SORCS Round Four

Scott's Back!
Albright's on fire
and Strickland's new ride

Hill Farm Sparta, Georgia. Round four of the 2008 SORCS series. A nice spring day, at a beautiful location. CSR Racing arrived to have a laid-back fun race. Hanging out with friends and having a good race with a decent finish. That's about all we were expecting. This race turned out to be the complete opposite of what we were expecting.

The turnout for the ATV race was a good one. Jennifer and Phil Albright showed up as well as Blake Strickland, Mike Newsom, both junior and senior, Paul Mello, Chuck Norris, Adam Coffey, Jason and Laura Strother and many others lined up for this event. The track was a tight technical course. I thought, "this is great, Scott loves tight technical courses". The time arrived for the ATV race and everyone lined up for the start. When the green flag waved, everyone on the Pro class took off, with Blake Strickland leading the way. Everyone, that is, except Scott. By the time Scott left the start line, the entire Pro class was in the woods. To make matters worse, when Scott hit the woods, a tree limb jambed between the front rotor and wheel stopping his quad. He had to stop and remove the limb from the wheel. By the time he had that removed, he had been passed by other competitors. At this point, I thought the race was over. Little did I know. By the time Scott got everything sorted, the Pro class had a big lead, and Jennifer Albright was closing in fast! Blake Strickland was setting a blistering pace, hitting all the right lines and running smooth. When they came around for the first lap, it was Strickland, Max Seagraves, and Scott had worked his way up to forth glued to the rear of third. Blake and Max still had a big lead, but Scott had settled into a fast, smooth rhythm and was setting his sites on the lead. By this time, Jennifer Albright was setting a blistering pace and by the end of the second lap, she had caught the lead pack. Soon Scott and Jennifer were battling it out, and in Scott's words "having a blast"! On the third lap, Scott and Jennifer battled to the front, each taking turns at leading the race. It was apparent that they were pushing each other. The pace they were setting allowed them to outdistance the talented Pro class. That is quite a feat considering how fast Blake was running. Never count Blake Strickland out, he is one of the calmest, fastest competitors we have had the pleasure of racing. Scott said he and Jennifer raced hard the entire last lap, swapping the lead and having fun. Finally, in the last woods section, Scott made a pass and came through for the checkers. Scott won the Pro class, with Jennifer right on his tail, taking the A Class win and the overall on adjusted time. Blake Strickland finished second and Max Seagraves took third. Mike Newsom Jr. finished fourth, and Michael Hayes rounded out the top five. When Scott pulled in after the race, he had the biggest smile I have ever seen. You could tell he had fun. The Pro class had some of the best racing I have seen in quite some time. To top it all off, we didn't realize it until later, Scott came in with a three inch gash in the rear tire, flat! Scott would like to thank Shamrock Honda, Moose Racing, Bearden Race Fuels, GT Thunder Suspension, HiPer Technology, IMS Products, Big Gun, and EVS. His Honda TRX450R was running perfectly, great suspension, and power. CSR Racing has some of the best sponsors in the racing industry and we appreciate everything they do to help us compete and represent the sport. Congratulations Scott, you did a great job and we are very proud of you.

Jennifer Albright took top honors in the A Class. In fact it was Albright first and second, with Phil Albright setting a fast pace to making it a one, two finish for the duo. Finishing third was Paul Mello. Many of you will remember Paul from a couple of years ago at BroadRiver. Paul had a bad crash on the motocross section of the track at BroadRiver, doing some serious damage to his leg. It took a while for Paul to recover, but he seemed to be in top form at Hill Farm. Adam Coffey finished fourth, with Danny McElwaney rounding out the top five. John Jovanovic finished sixth and Chuck Norris finished seventh. Congrats to Jennifer for taking the top spot, she certainly earned it. She has been battling injury and tough luck this year, but she appears to be back in top form. Congrats to Phil as well. He was turning it on and had a great race.

The B Class had plenty of action even on the start. One of the riders hit a kicker in the grass section on the third turn and went flipping, head over foot, through the air! He was really fortunate, it was dusty and quads were everywhere. Luckily, no one hit him. I happened to be at the turn where he crashed, and yelled up for Eddie to stop the next class. By the time I got to the rider, he was just coming to. He Was responsive and able to feel his arms and legs. I want to give a big thanks to the rider that stopped and attended to the rider until the Paramedics arrived. He sacrificed his race for a fellow competitor and that is to be commended. Thanks! The rider was OK and even returned to the track during the trophy presentation. Cody Taylor finished first, Jager Morgan finished 2nd, Ben Jenkins 3rd, Luke Walker 4th, Ben Hearick finished 5th, Laura Strother finished 6th, and Brian Landrum finished 7th.

Jason Strother took the Quad Vet win with Todd Eglitis finishing 2nd. Heath Warlock took 3rd, with Brian Schrantz finishing 4th and Sean Workman finishing 5th.

Michael Newsom Sr. took the Quad Senior win with Al Colter getting 2nd, Brian Anderson 3rd, David Aman taking 4th, and Dennis Johnson finishing 5th.

Johnny Pilkey won the Quad C class with Martin Laurich getting 2nd. Third went to Charlie Smith, Jeffrey Anderson finished 4th, Joseph Vanacore 5th, and Ben Lassiter getting 6th.

Jake Colter won the Quad Beginner class, Hunter Renfroe 2nd, Nick Sane 3rd, Levi Scott 4th, and Justin Hallford taking 5th. Kameron Mello finished 10th.

Jeff Edge won the Quad Utility class, with Michael Tuggle finishing 2nd, Rick Hopper 3rd, and Mike Coffey getting 4th.

In the Women's Class, it was Kristy Fortenberry taking the win with Kelly Deloach taking second and Kristen Deloach finishing 3rd. And finishing 4th in her first ATV event was Shanna Mello! We spoke to Shanna after the race and she was stoked to finish the race. Shanna said she kept pushing to get a complete race under he belt. I have a lot of respect for these ladies. They do a great job
and race hard. Congratulations ladies, great job! I also have to give a shout out to Amanda Garrett for winning the Womens bike race. Us two-wheeled folks have got to stick together!






In related news, Blake Strickland showed up at Hill Farm with a brand new KTM 525! He is still racing his Honda, taking time to get used to the new KTM. If the results of Adam McGill is any indication, the KTM will be a quad to beat.

We had the opportunity to visit with Austin Allen and his crew at the race. It was good to see Austin, and hope to see him on the track soon.

Brenda got some great picture, so check them out over at our Gallery. Until next time, take care, God Bless, later........