All
Terrain Vehicle Cross Country Series
Round #8 - Tate Ranch XC
Crafton, Texas
June 18th, 2006 |
By:
David Culpepper |
|
Danking |
Looks like the rain is finally going to leave us alone.
Hot and dusty are the two words that will described
Round 8 of the series. The PeeWee track was a long 2
miles with lots of technical terrain for the young riders
to tackle. The main track was a short and fast 6.1 miles.
This property is in the northwestern part of Wise County
and offers somewhat of a West Texas type terrain. Lots
of Mesquite Scrub bushes equipped with thorns and dirt
that was hard packed and mixed with some white rock.
A dirtbike race was held on this property about a month
ago and that weekend it rained 5 inches, so there were
single track ruts everywhere that had dried as hard
as concrete. The promoter attempted to move the trail
out of most of the ruts so that our riders wouldn’t
have to suffer.
There were 7 riders on the line for the 6 under PeeWee
race. Gage Smith jumped out to the early lead but found
himself in trouble about mid way around the first lap.
Kenzi Potteiger took over the lead at this point and
held it for about a lap. Terry Bohanon who started off
in third was working his way forward and eventually
took over the lead on the third lap. Bohanon went on
to win this race followed by Smith, Trey Carrell, Potteiger,
Jace Harden, Adalyn Nutt, and Melanie Dunn. There were
also 7 riders on the starting line for the 8 under class.
Megan Daniel was quick off the line and nailed another
holeshot. Before the riders completed the first lap
Austin Medley had over taken Daniel for the lead. Kaden
Walters was running third and Cameron Swanzy fourth.
At the end of lap one Broc Watkins found himself in
fifth place, but this didn’t dampen his spirit.
He put on the afterburners and gained a spot each lap
to eventually finish second place. Third was Walters,
fourth Daniel, and fifth Swanzy. Austin Medley went
on to win the race. Next up were the 10 under riders
and the return of Halston Munoz. Munoz has not been
able to attend the races for several rounds but looked
to be in great form. He busted out to the early lead
and after Nathan Clague had a mishap on the first lap
Munoz just pulled away and won the race by a large margin.
Wyatt Day had bad luck on the first lap and had to retire
from the race with mechanical problems.
In the C Program the Lady 30+ class put on a real race
for us. There were 8 riders on the starting line for
this class and the top three finishers were very close
for most of the race. Sarah Sellers and Patrice Coulter
got off to a fast start and were side by side in the
first turn. It was close but it looked like Sarah got
the holeshot. It didn’t take long and Coulter
had moved into the lead. Running a close third was Amy
Lee. By the end of the first lap these three riders
had pulled out over a 1:20 on fourth place rider Dorothy
Rogers and the rest of the field. Coulter was in the
lead Sellers 5 seconds behind and Lee 15 seconds behind.
These ladies stayed this close for the entire second
lap and though the order didn’t change the distance
between them did. This time there were only 4 seconds
that separate the riders. The third lap turned into
disaster for Coulter as she wrecked her quad, which
allowed Sellers to take over the lead. Once out in the
lead Sellers pulled away from Lee and Coulter. By the
end of the third lap Sellers and pulled out to a minute
and half lead while Lee and Coulter were still neck
and neck. Sellers was the only rider in class that had
to do a fourth lap. Lee pulled off second place followed
by Coulter who was only 5 second behind. Fourth went
to Dorothy Rogers, followed by Mandy Jenkins, Tina Burkett,
and Annette Price. In the Lady Open class Lexie Coulter
and Heather Best went 1 and 2. On the first lap Becca
Stanley was running in third followed by Candice Lively
and Morgan Nichols. On the second lap Lively and Nichols
moved in front of Stanley and on the final lap Nichols
moved in front of Lively. Lively and Bohanon dropped
out of the race on the third lap which allowed Stanley
to finish in the fourth position followed by Tamira
Swanzy who finished fifth. The 50+ class went like this,
Dennis Wilson, David Maholick, Sr., Mike Nolan, and
Joe Hill. The Youth class had 12 riders on the start
and one of the riders was Colton Petty who hasn’t
raced with us in a couple years. Petty used to be one
of our dominant riders in the PeeWee class. The winner
of the Youth race was Travis Brown followed by Kyle
Potteiger, Lacey Tinchner, Tori Oliver, and Colton Petty.
The current point’s leader Jarod Roberts was unable
to finish this race.
|
Heather
getting the holeshot
in the best buddy race |
The return of the Buddy Race happened this weekend and
it was Heather Best who pulled off the holeshot over all
the other riders. She was teamed up with Kyle Porter.
Things were looking good until Best got out of shape in
corner which forced her to give up the lead. Jason Thomas
took over the lead and held on to it until he passed off
to his teammate Kevin Smith. In second was Phil Enis who
passed off to Marty Stone, third was Chase Cain who passed
off to Shawn Hess, fourth was Dwayne Tinchner (on a dirtbike)
who passed off to Korey Keifer, and fifth was Bill Wright
who passed off to Dan King. Hess/Cain won the race followed
by Thomas/Smith, Enis/Stone, Best/Porter, and Tinchner/Keifer.
There were a total of 13 teams. The clouds started to
roll in after dusk and it begin to rain. After a hot and
dusty day this rain was welcomed with open arms. We were
blessed with cooler temps as we sat under the canopy and
grilled burgers.
|
Josh
and Shawn |
Sunday morning the sun was out and the little bit of rain
we got Saturday wasn’t going to be enough to keep
the dust down. In the Pro Class Josh Hahne got the holeshot
and led the elite riders around the track for the first
lap. As the riders came through the scoring chute Hahne
had close company in the way of Shawn Hess. The two riders
would switch positions a few times before Hess took control
of the race. Hess won by over 6 minutes followed by Hahne,
Cozart, and Dowden. The next class was the Open class
and the current point’s leader was ejected from
his machine as he rounded the second turn. A little bumping
and a low hanging limb caught Kyle Porter between the
goggle and helmet visor. Anyone who saw this wreck had
to be concerned because it was just plain ugly. Fortunately
Porter escaped major injury but he did have to go the
ER for stitches. Meanwhile Austin Aldridge was out
|
Austin Aldridge and
Kevin Wells |
front with Keven Wells who were both laying down some
impressive laptimes. Aldridge had the lead at the end
of the first lap and pulled out an additional 20 seconds
each lap for the rest of the race. Aldridge won followed
by Wells, Brian Firth, Josh Robinson, and Taylor Mink.
Lexie got a rear flat, Steven Bryant had mechanical issues
and of course Kyle was on his way to the Denton Hospital.
Garrett Oliver, Ethan Jones and Chase Honeycutt were running
away from the field in the Junior class. Jones and Honeycutt
were leading Oliver for the first two laps but then Oliver
made his move passed both riders to take the lead. Jones
was able to stay close for one more lap but then Oliver
pulled away to win the race and finish second overall
for the morning program. Jones had second covered and
Honeycutt held on to third followed by Colby Nix and Jason
Thomas. In the 30+ class Brad Dunn, aka “Carlos”,
was able to a win in his bag. Knowlton finished second
even though he was forcei think d to race his daughters
quad due to his trany locking up on Saturday. Third went
to Daniel Pirrie, fourth Glenn Hess, and fifth Marshall
Delk.
|
Larry
Gustine |
Larry Gustine lead the 40+ class around the first turn
to take the convincing win in class. Also, Gustine’s
ride was fast enough to net him 3rd overall for the afternoon
program. Sammy Spencer came through the scoring chute
with sprockets that had no teeth and had to retire from
the race early. Rick Terry finished second followed by
Steve Day, Jeff Blackwood, and Chuck Clague. The 45+ class
was missing several riders this weekend, so Ken Watkins
and Scott Robinson had the track to themselves. Robinson
busted out to the early lead but when his Honda developed
overheating problems he had to pull over and let Watkins
take the lead and win. The point’s race in the 4-ST
Amateur class is looking to be tight. Marty Stone pulled
off another win and Phil Enis got second. This was a tough
weekend for Phil, as he had to go get several staples
in his head after hitting it on his gooseneck trailer
on Saturday. But he couldn’t stop there; he also
had a pretty good get off during practice on Saturday
afternoon too. David Maholick, Jr. finished third, Roman
Solarczyk fourth, and Conner Sebesta fifth. In the Open
Amateur class Dan King and Micah Ames pulled away from
the rest of the class. At the end it was King who held
on for the win but only by 13 seconds over Ames. Austen
Gustine finished third, Josh Carlson fourth, and Chase
Cain fifth. In the Utility class the door was left
|
Mike
Rogers |
open for a new winner as Ron Allen poked a hole in his
radiator on Saturday. Nobody had to tell Mike Rogers twice,
he pulled out to an early lead and pulled away from the
rest of the class. In fact Mike was going so fast he was
the only UTE to not be lapped by Larry Gustine. The rest
of the class finished like this, Chris Schmidt, Mike Kowis,
Daryl Gaddis and David Lee. The Youth class was won again
by Cody Ames. Garrett Day finished second and after 5
laps was only 23 seconds behind Ames. Third went to Travis
Brown, fourth to Logan Elwood, and fifth to Jeremy Best.
We are now in our Summer Break and will not resume
racing until August 27 in Cisco, Texas at Dirt Devil’s.
We are having a mini series during the summer break
though. It is a 4 race series called the 6-Hour Team
Challenge. Teams made up of three riders or less will
compete in four races that will begin at 6pm and end
at 12 midnight. Should be fun…………..
www.atvccs.com
200 Sharon Kay Drive
Longview, Texas 75604
903 295-0761
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