[2006 ATVA MX Nationals Round #10 –Mill Creek - Pell City, AL – Pro ATV Race Coverage] - ATV Riders Forums - Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Polaris, CanAm, Arctic Cat, Kymco ATVs

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2006 ATVA MX Nationals Round #10 –Mill Creek - Pell City, AL – Pro ATV Race Coverage
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Posted by: Admin

Pell City, AL - For the first time ever, the ATVA Motocross Nationals headed south to Alabama to Mill Creek Motocross Track located in the small southern town of Pell City, which is conveniently located just 30 miles west of Birmingham the largest city in Alabama.

Birmingham, AL grew from its rich source of Iron in the hills that surround the city, and it economy continues to revolve around the iron and steel industry.

To celebrate its Iron roots, a sculpture of a Iron worker known as "Vulcan Man" was constructed for the World Fair in the early 1900's, and final resting place is on top of a hill overlooking the city of Birmingham. It was recently restored and opened to the public to view the city of Birmingham from near the top of its pedestal.

Posted by: Admin

Birds eye view of the city of Birmingham from the overlook on the “Vulcan Man” statue.

Posted by: Admin

With the Mill Creek Track only a couple miles outside the city of Pell City and within a few miles of a Wal-Mart, I experimented with having an autograph session at Wal-Mart, and Alabama’s Keith Little along with Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Doug Gust & Jeremiah Jones also attended to sign autographs and create visitors.

Wal-Mart allowed us to park the two rigs right in front of Wal-Mart, which was really cool.

Posted by: Admin

Keith Little wheeled his Lonestar Racing’s Honda into the entrance of Wal-Mart and signed autographs for several hours Thursday evening.

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At the other entrance, Doug Gust and Jeremiah Jones were setup at a table, and they too were kept busy signing autographs. The Wal-Mart idea proved to be a success experiment, and ATV racers will be attending more retail stores at future events this year along with the normal ATV dealerships for Open House events.

Posted by: Admin

The event also provided some time for the kids/mechanics, paul turner and Ryan Cox, to try and win some prizes to take back to their rooms, lol.

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Checkout this 3-wheeler that I spotted in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

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As I headed over to the Mill Creek Track, I crossed over the railroad track less than a mile from the race track, and I spotted this Amtrak Train

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Upon arriving at the track, the parking lot was quickly filling up with trailers from around the country and everyone was happy with all the level parking.

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The track itself was awesome with plenty of elevation changes as it crisscrossed from one hill to another and down into the small valleys. The track could have been slightly wider, but it still allowed for plenty of passing and even developed a few passing lanes on some of the sweeping turns.

Posted by: Admin

The Pro Pits was a little thin this weekend with a few Pros taking the 4th of July weekend off from racing, but there were still 18 Pros in attendance.

Posted by: Admin

The track owner really took the extra effort to take care of the racers and fans by providing a concrete pad along the pond for washing the ATVs after the Motos. Also, the staging area and starting line was covered with canopies to help keep the riders cool before the race instead of baking in the sun.

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On the hillside, a huge Red Bull tent provided a shady spot for the spectators to escape from the sun as well.

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Red Bull

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Even the spectator bleachers were covered, which provided some relief from the heat, and it was definitely needed this weekend with temperatures soaring up to 100 degrees.

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The thermometer under the Suzuki awning registered 106.3 Degrees to give you an idea of how hot it was this weekend, and I was told it went even higher.

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In an attempt to escape from the heat, Doug Gust sat in front of misting system wrapped around the fan

Posted by: Admin

Joe Haavisto wrapped a white Rath Racing shirt around his head to keep cool.

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others resorted to just pouring water over their heads and back

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Cindi Hart was one of the lucky few to have her own portable pocket fan to stay cool.

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To keep the track from getting dusty, the track crew kept busy spraying down the track throughout the race weekend, and they soaked it down overnight, which kept the moisture in the track, but it did provide for some muddy early Motos.

Posted by: Admin

In an attempt to attract out as many spectators as possible to the event, I invited the local news stations to the track to witness ATV racing for themselves, and both NBC 13 & ABC 33/40 attended the event, which was awesome.

They interviewed Alabama's own Keith Little along with the other top pros, and it was aired during the 10PM news. ABC 33/40 did an incredible job with their report and provided some great footage from the event.

Posted by: Admin

Jeremiah Jones seemed to be on cloud nine all weekend as he was happy for the heat because he has been training for it, and it has shown with his 5 consecutive Podium appearances heading into Mill Creek.

Posted by: Admin

John Natalie Jr arrived with a softcast on his wrist after discovering he actually broke a bone in his wrist during practice at Steel City. He kept the smile on his face even though he knew that he wasn't anywhere near being 100% this weekend as he planned to salvage as many points as possible to keep him in the hunt for the championship.

Posted by: Admin

Joe Byrd wasn't able to capitalize on Natalie Jr injury at Steel City after having issues in both Motos, which only netted him his worse finish of the year a 13th place with Natalie Jr finishing in 17th. Byrd still was able to extend his lead by an additional four points over Natalie Jr, but he allowed Gust and Jones to really narrow the gap.