AMA Pro ATV
Rd. 2 - Mar. 30, '08
Copyright 2008 - ATV Racin' Extra / www.atvproracing.com - All rights reserved
PELL CITY PROs
Round 2 - AMA PRO MX Nationals - Mill Creek MX - Pell City, Alabama
March 30, 2008
A lot of people were wondering what presence Honda would have in the 2008 MX arena, or, for any ATV racing arena for that matter. Enter Harold Goodman (photo left) and Jason Dunkelberger (photo right). Both Goodman and "Dunk" have shown consistent rides during both rounds of the '08 AMA Pro ATV Nationals. After two rounds, Goodman has booked two 6th place finishes and sits in 6th overall in the standings. "Dunk" put in a 5th place finish at Pell City to go with an 11th place finish in California to position himself 8th in the standings.
Kentucky's Tommy Hager (photo above) spent '07 mending his bones from an injury. Still riding under the sponsorship of ATV Four Play on a Suzuki, Hager made his inagural debut at the Nationals at Mill Creek. Although he sits 19th in the overall standings after missing round one of the series, he brought down a 12th place finish at Pell City despite having a busted face from a rock in moto one.
Photo Above: Can-Am's Cody Miller, a Texas based Pro, missed Rd. 1 due to a brief illness but came back strong in the highly competitive Pro class in Alabama. Miller looked tentative in the first moto but rebounded with confidence in the second to finish 11th overall.
Photo Left: Team Monster Energy/Kawasaki's Keith Little appeared more adapted to his new factory ride. He took an 8th overall on the round. A far cry better than his 20th place finish at the California opener.
Find out what the Pros were talking about after Sunday's Pro races? It'll surprise you!
If you've questioned the intensity of ATV Pro racing on a national level recently, you'd better back up, re-evaluate and take another stance on the issue. At the Pell City round those around the fences and those with track access were blown away by how hard the Pros pushed their machines.
Take a look at the photos above. On the left, Chad Wienen sits along the sidelines after frying his clutches trying to catch up with teammate Wimmer. In the center, Can-Am's John Natalie cruises to a safe spot on the track during moto two after a race related bump with Wienen tapped his suspension out of wack. On the right, during moto one, Can-Am's Richard Pelchat stood, disgusted and not what one would call a "happy camper" after he slammed a jump and cracking sounds echoed across the Alabama countryside. Wienen took a 9th place finish in the overalls for the round, whereas Natalie finished 10th and Pelchat finished 17th.
Photo Below: Veteran Pro Doug Gust has a plan to contend with the "youth" constituents of the Pro class. In interviews he's stated that his experience along with his desire to go out on top will put him in the running for a championship all season long. Sitting in second place in the overall standings indicates that his plan is working.
Photo Above: Suzuki's Chad Wienen (#44) huffed and puffed trying to catch up with fellow teammate Wimmer but couldn't quite pull it off. He finished second in moto one and DNF'ed in the second moto to drop from 2nd to 3rd in the standings after two rounds.
Photo Below: Two time national MX champion, Joe Byrd, came off a terrible showing at the opening round in California where he finished outside the top five to finish second overall at the Mill Creek MX round of the AMA Pro ATV Nationals. His comeback surged him from eight in the standings all the way up to fourth after the first 2 rounds.
Under the watchful eye of AMA Pro ATV referee Harv Whipple (photo above left) the top Pros pushed each other for twenty minutes plus a lap in both motos on Sunday at the Pell City, AL / Mill Creek MX round of the '08 MX Nationals. At numerous times during each of the motos, the jockeying for positions took on a flavor reminiscent of a freight train with break away cars looking for side rails and wanting to be the "Little engine that could" and not the caboose. RockStar/MSR/ProTaper/Suzuki/Yoshimura's #191 Dustin Wimmer (photo above - center) had a plan and the will to execute his Moto TST/Doc Reise trained strategy.
It was a simple one if you had the core strength to pull it off. Play it smart at the start, sort things out, then make calculated moves to the front and take off, leave' em behind, so to speak. Wimmer's strategy and race presence set the bar for things to come in the '08 season. He pulled away from the pack of 4 Pros (Natalie, Gust, Wienen and Byrd) in both motos and set sail on what proved to be an eight second lead the majority of the time during the races. His ability to evaluate and surpass any other Pros race plan proved beneficial to his points standings at the conclusion of the round. He led 2nd place, and fellow team member, Doug Gust in the overall standings by 40 points.
Baldwin Motorsports backed Josh Upperman is one happy soldier. After having a not so memorable season in '07 on a different colored quad, Upperman has returned to his red roots. At the Pell City AMA Pro round he proved he's ready to tango. He took the first moto holeshot, narrowly missed the second moto holeshot and led almost half the second moto to finish up 4th overall.
Don't look now, but there's a new sheriff in town by the name of Dustin Wimmer. Sponsored by the ATV team of MSR/ProTaper/Suzuki/Yoshimura and Red Bull, Wimmer continues to dominate the '08 AMA Pro ATV MX Nationals.
Could we be seeing the Tiger Woods of national Pro MX racing?...Probably So!...Is Wimmer just a "flash in the pan"?...Probably Not!
According to inside reports, Wimmer, after having to settle for the runner-up spot in the WPSA Pro450 National Championships for two years in a row ('06 and '07), decided that he didn't like that tag and decided to do something about it. And, he'd done just that. He's won all 4 Pro motos during the first two rounds of the AMA Pro events and doesn't appear to be running out of steam for any reason at any time as the season heads into the meat of it's rounds.
Wimmer
Wimmer
(L to R) John Natalie, Dustin Wimmer & Joe Byrd
Upperman
Whipple
Wienen
