| ITP
QuadCross Championship Series
Round #3 - Arizona Cycle Park
LitchFieldPark,
AZ
April 2, 2006
By:
Corry Weller / Weller Racing |
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| ITP
Quadcross Round #3 - Links |
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Only a couple of weeks after dealing with the cold and
windy conditions at Racetown for Round 2, ITP Quadcross
participants made the trip to sunny Arizona for Round
3 of the 2006 ITP series. A warm and beautiful day greeted
racers and spectators alike as over 160 entrants got themselves
ready for a day of great racing action. Arizona Cycle
Park (ACP), located in the desert near the small town
of Buckeye, Arizona was a new host to the ITP Quadcross
circuit, and they made sure Quadcross participants felt
welcome, as they held two days of quad only practice on
their main track before Sunday's race. Those racers who
came on Friday and/or Saturday had the entire facility
to themselves and took full advantage of the quad only
practice sessions that were held for them. If only every
track in the series could do the same!
ACP's track is fairly long and winds up and down the
sides of the enormous hole that the track lies within.
The obvious advantage of a layout like this is the ability
for spectators to see the entire race course from the
stands, which made keeping track of the racers and the
racing action nice and easy for anyone watching from
above. The track itself was wide enough for the quads
to race comfortably and consisted of some uphill step-ups,
step-downs, doubles, tables, a long rhythm section and
several uphill and downhill sections as well. Similar
to Glen Helen, the track would get rough as the day
wore on, leaving racers choosing their lines more carefully
as the races continued.
Pro Moto 1
As the Pro racers were called to the line,
there were two names that were not present at this round.
To the surprise of many, Jeremy Schell was not among
the Pro lineup for the day, and neither was Dana Creech,
but Doug Eichner, Dustin Nelson and Cyle Chislock had
made the trip, among many other Pro regulars, and were
ready for a shot at the points lead.
Because the gate was large enough to fit everyone at
once this time, the Pro race motos would be raced as
Pro Moto 1 and Pro Moto 2, rather than the heat races
they ran at previous two rounds.
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| Ricky
Nickell and Jeff Spooner wait to be called to
the line |
Cyle
Chislock heads into the whoop section |
Engines revved, the gates dropped, and it was Cyle
Chislock out ahead of everyone for the first Pro moto
holeshot, with Dustin Nelson following close behind.
Jeff Spooner led Ricky Nickell as both riders stayed
ahead of Doug Eichner who had come away from the holeshot
in the 5th place position. As the riders headed towards
the sand-filled "S" turns, dirt was flying
and riders jockeyed for passing rights. Mike Machado
was following behind Eichner in 6th place, with TJ Dietrich,
John Shafe, and Dustin Terry fanned out behind him.
Arturo Fierro, making the trip from El Paso, TX, was
running in 10th place just ahead of Erin Robinson and
Jason Weller. Rafael Guzman, Chris Riley, Nick Hengtgen
and Jovany Pimentel completed the field partway through
the first lap.
Nelson was riding behind and looking for a way around
Chislock as the riders came flying through the short
whoop section and headed into their second lap. Throttling
down the big hill just before the triple step-up, Nelson
began making his pass on Chislock going into the two-lane
corner. Not sure he was ready to give up his lead just
yet, Chislock stayed close to Nelson as they came out
of the corner, and both riders jumped side by side up
the big triple step-up. Chislock stayed close to Nelson
in the corner and taking a different line, as the two
riders battled for a while before Nelson finally took
over the lead from Chislock for good. While Nelson and
Chislock were fighting for the lead, Doug Eichner and
Mike Machado were having their own battle for position
as well as John Shafe and Dustin Terry.
Once Nelson took the lead, he increased it with every
lap, while positions behind him continued to change.
Doug Eichner began moving his way up through the pack,
passing riders one by one, until he was settled comfortably
into the 3rd place position, with Ricky Nickell making
a charge to get past Spooner on the finish line table
top. Tiring riders began fading towards the back, as
the track became rougher and the pace never slowed down
up in front.
Apparently the number 04 quad of Chris Riley was once
again having some bad luck, as it was seen sitting along
side of the track, with Riley looking down like he was
trying to get it started again, but he would soon have
things up and running again, and back on the track.
The Open Pro class had gone out on the second gate
with the Pro Main 1 race, and it was about this time
in the first moto when a rogue tire was seen bouncing
across the infield and along the front rhythm section
before coming to a stop. It was quickly discovered that
it belonged to Open Pro rider Harris Davis, as he was
sitting high in the berm with only 3 wheels on his quad.
As the infield personnel chased it down and brought
it back to him, the Pro Main 1 race was winding down
to finish.
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| Dustin
Nelson took the win easily in the first Moto on
his Dr D's Yamaha YFZ450 |
Darrell
Patton raced a Yamaha Blaster with one hand in
a cast to earn some points. |
Dustin Nelson looked back to see where Chislock was
as he was headed towards his final lap, and given that
he still had a fairly large lead on number 222, he must
have been able to relax a little as he headed into lap
seven. With Chislock and then Eichner spaced out pretty
evenly behind, the last real race was happening through
the whoop section between Mike Machado and Ricky Nickell,
as Mike was wanting the pass on Nickell badly. Jeff
Spooner was close behind as the pair blitzed through
the rhythm section and headed towards the white flag,
with Machado getting around Nickell and securing the
4th place position.
As the field spread out for the last lap, Dustin Nelson
came around and took the checkers with an easy win,
while behind him it seemed as if Eichner was looking
to put himself within range of Chislock for a race to
the finish line, putting on a burst of speed through
the rhythm section just before the final table, but
ran out of time as Chislock crossed under the checkered
flag ahead of him. Doug Eichner came in just behind
Chislock in 3rd place, with Mike Machado taking 4th
and Ricky Nickell rounding out the top 5 as Pro Moto
1 came to an end.
Pro Moto 2
Holeshots are always exciting, and races can be won
or lost sometimes before they are really even started
- and this time it was no exception, as the gate dropped
for Pro Moto 2 and the pros headed into the first turn
of the seven lap final moto. Cyle Chislock and Dustin
Nelson were just ahead of the rest of the field, and
as they went into the first turn they got a little too
close to each other, and it was Dustin Nelson who got
the worse end of things as he went cart wheeling to
the side of the track, with the rest of the field locking
it up behind him, trying to avoid the mess in front
of them. Dust flew everywhere and visibility was minimal,
and within the dust cloud, outlines of several riders
could be seen tangled together, desperately trying to
get going again. As Chislock looked back to see what
had happened to Nelson, Ricky Nickell shot around and
took the lead coming out of the first turn, with Doug
Eichner hot on his heels and followed by Dustin Terry,
Nick Hengtgen and the number 10 quad of Jason Weller.
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| First
turn pileup takes out several riders and sending
Dustin Nelson's YFZ450 cart wheeilng down the
track |
Ricky
Nickell avoids the pileup and takes over the lead
followed by Doug Eichner and Dustin Terry. |
Nelson was back up and on his quad within seconds,
but had to locate his killswitch tether before he could
get his quad started, giving the field of surprised
and now very fast moving pros even more lead time before
he was able to get his quad started and head out after
them. Mike Machado, Rafael Guzman and TJ Dietrich had
been some of the other quads seen through the dust trying
to get untangled, and now these riders were at the back
of the pack and had some time to make up as well, but
none were as far back as Dustin Nelson, who was almost
a half of a lap down before he was able to get his quad
started and put himself back into the race!
And what a race it would be, with some of the fastest
pro riders now in the back, it gave other pros a chance
at a great finish and those front runners would do all
they could to stay up front as long as possible, pushing
themselves to their limits, while behind them were the
likes of Dustin Nelson, Mike Machado and Cyle Chislock
rocketing through the laps and making up every inch
of lost ground that they could before they would see
that checkered flag!
Up in front, Ricky Nickell was setting a fast pace
as he led the first lap and continued his lead over
Doug Eichner through most of the second lap. Dustin
Terry was cruising in the third place position, while
Jason Weller had made the pass on Nick Hengtgen for
4th and was keeping Terry in his sights. Hengtgen now
had Jeff Spooner breathing down his neck, with John
Shafe following close behind. Mike Machado, towards
the back of the pack with the hectic start, was beginning
to move through the field as he tried to make up for
lost time, and Cyle Chislock was even farther back,
but hammering the throttle as he also had some catching
up to do.
Towards the end of the second lap, Eichner began drawing
up close to Nickell, waiting for his chance to get around
for the lead while Nickell hugged his lines and held
him off for a bit longer. Heading down the hill after
the triple step-up, Eichner made his move, drawing up
alongside Nickell as they both headed into an off camber
right turn. Nickell appeared to hit a rut coming into
the corner, and Doug Eichner swept past him and took
over the lead for the second Pro moto, getting on the
gas and wanting to put some breathing room between him
and the rest of the field.
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Doug
Eichner makes the pass on Ricky Nickell to take
over the lead |
Jason
Weller sailing the back table while maintaining
a top 10 position |
As Nickell moved into the number two position, Dustin
Terry was still riding a smooth race in 3rd, while Jeff
Spooner was all over Jason Weller, wanting the pass
for 4th place. Weller wasn't ready to give up his position
just yet, and the two stayed close for a while as John
Shafe closed the gap between him and Spooner. Meanwhile,
as the action up front stayed intense, Dustin Nelson
was a man on a mission and had set an incredible pace,
not only catching the back of the pack of pro riders
that had been so far ahead of him, but he was now moving
up through them, coming up behind Cyle Chislock, who
was also moving some serious dirt in an attempt to get
back up to the front.
Doug Eichner continued to increase his lead, with Nickell
in second place followed by Dustin Terry, as Jeff Spooner
found his way around Jason Weller for the fourth place
position, and was now heading after Terry. As the riders
battled through the sandy "S" turns, the yellow
flag went up for a rider stuck high on the berm, trying
to kick his quad over. It was Ricky Nickell, who had
now lost his 2nd place spot, trying to get his Honda
started again but would wind up sitting the rest of
the moto out on the sidelines, with a broken shock and
cracked case.
Cyle Chislock was on the move, and had made his way
up through the pack and was battling Weller for 5th
place over the table top, taking the pass and moving
up one more spot on his way to the front, with a fast
moving Dustin Nelson coming up through the pack right
behind him. Machado was also coming through, and was
following close behind Nelson, as all three riders were
going to make sure they got as far up front as they
could before the race was over.
As the white flag came out, Doug Eichner had extended
his already hefty lead and was in cruise control, as
he knew he had no worries from anyone behind him at
this point. Dustin Terry looked smooth as he held his
second place position, while Jeff Spooner was riding
a good race in third. Coming up behind Spooner was Cyle
Chislock, but at this point, Dustin Nelson was coming
up on Chislock even faster, and managed to make the
pass on Chislock as Mike Machado followed behind Nelson,
making his pass on John Shafe and finding himself behind
Chislock.
Sailing over the final tabletop and having fun as always,
Doug Eichner cruised under the checkered flag, taking
his first ITP win for the season for Duncan Racing.
Coming in at second place, was Dustin Terry, who had
to have been happy after his great ride and great finish.
As Jeff Spooner was heading towards the finish line,
Dustin Nelson gave him a race to the finish as both
riders sailed over the finish line table and around
the last turn, with Jeff Spooner keeping his third place
position and Dustin Nelson taking a hard earned fourth
place, after crashing and starting out almost half a
lap behind everyone at the start. Coming in close to
Nelson, and never letting up his pace was Cyle Chislock,
as he also fought his way up from a terrible start and
through the pack to round out the top five finishers
for this round of the ITP Quadcross.
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| Doug
Eichner led the 2nd moto on cruise control, obviously
having a good time! |
At
the end of the day racers headed back home, looking
forward to the next great round of racing action. |
Wrap-Up
With only three races completed in the series, it's
still anyone's championship as the points battle is
shaping up to be a good one! With Dustin Nelson now
at 67 points for the series, and Doug Eichner now in
2nd with 52, it will be exciting to see what happens
at round 4! Machado, Chislock and Spooner are within
mere points of each other, at 47 points, 45 points and
44 points respectively, and with solid finishes the
rest of the year any of these riders could also bring
on the heat! After some great racing action in sunny
Arizona, round four moves back to Glen Helen's National
track in May, giving ITP's Pro racers another chance
to stir thing up in the points race! Hope to see you
all there!
Pro
ATV Race - Video Clips |
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