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2008 Yamaha/ITP
Quadcross RD 8
Justin Noss and Dustin Nelson
battle for the lead in moto 2 |
 Dustin Nelson doing a little
bit of look back action.
Walking away with another
win and overall is Doug Echiner. Looks like Doug
will be taking home another championship to add
to his probably overloaded trophy shelf.
Fresh from his run at
the ATVA National Circuit Sage Baker makes a
great effort with a second overall for the day. |
The end is near, the point races are heating
up, and we almost have our class champions. The
eighth round of the ITP/Yamaha Quadcross was
originally scheduled to be held at a new venue
for the series (Milestone Raceway), and for some
reason last minute details fell through. So the
round was rescheduled to be held at Competitive
Edge in Hesperia. This track is also new to the
series. The track design was built for dirt
bikes, so it’s a bit challenging and quite
technical for most amateurs. For the most part,
though, it made for some good racing; and most
of the pros enjoyed the track. As for the
weather, it was a bit windy; but the sun was
shining, and overall things were pretty nice.
Pro Race Moto 1
With Can-Am/Motoworks’ Brandon Smith coming
into this one with a winning streak being built,
is he going to make his three in a row now FOUR?
Team Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson has the current
points lead. Will he be able to add to this
lead, or is the privateer Justin Noss, runner-up
in the last round going to create an upset? They
all lined up at the bottom of the uphill start,
engines revving, clutches held in, and then they
were off again in another round of west coast
racing. Nelson edged everyone out for the hole
shot. Also, just about anyone behind Nelson got
bottle necked in the second turn coming off the
start. This starting line was really too narrow
and would create problems for other classes.
They widened it for the second Pro moto, but the
damage was done. I was really surprised not to
see a restart. It took a few of the top riders a
while to get their machines untangled, or around
a fellow racer and back into the race. Josh
Frederick was put way back in the pack as well
as Justin Noss. One person who managed to miss
the whole pile up was Can-Am rider Brandon Smith
who finished a strong third, with fellow Cam-Am
rider Sage Baker taking home second place in
moto one. Baker hails from Northern California
and normally rides the ATVA National MX Series.
Now that the season has wrapped up, Baker is
participating in some local races to stay in
shape. Of course, Nelson with a commanding lead
took the moto one win. Despite being caught up
in the start fiasco, Noss would come from the
back of the pack and take a fifth, and Frederick
would take a fourth place.
Open Pro Moto 1
Open Pro class lines up for the first time on
this day, and the ten entries picked their gate
spots and readied for the live engine start.
Once the gate dropped the number two of Doug
Echiner wheelied off the line a bit on the up
hill start, I’m sure he backed off the throttle
and slipped a position. He later regained first
place and easily pulled away with a pretty
sizeable lead going on to win the moto. Echiner
was followed by Chris Riley in second and Danny
Regan in third. TJ Dietrich (second in points
race) got off to a bad start and would finish
9th in the first moto.
Pro Class Moto 2
The first moto had its glitches and now with the
widened turn leaving the start line, things
should be a lot smoother. As the thundering of
the engines roared and the gate dropped, ATVs
ripped up the hill with Yamahas all in the lead.
Reed Petchnick from Kent, WA. would grab the
holeshot, only to be passed before the first
turn by Justin Noss. Then again later by Dustin
Nelson, Noss was just slightly ahead of Nelson.
By the second lap Nelson was starting to put
some pressure on Noss. Sake Baker was making
another good showing in the west coast series.
With a bad start in moto 2, Baker, by the second
lap, had worked his way up to third and was
running strong. Also running up in the pack was
Dana Creech, who had taken some time off from
ATV Racing to do a little UTV racing and start
his own shop. Another racer that was good to see
back on the track was John Shafe who was
sidelined earlier in the year at a race track (Racetown
395), just up the road from this track. He was
back from his injuries and wasn’t totally up to
speed yet, but it was great to see him back at
the track. Back to the racing, Nelson was coming
around for the third lap still pressuring Noss
for a pass. He finally found his chance and took
it, in a zig-zag section of the track. Nelson
just out-cornered Noss and took the lead. While
Can-am teammates Brandon Smith and Josh
Frederick made their way to the front from a
mid-pack start.
Returning from a break of ATV
racing, Dana Creech showed up on a Polaris
Outlaw ATV and ran the Pro Class. |
Both Smith and Frederick came into this round
with a chance at the championship. With Nelson
in the lead things were not looking too good.
Nelson, Noss, and Baker all had a pretty
sizeable lead on the rest of the field. Nelson
would eventually take home the win and overall
for the day, as well as clinching the Quadcross
Title. Noss would take second in the moto 2 and
third overall. As for Sage Baker, he would take
third spot in moto 2 and second overall. As for
team Can-am their hopes were shattered for the
championship by placing 4th and 5th for the day
as well as 4th and 5th overall for the day.
Open Pro Moto 2
Later on in the schedule the Open Pro class
lined up at the gate for the second moto. As the
gate dropped it looked like Doug Echiner was
going to take the holeshot, but Darrel Patton’s
KTM machine kicked into high gear and jumped
ahead of the Polaris ridden by Echiner. As they
both powered into the first turn, Echiner caught
Patton; and they both were wheel to wheel into
the next two turns. Echiner finally would regain
the lead. On lap two Patton was overtaken by
Danny Regan, and Patton had Roberto Villalobos
close behind. Villalobos would find his way
around Patton later in the moto, also Villalobos
would pass Regan for second.
Race Wrap Up
This was another great round of ATV racing on
the west coast with Dustin Nelson clinching the
championship, one round before the end of the
season. The next round will be held at Glen
Helen to wrap up the season and figure out all
the other class champions. We can’t wait to see
who is going to walk away with a brand new YFZ50
at the end of the year drawing presented by
Yamaha. Overall, the track was good and laid out
well, and most were looking forward to coming
back to this track in the future. A word to the
wise--when going to this track get there early
if you want a decent parking spot, because the
parking lot fills up quickly. So check back for
the final round of the series and see how the
championships end up.
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