| 2007
AMA
Pro ATV Open Invitational
Steel City Raceway
Delmont,
PA
August 25, 2007
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Inaugural AMA
Pro ATV Open Main Event
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Yamaha's Pat
Brown edged out Travis Spader for the
$500 ATVriders.com Holeshot Award
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Pat Brown picked the closest gate to the starting
box, which soon came in handy. When the gate dropped,
Patrick Brown and Travis Spade blasted into the
first corner; the two Yamahas almost touching side-by-side
for the $500 ATVriders.com holeshot award.
Brown had the line on the inside by a hair, and
the 199 machine never looked back. Travis Spader
held second over the sea of yellow Suzuki's of
Doug Gust and Chad Wienen. Brown busted out with
an eight-second lead after the first lap, clearly
running away from the battle behind him. Gust
and Wienen passed up Spader, ahead of Keith Little
and the three-way battle between Russell Shumaker,
Josh Creamer and Dustin Wimmer clogging up the
top ten along with Richard Pelchat.
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| Suzuki's
Doug Gust & Chad Wienen passed Spader,
but remained nearly 10 seconds behind Brown
after the first lap |
Honda's
Keith Little was off to a top 5 run until
he dismounted on the step-up rhythm section,
which dropped him out of the top 10 |
Wienen caught Gust in second, who shut the door
on Wienen until Wienen made the pass and quick
getaway. "Downtown" Patrick Brown stayed
smooth, gauging his lead over Wienen, and turning
the fastest lap of the race with a 2:18.123 on
lap two, followed by the hard-charging Wienen
who put down a 2.19.911 on lap three. Brown boasted
a ten-second lead by the white flag, completely
out of sight from the pack. Brown crossed the
finish line with the checkers; his flawless style
flattening the field at the first-ever AMA Pro
ATV Open Invitational.
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| Travis
Spader was having one his best races of
the year running with the lead pack until
he found him stuck on a berm, which ended
his race day |
Josh
Creamer was on the gas passing both Shumaker
& Wimmer to capture a 2007 best 4th,
but he barely avoided getting stuck on the
same berm that robbed Spader |
"It's amazing," Pat Brown said on the
podium. "I came out here and wanted it real
bad. I put my heart to it and got it done."
Along with the win came the $500 ATVriders.com
holeshot award for Pat Brown. "Yea, I really
wanted it so, it was nice to get one finally,"
he said. "I got my bad luck out of the way
at the last couple of rounds. Hopefully I can
carry this momentum into next season. I’m
just stoked. The bike worked so good out there."
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| AMA
Pro Open Winner, Pat Brown, along with his
mechanic, Paul Turner(left) and father,
Fred Brown (Right) |
The Suzuki rides of Chad Wienen and Doug Gust
rounded out the podium, and Wienen took to the
microphone. "I came out with gate six or
seven," Wienen said. "I had a bad gate
choice. The track was nice out there; [it was]
kind of tacky and one-lined, but we made it happen."
Wienen was full of thanks after the special event,
especially for the first time event and Wienen's
first-ever dirtbike national. "It's great
being the first generation for this, and special
tanks to the AMA for inviting us," Wienen
said. "It’s a great opportunity. I
can’t think them enough for letting us come
here. It was a good time you know, considering
the weather they had. I feel we put on a pretty
good show and hopefully we can do it again next
year."
After two decades of ATV racing, Gust grinned
for all time well-spent. "Yeah, I've been
in it for 20 years. I started in '86 or '87,"
he said. "I went through when it went through
its lull, and now it’s big again, and I’m
really excited."
"The track was great," Gust continued.
"I got a decent start; I think I came out
third or something. The second lap, I cased about
every jump out there. I got my wits together and
started riding smooth. I’m happy with third."
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AMA Pro ATV
Open Podium (left to right)
Chad Wienen, Pat Brown, Doug Gust
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