Sight Lap: Reflection of Budds Creek

As Easter approaches, echoes of the Motoworks Budds Creek ATV National presented by TriangleCycles.com still rings fresh through our minds. What happened? A lot! That is as simple as one may be able to deduce it. The last time I recall traveling to this world-famous venue nestled in the shadows of Washington D.C. for an AMA ATV Motocross National was nearly 5 years ago and the racing was as spectacular, if not more than remembered.

 

Although the faces and track had changed some since 2006, Budds Creek brought its race face come race day. A number of folks were concerned with weather forecasts calling for over an inch to an inch and a half of rain and elected to sit this one out. It may have been a bad move on their part in the end though.

 

Friday practice opened to a sunny and cool day but spring rains leading up to the event had the soil perfect and riders were chomping at the bit to get a taste of what this grand ole facility had to offer. The folks from Birch Creek actually ran the event in conjunction with Jonathon Beasley and the Budds Creek staff. Practice day not only offered a chance to look at the track but a chance to sit down and feast with your racing neighbors as Parts Unlimited and Moose Racing hosted the first big dinner of 2011. It was good to see the families all getting together and either making new friends or hanging with the old ones.

 

Saturday brought lots of early morning clouds and shortly after, the rain. The first AMA Pro ATV timed qualifier opened to a perfect track. The track dialed in quickly and point leader Motoworks/DWT/Can Am Chad Wienen laid down the fastest time during that session by nearly a second and a half and picked up the ATVRider.com Fastest Qualifier award. It looked like things were shaping up to be more of the norm. Everyone was expecting the rain and some may have been more excited than others to see the rain start to fall.

 

Before the race, Wienen stated that he was not worried about the rain and mud and those things would be covered. Boy was he ever right, covered in mud. He had gotten off to two bad starts that he could not recover from. He finished 6th and 9th, netting 9th for the overall. Natalie picked up not only two crucial moto wins for the weekend but also made two race wins in a row which is something he has not done in AMA ATV racing since 2005 when he won the championship. The points lead also made a big swing in the favor of the former ATV Pro Champion when Wienen struggled extending the Ironman's points lead to 17.

 

Nick DeNoble was another rider stating things would be good rain or shine. DeNoble was stoked for the weekend for a couple of reasons, not only did he feel he had everything on track to run his strongest race of the season but also because there was now a hole shot award thanks to SSi Decals. Nick stated that the extra incentive for him may translate into good starts and try to couple that with strong finishes. That is almost exactly what the Grand Central Stations/Custom Axis/Walsh Race Craft/Janssen Motosport backed #123 of DeNoble had happen. DeNoble did not get the hole shot but he did get two solid starts that paid off huge dividends in the sloppy conditions of the race that allowed him to position himself to bring home his first ever AMA ATV Pro Racing podium.

 

Jeremy Lawson also continued on his mission for the weekend. Lawson on the #16 Walsh Race-Craft/Fox Shox/Maxxis/FMF backed Suzuki, was able to knock down one more step in his climb to the top of the box. A few weeks ago it was stated that Lawson had a few walls to climb to position himself for a championship. The first wall or the "Honda Wall" was climbed when Lawson was able to knock the #20 Baldwin Motorsports/JB Racing/PEP backed Josh Upperman off the podium at round 3. Upperman has had some struggles reaching the podium the last couple of rounds but has stayed strong and consistent finishing just off the box in 4th both rounds. The next wall for Lawson was the "Can Am Wall" and this wall may be a tougher one to climb because he has two Can Am Walls to climb here and the climb gets steeper each race. Though he took second behind Natalie this round Jeremy Lawson and everyone knows that Chad Wienen will be back strong at Sunset Ridge in Illinois, which happens to be Chad's home track.

 

Thomas Brown finally finished two motos. The Bill Ballance Racing/YAMAHA/Dragon Fuel/JB Racing/Ohlins/Maxxis/FMF backed #84 has had more than his share of struggles this season. Brown stated heading into the weekend that he would finish and he would show that is way more capable than the start of the season has shown. Brown finished a strong 5th on the weekend and will be gunning for podiums soon. Thomas Brown is not alone though, I expect to see a few shake-ups to the podiums this season that may surprise many but lead altogether to the best race for the championship in some time.

 

Rookie Pro Riders continued to struggle with the transition into the pro ranks. It does appear though that at least a couple are starting to find their way. Chase Snapp the #48 SSi Decals/Motoworks/JB Racing/Fox Shox backed rider is poised to take top Rookie honors but may be about to meet a challenge from the #969 Mushin Mafia/JB Racing/FMF/KG Clutches/GBC Bomb-Squad Tires backed Travis Moore. Snapp has had the strongest finishes so far this season of all the rookies and is proving to be the most consistent of them all. However Moore has had 3 finishes in the top 10 and is steadily improving under the guidance of former ATV MX and TT top pro Keith Little. Little more than believes in Moore's possibilities stating his desire and determination coupled with talent and Moore's ability to focus so attentively was going to be a huge factor in the rise to success. Remember Travis Moore nearly disappeared from AMA ATV National Motocross racing altogether last year after the downfall of the economy and lack of support.

 

Another rookie in question is the #88 Makkson Construction/JB Racing/Maximum RPM/Hetrick Racing backed rider Joel Hetrick. Hetrick started the season out strong in round 1 but has suffered from problems since. Hetrick has managed to stay healthy but motor problems been the issue. News from the Hetrick camp is that there was nothing different from the 2010 season to the 2011 season but for some reason nothing is staying together. Hetrick went as far as switching from his notorious Kawasaki to a new Honda for Budds Creek. Bad news is that they ended up with the same results. Hetrick was once again towed off the track with bike failure and what had to be a wounded spirit. The thing to watch for out of this camp is when things do finally click in the Pro Class, Hetrick is going to be on a mission that could be hard to stop even for some of the seasoned pros.

 

There is much more going on as we all know. So as we can tell I am getting a little long here especially for a Holiday Weekend. So I will go with that and hope to look at the awesome Pro Am battles as well as take a look at the amateur and youth and see how things are shaping up as we gear up for the last ¾ or so of the season.

 

Till next time Happy Easter and God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.