Nelson wins Quadcross; Yamaha dominates top 5

Yamaha's Dustin Nelson wins 
Quadcross title on his YFZR 


Yamaha riders dominate top 5

Dustin Nelson won the 2010 Yamaha ITP QuadCross Pro Production championship at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, Calif. on Sunday, Nov. 14. Despite riding in pain with an injured tailbone, the Yamaha Factory Racing star swept both motos aboard his YFZ450R in a thrilling duel with series runner-up Beau Baron to take his fourth ITP QuadCross title in five years. Better still, Yamaha-mounted Justin Noss, Jason Dunkelberger and Jason Fife finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the championship. Dunkelberger added even more laurels for Yamaha on Sunday by winning the Open Pro championship with a perfect two-moto sweep aboard his own YFZ450R.

Nelson had a big enough points cushion going into the final round that technically, all he had to do was start the first Pro Production moto to claim the series title. But this was anything but assured after getting injured just two weeks prior to the Glen Helen finale. Fortunately, after open practice on Saturday, Nelson found he could tolerate the pain well enough to race. And race he did. Though rival Baron beat Nelson to the first turn in Sunday’s first moto, he soon dropped one wheel over a berm, giving Nelson the opportunity to grab the lead. Nelson then led the rest of the moto, but not by much – at the flag he had only a two-second advantage over Baron. More importantly though, Nelson had clinched the title.

With the championship assured, Nelson powered his Yamaha to the holeshot and led every lap of the second moto, once again over rival Baron. This time the battle was even closer, with Baron trying to steal the last race of the season and Nelson refusing to give in. When the checkers waved Nelson took the win by just half a bike length over Baron. Making matters even sweeter, Nelson’s 1-1 moto sweep and fourth ITP QuadCross championship came on his 33rd birthday. “My YFZ450R had strong, durable power all year long and the handling was epic at every track,” he said later. “That combination of great power and handling is rare in ATV racing, and it totally made the difference for us this year.” Yamaha off-road racing coordinator Donnie Luce added, “It’s very impressive that after sustaining a painful injury and being unable to practice or train, Dustin was able to come out and do what he had to do to win the title.”

Video - ITP Quadcross

Here's a video from Round 6 of the ITP Quadcross series at Glen Helen Raceway Aug. 15. Yamaha's Dustin Nelson led the pro classes to take the overall win. Thanks to tahitianskateboarder for the great video.

Editorial - ATV 'Nationals'

DREAM SERIES

Re-arranging

the ATV 'Nationals'

Scott Mushin, at Mushin Racing, recently posed a question to atv racers and fans in an online forum asking how they would create a dream ATV motocross series. Predictably, the post became a bash session for everything wrong with the current "national" race series, the ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross Championship.

A few good ideas came of the discussion, however, but perhaps the one most successful idea for an ATV National Motocross series didn't materialize.

Proven by dirt bike racers, the Loretta Lynn's qualifying races held throughout the country are a successful venue for amateur racers to showcase their skills and earn a ticket to the big show - the final at Loretta Lynns AMA Amateur National  Motocross Championships.

The AMA promoters and other promoter groups around the nation running ATV race series should consider a hybrid version of all their series modeled after the AMA amateur championship.

In each major ATV race series, a select few pros battle it out hard for the top 5 positions at most races, and really only two or three pros at most are close enough in the points chase to create any kind of real battle for the title. Most of these series are seeing dwindling gate sizes in the pro class due to the economy, rising traveling expenses, limited sponsor support and the dropping of factory backing from Honda and Kawasaki.

The major ATV race series around the country, including WORCS, ITP Quadcross, AMA ATV Motocross, DWT World ATV Motocross, and the NEATV-MX, should run their seasons as 'qualifiers' for a final national series held in the fall. The top 4 points finishers in the pro class for each series could then compete for a shorter series somewhere in the Midwest.

Creating a true "national" ATV series would bring together the top pros such as Dustin Nelson, Beau Baron, Joe Haavisto, Cody Miller, Josh Frederick, Michael Pilotte, Josh Creamer, Dustin Wimmer, John Natalie, Jr., and others for a guaranteed full gate of the nation's fastest ATV racers. The series could be limited to three races at the same facility or tracks within a close proximity within a weekend or one or two week span. The winner would be crowned the true ATV national champion. It could be called the USA ATV National Championship.

Such a series would be a win-win for fans and racers alike. A true national series would allow pro and amateur racers to save on travel costs by competing in their "regional" series of choice, such as the ITP Quadcross or NEATV-MX, while using their performance there to qualify for the USA Nationals. This final series would create exciting racing for fans by throwing together the fastest quad racers from around the country, some of whom would not have the edge of seeing their competitor's moves week after week. The racing would be sure to be fast and close.

I doubt any of the promoters would consider this, as many are driven largely by ego and want their own series to be considered the one that crowns the world's fastest ATV racer. But such a collaboration would allow for greater exposure to fans and racers through joint promotion, shared resources and a truly "national" existence.

Such a move very well could be what launches ATV motocross racing into the mainstream.