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Terrain Vehicle Cross Country Series
Round #5 - Lilly Creek Cross-Country
Bettie, Texas
April 30, 2006 |
By:
David Culpepper |
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ATVCCS
Rider Ron Allen |
Bettie, Texas - What started off wet
and soggy turned into prefect race conditions. Friday
night the bottom fell out and 2 inches of rain fell at
the racetrack. Since things have been dry for some time
and the terrain was mostly sand this rain turned out to
be just what the racers needed. Collier Hicks and crew
have spent a lot of time making this racetrack better
and better for ATV racing. The main track was 7.2 miles
long with a 2-mile long grass track littered with several
small jumps. The PeeWee track was 1 mile in length and
totally fun for all the little ones.
The series has five riders who are undefeated, and
the first one is Wesley Pruitt. Pruitt rides in the
PeeWee 6 under class and has been setting a blistering
pace for all the youngest of riders. This weekend was
no exception; Pruitt took the holeshot
and quickly distanced himself from the rest of the field.
By the second lap he’d pulled out to a 30-second
lead and continued to motor away. At the finish Pruitt
had almost lapped the entire field. The top five in
the class went like this, Wesley Pruitt, Gage Smith,
Terry Bohanon, Kenzi Potteiger, and Adalyn Nutt. Next
up were the PeeWee 8 under riders. Broc Watkins took
the holeshot in this class and also went on to win.
Second were Kaden Walters, followed by Cody Price, and
Braden Hardin. The final PeeWee race was the 10 under
class. Wyatt Day and Nathan Clague both blasted off
nose to tail and raced this was for 9 laps. On the 9th
lap Clague made a move in a turn and took over first
place. This would
not last but just one lap and his machine begin to spit
and spudder. Day took over the lead and Clague held
on to second while Hart Bassana finished third.
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ATVCCS
Rider Dennis Wilson |
Our next two undefeated riders are Sarah Sellers and
Dennis Wilson. Sellers races in the Lady 30+ class and
she didn’t show any signs of letting up this weekend.
By the end of the first lap she’d pulled out to
a 58-second lead. At the checkered flag that lead had
grown to 2:33. Second place went to Amy Lee who was
closely followed by Peggy Dowden. This was the first
race of the year for Dowden and
she was looking very good out there. Fourth went to
Annette Price, who also was racing her first race.
Rounding out the podium was Dorothy Rogers. Patrice
Coulter was another first time racer this weekend in
the Lady 30+ class and she looked to be off to a good
start after the first 2 miles but later she had machine
problems that put a end to her race. If your wondering
if this is Lexie’s mom then you’d be correct.
Dennis Wilson is showing the 50+ riders what it’s
all about in ATVCCS. Wilson has not been beaten this
year and is also racing a second class on Sunday. I
guess there’s a lot truth in that saying, “tough
as an old wore out boot”. Wilson pulled out to
an early lead and wind up winning by 4:49 minutes. David
Maholick, Mike Nolan, Joe
Hill, and Butch Troquille rounded out the top five.
In the Lady Open class the top five finishers went like
this: Lexie Coulter, Heather Best, Becca Stanley, Crystal
Perry, and Bobbie Amos. Morgan Nichols was running strong
until she had problems with her left front wheel. The
Youth Beginner class was having a heck of race until
the last lap. Jarod Roberts and current points leader
in the class, Lacey Tincher were running within 15 seconds
of each other until Tincher ran into trouble on the
last lap. Roberts won and Tincher held on to second
followed by Shelby Spencer, Tori Oliver, and Aaryn Giles.
Sunday morning the track was perfect for the A riders.
There were only two Pros’s at this race and they
were Josh Hahne and Gerald Dowden. Dowden was trying
out his new Suzuki 450 for the first time. On the start
things were looking good for Dowden as he pulled away
with the holeshot. Looked like Hahne’s machine
didn’t fire off right away after the flag went
up. It didn’t take long for Hahne to recover from
his poor start and take over the lead. By the end of
the first lap Hahne had a commanding lead and went on
to finish first without a challenge. Second Overall
in the morning program went to Austin Aldridge who won
the Open class this weekend. Aldridge got off to a poor
start but never gave up and worked his way to the front
on the 5th lap. Kyle Porter who is the class points
leader had gotten off to a good start and was in the
lead at the close of the first lap. Porter had pulled
out to a 28-second lead over second place rider Robby
Bunch, on the first lap and a 53-second lead by the
end of the second lap. Things look to be in the bag
for Porter but something must have happened on lap 3
because Porter dropped back to 5th place. This put Bunch
in the lead and Aldridge in second, Kevin Smith in third
and Douglas Latham in fourth. On laps 4 and 5 Aldridge
cranked up a notch and put in some fast lap times to
take over the lead. Bunch held on for second and Porter
worked his way back up to finish third. Fourth went
to Kevin Wells, and fifth to Brian Firth. In the Junior
class we were treated to a heated battle between Ethan
Jones and Garrett Oliver. Jones had the early lead over
Oliver by 16 seconds on lap one, 19 seconds on lap two
and 9 seconds on lap three. The following lap spelled
trouble for Jones as Oliver not only took over the lead
but also had pulled out to over 1 minute and 10 seconds
on Jones. Oliver went on to win by 3 minutes and 37
seconds. Jones finished second followed by Travis Freeman,
Jason Thomas, and Chad Tempel. In the 30+ class Gaylon
Knowlton is showing his dominance. After getting a very
poor start Gaylon worked his way into 3rd by the end
of the first lap and into the lead by the end of the
second lap. The early leader was John Perkins who would
latter drop out of the race on lap 5. Ron Cunningham
ran a solid race to finish second and Collier Hicks
held on to third after starting the race with the holeshot.
Korey Keifer made the trip from West Texas to finish
fourth and Todd Clark over came a rear flat tire to
finish fifth.
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ATVCCS
Rider Gary Davis |
The final two undefeated riders are Gary Davis in the
45+ class and Ron Allen in the Utility class. Both of
the riders have but racing some of the GNCC national series
to sharpen up their skills. We’ll start off with
Davis who started quickly and never went challenged for
the win. Davis went on to win by over 4 minutes. Second
were Ken Watkins, third Scott Robinson, fourth Dennis
Wilson, and fifth Sonny Amos. Allen also dominated his
class this weekend. He too finished over 4 minutes ahead
of second place. Kyle McWilliams took the runner up position
which was very impressive considering this was not only
his first race but he’d just recently rode a quad
for the first time. Mike “Mikeyboy” Kowis
pulled himself away from the computer to come race again
and found himself chasing the young lad all day. Kowis
finished third followed by Kevin Pinner, and Gage Jones.
In the Open Amt class we two ladies racing with the boys,
Heather Best and Porscha Knowlton. But Dan King and Austen
Gustine set a pace that none of the other in their class
could handle. These two riders stayed so close to one
another you could through a blanket over them. At the
end of the race there was only 1 second between them.
King took the win and Gustine second. They also finished
1st and 2nd Overall in the afternoon program. Third was
Anthony Perry, followed by Tim Clanton and Kyle Fannin.
The 40+ class had some very good racing too; it was between
Greg Galloway and Larry Gustine. For the first two laps
it was the same deal, you could have thrown a blanket
over the two riders. But on the third lap Galloway took
control of the race. Later when I spoke to Larry he said
he’d gotten overheated and had to back off to gain
back some strength. Galloway pulled away to win by more
than a minute and half. Gustine finished second and now
the two riders are tied in points for the series. There
was another battle going on for third and this battle
was between Rick Terry and Steve Day. At the finish it
was Terry taking third by just 11 second over Day. Fifth
went to Jeff Porter. The 4-Stroke Amt class had some good
racing between 3 different riders. Robbie Stuart, Beau
Dunn, and Mike Wells all finished in the same minute.
Lap one had Dunn leading followed by Wells and Stuart.
Lap two had Wells out front followed by Dunn and Stuart.
Lap three Wells still had the lead but Stuart had taken
second from Dunn. The final lap Stuart and Dunn passing
Wells to take first and second. Wells finished third with
Roman Solarczyk in fourth and David Maholick, Jr. in fifth.
The Youth class winner was Clint Yount followed by Nicholas
Kristek, Cody Ames, Logan Elwood, and Tyler Davis.
Next race is Skoolz Out in Chireno Texas on May 14.
Also, ATV Sport Magazine will be at the race to do a
write-up on ATVCCS and Thumper Racing Honda 500 Big
Bore Kit. Hope to see everyone there.
www.atvccs.com
200 Sharon Kay Drive
Longview, Texas 75604
903 295-0761
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