ATVA Extreme Dirt Track Nationals Round #7 - Franklin, PA Tri-City Speedway September 9, 2006

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In preparation for the event, Hetrick and his crew spent several days preparing the Tri-City Speedway for it first inaugural EDT National. The half mile oval dirt track provide Rich the perfect platform to design one of the most technical and longest tracks of the year, which incorporated three option lanes for added passing opportunities. Throttling off the start, riders headed into turn one, where they were immediately greeted with two different sweeping corner lanes with the inside lane proving to be a more popular and consistent line throughout the weekend. Re-entering the oval on turn two was short lived as two more options were presented with an outside lane sweeper along with an inside sweeper coupled with a small tabletop lead riders back onto the oval for turn three. Both lanes were used the majority of the weekend with the outside lane providing a great option for those aggressive passers. Two last option lanes were laid just off turn three leading into the last hairpin turn before the finish line. The inside lane consisted of a small double and a sweeping corner, while a table top and a hair pin corner made up the outside line with the pair merging before the finish line.

Rich Hetrick had everything under control heading into Saturday except the weather, which forecasted scattered showers, but despite the possibility of rain, nearly 350 riders signed up to race, and early Saturday morning a brief rain shower coated the track. After a few laps around the track to drive the moisture into the ground, the track was back to race ready condition. Shortly afterwards, the sun poked through the clouds and the heat races were underway.

Regardless of the vehicle type anything with wheels were brought out to roll in the track with golf carts, rhinos, utilities, and trucks all putting in some laps around the track

With the Pro & Pro Am Championships still on the line, the race schedule was revamped to get all the Pro and Pro Am Heat Races in Saturday night incase racing couldn’t resume on Sunday, and Harold Goodman recorded the fastest Pro Heat race win with Tim Farr and Keith Little also winning their Heat races, which set the stage for Sunday’s Pro Main.

Pro Main
Fortunately the rain held off on Sunday, and the Pro Race went off without a hitch shortly after 1PM with the track soaking up the previous day’s rain and blue groove starting to reappear from the earlier races. When the green light lit up, it was California’s Frank Batista grabbing the Holeshot, but it wouldn’t take long for Keith Little to move in and make the pass to take over the lead. Frank Batista held onto second place as came around for the completion of the lap one with Tim Farr, Daryl Rath, and Harold Goodman in hot pursuit.

By lap three, Little retained the lead with Farr and Goodman both passing Bastista as he slipped back to fourth place just ahead of Daryl Rath and Mitch Reynolds. For Mitch Reynolds, it was Pro class debut after chasing the championship in both pro-am classes all year, and he was quickly proven himself against the fastest in the World as he challenged Rath for fifth place.

At the half way point, the top three remained consistent with Farr using the option lanes in hope that he could reel in Little, and Mitch Reynolds was also on the move as he sneaked past both Rath and Batista to move into fourth place with Batista dropping back to sixth place behind Rath.

After wrapping up the WPSA QuadTerrain Championship, Daryl Rath has made his return to his first love, Extreme Dirt Track Racing	If anyone dares to complain about traveling to the races, they better talk to California's Frank Batista first because he traveled from coast to coast to race at Dixieland

As the race approached the final laps, the top riders began running into lap traffic, which created yet another obstacle, which kept the racing action intense. As the racers crossed the finish line, it was still Keith Little who had stretched out his lead to six seconds over Motorsport’s Tim Farr. Harold Goodman remained in third and snagged the final spot on the podium with yet another Honda sweep of the Podium.

In his Pro debut, Mitch Reynolds just missed the Podium finishing in fourth ahead of Daryl Rath. Shane Hitt was also in attendance, but he watched from the sidelines after fracturing his C-5 Vertebrate in his neck at Dixieland Speedway, and hopefully, he will not require surgery if everything stays in tact after wearing a neck brace for 12 weeks. Another racer missing in action was Darin Ogden after he packed up and left for unknown reasons Saturday night after the Pro Heat Race.

Afterwards, Keith Little exclaimed on the podium that he came out here with nothing to lose, referring to Tim Farr having the championship nearly wrapped up, and was going to give his full effort to win the last two races of the season.

Curtis Sparks Racing's Harold Goodman claims his third win of the season in Pro Am Production and regains the points lead from Keith Little by a slim two point margin

Pro Am Unlimited
The Pro-Am Unlimited class proved to be one of the more exciting races of the weekend. After snagging the Holeshot, Mitch Reynolds held the early lead. Reynolds was hounded by Rath Racing owner, Daryl Rath. Like a true pro rider, Rath followed Reynolds closely observing his lines and waiting for the right moment to slip by. Nearing midpoint in the race, Rath seen his opportunity arise when Reynolds made a slight bobble on an inside lane as Rath was able to hold his speed on his outside lane to make the pass. Reynolds kept pressure on Rath the rest of the race, but was unable to regain control of the lead. When the checkers flew, Daryl Rath finished just ahead of the hard charging Mitch Reynolds. Cody Anderson marks up a top finish of his career with a third place score. Cody was followed by William Scalisi and Jay Burgin who rounded out the top five. Mitch Reynolds still holds onto a solid points lead and is well on his way to claiming the class championship.

Rath Racing's Daryl Rath(67) was able to squeeze out his first win of the season in the Pro Am Unlimited Class by edging out Mitch Reynolds(137), and Rath Racing's Cody Anderson (87) earned his first Pro Am Podium Appearance

As much as the weather tried to shut down the track, a big thank you goes out to Rich Hetrick and his crew of workers who put in 110% to help get the riders back on the race track as quickly as possible, and a special thanks to all those riders that sacrificed themselves to the mud to help run in the track.

With only one round of the racing remaining at Paducah, KY on September 23rd, the championship is still up for grabs, and anything could happen at the season finale.

Fighting for your Rights All Terrain Vehicle Association P.O. Box 800 Pickerington, OH 43147-0800