Hurricane Mills, TN –
Nine hundred and sixty-five. That was 965 entries. Love
it or hate it, the verdict is in making the 21st running
of the ATV Dirt Days National at Loretta Lynn Dude Ranch
in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee the most successful ATV motocross
in the country…and dare we say world. The ranch of
country singer legend Loretta Lynn sits in a beautiful valley
with scenic grounds filled with trees, a babbling brook
and hills surrounding the entire grounds just 70 miles west
of Nashville. As beautiful as it can be all that can be
overlooked when you are dealing with 98-100 degree temperatures
with 100% humidity and little to no wind. To say that it
was unbearable heat, well, you would be describing the typical
weather that greets ATV riders, family and fans that come
every year to the most popular round of the ATVA ITP Moose
Grand National Championship motocross series.
Racer Productions, having just come off their largest
event of the year the week-long AMA Amateur and Youth
motocross championships, turned around five days later
to work through their third ATV motocross national of
the 2005 season. Masters at the unthinkable, in just two
days, they crunched 955 entries down to provide Sunday
with some of the best racing of the series by the top
riders in the nation. They made this happen by removing
one lap from each race, something many riders seemed thankful
for due to the extreme heat they had to deal with.
Although many find the track to be fairly simple it didn’t
hesitate to take its fair share of casualties during practice
and racing. Sunday morning Pro practice grabbed both Joe
Byrd and Dustin Wimmer in the virtually the same section
of track. Although Byrd would need stitches to close the
wound he received in his forehead from the crash, he would
be able to start the first moto while Wimmer would not
fair the same as he sustained a concussion. He would not
be on the line for the start of the first moto at noon.
Moto One
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#7
Joe Byrd wreck in practice sent him to the Mobile
Medical Unit for Stitches |
It took about two seconds for the Joe Byrd fans lining
the fences to see that eight little stitches would not
hold him back from owning the Dirt Days ATV National for
the third year in a row. He began his impressive run by
getting off the line first with several lengths to spare
as he entered the first turn. Byrd was followed closely
by Tavis Cain, Travis Spader, Jason Dunkelberger and Tim
Farr for about a lap before positions started swapping.
“I haven’t felt like that all year,”
said Cain of his parade lap. “You know you get those
days when you know you just got it, I just felt awesome.
But then I overshot the table top and flat landed. I hit
so hard, I blew out the little o-ring on the shock adjuster.
It leaked out slowly about the third lap it was done.”
Cain would finish 17th.
John Natalie worked his way up from a bad start to get
within striking distance of Byrd to make a momentary pass
for the lead before Byrd captured it back and Natalie
would remain to his rear all the way to the checkers.
Jason Dunkelberger fell back a bit letting rival for the
ten spot in the overall point standings Pat Brown by as
well as Tim Farr, Doug Gust and Jeremiah Jones. Brown
worked his way up to as much as third with what seemed
like an easy race to that finishing spot until his axle
thought better of it and instead snapped just two laps
shy of the finish. He would push his ATV across the line
to earn 15th for the moto.
Travis Spader fell in for fifth behind Jones who worked
his way just ahead of Gust in third. Keith Little earned
sixth head of Jason Luburgh and Jason Dunkelberger who
crossed the line in seventh and eight. Depending on how
the second moto would fair, Dunkelberger was in a good
spot to take the 10th spot from Tavis Cain and Pat Brown
because of their moto one misfortunes.
Falling off the pace after a wrench to his back, Tim
Farr worked to earn a respectable finish of ninth while
Harold Goodman rounded out the top ten.
Kory Ellis, not fully recovered from a crash during a
Yamaha test ride in California, decided to race although
an unruly landing on a double made it impossible to hold
on and he ended up in a painful crash on the second lap.
He would eventually get back on his Alba Yamaha YFZ writhing
in pain just to secure points for a finish. He earned
18th in the moto. Joe Haavisto would suffer a mechanical
problem ending his day.
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#7
Joe Byrd & #13 John Natalie Battling for the
1st Moto Win |
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#53
Kory Ellis coasted around the track in pain to salvage
points |
Moto Two
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#30
Travis Spader finishes out season in style and on
the Podium with Championship possibility on his
mind for 2006 |
Clearly defining his place in Tennessee, Byrd dominated
the Loretta Lynn’s track from start to finish giving
him the overall and fourth podium in a row. A lone tangle-up
by John Natalie ended his moto before he got to the first
turn. Although knocked around a bit, he would be okay. Even
with a DNF, Natalie would still take 10th overall for the
day. Sporting some red chrome paint for his last stab at
running for the podium, Travis Spader came out firing behind
Byrd and along side Jason Dunkelberger who were both tailed
closely by Pat Brown and Jeremiah Jones. A few tough laps
into the moto, Brown and Spader would eventually get around
Dunkelberger. Brown took second place all the way to the
checkers with Travis Spader not too far behind in third.
Heading into mechanics row around lap nine, Gust finally
made his way around Dunkelberger with Jones hot on his heals.
Keith Little had fourth locked in while Gust and Jones crossed
the line in fifth and sixth.
Matt White put on an outstanding run eventually reaching
Dunkelberger on the white flag lap just prior to the several
doubles leading directly to the checkered. A tight inside
pass unsettled Dunkelberger forcing him to give up the
position and cross the line in eighth. This was still
enough for him to earn not only a seventh overall but
one position ahead of Pat Brown who earned eighth overall
and securing Lost Creek Cycle’s Jason Dunkelberger’s
seed for the final spot in the 2005 top ten for overall
point standings.
Tavis Cain crossed the line in ninth ahead of Jason Luburgh,
Gilbert Attix, Don Lysinger and Chad Wienen down to 13th.
Suzuki’s Jeremy Lawson suffered heat exhaustion
and fell back to 14th taking the 16th overall.
Still in pain, both Tim Farr and Kory Ellis simply rode
around taking laps to earn a finishing position. Due to
two DNFs and Haavisto and Wimmer’s did not starts,
Farr would earn 15th while Ellis in 16th. Due to a faulty
bearing carrier and unable to complete at least half the
laps of the leader, Harold Goodman would take one did
not finish while Natalie would take the other due to his
start line crash.
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"Digger"
Doug Gust overcame all obstacles to finish out the
season on the Podium and runner up to John Natalie
Jr |
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Pro
Rookie, #199 Pat Brown, showed everyone that he
will be a force next season with impressive 2nd
place finish in Moto Two |
It was of rare beauty and sound to hear fans roar to
life, cheering and reaching to the sky waving their hands,
shirts and towels as Byrd rode by in route to making his
third year in a row victory of this Dirt Days national
so sweet. Travis Spader made his second appearance on
the podium with his second overall finish leaving fans
to wonder why he could possibly not consider a return
to the series next year. Funding may become the culprit
to a possible non-existent 2006 program for Spader. Suzuki
Yoshimura rider Doug Gust rounded out the podium putting
together an amazing ride on virtually one leg as he has
a completely torn ACL in his left knee which he is having
surgery on next month. Even with injuries due to his crash
at the High Point National back in June that caused him
to receive no points at that event, his podium finish
at this national still put him three points ahead of teammate
Jeremiah Jones in the final points standings earning him
second behind crowned champion, John Natalie.
Series finale races like this Dirt Days National at Loretta
Lynn’s turn a good season into a great season. Even
with the exciting highs and lows throughout the 2005 year,
chock it up to the reasons why we love it and why we hate
it at the same time. That’s racing and you will
never know what’s going to happen until it does.
Indepth
Forum Race Coverage & Videos Coming Soon!
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#30
Travis Spader, #7 Joe Byrd, #55 Doug Gust |
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