ATVA ITP Moose Racing National Motocross Series Round #4 - Echeconnee March 18-19, 2006

ATVA Motocross Nationals Round #4 - Links Race Results Pro Photo Gallery Amateur Photo Gallery Forum Coverage Video

The Echeconnee motocross track has a little bit of everything, which is probably why it’s considered a favorite of many of the top pros. It has a great mixture of jumps and high speed straight-aways along with some elevation changes with the top of the hill primarily clay with sand in the valley. All the jumps were faced with clay to prevent them from deteriorating, and the clay sections were more like rough concrete by the end of the weekend . The sand on the other hand, quickly turned into some seriously whooped out sections with deep ruts, which really tested the physical conditioning of even the fastest riders.

HB Racing’s Donald Lysinger decided to sit out this round after being temporarily paralyzed from the neck down due to swelling around his spinal cord after a serious wreck shortly after the start of the second Moto at the Gatorback, but he was later given a clean bill of health and released from the hospital with only minor bruises “The wife is pregnant and there are a lot more important things for me to think about right now, so I am going to take a little time off put everything in perspective. I am still going to be traveling to the race because I have a lot of friends that count on me to bring them to the track,” said Lysinger. Unfortunately, Zachary Griffin wasn’t as lucky, and he lost his life in a tragic accident in the Youth Production Class, and the ATV family joined together and held another benefit auction Sunday morning, which collected an additional ten thousand dollars for the Griffin family, which increased the grand total to well over $24,000. Also, many racers were sporting green #23 stickers on their ATVs in memory of Zach, who will truly be missed and never forgotten.

#4 Tim Farr practiced on Friday, but he decided against racing this weekend after tweaking his already injured back at the end of the first Moto at the Gatorback.	#98 Daniel Cooper wore an "In Memory of 23 Zac Griffin" shirt over his jersey during the Youth Production race along with many other riders this weekend.

#13 John Natalie Jr was able to edge out #199 Pat Brown and #270 Josh Creamer for the Holeshot

By the end of the first lap, John Natalie Jr maintained his lead with Jason Luburgh moving past both Creamer and Brown to take over the second spot with Kory Ellis rounding out the top five. Surprisingly, Joe Bryd wasn’t off to his normal great start as he was all the way back in 12th place trying to work his way up to the front, and Jeremiah Jones was off to his normal rough first moto dropping back to the rear of the pack after high siding a berm.

John Natalie Jr quickly began to separate himself from the rest of the pack as has done so many times before in the first Moto. Jason Luburgh continued to charge hard in second place, but he was receiving some serious pressure from Pat Brown and Kory Ellis with Josh Creamer quickly fading out of the top ten. Several seconds behind Ellis was Tavis Cain and Doug Gust battling for the 5th spot.

With the race approaching the halfway point, Natalie Jr established himself a nearly 10 second lead over Jason Luburgh whose engine began billowing smoke, which created a smoke screen to Brown and Ellis in chase. Luburgh’s engine would let go shortly afterwards, which left him sitting track side for the remainder of the race. Kory Ellis would pass Pat Brown and take over the second spot with Doug Gust making his move on Brown as well.

Jason Lubugh's run in 2nd place ended when his engine case cracked, which allowed Kory Ellis to take over second before being passed by Doug Gust	Joe Byrd charged his way up from a 12th place start into the top five and passed Joe Haavisto on the final lap to finish the Moto in 4th Place behind Kory Ellis

#13 John Natalie Jr takes the win and like a true "Peoples' Champion" he gives all the cheering fans lining the fence high fives

The extra lap would prove to be too much for some riders and the opportunity others needed. For Natalie Jr, it would make no difference as he crossed the finish line with his third first Moto win of the season followed by Doug Gust remaining in a distant second place. Kory Ellis would hold onto the third spot with Joe Byrd capitalizing on the extra lap by picking up two more positions by passing Joe Haavisto and Tavis Cain. Dustin Wimmer, Harold Goodman, and Kieth Little would round out the top ten with Pat Brown fading all the way back to 11th after running in the top three the first half of the Moto.

With just over two hours between Motos and the time the Pro Riders are kept fairly busy during that time preparing their ATV for the second Moto and signing autograph for the race fans. While Team Suzuki / Yoshimura’s Doug Gust and Jeremiah Jones were signing autographs, Jason Luburgh was scrambling to piece together an engine for the second Moto as he cracked his engine case in the first Moto, and he blew up his race engine in practice on Friday, which provided little hope for him to be ready for Moto two. Dee Manshack replaced Natalie Jr’s front sprocket, and thoroughly went over the Blingstar Honda TRX450 in-between Motos.

Natalie Jr would pick up where he left off in the first Moto with the Holeshot again in the Moto Two ahead of Joe Byrd and Travis Spader

By the end of the second lap, Joe Byrd and Travis Spader worked their way past Pat Brown with Joe Haavisto closing in on Brown as well while an intense battle was brewing only a few seconds behind him between Tavis Cain, Doug Gust, Dustin Wimmer, Jeremiah Jones, and Kory Ellis. While the front runners were battling for position, Jason Luburgh’s engine began spitting out oil once again, which would once again end his race early.

Joe Byrd was applying the pressure to John Natalie Jr in the second Moto as these two are also battling for the National Championship with only one point separating them heading into Round 4 of the Series	#199 Pat Brown catapulted out of the gate in both Motos with great starts, but the brutal Echeconnee track took its toll on him as he faded back to mid-pack by the end of each Moto

#75 Joe Haavisto just missed the Podium by finishing just one position shy of Doug Gust in 3rd Overall

John Natalie Jr would take the checkered flag for his first overall win of the season after falling short in the second Moto the previous three rounds. Right behind Natalie Jr was Byrd with the second overall finish followed by Haavisto, Jones, and Gust rounding out the top five. The final podium spot would go to Gust by one point over Haavisto after yet another impressive weekend of racing by the New England privateer. Kory Ellis would also round of the top five overall with his 9th place finish in the second Moto.

John Natalie Jr's Podium Burnout

Post Podium Press Conference
The big question was what did Natalie Jr do differently between now and Florida as he has been complaining since California that he just wasn’t physically prepared to take the win, and his answer completely caught me by surprise when I asked him his training regiment for the past week, Natalie Jr replied “Laying on the beach and riding jet skis, was my training this week. I think that I was over training, so I figured that I would try something a little different and go out and relax and take it easy for a week, and it has seemed to have paid off because I didn’t even get tired or sore out here.” Well it certainly worked for Natalie Jr as he took his first win of the season and captured the points lead away from Joe Byrd for the first time this year.

It was obvious that Joe Byrd wanted the win this weekend after dealing with an unfortunately rear shock malfunction in Florida, but second place was still a great ride for this veteran. “The first few rounds I got good starts, and today I didn’t gate good. This track wasn’t as good as for passing as it usually is, so the start was everything this weekend,” said Joe Byrd. He might not have thought the track was easy to pass on, but he definitely proved he was able to overcome by picking off eight riders in the first Moto to finish in fourth.

Doug Gust may not have felt 100% this weekend, but he still put in two impressive Motos on the new Suzuki LT-R450 Quad Racer

Doug Gust found himself on the podium once again on the new Suzuki LT-R450 in front off hundreds of Suzuki fans since many of the employees from the near by Suzuki manufacturing plant in Rome, GA came out to watch the Pros race the machines they assemble. “The Suzuki was working great the first Moto and I felt pretty good, but the second Moto I just didn’t feel good – hopefully next time I will feel better and I am just glad that I got third after the way that I was feeling,” said Gust. For personally having an off weekend, Gust still achieved what many only dream about with yet another podium finish under his belt for this ATV racing legend.

Wrap-Up
After back to back weekends of racing, the riders get a weekend off before heading north to Budds Creek in Maryland for Round 5 of the ATVA National Motocross Series, which will surely be a race you won’t want to miss, so if you live in the area be sure to take some time out and watch the fastest ATV motocross racers in the World battle for the National Championship.