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Wimmer Battles Back
at Birch Creek AMA Pro ATV MX
Wimmer launches the Birch Creek triple
in route to another victory.
Photo By: Stephani McIntyre |
DANVILLE, Va. (April 19, 2009) - As the
points race tightens in the AMA ATV Pro
Motocross class, the racing action does as well,
leading round four of the series, the
Trianglcycles.com ATV National at Birch Creek
Motorsports in Danville, Va., to produce the
best battle of the season. In the end, series'
leader Dustin Wimmer managed to edge Honda's Joe
Byrd and Monster Energy Kawasaki's Chad Wienen
for the victory via 2-1 scores in the motos,
giving the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider his
third win of the season. The Birch Creek event
also marked round three of the amateur portion
of the ITP Tires/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross
Championship presented by Parts Unlimited.
"That was a pretty crazy moto," said Wimmer of
his intense second-moto battle with Byrd and
Wienen. "The start wasn't too bad, I got up into
that first turn and there was a bunch of
bumping. I got hung up a little bit and a couple
people got around me but I worked my way up
through and caught up to Chad. My shocks were
working great so I was able to out power by him
over a jump and just stick it."
The win also pushes Wimmer's points lead up to
six, as Byrd had closed the gap to one point
coming into the race.
Wienen started the day by collecting the $100
ATVsource.com Top Qualifier Award. Under
overcast skies that made for perfect racing
weather, Byrd and Wienen drag raced to the first
turn first in moto one, with Byrd snagging the
$250
MotorcycleUSA.com Holeshot Award and Wienen
coming out right behind the two-time champion.
Cody Miller, Clay Holmes and Wimmer tucked in
behind the lead duo, and soon Wienen made a pass
on Byrd to take the lead. Wimmer also moved
around Byrd and chased Wienen. Wimmer pressured
Wienen all the way to the finish, but Wienen
ultimately held on to win his first moto of the
season in a close battle. While Byrd settled
into third, Warnert Racing Can-Am teammates
Miller and John Natalie battled for fourth and
fifth position with Natalie making way to grab
the higher of the two.
Heading into the second moto, the stage was set
for a race few have seen in years. Wienen was
the man to beat, but a wheelie on the start gave
the edge to the rest of the field. Byrd grabbed
his second $250
MotorcycleUSA.com Holeshot Award for the day
and lead for much of the moto, but he had zero
room for error with less than a second lead over
Monster Kawasaki's Josh Creamer, who suffered a
mechanical problem in the first moto. Creamer
led a pack of hungry riders behind Byrd
including Greg Gee, Miller, Natalie, Wienen and
Wimmer. Both Wienen and Wimmer stayed with each
other as they moved through the group to fall in
behind Byrd. In dramatic fashion, Wimmer finally
made the move over Wienen and Byrd in the same
lap to take the lead, and he pushed his gap out
to two seconds to take the moto and overall win.
Wienen rode smart to the checkers to take third
behind Byrd. His 1-3 score still netted him
second overall over Byrd's 3-2 score.
"I was just thinking to stay close to everyone
so they didn't run away with it and we did,"
said Wienen. "My setup was really good the first
moto, but the second moto, I was getting beat up
a little bit, but we made the most of it and we
got up on this box so I'm really happy about
that. It was bar-to-bar really. You know
everyone just put it in and I gave it everything
I got. The biggest thing the fans, I can see the
fans waving their arms out there and that really
gets me motivated to going and do my best."
"I got a good holeshot both motos," said Byrd
after taking home a $500 bonus for both
MotorcycleUSA.com Holeshot Awards. "The first
moto I just didn't have the setup, but the
second moto we did and I just made a mistake and
[Wimmer] got around me and then I was trying to
charge back but ran out of time."
Byrd's machine began smoking almost immediately
even though he spent nearly the entire moto in
the lead. "We had the power, but it was just in
my mind and I didn't want it locking up over a
jump," said Byrd. "We had a vent line pop off on
the hot lap and we tried to patch that before
the race so luck was just on our side that moto."
Natalie, who has suffered an onslaught of
mechanical problems recently, finally showed he
hasn't slowed once things click and pulled a
consistent fourth for both motos collecting
fourth overall. Teammate Cody Miller grabbed a
5-7 taking home a top 5 for the weekend.
Clay Holmes went 7-9 for sixth after dueling
with veteran Doug Gust, who fought his way
through the pack to gain positions he lost on
his starts. Gust took 6-10 scores for seventh,
while Jeremy Lawson snagged 12-6 finishes for
8th overall. Privateer Greg Gee is proving the
change from last season has little affect on his
program taking another top 10 and finishing top
10 in both motos with 8-10.
Rounding out the top ten was Creamer, who
rallied from trouble in moto one to take 14-5
scores and finish tenth overall.
The Pro-Am Production class featured yet another
exciting race with the young guns vying for the
title. Although Cody Gibson took both moto wins
for the overall, Devin Heimes applied as much
pressure as he could. He took second in moto one
and pressured Gibson again in the second moto
until a crash ended his weekend. Kentucky riders
Casey Martin and Cody Grant rounded out the
overall podium, though neither picked up a top
three for their motos.
ATVision powered by Quad Magazine brings you
high quality coverage of the Trianglecycles.com
ATV National at Birch Creek this coming
Wednesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. on
www.atvmotocross.com and
www.quadmagazine.com.
The ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross
Championship continues May 2 and 3 with the
Sunset Ridge National in Walnut, Illinois. For
more information visit
www.atvmotocross.com.
Results of the ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV
Motocross Championship presented by Parts
Unlimited
Round 4 - Birch Creek Motorsports
Danville, VA
AMA Pro ATV
1. Dustin Wimmer (Suz) 2-1
2. Chad Wienen (Kaw) 1-3
3. Joe Byrd (Hon) 3-2
4. John Natalie, Jr. (Can) 4-4
5. Cody Miller (Can) 5-7
6. Clay Holmes (Hon) 6-10
7. Doug Gust (Suz) 6-10
8. Jeremy Lawson (Can) 12-6
9. Greg Gee (Hon) 10-8
10. Josh Creamer (Kaw) 14-5
AMA ATV Motocross Championship Pro Point
Standings
1. Dustin Wimmer (184/3 wins);
2. Joe Byrd
(178/1 win);
3. Josh Creamer (120);
4. Chad Wienen (114);
5. John Natalie (104);
6. Josh Upperman (102);
7. Thomas Brown (101);
8. Jeremy
Lawson (97);
8. Doug Gust (97);
10. Clay Holmes
(96).
Pro-Am Production Results
1. Cody Gibson (Kaw) 1-1
2. Casey Martin (Hon) 4-5
3. Cody Grant (Suz) 6-4
4. Travis Moore (Hon) 9-2
5. Joseph Bruening (KTM) 8-3
6. Josh Williams (Suz) 5-6
7. Bobby Ross (Kaw) 3-8
8. William Cottage (Hon) 7-9
9. Devin Heimes (Suz) 2-15
10. Jonathon Ven John (Hon) 11-12
About the ITP/Moose Racing AMA
ATV Motocross Championship Presented by Parts
Unlimited
The ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross
Championship Presented by Parts Unlimited is the
nation's premier amateur and professional ATV
motocross series, and competes at top motocross
facilities nationwide. The 11-round series
features the Nation's best racers, teams and
sponsors, and is America's largest and
longest-running ATV National Motocross series
with more than 20 years of competition. The
series continues to expand and produce top
talent from the amateur ranks, while keeping
close to the grassroots fun that makes people
love to go to the races. Check out weekly
Motosodes of ATVision powered by Quad at
www.atvmotocross.com For more information,
please visit
www.atvmotocross.com.
About the ATV Promoters Group
(ATVPG)
The ATVPG is composed of the individual
promoters that host the ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV
Motocross Championship Presented by Parts
Unlimited. The goal of the ATVPG is to raise
awareness of ATV motocross through the
production of professional and amateur
championship racing events. For more information
on the ATVPG and the ATV National events they
produce, please visit
www.atvmotocross.com.
About MX Sports Pro Racing, Inc.
MX Sports Pro Racing, Inc. manages the Lucas Oil
AMA Pro Motocross Championship, the Women's
Motocross Association (WMA) National Motocross
Championship, and the professional racing side
of the AMA Pro ATV Motocross Championship. MX
Sports Pro Racing, Inc. is a second-generation
family owned business that has been in operation
for over 26 years and is an industry leader in
the segment of off road/action sports race
promotion in the United States. Through its
various racing properties, partnerships and
affiliates, MX Sports fields more than 60,000
action sports athletes each year and attracts
millions of active fans, spectators and
enthusiasts. For more information on MX Sports,
please visit
www.mxsports.com.
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