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All Terrain Vehicle Cross Country Series
Round #5 - Lilly Creek Cross-Country

Bettie, Texas
April 30, 2006


By: David Culpepper

ATVCCS Rider Ron Allen
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.

ATVCCS Rider Dennis Wilson
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.

ATVCCS Rider Gary Davis
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.


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