ATVA ITP Motocross Championship Series
Round 10, Daniel Boone MX
July 3-4, London, Kentucky
Doug Gust clinches ATVA/ITP Motocross title
July 30, 2004 – While the 2003 ATVA/ITP Grand National Championship Pro Motocross Champion Jeremiah Jones slowed and stopped trackside—disgusted with a mechanical failure—Doug Gust crossed the finish line at the Daniel Boone MX this month to clinch the 2004 title.
Gust
slowed after crossing the finish line and pumped both arms in the air in his
celebration of his accomplishment at the July 3-4 event. Jones looked detached
and dismayed as he steered his quad off the track behind a tow vehicle.
After the podium celebration, the 37-year-old Gust took an American flag and slowly let its colors unfold as he made a victory lap around the London, Kentucky, hillside motocross layout. One could sense his pride in his accomplishment and his pride in being an American Champion on the 4th of July.
Gust
had accomplished what he had set out to do when the season began—bring the championship
home to Team Suzuki/Yoshimura and prove to the racing public that the future
of ATV racing is once again headed toward a bright future.
All Gust had to do was finish in the top five during this round to clinch the title. During the first Pro moto, Gust trailed Jones and Tim Farr for most of the race. Many wondered if he was going to lay back and play it safe to ensure the win.
With no apparent desire to press either Farr or Jones, Gust held his position, following, calculating, sensing what he needed to do and what he didn't need to do in typical Gust fashion.
It
was a single-file race until the trio caught up with lappers and the lappers
decided to race instead of give way to the front runners. Jones, who appeared
to have the moto won easily, got jousted by a lapper and found himself going
squirrelly on a berm.
By the time he recovered, Farr and Gust had slipped by and were now leading the run for the moto win. Jones caught up with the two but moto time was rapidly coming to an end.
At the checkers Farr took the win with Gust second and Jones third.
The second moto had the same familiar flavor as those that put Gust at the top of the GNC Pro MX ranks all season long. It wasn't long into the moto that Gust found one of his trademark rhythms and from there on out it was a show of championship riding at its best.
This time when the checkers fell, Jones was trackside and Gust had put it all in the bag for the 2004 GNC MX season with another win. Not only had he accomplished his goal, but he had done it with two rounds to spare.
On the podium, Gust stated that he was looking forward to the final two rounds—in Southwick, Massachusetts on July 31-August 1 and Hurricane Mills, Tennessee on August 14-15—so that he could have some fun and relax and just enjoy racing ATVs.
Rounding out the podium, Team Honda's Tim Farr took second and rookie Dustin Wimmer captured his second-in-a-row third podium. Wimmer, an 18-year-old Pennsylvanian, had mounted a strong drive during the last few rounds of this year's series.
Another up-and-coming star in the
ATV
ranks made his Pro debut during Round 10 at the Daniel Boone MX. Pat Brown,
in his third year of national competition, had the '04 Pro/Am 265 national class
title wrapped up, and with another round win at London put the '04 Pro/Am Production
national class title in his bag.
He'd already decided to test his talents in the Pro ranks before coming to Round 10 and was a bit nervous about the jump. From early on during the first moto, Brown displayed a desire to make his first mark a deep one. After finishing sixth in moto one, he went on to finish seventh in the second moto and wound up one place short of a podium finish during his debut run.
Brown, a Ringoes, New Jersey, racer, stood tall and proud of his fourth-place overall finish just behind Wimmer.
Turning from the Pros all the way down to the 50cc Limited Class, David Nevrotski, an LEM sporting young gun from Philadelphia, took to the hills of Kentucky and showed no fear of the extreme ups and downs of the London circuit. He went on to take 1-1 moto scores for the overall victory. Behind Nevrotski, finishing in second and third overall respectively, wereJesse Skvarek of Jefferson, Ohio, and Devin Laird of Delvan, New York.