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ATVA Extreme Dirt Track Nationals
Round #6 - Elizabeth City, NC
Dixieland Speedway
August 26, 2006 |
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Little's Championship Hopes Go Up in Smoke, With Farr's Win!
ATVA Extreme Dirt Track
Round #6 - Links
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Elizabeth City, NC - The Dixieland Speedway was the site for the sixth round of the Extreme Dirt
Track Series, which is one of my personal favorite locations for racing because of its close proximity to the beautiful
beaches along the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Prior to heading to the track each year, I leave early and head
to the beach for few day vacation with the family, which is one of the few times a year that I actually get to
relax, and as usual, the weather was picture perfect, but it was definitely warm with temperatures in the mid 90
s, and fortunately there wasn
t any rain in the forecast, which has plagued the EDT series this year.
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#4 Tim Farr & #38 Michael Coburn split the option lane down the infield straigt-away
during practice
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The Dixieland 3/8 mile clay oval track allows the riders to get on the hammer as the sprint down the long straight
way into turns one and out of turn two before stomping on the brakes to head into the infield. The infield has
a series of breaking/ kicker jumps and a sweeping right hand turn, and to make it more interesting this year a
split lane was added to the infield, which allowed for some additional passing opportunities.
The event attracted over 300 entries including 22 Pro riders, which meant that once again there would need to
be three Heat Races and a LCQ to narrow down the field to 20 riders for the Pro Main. Unfortunately, the field
was narrowed down by one rider when Shane Hitt and his ATV went flipping down the last straightaway of the infield
in the first lap of the Heat race, which mangled his Honda and sent him to the Norfolk Trauma Center for observation
and testing. An MRI revealed that Shane suffered a cracked C-5 vertebrate in his neck, and he will be sidelined
for the remainder of the year. Shane will need to wear a neck brace for up to 12 weeks, but afterwards, he should
be back to 100%.
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After wrapping up the WPSA QuadTerrain Championship, Daryl Rath has made his return
to his first love, Extreme Dirt Track Racing
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If anyone dares to complain about traveling to the races, they better talk to California's
Frank Batista first because he traveled from coast to coast to race at Dixieland
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Upon the restart of the pro heat race, Tim Farr grabbed the Holeshot and claimed the win in the fastest heat
race of the evening over Zac Willet, which secured Tim the first gate pick for the Pro Main. The other two heat
races provided some intense racing action with Darin Ogden and Keith Little going at it for the win with Ogden
holding off Little to the checkered flag. Chuckie Creech surprised everyone when he was able to maintain the lead
and take the win over Harold Goodman in another intense heat race to the finish.
With the stage set for the Pro Main, the 20 Pros lined up just after 11:00PM with Tim Farr picking the center
line with Keith Little and Harold Goodman lining up to his left while Darin Ogden picked the far outside line up
against the wall. When the light turned green, it would be Harold The Bee Goodman grabbing the Chick-Fil-A Holeshot
Award and five juicing chicken sandwiches to go with it, but before the end of the first lap, Tim Farr would make
the pass and take over the lead. Chuckie Creech held down the third spot over Darin Ogden, Keith Little, and Zac
Willet.
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Tim Farr quickly took over the lead and never looked back
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With no one in his way, Tim Farr wasted no time in pulling away from the rest of the field with Harold Goodman
maintaining the second spot several seconds behind Farr while the battle was on between Creech, Little, and Ogden
for the third spot with them running tire to tire around the track for several laps. Several seconds behind the
battling trio was another wave of riders lead by Michael Colburn in 6th place with Trent Powell, Zach Stanley,
Adam Anderson, and Frank Batista rounding out the top ten only inches apart with the rest of the field right behind
them.
Several laps into the race, Darin Ogden was able to work his way past both Creech and Little to take over third
with Little moving into fourth place, but his Honda was beginning to billow smoke. Zac Willet
s charge in sixth place would end when he stalled his Honda heading into the infield and couldn
t get it to re-fire, which left him kicking emphatically till it finally started with him a lap down.
With only two laps remaining in the race, Keith Little
s Honda came to a stop as it finally seized up from losing oil from a blown valve cover gasket, which most likely
ended his run at the 2006 Championship with only two races remaining and no throw-outs
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#2 Darin Ogden found himself on the Podium once again with only a handful of sponsors
to thank for his success
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#12 Keith Little removes his helmet as he pushes his Honda back to the trailer after
his engine went up in smoke
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Tim Farr was able to cruise the final lap to the checkered for the win, which extended his points lead over
Keith Little to 32 points with Harold Goodman holding on to second place and moving to within 6 points Little in
points. Darin Ogden once again earned himself a spot on the podium with a third place finish, and Chuckie Creech
and Michael Colburn rounded out the top five. For Creech and Colburn, this race will be one to remember as they
both secured their best ever Pro finishes.
It was a great night, and I feel bad for Keith because I hated to see him go out that way, but you know we
just have to stay on top of this bike and make sure that it doesn
t happen to us, said Tim Farr.
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Harold Goodman and his Father, Harold, are a great team
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For Harold Goodman, it was his first time on the Podium since the opening round in Texas after coming up short
the past two races. We had everything working real well tonight , said Goodman.
Darin Ogden claimed his first Pro win at Dixieland last year, but he was just as happy this year to be on the
Podium as a privateer with a small budget, and he gave huge props to his sponsor FTZ for making it happen. If
you want to go fast, you will go as fast as you want with an FTZ engine , said Ogden.
Once again, the Dixieland track put out Keith Little
s fire as his Championship hopes apparently went up in smoke for the second year in a row, which gives the reigning
champion, Tim Farr, some major breathing room at the final two rounds of racing in Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
ATVA Extreme Dirt Track - Pro ATV Top 20 Results
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Tim Farr |
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Harold Goodman |
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Darin Ogden |
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Chuckie Creech |
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Michael Coburn |
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Zach S. Stanley |
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Frank Batista |
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Adam Anderson |
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Tyler Smith |
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Trent Powell |
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Scott Morris |
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Daryl Rath |
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Brad Riley |
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Kelsey Stamm |
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Brain Ace |
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Cody Anderson |
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Danny Mcgraw |
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Zac Willett |
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Keith Little |
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Chad Winfrey |
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Fighting for your Rights
All Terrain Vehicle Association
P.O. Box 800
Pickerington, OH 43147-0800
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