RACE TEAM
PARTNERS

Main Event Start - Ellis far left and Schell far right.

Team Alba Comes Up Short in San Diego

Jan 22
PACE Formula USA Pro Quad Stadium Series
Round 3 - San Diego

It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the ArenaCross Quad Races. With 50,000 screaming fans, bright lights and all the whoop-la that surrounds these events, it makes you think that quad racing has actually gone "big time." Sure, most of them were there to see the likes of The Shocker and Grave Digger and the 199 Monster Truck of Travis Pastrana, but by the end of the event, the ones that could still focus were pretty impressed with the exciting racing action of the pro quad event. Round 3 at Qualcom Park in San Diego would be considered Alba's home track, just a few miles away from our headquarters, so the Alba crew was out in force to cheer on Kory Ellis, Jeremy Schell and newcomer Sage Barker.

The excitement was contagious as was evident in the large crowd of people gathered for an autograph session with Ellis and Schell who handed out race posters and took photos with the fans. The fans were great and the riders had a good time hanging with the people who would be cheering for them in a few hours.

Heat 1
After all of the crashes in Anaheim, the track in San Diego was tamed down a bit. With smaller, smoother jumps and a 100' whoop section. The most challenging obstacle being a step up corner leading into a triple. The racing was broken into 2 Qualifiers, 2 Heat races and the Main event. These were intermixed with the monster truck events. Kory Ellis, coming off of his sweep in Anaheim finished 2nd in his qualifier, as did Jeremy Schell. Heat 1 had Ellis dicing it up with Jeremiah Jones - who bumped his way past, leaving Ellis with a third place finish, behind Jones and heat winner Tim Farr.

Heat 2
Jeremy Schell lined up with John Natalie & Doug Gust for Heat 2. Natalie was on a roll and took the heat race ahead of Gust and Schell, and was the fastest qualifier overall, getting the #1 starting position. Shell finished fifth.

Main Event
The fans were still rolling into the stadium by the time the main event was on the track. Four rows of quads were lined up for the start. Ellis had the far outside front row that was filled with all of the other ATV MX stars - Natalie, Farr, Gust, Jones and Little. Schell was in the second row. Not the start we were hoping for, but Schell managed a great second place start from the second row last week, so you never know. The photo above pretty much spells it out. Ellis ran fast and deep into turn 1 while Schell tried to push his way through the inside. Natalie, pretty much the man of the night powered his way to the front and lead for the entire race.

Ellis slotted in right behind Farr for fourth place on lap one, being followed closely by Team Suzuki of Jones and Gust. The front row pretty much stuck together - chasing down Natalie. Farr managed past Little and the leaders broke away from the field.

Controversy
Like any sport, controversy plays a part - which is why we have officials. (and they make easy targets when something goes wrong) So without sounding biased, here's what happened. Kory Ellis was robbed! Ok, perhaps that is a bit biased. So here's what really happened. The lead pack was carving through lapped traffic when they came upon a stalled rider and a yellow flag in the corner. Rather than plowing into the rider, Ellis swerved right to avoid him while Gust and Jones went inside - passing Ellis in the process. Basically riders are not supposed to gain any sort of advantage under the yellow flag. The flag is there for safety of the riders. The call was questioned after the race and the officials decided to let the finish stand. It's racing, so what ya gonna do? Ellis ended up finishing 5th, dropping him to 3rd in the points behind Natalie and Farr.

Comes Up Short - Takes-Off High
Things didn't go as well for Jeremy "The Hic" Schell. At about lap ten, Schell was thrown from his Alba YFZ like a runt pup from a pick-um-up truck in a vacant lot. Coming up short on the triple, Schell hit hard and was ejected from his quad. He quickly righted his four-wheeler and was off again, but sustained some injuries to his ankle and foot, and was done for the night.

Sage Baker had an impressive run and managed a 8th place finish landing him in 5th going into the final round in Phoenix.

Race Report by:
Chris Conrady