ITP QuadCross Championship Series Round #4 - Glen Helen Raceway San Bernardino, CA May 7, 2006 By: Corry Weller / Weller Racing

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While we had some regular pro’s fail to show, we also had a few pro’s who decided to come give us a little bit of extra action for this round! GNC racer Kory Ellis once again came out to his home track to put some laps in, in both the Pro Production and Open Pro classes. Frenchman Romain Couprie, who is well known as an MX Champion in France, was also in attendance at this round and was out to see how fast our West coast competition is before heading to the GNC National at Red Bud this coming weekend. And while he’s been here for every round rolling for points, Darrell Patton also made a showing in the Pro Production and Open class on a normal sized quad for the first time since he broke his wrist several months ago. Other ITP pro riders who regularly make the trip from Arizona, and have been getting faster at every round, would show us they are serious about this series as Jeff Spooner, John Shafe and Jason Weller would once again break into the top 10 finishers for the day. Dustin Terry, who had a great run at round three, would show us that he’s not to be taken lightly this season, as he had the speed once more to stay up with the front runners in moto one.

The staff at Glen Helen had spent some quality time on the track the evening before, and gave the riders a fun track that was full of hills, off camber turns and sandy straits, which would get whooped out before practice was even over, offering this weekend’s riders a different set of challenges to work with than they had at round three.

And now for the racing action!

Pro Moto 1
Since the decision was made to run the Pro class all on one gate, all 18 racers revved their engines, and as the gate dropped the noise was deafening as the riders swept toward Talladega turn and headed into their first lap, with Doug Eichner taking the Holeshot and the early lead. Eichner’s lead was short-lived, however, as he tangled with Jeff Spooner on the way up the first hill, and found himself facing backwards and down the hill he was supposed to be going up. By the time Spooner and Eichner could get back in the race, the rest of the field had left them behind to play catch up.

With early leader Doug Eichner out of the way, Dustin Nelson found himself in the lead and aimed at keeping it, with a fast moving Kory Ellis on his heels. Dustin Terry, who has been putting in some great motos recently, was in third place and riding smooth, while John Shafe and Romain Couprie followed close behind.

Romain Couprie came all the way from France to check out the West Coast competition	Kory Ellis sails into the whoop section

Cyle Chislock was making his way through the field, and found himself getting a bit out of shape up Mt. Shoei, almost sending him off of his quad, but he kept his quad pointed up the hill and recovered to continue his charge. Darrell Patton, back from a broken wrist, was making a good show of it and running up in the top of the field, as Couprie made his way around Shafe and gained a position closer to the leaders.

Ellis had been trying to find the space for a pass on Nelson, and finally found it as the two riders headed up Mt. St. Helens, with Ellis pulling harder up the hill for the pass, taking over the first place position and looking to increase the distance between himself and Nelson. Still riding strong in third place was Dustin Terry, followed closely by Couprie, who was looking like he would really like to get around him and head after the leaders. Having their own race behind Couprie, Chislock and Shafe battled through the “s” turns with Mike Machado completing the train close behind; but not for long, as Machado made a successful pass on Chislock and moved up one more position..

Doug Eichner and Jeff Spooner continued their drive towards the front half of the field, while the number 55 quad of T.J. Dietrich fell farther and farther behind, suffering from a broken footpeg mount that would have to be repaired before the second moto. Dietrich was not having a good day, as he had already broken his axle in practice earlier that morning. Also beginning to fade was Darrell Patton, who slowed down and waved riders by halfway through the first moto, apparently slowed down by his still healing wrist.

Kory Ellis came back to his home track for some friendly competition before heading back East to Red Bud for the next round of the GNC’s.	Jovany Pimentel waits patiently during staging for the second pro moto.

As the white flag came out, Romain Couprie moved within striking distance of Terry, who was following behind Ellis and Nelson as they burned through the final lap. Taking the checkered flag was Kory Ellis with a good lead on Dustin Nelson, who came through the checkers in second place. Making a race of it, Couprie cut around the last turn on the inside, as Terry swung wide around the outside on the berm, and the two raced side by side over the last table top, with Couprie never letting up and barely nosing out the win over Terry, who was on the gas until the very end.

Mike Machado brought in a strong fifth place finish in moto one, with John Shafe and Cyle Chislock still battling behind him for sixth and seventh place, and finishing in that order. Making his way from almost last, Jeff Spooner finished in 8th place, just ahead of Jason Weller, who cruised under the checkers for a 9th place finish. Rounding out the top ten riders in moto one was Doug Eichner, who had also battled through the pro field from dead last to finish in tenth place.

Pro Moto 2
As the gate dropped for the 2nd time that day for the Pro Prod class, it was a close race for the Holeshot between Dustin Nelson and Jeff Spooner. When reviewing the footage, it appears the two riders were actually dead even coming into the apex of Talladega, but Spooner put on a burst of speed that carried him out front as the field came out of turn one. Heading up Mt. Shoei, Chislock was hard on Spooner’s grab bar while Nelson, Ellis and Eichner jockeyed for position behind them and lead the rest of the pro field up the first of several hills.

The field of riders wound around the back section and through the hills, in and out of sight until they came out of the whooped out straight and headed for the “s” turns, with Jeff Spooner still leading the race with Cyle Chislock continuing to pressure him heavily from behind. Romain Couprie, Kory Ellis and Dustin Nelson followed close behind, along with Chris Riley and TJ Dietrich, riding just ahead of Doug Eichner and heading towards the triple.

The whoop section claimed a few axles on Sunday, including TJ Dietrich’s axle during Pro practice.	Darrell Patton looked comfortable on his quad, getting back into the racing action after breaking his wrist a few months ago.

Chislock’s great run would end at the end of lap two, however, as he spun out in the last corner just behind Spooner, losing his 2nd place position to Kory Ellis and dropping far back into the pack of fast moving riders. Ellis now had a clear shot at Spooner and wasted no time gaining the ground he needed to make his pass as the two riders headed up Mt. St. Helens. Also making his way around Spooner was Romain Couprie, who was obviously not content being several positions back from the front. Dustin Nelson was charging behind Spooner and closing the gap as he sought to get around the number 56 quad and get every point he could at this round.

Several quads back was TJ Dietrich (who makes the drive regularly from Montana for this series!), running just behind Dustin Terry, and having a much better run than he did his first moto after he had a chance to fix his footpeg mount between races. Chris Riley, who has had some back luck this season with his quad but had been running up in the front of the field at the start of the race, disappeared partway through the race, only to wind up finishing almost last in this second moto for some unknown reason.

Halfway through the race, the pro field was split almost in half by a curious gap that had developed between Mike Machado at the rear of the first half, and John Shafe at the front of the second half, and this is how it would remain for the rest of the moto. AZ rider John Shafe led the second half of the field, followed closely by fellow AZ native Jason Weller, with Chislock losing ground behind them. Jovany Pimentel rode just ahead of Rafael Guzman (who was racing a borrowed quad) and Nick Hengtgen while #23 Jason Shoneck finished up the field.

At about the second to last lap, Ellis’s quad started sounding terrible, missing and sputtering whenever he put a heavy load on it, allowing a fast moving Romain Couprie to make the pass on Ellis and take over the first place position. Despite a failed CDI box, Ellis continued to keep his second place position and stayed close to Couprie as the riders began finishing up their second moto.

Doug Eichner is sitting 2nd in points for the series, behind Dustin Nelson.	John Shafe battled ahead of Cyle Chislock through the deep “s” turn portion of the track.

Dustin Nelson, finally able to make his pass on Jeff Spooner, was now riding in 3rd place and gaining ground on Ellis, while Spooner maintained his fourth place position and continued to ride strong. Behind Spooner, Mike Machado and TJ Dietrich battled through several corners with Machado searching for a way around number 55 as Doug Eichner continued to close in on both riders.

As the checkered flag came out, it was Romain Couprie from France that took the win, followed closely by a still sputtering Kory Ellis, who would win up taking a 1st overall for the day. Dustin Nelson raced through the checkers in third place, which was more than enough to keep him in the points lead for the series at 87 points total. Jeff Spooner, who has had several strong finishes lately, continued that trend as he came in 4th behind Nelson and finishing 5th overall for the day. Racing to the very last corner, Mike Machado barely edged out TJ Dietrich, and came through the finish line table in 5th place, just ahead of Dietrich, who took 6th. Following close behind Dietrich and finishing in the seventh place spot, was Doug Eichner, whose overall finish would keep him in 2nd place and just one point above Machado in series points after this round. Dustin Terry, John Shafe and Jason Weller would round out the top ten finishers in the second moto.

Despite a few DNF’s and some mechanical setbacks, the Pro Production race went off without a hitch and without any injuries or major problems. The track held up well and the Glen Helen staff put on another great race for the ITP Quadcross series. Don’t miss round 5 coming up at the end of June, as the Quadcross moves several hundred miles East again, to Speedworld MX Park in Arizona – where round eight was held last year. This race will be a Saturday night race, and everyone is looking forward to getting back out to Speedworld for another chance to race with the best in the West!

Wrap-Up
Despite a few DNF’s and some mechanical setbacks, the Pro Production race went off without a hitch and without any injuries or major problems. The track held up well and the Glen Helen staff put on another great race for the ITP Quadcross series. Don’t miss round 5 coming up at the end of June, as the Quadcross moves several hundred miles East again, to Speedworld MX Park in Arizona – where round eight was held last year. This race will be a Saturday night race, and everyone is looking forward to getting back out to Speedworld for another chance to race with the best in the West!