GNC Nationals – Round 2
“ATV Bluegrass Nationals”
Daniel Boone Motocross Park
London, Kentucky
April 13^th – 14^th, 2002

Just as the ATV Source film crew rolled onto the Daniel Boone track to flank every possible inch with video cameras, a friendly race fan yelled out, “Hey, do you think it’s gonna rain?”  Looking up at the dark clouds, we all knew the answer.  ATV Source was ready for whatever Mother Nature had in store for us.  Well…at least that’s what we thought.

Saturday's qualifying events was almost a repeat of 2001, but with warmer temperatures.  The qualifiers started with a wet and muddy track.  Track conditions didn’t improve much over the course of the day as periods of drizzle and rain showers continued to keep the track nice and wet.  As the racers left the line, if you didn’t get the holeshot or was near the front of the pack, you found yourself covered from head to toe with mud.

A steadily rain continued through most of Saturday night and set the stage for Sunday’s finals and Pro races.  Most ATVers know, we are a hardy bunch and don’t mind playing in a little mud from time to time. Mother Nature showed us mercy as she held the rain off for most of the morning and mid-day races.

Pro Moto 1 holeshot goes to Tim Farr on his Laeger frame/Honda 450F 4-Stroke.  Tim was followed closely by the 2001 defending GNC Champ, Jeremiah Jones (Klotz/Sparks).  Keith Little (K&K/ITP) and Dana Creech (ib Racing) both had strong starts and found themselves right behind Jones.

Jeremiah Jones was on Tim Farr’s grab bar like mud plastered on Farr’s rear fender.  Farr was able to hold Jones at bay for most of the first moto.  Jones made a couple of mistakes to let Farr extend his lead, but only for a couple of seconds, as Jones would quickly recover.  The racing action was exciting as Jones made several moves on Farr.  Inside…outside…bump here…look there…they were putting on a show.

On the 4^th lap, Jeremiah made an outside move and pulled ahead of Tim going through the whoop de doos section, but it appeared Jeremiah was just going to fast and ran out of room to make the next turn.  Jeremiah slide into the corner, but was forced into a berm and was hung out to dry while Farr raced away.  Jeremiah’s full stop allowed Creech, who was charging hard to catch up to Farr and Jones, to take over the second position. Jeremiah was able to get restarted and recovered to third.  It didn’t take Creech and Jones long to catch up to Farr.

While all of this action was taking place, Doug “Digger” Gust (TC Racing) was quietly working his way through the pack from a poor start.  Just as Jones passed Creech to take back the number two spot, Gust was right behind him and letting Jones know he was there.  Jones, on the other hand, was letting Farr know he was again on the hunt.  As the trio banged it out, the racing really picked up when they went wheel to wheel from the Ski jump, through the whoops, and over the table of two sections of the track.  If the one lane racecourse was wider I’m sure they would have tried to race three wide if they could.  They all seemed to remembered how small the passing lanes were and wisely picked their lines.

Half way through the next lap, Gust made his move on the ski jump and passed Jones.  Once around Jones, Gust pressured Farr as best he could hoping for a passing opportunity or a “rare” Farr mistake.  Unfortunately neither happened.  Farr held his line and held on for the win and Gust took second.  How close was it?  Gust could have reached Farr’s grab bar as they crossed the finish line.  As we watched the two leaders, we didn’t even see Keith Little sneaking up and passing Jones.  Keith took the third position just ahead of Jones and Kory Ellis.

Prior to the start of Pro Moto 2, the skies began to look threatening and several of the Pros asked to not have the customary “hot lap”, but majority vote wins and the warm up lap was taken.  Remember when I wrote, “Mother Nature showed us mercy as she held the rain off for most of the morning and mid-day races”?  Well, she must have been sitting back and laughing hysterically as the start of Pro Moto 2 got underway.  As the Pros lined up for the start, the track worker’s radios chattered with whaling sounds of “Rain is on the way…Rain is on the way”.  The Fans and most everyone else who had a clear view across the mountainous region could see the various tree lines disappearing as the rain approached.  It was a sure sign for everyone to break out the umbrellas or head for cover.

As the gates fell, Farr motored hard to grab the holeshot.  Jones and Creech followed closely behind.  Creech made his move early and took second.  Just as the leaders raced over the ski jump, not more than half way through the first lap, the skies opened up and emptied buckets after buckets.  The heavy rains and high winds hit the racers hard and forced them to slow their pace and alter their racing lines as the track now contained numerous water hazards.  Just take a look at the pictures below.  They will give you some idea as to how hard it was raining and how strong the winds were.

As the storm pounded the track, racers, and fans, Tim Farr continued to lead the pack and was actually putting on a spectacular display by continuing to take most of the technical jumps.  Farr built a sizable lead and was never threatened throughout the race.

Jones passed Creech to take over second, while Gust was once again working his way up through the pack from a poor start.  Around lap #5, Gust was able to take third from Creech and set his sights on Jones.  They battled hard at every corner.  The racing action really picked up as Gust made his move in the “Supercross Six” doubles section.  Jones and Gust were side by side as they jockeyed for position.  Both Gust and Jones held their lines into the right hand corner.  They bumped and banged each other hard.  Gust and his quad ended up on its side while Gust hit the muddy track hard.  Jones with no place to go and trying desperately to stop his downhill slide looked to have ran over or into Gust.  As Gust climbed to his feet, the slippery hill struck and sent Gust on his backside for the second time.  Jones was able to get going again, but was now being tracked down by a hard charging Dana Creech.  Dana took over second, but couldn’t hang on as Jones was able to recapture the number 2 spot. Farr took the checkers while Jones crossed in second. Creech took a hard fought third.  Gust couldn’t recover from his dismount and finished 11^th.

Tim Farr finished a perfect 1-1 in the motos, giving him the overall win. Jeremiah Jones scored a 4-2 to give him the second podium spot while Dana Creech 6-3 finished with the third overall and his first GNC pro podium. Congratulations Dana! Farr’s win puts him in the series points lead.

Race Notes:

It appears we keep repeating ourselves at every event, but this type of news is good news for our sport. - A new Daniel Boone record was set as 643 riders turned out for the event.  All of the 2001 events saw a huge increase in participation and this year doesn't look any different.

Track Work - Doug Gust made the trip early to help widen the track and make several necessary changes to allow for multiple racing lines.  Through Doug did the best he could; it was obvious several sections would still only have one racing line, as the track’s layout didn’t allow for much change.