Team Yoshimura Suzuki 2006 ATV Season Recap

The '06 ATV season was more than memorable for Team Yoshimura Suzuki and its riders. It was a season punctuated with highs and lows. The high being Doug Gust's WPSA Championship, the low being Jeremiah Jones career ending injury. The season was the first test for the revolutionary new Suzuki QuadRacer LT-R450.The machine passed the test with flying colors winning multiple championships and the WPSA Manufacturers Cup.

The ATVA GNC Championship Series:
Suzuki had been waiting anxiously for the start of '06 to put the new fuel-injected LT-R450 to the test. Doug Gust was instrumental in the design and had been working closely with Suzuki engineers, performance testing the bike here and in Japan. Yoshimura had the engine dialed in and the addition of the Fox Airshox had shrunk already fast lap times. The team was amped to get this new beast out in the open.

Team Yoshimura Suzuki was championship-ready at the season opener in Glen Helen. But, as fate would have it, the first few races proved unlucky for Jeremiah Jones. At Glen Helen, Jones bent a swingarm during a collision with another rider. That lead to a bind in the linkage system that took Jeremiah out of the race halfway through the second moto.

At Oak Hill, Jeremiah broke his battery box in another minor collision, shorting out the electrical system. Then, at Gatorback, a rock flew up from the track and smashed his reset button, stopping his bike.

And so it went. Doug Gust had better luck, pulling a top five finish at Glen Helen and a win in the first moto at Oak Hill. In round three at Gatorback, he dominated the field, running incredible lap times and finishing first overall. Gust's performance in the opening rounds served notice that the LTR was for real.

After three rounds, the points standings began to net out, and it looked like a race between Doug Gust, John Natalie, and Joe Byrd. Team Yoshimura Suzuki was proud to see Gust in the race, but the high hopes for Jeremiah seemed slightly faded. How does a rider come back from three consecutive freak DNFs?

In round 5 at Budds Creek, Jeremiah stepped up to the blackboard and wrote out the formula. "Dominate every race". This was his solution to the problem, and it was obvious that he had done his homework. Jeremiah finished 1st overall, and in the following round at Birch Creek, he did exactly the same.

From there, Jones and Gust worked in tandem, scaling the podium together race after race. In Blountville, Jones and Gust went one-two again. That was followed by another Suzuki blowout at Steel City, where Gust took the first moto and Jones took the second. By this point it was clear to the competition that the QuadRacer 450, and its riders, were a force to be reckoned with.

Gust and Jones saw no need to change their recipe at Mill Creek, where yet again, Jones and Gust each took a moto win apiece. Would they ever give the other riders a chance? The short answer was "No." At Sunset Ridge, Jeremiah seemed to be running in a separate race, for all the distance between him and the other riders. In storybook style, Jones went two for two, riding off with the overall win and a championship performance none would soon forget.

As fate would have it, this would be Jones' last race before his career-ending fall at Unadilla. Having pulled within striking distance of the points lead, Jones went into round 12 with the possibility of the championship in sight. Pulling out of the gate, Jones went into the first corner in a battle for the holeshot with several other riders, and the ensuing tangle sent Jones tumbling off the track. It was soon apparent that the injury was serious, as Jones laid still underneath his bike. Medical teams rushed him to the hospital to begin his road to recovery.

Teammate Doug Gust forged ahead, and won the event at Unadilla. At Loretta Lynn's Gust pulled second and was now only 15 points out of first. The series was finally decided at Bowling Green, KY. Doug won the race but was left a few points short of the title.

The WPSA 06 - A New Series of High Flying Action
The addition of the WPSA racing schedule meant twice the action - and twice the pressure - for riders and fans. ESPN had signed on to cover the races, bringing the added excitement of TV to an already feverish atmosphere. However, when race officials put together the WPSA schedule, they knew that they had to work around the GNC. This meant squeezing in races between the already tightly scheduled calendar of the GNC series. Out of the necessity to fill the schedule, the WPSA decided to get the most out of each weekend, running rounds back to back on Saturday and Sunday. For the racers, this was convenient but grueling.

On the first day of the inaugural double header, Jeremiah took a serious spill in one of the first heats and was taken to the hospital to get checked out. With Jeremiah out for the day, Gust went to work and finished in second behind John Natalie. On day two, Doug won both of his heat races and once again finished second. Jeremiah, who most assumed wouldn't even be able to race, checked out of the hospital, put his helmet on, and pulled off the win. It was typical Jeremiah, and the crowd loved it.

In Macon, once again it was Gust and Jones, Jones and Gust, with Doug winning on day one and Jeremiah winning on day two. Jones was by now setting the standard for championship performance. In Taylorville, he went first and second. In Rossville, he managed another back-to-back win. Running second in points only to teammate Doug Gust, Team Yoshimura Suzuki couldn't have asked for more.

And that was the other news. Doug Gust had managed to pull out in front of the field in points standings. After eight rounds, Gust's consistent performances had put him in position to secure the championship at Englishtown. Everyone looked to Jones and Gust to put on a show for first.

Sadly, Gust and Jones would never get the chance to duel for the title. After Jones' fall at Unadilla, he was taken out of the points contention. Englishtown became a battleground between Doug Gust and up and coming 19 year old Dustin Wimmer. Everything came down to the final stretch and with the ESPN cameras rolling, the whole country was able to watch the duel of the year. As the checkers fell – it was Team Yoshimura Suzuki's Doug Gust holding up the championship cup.

Looking back over the year, the Team has a lot to be proud of. With two talented riders in Doug Gust and Jeremiah Jones, Team Yoshimura Suzuki brought home over sixteen wins in both the GNC and WSPA series and WPSA named Suzuki the Manufacturer of the Year. Their newest pride and joy, the QuadRacer LT-R450, had proven to be a capable weapon for the toughest riders in the field and the new favorite racing machine among amateurs. And for the rest of us what can we say about this season but "Wow! It's been a heckuva ride."