| ATVA
ITP Moose Racing
National Motocross Series
Round #13 - Loretta Lynn's
August 12-13, 2006
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| ATVA
Motocross Nationals
Round #13 - Links |
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Hurricane Mills, TN - Some claimed it
was high gas prices. Others said it was the 14 rounds.
Still there were those who said it was due to the new
series by the WPSA. Regardless, the numbers for the ‘06
Loretta Lynn’s Dirt Days were down, way down, almost
to the tune of a third. Whereas in ’05 the numbers
were less than a handful shy of 1000 entries, this year’s
tally stretched it to come within a couple of handfuls
shy of 700. Never the less, the action at Loretta’s
was, as usual, fast, furious, hot and sweaty, and a showcase
of the finest ATV racing talent in the United States.
Pro Am Production & Unlimited
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| #79
Clay Holmes was on his game this weekend winning
the Pro Am Unlimited Class and finishing second
to Josh Upperman in Production |
Even though he’d already wrapped up both the
Pro/Am Production and Pro/Am Unlimited class championships,
Josh Upperman chose to compete in the Pro/Am Production
class at Loretta’s. Keeping with his normal pace,
Upperman laid waste to the competition in the class
taking both moto wins to add another top podium finish
to his series’ tallies. With his win at Loretta’s,
Upperman netted 8 top podium finishes in the class out
of the 14 round series. On Sunday, he tossed his helmet
into the Pro ranks once again and finished 7th overall,
adding to his 4th place finish in the Pro class at Round
12 in Unadilla.
Rounding out the top three at Dirt Days, Clay Holmes
of Lexington, Tennessee, a Joe Byrd Quad Riding School
sponsored Pro/Am’er, brought down the second place
finish with Mark Kendall, a fellow Team Motorsport.com
Honda member with Upperman, nabbing the third place
finish. Kendall, after missing six rounds of the series
due to injuries, joined Cale Downen as he returned to
the Pro/Am ranks after missing seven rounds because
of an accident during a practice session.
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| Cale
Downen was on a roll at the beginning of the season
finishing in 2nd place five races in a row, but
an injury sidelined him till Loretta's where he
finished in 5th and is still 4th in points |
Former Top Pro,
Rodney Gentry started his comeback at the beginning
of the year on a Honda, but disappeared after
Round 6 in Virginia, but he is now back in action
on a Suzuki LTR450
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With one round to go, Balance MX in early September,
Upperman will take the overall championship with second
place going to Matt White and third to Mitch Reynolds.
That is, unless Holmes can continue to mount a late
series surge which could possibly move him and Reynolds
into a down to the wire battle when the series wraps
things up in Kentucky.
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| #22
Cody Miller hasn't raced since Florida when he
broke his leg, but wouldn't have been able to
tell it at Loretta's where he finished 3rd &
4th in the Pro Am Classes |
Cody Miller of Texas sustained an early season accident
which put him out of the running for any mentionable
finish in the overalls in both the Pro/Am Production
and Pro/Am Unlimited classes, but, his return at Loretta’s
after missing the majority of the season proved that
he has been and will continue to be a contender when
it comes to the Pro/Am ranks. Miller finished fourth
overall in the Production class while he managed to
better himself with a third place finish in the Unlimited
class.
To say Clay Holmes had his Dirt Day’s agenda
planned out and was willing to drip blood, sweat and
tears to make sure it happened would pretty much tell
the story of Holme’s outing. After taking second
in the Production class, Holmes put his ride together
and made his home state fans proud when he won the overall
in the Unlimited class. This finish put Holmes in a
solid second place position in the overall championship
results behind Upperman and in front of third place
overall holder Mitch Reynolds.
Women’s Production & Sport
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| Angela
Butler Claims the 2006 Women's National Championship |
Angela “Moore” Butler let the Women’s
championship slip away from her during the ’05 season
and wasn’t about to let it get away from her again
in ’06. By mounting a late season charge to the
front, she planted herself in the pilots chair with six
straight class wins to add to her previous two series’
wins. With her eight wins Butler sealed up the 2006 Women’s
championship. Heather Byrd, the ’05 champion, did
her best to wing the flight of Butler but couldn’t
come up with the correct ammo to put Butler down. These
two ladies have battled in past years for the championship
and are slated to continue in ’07 as one tries to
unseat the other. Rounding out the top three in the Women’s
class, Michelle Reiser, even though absent from Loretta’s,
managed to maintain her third place ranking in the overall
championship standings.
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| Candace
Lee won her third race of the year in the Women's
Sport Class, and is set to finish 2nd in Points |
Adrinne
Cooper finished out the weekend in 3rd behind
Leslie Regon, but has wrapped up the Championship |
First they pay their dues in the Women’s Sport
class. Then, they move up to the Women’s class.
Hailing out of California and doing battle with a North
Carolina based racer all season long, Adrinne Cooper
may not have won the prestigious Dirt Days crown but
she did put enough points on the books to seal up the
overall Women’s Sport class championship for 2006.
Her main rival, Candace Lee, won the Loretta’s
outing with Cooper finishing second but this wasn’t
enough for Lee to over take Cooper in the overall championship
series. With one round to go it appears that the ladies
of the Women’s Sport class will step up on the
championship podiums at the banquet with Cooper first,
Lee second and Martin, Tennessee Briann Stout in third.
Age Classes
If you’re sixteen to twenty four years old and
you competed in the 16/24 Class in the ’06 MX
Nationals, you had to contend with one tough young man
by the name of Brian King. Riding out of Pennsylvania,
King and his Honda consistently visited the top of the
podium. Even though he had to settle for a third place
finish at Loretta’s, he managed to put third place
points on the board for the round which settled him
in to the overall championship for the year. Taking
the class win in Hurricane Mills was Nick Denoble and
right behind him in second was Devin Heimes. This turn
of events didn’t affect the outcome of the standings
after 13 rounds of the series. It was still, King in
the lead with Chris Williams, who finished fourth at
Dirt Days, sitting in second overall and Heims rounding
out the top three in the overall chase for the championship.
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| Brian
King race season didn't start till Round 5 at
Budds Creek, and he has only finished off the
Podium once in both the 4 Stroke A & 16-24
Class and has the 16-24 Class Championship wrapped
up |
Dane
Heilman has racked up 16 wins between Open A and
25 Plus, which is more than enough to wrap the
Championshp in both classes |
When you are capable of putting 10 wins in the score
books out of 13 rounds you’ve got a good chance
of winning a championship. Dane Heilman of Richland,
Indiana and his red ride did just that. Adding to his
win column in Tennessee, Heilman solidified the Plus
25 class championship for 2006. This left Chase Cunningham
to settle for second at Dirt Days and to wind up second
overall in the series standings headed into round 14
in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Tom Miller of Tom Miller Motorsports can only attend
a select few of the national rounds these days due to
his ATV business located in Huntington, Tennessee. By
competing at this year’s round at Loretta’s,
Miller competed in his 20th race at the Hurricane Mills
facility. Normally, in year’s past, Miller has
been able to mount a charge in either the 25 Plus class
or the Veteran 30 Plus class and take home a win but
this year didn’t favor his 20th anniversary outing.
Miller finished 6th in the 25 Plus class and 3rd in
the 30 Plus class. Taking the 30 Plus win at Loretta’s,
Dewayne Newton of Leitchfield, KY managed to outlast
and outgun Florida’s Jeffary Rastrelli to take
the class win.
Only one of the top three in the 30 Plus overall standings
made the Tennessee round and that was Randy Hurst, Sr.
Absent from the running were Richard Slayton and Brian
Giles. Both Slayton and Giles will take home the top
two spots in the overall series’ championships
with Slayton taking top honors and Giles runner up honors.
Hurst will more than likely fill out the top three in
the overalls when all is said and done after the final
round.
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| "Crazy
Tasmanian " Tommy Tantillo secured himself
the Senior Class Championship once again with
9 wins and he is currently 4th in the Open A |
Dewayne
Newton claimed the Vet Class Win in his first
vet race of the year, but Richard Slayton has
the Vet Championship wrapped up, but he wasn't
in attendance at Loretta's |
He was tagged “Tasmanian” Tommy Tantillo
at the beginning of the season by ATV Racin’ Extra’s
publisher and, at the time, color announcer for the
MX Nationals, David Screws, and for the remainder of
the season Tasmanian Tommy Tantillo lived up to his
new name. He swept the 40 Plus class with nine wins
out of thirteen during the first rounds out of the series
but didn’t fare too well at Loretta’s. Tantillo
finished 3rd in moto one and took a DNS in the second
for a highly irregular 15th place finish. This didn’t
hurt his championship standings, though. He went into
the Dirt Days round with an 85 point lead over second
in the championship chase James Perry. The 40 Plus Loretta’s
round found Kevin Pocrnich of Illinois taking the win
ahead of second place finishing Jeffray Rastrelli and
third place finishing Chris Frye of Sedalia, Missouri.
Youth Classes
They’re fast for their years and as competitive
at the top Pros. What we’re talking about is the
Youth Production class. All season long a war has raged
between Neal McGrath, Richard Lindsay, Charlie McVay
and Robert Mazey. Going into the Tennessee round, McGrath
had the overall series’ championship lead with
Lindsay following in second and McVay in third with
Mazey just outside the top three in fourth. After the
sweat dried at Dirt Days, Lindsay had taken the win
with Mazey finishing second ahead of McGrath in third
and McVay in fourth. These tallies didn’t affect
the top two overall series standings of McGrath and
Lindsay but put a final round show down in front of
McVay and Mazey. Going into Dirt Days, McVay held a
four point lead over Mazey for the third place in the
overall standings. Coming out of Hurricane Mills, McVay’s
lead had slipped to just a point ahead of Mazey. Not
figuring throw outs, this put the two at bay with each
other as the 2006 ITP/Moose Racing ATVA National Motocross
Series heads to Balance MX in Bowling Green, Kentucky
on September 2nd and 3rd.
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| Alex
Szymborski is on his way to winning the 50 Production
Auto Class with his 5th win of the year, and he
finished in 4th in the 70 Shifter Class behind
Brandon Tittle |
Jeffrey
Dodson has wrapped up the 50 Stock Limited (4-6)
Class on his DRR, so he is now testing the waters
with his Cobra in the 50 Production (6-8) Class |
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