon to be man of the hour, “Digger” Doug Gust was fourth while ATV Scene’s own Kory Ellis (Alba Action Sports.com, Kenda, PEP) rounded out the top five.
Jones started his day off great and continued to log some impressive lap times while enjoying a roost-free lead. In fact, one of those laps was an impressive three seconds shy of 2-wheeled superstar, Ricky Carmichael’s best outing on the very same track. Goodman went on to ride as conservatively as possible. He seemed to be saving himself for the second half of the race. Goodman raced three wheelers in the early eighties and is our sport’s youngest veteran. He used his many years of ATV racing to his advantage and made no low percentage moves, consistently steered toward the smoothest areas of the track and conserved as much sand-sapping energy as he could in order not to fade in later laps. Only recently has Goodman taken his comeback season completely serious. He hasn’t proved to be worthy of surviving at the pace this year’s front runners have for an entire moto. On the contrary, Natalie has turned heads this year more than any of his season’s past. Combine this with his ’03 Southwick victory and it was very realistic that the “unlucky” number 13 just might make its way through the 708 of “The Bee” Goodman and eventually overtake the number 2 of Jones.
The newest addition to the pro class is Pat Brown. Since Pat incredibly already wrapped up the Pro Am 265 as well as the Pro Am Production class, he elected to only race the pro class. This time out a tangle up and thrown chain cost him a decent finish.
Calm, cool and collective, Harold Goodman showed up ready to kick some serious sand. He did just that with a 2-6 3rd place overall.
Only Farr, Little and Goodman race both TT and MX. Last weekend he took names at the Pine Lake GNC TT by beating all the big names in the Pro Am 265 class. Looks like Goodman is back to his old self again.
As predicted Goodman got passed by Natalie. While Natalie charged hard after Jones in the lead, Gust was making up time by doubling a nasty whoop-infested double jump that no one else dared to attempt. Gust continued to step up the pace and moved into second. Meanwhile Jones slowed with a faulty silencer. It was determined that the packing in his silencer came undone and restricted the mighty YFZ thumper to breath correctly. Jones continued to limp his Yamaha along. As riders approached for the pass Jones used some of his cross country racing experience and pointed to the spot he wanted riders to pass. Surely Gust, Natalie, Goodman and Ellis appreciated this. If a rider slowed or ventured out of a berm lane even for a split second he could very likely get hung up and stuck.
Gust inherited the number one spot and rode off with yet another moto victory. Meanwhile Goodman’s strategy was working, he continued to ride his best moto of the GNC MX season. “I thought I would have an easy time with Harold”, said Ellis who now rode in the four spot. “I waited and waited but he never faded like I thought he would”, added Ellis.
Goodman not only didn’t fade he actually passed Natalie for second and put a respectable amount of space between the two. Of all the events on the GNC schedule most would have thought he would score his worst finish in the grueling Southwick sand – he scored his best – second place! Goodman is back!
Natalie finished up third, Ellis fourth and Jason Luburgh (Nac’s, TC, Kenda) rounded out the top five. Jones limped in for seventh after his motor finally blew a hole through the stopped up silencer. After the moto Jones filled us in on a yet to be announced secret. He said he was only days from signing a full factory deal with Team Suzuki. Suzuki plans on dishing out a Doug Gust and Jeremiah Jones one – two punch to the competition in 2005. According to Jones the two will operate out of the first factory backed ATV racing semi truck to ever grace our sport. In addition, reliable rumors list East Coast ATV as Team Suzuki / Yoshimura “Satellite Team”. We asked East Coast ATV for information on this but they would not comment on this rumor whatsoever. For further news on this and more, check out ATV Scene.com’s newest feature – Trackside with Amy Tripp. By the way, Amy also happens to be this month’s Scene Girl.
Kory Ellis finished with a strong 5th in moto one but got so badly roosted in moto two he had to stop and get sand out of his eyes at the mechanic’s area.
“Ironman” John Natalie put together two consistent motos and finished runner up to Gust’s victory. Will he be Suzuki mounted in 2005? It will be interesting to see.
Moto 2
Once again it was Goodman who pulled the holeshot on his quick Sparks powered Yamaha YFZ. And once again, he was instantly passed while exiting the turn. This time Honda’s Tim Farr shot by the “Bee” on the inside and made up for a poor first moto finish, where his 450R overheated and barely finished. Gust didn’t waste any time and moved into second place within the first half of lap one. Gust’s blitz into second made it a Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha second moto race. This time out Gust played it safe and didn’t attempt the sketchy double. “It was getting pretty whooped out on the approach to the jump and this made it pretty much impossible to clear”, said Gust of his wise decision not to double. Unfortunately for Jason Luburgh, who tried to better his mid pack start after a first turn tangle, learned this the hard way. He crashed on this double and ruined hopes for what could have been his best finish of the year. Nonetheless, Luburgh looked on par with front runners and came prepared.
As the moto went on Gust manhandled the lead from Farr and absolutely dominated. He went on to put a massive 13 seconds on Farr. “My Suzuki gave me a big advantage today. It floated over the bumps while the other guys were getting beat to death”, boasted Gust after the race. Meanwhile Lone Star’s Keith Little (LSR, Ronnies, Sparks) was putting together a great moto. While some riders drove over their own tongues and could barely hold up their heads from complete exhaustion, Little rose to the occasion and passed his way into second place from his sixth place position. Duncan’s Tavis Cain came on strong as well. He managed to pass Natalie and finished up fourth behind Farr. Natalie rounded out the top five respectively.
Duncan Racing’s Tavis Cain rode tuff in moto two with a fantastic fourth place finish. His moto one tangle sent him to 18th place. He ended the day in 12 place overall.
ATV Scene Girl Miss Nov ’03, Melissa Royland was the official scorer and trophy girl.
In the end, the Southwick sand and hot weather played havoc on man and machine. Since motors worked extra hard in the thick sand and speeds were low many machines overheated just as fast as the riders did.
Doug Gust left us with this. “I’ll head home tonight and dig a basement when I get home on Monday and Tuesday. I’ll start back with my training on Wednesday and make sure I’m ready for the last round of the season at Loretta’s. It’s been a heck of a season – I would like to finish it up with one last win.”
