GNC-MX: Keith Little gets big win in Texas motocross battle
Photos by Stephani
McIntyre
March 16, 2005 – Lone Star Racing’s Keith Little (#12) has been a challenger at the front of the Pro pack in the ATVA ITP/Moose Grand National Championship Motocross Series for some time, but has never claimed victory.
That changed during the second round of this year's series at the Lake Whitney MX Park in Azle, Texas, February 26-27. The track was all his as he pulled the hole shot with his Yamaha and led both motos from start to finish, claiming his first GNC-MX win.
Racer Productions, promoter of the inaugural race at Lake Whitney, dealt with constant rain on Saturday, and pushed tons of mud aside to build a very good track for Sunday.
The first moto started out with Suzuki/Yoshimura's Jeremiah Jones (#2) chasing Little. But Jason Luburgh (#8) aboard a Yamaha passed Jones on the first lap and the battle for second place continued lap after lap.
Little opened up a big lead and held on to claim first place. Meanwhile, Jones got around Luburgh near the end of the moto to earn second place
The second moto was another story altogether, with several riders challenging Little for first place lap after lap.
A first turn pile up left nine Pro riders tangled and some off in the mud that had been pushed off the track earlier in the day.
Little's first challenger was Kory Ellis (#53), but that didn't last for long.
John Natalie (#13) got a sixth-place and that's not where he wanted to be. He started picking off riders one at a time, moving up past Ellis to second place to charge after Little.
Natalie and Ellis tangled going for the best line and opened the door for Doug Gust (#55) to challenge Little.
With the finish line in sight, Gust pushed as hard as he could. He came alongside Little, but Little held his line and stayed on the gas to take the second moto and the overall win.
Another first at Lake Whitney was Jason Luburgh taking a solid second-place finish overall that put him on the GNC-MX podium for the first time in his Pro career.
Jeremiah
Jones was one of nine riders in the middle of that first turn pileup. Jones
recovered quickly to get back in the race and moved up as fast as he could to
nail down a third place overall finish for the day.
Pro Winners
Keith Little (#12) Yamaha
Jason Luburgh (#8) Yamaha
Jeremiah Jones (#2) Suzuki/Yoshimura