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WPSA POWERSPORTS ATV TOUR
BEGINS MIDWEST SWING IN ILLINOIS,
HOSTING THE JACK LINK'S FEED YOUR WILD SIDE ATV
CHAMPIONSHIP
TAYLORVILLE, Ill. (July 4, 2006) — The WPSA
PowerSports ATV Championship Tour begins it
sweep through the Midwest this weekend with the
Jack Link’s Feed Your Wild Side ATV Championship
at Illinois’ South Fork Dirt Riders. The double
championship event, scheduled for Saturday and
Sunday, July 8-9, will pit the best of the best
in ATV racing against each other during rounds
five and six of the 2006 Tour. Saturday’s events
will be telecast on ESPN2 on Saturday, July 15
at noon EDT, while Sunday’s race will air
Saturday, July 22, also at noon.
Leading the championship charge into Illinois
in the QuadMX SuperQuad Pro 450 class is
legendary John Natalie, Jr. (No. 12 Elka, HMF,
Swift/Honda). Natalie, with two wins, a third
and a runner-up finish, hasn’t missed the podium
yet this season and holds an eight-point lead in
the title chase.
However, a recent wrist injury may weigh on
Natalie this weekend, opening the door for
second-in-points Doug Gust (No. 55 Team Suzuki
Yoshimura/Suzuki). With a win and a third-place
finish during the last two events, Gust has
climbed to second in points and is hungry to win
the inaugural Riders’ Championship. Gust also
finished second during Round 1 of the Tour.
Hot on Gust’s rear nerf bar is Dustin Wimmer
(No. 191 East Coast ATV, Axis, Sparks, Maxxis/Honda).
Wimmer is seeking his first victory of the
season this weekend, though consistency has paid
off for the Center Valley, Pa. rider. Wimmer
sits third in the standings, just 22 points out
of the lead.
Jeremiah Jones (No. 2 Team Suzuki, Yoshimura,
Fly/Suzuki) has been on a hot streak of late;
one he plans to continue here. Jones won his
first race of the season at the last event, and
has two runner-up finishes, placing him fourth
in the chase. However, an injury in qualifying
sidelined Jones in the season opener, though he
will attempt to overcome that rare miss this
weekend.
Over in the rough-and-tumble QuadTerrain
Challenge Pro Stock ranks, longtime terrain
rider Daryl Rath (No. 67 Rath Racing/Arctic Cat)
has put on a clinic this season on how to be
successful in QuadTerrain racing. With two wins,
and two fourth-place finishes under his belt,
Rath holds a commanding 16-point lead in the
title chase.
But it would be unwise to count out William
Yokley and his No. 23 Suzuki. Yokley comes into
Taylorville off of his first win of the season.
That victory, combined with two other podium
finishes, places Yokley squarely in the catbird
seat, second in the standings.
Scott Kilby (No. 227 Can-Am, Maxxis,
Moose/Can-Am) led the charge of Can-Am’s factory
team, led by PowerSports Snowmobile Tour veteran
team Warnert Racing. With two podiums, including
a second-place finish in Round 3, Kilby now sits
third, 27 points back.
Meanwhile, the Manufacturers’ Championships
have taken on a life of their own. In QuadMX,
Suzuki grabbed the lead in the standings at the
last race, and now holds just a two-point gap
over Honda. In QuadTerrain, Arctic Cat is just
nine points ahead of Can-Am.
This weekend’s races are sponsored by Jack
Link’s Beef Jerky. As part of its sponsorship,
the company will distribute samples of its
popular meat snacks on site. Jack Link’s is also
the “Official Meat Snack” of the PowerSports ATV
Tour.
Riders will be vying for one of the richest
purses in ATV racing here. The Tour will award
$22,500 in purse monies here, as it does for
each race this season. The purse, which will be
awarded in the Tour’s Pro Classes, pays to 20th
place in the QuadMX Series and to 15th place in
QuadTerrain Challenge. The purse structure
awards $4,000 to win in QuadMX and $2,000 to win
in QuadTerrain Challenge, with $15,000 and
$7,500 available in each Series, respectively.
Additionally, Quad Magazine is sponsoring at
“Holeshot Award” in SuperQuad Pro 450, awarding
$1,000 to the rider who grabs the holeshot at
the beginning of the final. Over in QuadTerrain,
ATVRiders.com is sponsoring the “Rock’n’Roll
Award” which will give a $500 bonus to the rider
leaving the course’s rock crawl first during the
final.
The ATV Tour’s two racing series: the “QuadMX
Series” and the “QuadTerrain Challenge Series”
compete at each event this season. QuadMX
consists of professional and pro-am sport MX
racing on pro-style, big-air MX racing circuits.
The QuadTerrain Challenge comprises professional
and pro-am sport utility racing on purpose-built
all-terrain racing circuits. ATVs allowed to
compete will include stock, near-stock
utility-type, and modified.
The Taylorville track layout, like all
circuits on the Tour, is designed to optimize
television coverage and fan viewing for both
racing disciplines. The QuadMX course is central
to the design and is tailored exclusively for
ATV racing. The QuadTerrain course is
constructed immediately adjacent to the MX track
and incorporates a small portion of the
technical section of the MX course, but excludes
all big air MX sections. The balance of the
QuadTerrain course consists of specialized
terrain and obstacles. All obstacle sectors are
raced at speed. Races feature obstacles that
demonstrate the machine’s and a rider’s
capabilities under race conditions. However
certain sections will require careful
maneuvering, or a deft high-speed touch.The
QuadTerrain courses are a half mile or less in
length.
The Jack Link’s Feed Your Wild Side ATV
Championship kicks off Friday, July 7 with open
practice. Racing gets underway Saturday, with a
full card of qualifying and finals for the Pro
classes, as well as Amateur, Pro-Am and Youth
class qualifying. Sunday will also feature a
full show for the Pros, with finals scheduled
for the remaining classes. Tickets will be
available at the gate. A full race weekend
schedule will be posted at
www.powersportstour.com or can be downloaded in
PDF format by clicking here.
About the PowerSports ATV Tour
The PowerSports ATV Tour is North America’s
newest ATV racing tour and features the greatest
show on dirt. The Tour is North America’s
premier form of ATV racing, with its jumps,
gyrations and dirt-slinging racing action. The
Tour is sanctioned by the World PowerSports
Association, North America’s largest and most
respected ATV and snowmobile sanctioning body,
and promoter of ATV and snowmobile racing on
both the regional and national level. For more
information, please visit PowerSportsTour.com.
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