2009 Yamaha / ITP
QuadCross
Championship
Series
Round #1 - Glen Helen
San Bernardino, CA
March 8, 2009
|
|
Yamaha / ITP Quadcross
Pro & Amateur ATV Race Report
Yamaha
/ ITP Quadcross
"Glen Helen" - Round One
|
|
|
|
Anticipation was high, and the level of competition
was even higher, for the season opener of the 2009
Yamaha ITP Quadcross series. With new faces, and
new machines lined up and ready to go there was
plenty of speculation as to who would dominate in
the first round, but once the gate dropped, it was
obvious that Can-Am Motoworks’ Jeremie Warnia
meant business as he took the win in both the Pro
Production and Open Pro classes.
|
|
Can-Am
/ Motoworks' Jeremie Warnia |
Yamaha's
Romain Couprie |
Both
Jeremie Warnia & Romain Couprie have
competed against each other in France Pro
ATV Championship, but for 2009, Jeremie
Warnia is competing full time in the US
in both the WORCS & Quadcross Series,
and Romain Couprie made an appearance for
round one, and he may be back again before
the end of the year
|
A change in rules for the 2009 season now allows
the pro racers to run in both the Pro Production
and Open Pro classes, which has not been allowed
in previous seasons. The rule change opens up
a whole new level of competition, especially in
the Open Pro class as more racers are opting to
run in both classes. There were 25 Pros signed
up for the Pro Production class, and 30 for the
open Pro class, so qualifiers had to be run to
narrow the field to 20 per class.
|
Landon
Hurst grabbed the Holeshot on his Polaris
Outlaw 450MXR in the Pro Main |
The track conditions were typical for Glen Helen
as the sandy soil quickly became rough and rutted,
but that didn’t seem to slow down Can-Am
MotoWorks’ Jeremie Warnia. Jeremie came
off the line in second place for the main event
and made quick work of passing Polaris/Rath Racing’s
Landon Hurst, who had grabbed the holeshot.
|
|
Can-Am
/ Motoworks Jeremie Warnia wasted no time
in taking over the lead before the end of
the 1st lap |
2008
Yamaha / ITP Quadcross Champion Dustin Nelson
began applying the pressure on Landon Hurst
for the 2nd spot |
Once around Hurst, Warnia began to pull away
from the pack, but Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson
also made the pass on Hurst and began to gain
ground on the French rider until the rough track
conditions came into play. “I was pretty
close behind Warnia when my front tire got hooked
in a rut and I almost went over the bars. When
that happened, the bike stalled and I lost about
five to six seconds and just wasn’t able
to close that gap back up in time,” stated
Dustin Nelson, who ended up settling for second.
|