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WPSA POWERSPORTS ATV TOUR
CONTINUES MIDWEST TREK,
HITTING INDIANAPOLIS FOR THE AMSOIL ATV
CHAMPIONSHIP
ROSSVILLE, Ind. (July 18, 2006) — The WPSA
PowerSports ATV Championship Tour will continue
its march through the Midwest this weekend, as
it visits Wild Cat Creek MX for the AMSOIL ATV
Championship. The double championship event,
scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, July 22-23,
represents the sixth and seventh rounds of the
10-race 2006 schedule. Saturday’s race will be
telecast on ESPN2 on Saturday, Aug. 5, while
Sunday’s events will air on Saturday, Aug. 13.
Both races are scheduled to be telecast at noon
EDT.
This weekend’s events could very well
determine who is on track to win this year’s
Riders’ Championships. Leading that charge is
QuadMX SuperQuad Pro 450 points leader Dustin
Wimmer (No. 191 East Coast ATV, Axis, Sparks,
Maxxis/Honda). After netting his first
professional victory two weeks ago in Illinois,
the 19-year-old Center Valley, Pa. rider took a
commanding eight-point lead in the title chase.
But “Digger” Doug Gust isn’t likely to allow
Wimmer to just run away with the title. The
wiley veteran rider of the venerable No. 55 Team
Suzuki, Yoshimura/Suzuki had a rare mechanical
problem in the last round, but has demonstrated
his experience this year, with one win, and
three additional podiums. Sitting second in
points, Gust will certainly be in contention for
the win, and the overall points lead here.
The Suzuki brace is further strengthened by
third-in-points Jeremiah Jones and his No. 2
Team Suzuki, Yoshimura, Fly/Suzuki. Though Jones
missed the first race of the season due to an
injury in qualifying, the young gun hasn’t
missed the podium since, earning two wins and
three second-place finishes in five starts.
All of the top runners benefited at the last
race from quad racing superstar John Natalie,
Jr.’s misfortune. The rider of the No. 13 Elka,
HMF, Swift/Honda suffered a severely broken left
thumb prior to the last WPSA event, sidelining
his efforts. Though he isn’t scheduled to
compete here, Natalie does plan to return for
the Tour’s season finale at Raceway Park in New
Jersey at the end of August.
Meanwhile, the points race over in the
QuadTerrain Challenge Pro Stock class easily
mirrors the dogfight that usually takes on the
track. Daryl Rath (No. 67 Rath Racing, Arctic
Cat, Maxxis, Douglas Wheels/Arctic Cat) has
showcased his years of experience this season
with two wins, and holds point in the
championship standings.
However, just a scant three points back is
William Yokley (No. 23 Suzuki). Yokely, and his
privateer Suzuki effort, has shown
competitiveness beyond his budget this season.
In fact, Yokley has finished on the podium in
all five races he entered this season, and has
two victories to his credit.
Scott Kilby (No. 227 Can-Am, Maxxis, OMF/Can-Am)
has led the charge for factory-backed Warnert
Racing squad this season. A win last weekend
made for the North Carolina native’s fourth
podium this season, and placed him third in
points.
The Manufacturers’ Championships have also
taken on a fevered pitch as Suzuki now holds the
lead in both the QuadTerrain Challenge and
SuperQuad Pro 450 standings. The company leads
Honda by two points in SuperQuad Pro 450, and is
in a numerical tie with Can-Am in QuadTerrain
Challenge.
This weekend’s races are sponsored by AMSOIL
Synthetic Lubricants. AMSOIL, which is
universally recognized as having introduced
synthetic oils to the general public, produces a
wide range of lubricants and filtering
technologies for the street car, over-the-road
trucking and the high performance/racing
industries. AMSOIL’s Interceptor and Dominator
two-cycle racing oils are engineered
specifically for powersports racing
applications, both on and off the track.
Riders will be vying for one of the richest
purses in ATV racing here. The Tour will award
$22,500 in purse monies each day 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 a
“Holeshot Award” in SuperQuad Pro 450, awarding
$1,000 to the rider who wins 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 Wild Cat Creek 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 AMSOIL ATV Championship kicks off Friday,
July 21 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, which start at $15 per day for adults
and $5 for kids 6-12, 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 Championship 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
www.PowerSportsTour.com.
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