John Natalie Takes
Holeshot in Moto 1 & Wins Moto 2 ATV Race
AMA ATV Motocross Nationals - Ballance Moto X
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John Natalie
Celebrates his Holeshot on the Podium
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Bowling Green, KY (4/18/2008)
- A storm was brewing on the horizon,
and this time, it had nothing to do with Mother
Nature. It was none other than John Natalie, Jr.
crossing the finish line with his first win of
the season aboard his Can-Am/Warnert Racing DS450.
John came back with a vengeance in moto 2 after
a nasty wreck in the first moto knocked the wind
out of his sails.
As the gate dropped for the first Pro moto at
Ballance Moto X this weekend, it was John Natalie
who grabbed the holeshot. “We’ve been
working hard and got some really good power out
of the bike,” said the #13 racer. John was
steadily pulling away from everyone else and had
increased his lead to 5 seconds when disaster
struck. Natalie looked smooth coming into a sweeper
at high speed, when his front tire caught a big
rut and sent him cartwheeling into a fence post.
All though he was battered and bruised, John was
relatively ok. John climbed back on his bike,
and all though he was obviously shaken, went on
to finish the race.
Meanwhile, teammate Cody Miller showed than he
is definitely a threat this season as well, as
he made a strong charge off the line. Cody took
7th in the holeshot and soon began working himself
up. Cody put up a good battle for several laps
and worked his way up to 5th place by the time
the checkered flag was waved. “Everything
went really well for the first moto. My bike was
running great,” he said.
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Warnert Racing's
Cody Miller aboard a Can-Am DS450 ATV
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Warnert Racing's
John Natalie grabs the holeshot on his
Can-Am DS450 ATV
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As the racers lined up for moto number 2, heavy
rain began to fall, almost instantly making track
conditions a muddy mess. As the gate dropped,
it was a struggle to get traction in the slick
mud, but John Natalie managed to get out of the
hole in 4th place. As John put the hammer down,
he seemed no worse for wear despite his knarly
crash in moto 1. John was determined to take the
win and began chasing down riders and picking
them off one by one as he set his sights on first
place. Once Natalie took the lead, he began to
pull away and was unchallenged all the way to
the checkered flag. “I knew we could do
it!” John said confidently. “We’ve
been working really hard to make this happen,”
he concluded.
Cody Miller did not share his teammate’s
luck in the 2nd moto. Miller was on the line when
his bike stalled just before the gate drop, and
for reason’s unknown, the bike would not
restart which forced Cody to DNS.
The WPSA series will be kicking off in 3 weeks
in Alvord, Texas and the Can-Am/Warnert team will
be training and working hard in order to claim
the top spots on the podium, while John Natalie
will begin the fight to defend his WPSA championship.
www.warnertracing.com
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St. Cloud, Minnesota 56301
(320) 251-9100 - Fax (320) 251-4764
info@warnertracing.com
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