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

#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.

#7 Joe Byrd & #13 John Natalie Battling for the 1st Moto Win		#53 Kory Ellis coasted around the track in pain to salvage points

Moto Two

#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.

"Digger" Doug Gust overcame all obstacles to finish out the season on the Podium and runner up to John Natalie Jr		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!

	#30 Travis Spader, #7 Joe Byrd, #55 Doug Gust