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2008
AMA Pro ATV Open Invitational
Steel City Raceway
Delmont,
PA
August 30, 2008
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AMA Pro ATV
Open Motocross Race Report - Continued
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As the Podium celebration was wrapping up for the
bikes, the Pro ATV Racers were heading out on the
track for their parade lap, and Can-Am’s Sage
Baker ran into problems when his stator went out
unfortunately, which left him sidelined before the
race would even started.
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Suzuki's
#55 "Digger" Doug Gust launched
out of the gate and grabbed the ATVriders.com
$500 Holeshot Award
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| Suzuki's
Dustin Wimmer battling through the roost
at the start of the race |
When the gate dropped, it was Suzuki’s
Doug Gust who grabbed the $500.00 ATVriders.com
holeshot award, but “Digger” Doug
had plenty of company with Josh Upperman, Harold
Goodman, Chad Wienen, John Natalie and Keith Little
right behind him. Into the 4th turn, Kawasaki’s
Keith Little and Can-Am’s Greg Gee tangled.
“I ran into Keith and crashed,” said
Gee, who then had his leg ran over by Josh Creamer.
And as if things weren’t bad enough for
the Canadian racer, his tether kill switch did
not work. “My quad just kept going and I
had to run after it,” said Greg, who was
luckily not injured in the whole ordeal.
Meanwhile, Josh Creamer was not so lucky as the
incident also sent him flipping. Creamer’s
crash sent him back to dead last, right behind
Jason Dunkleberger, who had got a bad start off
the gate on his 2009 Polaris Outlaw 450 MXR. Determined
not to let his crash get the best of him, Creamer
made a charge for the front, only to once again
find himself flipping once again. “It was
a rough first lap for me!” said Josh, who
happened to be celebrating his 23rd birthday.
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| Suzuki's
#55 Doug Gust lead for several laps before
#44 Chad Wienen began to challenge "Digger"
for the lead |
#9
Josh Creamer was hard on the gas as tried
to catch the rest of the field after 2 crashes
in the 1st lap |
Going into the second lap. Gust was still in
the lead, but Chad Wienen, who had made the pass
on Josh Upperman in the first lap, was applying
the pressure. Wienen would not have to wait long
for his opportunity. Gust bobbled halfway through
the 3rd lap, which allowed both Wienen and Upperman
to get past him. Once Wienen took over the lead,
he seemed to settle in and began to pace himself
until he noticed Josh Upperman right on his grab
bar, then Wienen began to pick up the pace and
increased his lead.
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#1
Pat Brown was off to a slow start, but he
was quickly moved up into the top 10 ahead
of Harold Goodman |
Also during lap three, John Natalie was running
in 4th, with fellow Can-Am rider, Jeremy Lawson
right behind him. Dustin Wimmer, who was sporting
his newly acquired #1 plates, was charging through
the pack and had worked himself up to 6th after
a slow start and was right behind Lawson, while
last year’s Steel City winner, Pat Brown,
who was running a special gold #1 plate, had made
his way up from the back to take over the #7 spot.
Wimmer would not have to wait long before he would
be able to get by Lawson as the menacing uphill
triple that had caused so many problems before,
would claim the number 16 Can-Am as another victim.
Jeremy cased the triple allowing Wimmer to continue
his pursuit of a podium finish. Meanwhile, Can-Am/Warnert
Racing’s Cody Miller, who was off to a good
start, ran into mechanical issues and had to pull
off the track.
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| Can-Am's
#49 Sage Baker & #22 Cody Miller both
experienced issues, which had them spectating
for most of the race |
Can-Am's
#16 Jeremy Lawson was charging hard in the
top 5 till he hurt his back on the triple,
which sent him a lap down |
In lap five, Dustin Wimmer made the pass on John
Natalie to take over 4th place, while Josh Creamer
was making ground, passing Harold Goodman for
8th place. Jeremy Lawson was feeling the effects
of his third lap hard hit and began to fall back.
Meanwhile, Greg Gee was working his way through
traffic and was soon gunning for Cale Downen who
was holding down a respectable tenth place.
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