Round 14 GNC-MX Nationals

Photos by Digital 219

Gust wins event, Byrd wins championship

September 8, 2006 – Team Suzuki/Yoshimura rider Doug Gust ended the season with a big win at the final round of the 2006 ATVA ITP/Moose Racing National Motocross Series at Balance Moto X in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but a second-place finish by Joe Byrd was enough to earn him the 2006 championship by a slim six points.

Gust, of Salem, Wisconsin, and Byrd, of Union City, Tennessee, were the two contenders for the title entering the final round.

In the first moto, Gust raced side-by-side with Harold Goodman for the hole shot and grabbed the advantage at the last possible moment. Gust was followed by Goodman, Dustin Wimmer, and John Natalie, with Byrd back in ninth place. By the end of the moto, Gust held a commanding 8-second lead and Byrd had battled back to third place, just behind Wimmer.

That set up the second-moto showdown, with Byrd needing only to finish a few places behind Gust to clinch the championship. The start was a carbon copy of the first, with Gust and Goodman battling for the lead, but this time Goodman took the lead and Byrd fell into line in sixth place. Natalie, racing for the first time since a wrist injury, charged into the lead but later slowed and fell back.

At the checkered flag, Jeremy Lawson took the win, with Gust second and Byrd third. The overall podium was Gust, Byrd and Lawson.

The Balance Moto X facility proved to be a great setting for the final round of the series. Having outgrown another track, promoter Sam Gammon located a venue with a wide, ATV-friendly track, clean restrooms and showers, and acres of parking, all of which made Ballance Moto X a big hit with the racers and fans.