| In
what turned out to be one of the most exciting
pro quad races in recent history, Team Alba’s
Kory Ellis, #53, narrowly beat out Jeremiah Jones
for the win in the season opener.
Each track in the GNC series
offers it’s own unique riding environment
to test the riders (and fans). For some it’s
rain or mud or rocks. The 2004 season kick-off
race in Glen Helen California will be remembered
for it’s high winds, heavy dust and amazingly
steep “Mt. Saint Helens” climb and
drop. Many riders were intimidated by the black
diamond ski slope drop that quickly launches riders
to break-neck speeds. As with any season opener,
the excitement and tension was high and everyone
was ready to get racing.
Moto 1,
At Glen Helen, the races start with a 300 yard
sprint into what is known as Taladega turn, –
which is a very high banked, wide open u-turn
that sends riders into the first jump and sets
them up for the “small hill” climb.
There is no bottle-necking or traffic jams on
this start, making the hole shot one of pure power
and guts, and is measured by the first rider to
free-fall from the top of the first climb.
 In
Moto 1, Kory Ellis was one of the top 5 out of
the gate and, rather than dropping low on the
inside of Taladega, he went high – and fast,
which was enough to propel him in front of the
other riders and has him set up in the inside
of turn 2 – right before the first climb,
where his Team Alba performance YFZ power out
pulled the competition. Kory held and extended
his lead for the first few laps. The top 3 positions
quickly distanced themselves from the pack.
John Natalie, Jr. had been
chasing down Kory Ellis and was on his back for
an entire lap, when he finally made is way around
him for the lead right at the start finish line.
They ran side by side past the grandstand, but
Natalie had the inside line and took the lead.
Natalie pulled away and Ellis dropped back while
third-place, Jeremiah Jones started closing the
distance between second. Natalie seemed to pull
away but, in three laps, Ellis got back on it
and closed up on him. The large number of Team
Alba and Kory Ellis fans let out a roar as Natalie
faltered and Ellis made it back to the lead, after
being hounded himself by Jones.
After holding off Ellis,
Natalie was done and dropped back. Ellis continued
to lead, with Jones closing in fast – separating
themselves from the field. Half way through the
white flag lap, it looked like Ellis was going
to take it, having held off Jones. But Jones wasn’t
giving up. Then the crowd let out a collective
gasp, as, right before the start finish line,
Ellis broke threw a burm and about came off the
track.
“I had been going into that
burm pretty hard – launching into the next
corner,” commented Ellis, “but on
the last lap, the burm just broke away, and there
I was off the track with Jeremiah right behind
me.”
Fortunately, Ellis was able
to keep his Alba YFZ450 running and Jones to the
outside for what turned out to be a sprint to
the finish. And that was just moto one.
Team Alba's Steve Beilman gets some air
during Saturday practice.
|
Moto 2
Moto 2 was equally exciting with Ellis again getting
the hole shot by a bold and fast move up to the
top of Taladega Turn. High fives went around the
Alba camp when Ellis visibly out powered everyone
up the first climb.
“Last
night, before the race we had a dilemma.”
Commented Ellis “My main Alba YFZ had a
great chassis set up but my practice Alba YFZ
just seemed to have a stronger motor. So last
night, we put the practice quad motor into the
race chassis.”
The motor swap turned out to be a good move, Ellis’s
Alba YFZ 450 race motor seemed to have a bit more
pull on the big climbs, and held strong everywhere
else.
Ellis maintained the lead
for most of the race, when he was finally chased
down and passed by Doug Gust. Realizing that Gust
wasn’t a threat for the overall win, Ellis
didn’t work at regaining the lead. Rather,
the real race was with third place, Jeremiah Jones.
If Jones finished in front of Ellis, he would
get the overall win.
The crowd, who had
been on their feet the entire race, was silent
and craning their necks forward, trying to see
which rider came from the back portion of the
track that wasn’t visible from the stands.
The tension was enormous. Jones gave it a good
charge but didn’t have enough to get by
Kory Ellis, who brought home the overall win!
Get more details and complete race
results at ATVscene.com |
