Formula USA 2002
Round 2 - Edison International Field, Anaheim, CA
Ahhh...... finally, home territory. The Creech family are always so excited when there is a race within driving distance. We packed up and drove the mere 12 hours trek to Anaheim to race back to back weekends at Edison International Field (Angel Stadium if you are a local). I planned on chilling for the week and hanging with the guys (and gals) while Dad flew home and did his day job at Quality Body Works in Eureka, CA (one of Dana's best sponsors by the way). Of course since this was nearly a local race for us (when compared to the Nationals anyway), we had a lot of people planning on attending. Dad and I of course were there, along with Grandma Charlotte and Grandpa Jim, Uncle Dave, Cousin Ross, Theresa Olivieri, and Kevin Palmer to name a few. Aunt Ethel, Delmar Kyle also made the trek.
This event was to be run on the Supercross track that ran Saturday night. We scored some great pit passes and good seats to watch what Dana said is some of the best racing he has ever seen. I ended up spending most of Saturday afternoon killing time with Wayne Mooradian (PEP) up in Montclair while he finished Dana's shocks. I got back in time to check out the 125 Main. Kim hung out in the pits making sure that everything we brought with us, stayed with us. The Supercross pits are a bit impressive. All the bike pros have these huge semis with lighting and tons of spare bikes and well, everything. Ahhh.... in a perfect world ATVs too would be treated with equal respect for equal effort.
The CMC crew took the edges off the big jumps and evened out the whoop section so that the amateur racers, of which there were over 800 pre-signed up (800!!! -- PRE-REGISTERED!!), wouldn't kill themselves on it. Sunday's motocross would find the only Pro-Riders there on an ATV. To be honest I thought that the ATVs could handle most of the Saturday night track. I think they would be limp noodles before they finished the whoop section though; it was brutal.
We finished some maintenance on the quads and cleaned up and stored all our pit area for the night and made plans to meet early to re-setup for Sunday's scheduled practice time of 8:00 am. Races were planned by 9:30.
When Dad and I rolled into the pits in the morning to get our pit passes, it was obvious that things were going to be a bit messy. First, the sign-up area looked to have over 500 people all trying to sign-up on race day. Everyone was trying to either check in at a pre-registration station or pay the late fees and enter that morning. The Pro-Quad Formula USA crew quickly and efficiently registered the ATV riders since there were less than 100 of us, and they were only responsible for the ATVers. I had to get media credentials from the CMC Crew Chief, Sondra, who was currently being bombarded by riders crowded around her 10 deep. I weaseled my way in and helped her check off riders with the ultimate goal of getting my media vest so I could be on my merry way. Sondra did a great job with keeping her cool and taking care of everyone that needed taking care of (if you know what I mean). I know that the demand for this event far surpassed the wildest expectations of any of us. Who would have thought that over 1,300 bike riders would register to run this event! Needless to say, practice would NOT be over within the allotted time. Actually ATVs didn't practice til nearly 3:00. It was crazy. Part of the problem was the overwhelming numbers in attendance. All the bikes were scheduled to practice first. There were a lot of media people there (not just yours truly). Most of the media people were there to cover the bike aspect, with all the major ATV magazines represented for the Pro-Quads. About half-way through bike practice Joel Grover, the main man for this event, started rounding up all the media people and confiscating media credentials. Turns out that the amatuer bike riders were taking out the media people. The way I hear even in the safe zone (a big area in the middle of the track where the media usually shoot from) bikes were overshooting corners and smacking into not only each other but anything and everyone in their trajectory. Joel left us Pro-Quad media people alone, since we would only be shooting the Pro race and we could shoot with some degree of confidence that our pros wouldn't take us out.
Derek worked well with all the helpers that were in attendance at this race. Uncle Dave and Wayne Hinson are just two of the helpers that had tidbits of information to impart.
I didn't go down on the floor to shoot any of the bike practice, because the pit area was oh-so interesting! First off there were thousands of bikes. All sizes included. There will little guys that couldn't even reach the ground when they sat on their bikes. They were so cute. Also I got a chance to really check out the EA Supercross winner's podium. It was really trick. I made Kerry stand up on it so I could have a reference as to just how big this thing was. Note to CMC: next time you have one of these, don't rely on the honor system with bike practice. Everyone was supposed to have a 5 minute or so practice, which they cut to 3 minutes. The bikes just kept getting back in line and going back out. We saw all this because the quads were lined up waiting our turn hanging out in the California sun and waiting our turn after the bikes. There were so many bikes in fact that just after practice started, all order disappeared for the staging area. Track security had to re-route the exit from the track through the pit area. Too bad for Tim Farr since the bike guys were literally exiting under his EZ-up to their pits. The Quad guys soaked up the rays while waiting for the CMC crew to sort out the traffic jam ahead of us. It was pretty obvious which of the bike guys that had been out to practice over and over, cause they were all sweaty and their bikes had dirt all over them. We heard guys bragging that it was their fifth time out and they planned on getting back in line again. It would have made more sense to issue tickets that had to be presented for your practice time. But then hindsight is always 20/20. When the CMC crew finally got the picture that they had guys that would never get done with practice, they cut off all bike practice. Joel Grover literally aged five years in front of me when he had to break that news. I just was glad that no one was armed.
When the quads finally ended up on the track to practice we found that it was a great track. This track had everything from table tops, technical sections, switch backs, big air, huge rhythm section, and a sand pit. Dana and Tavis discussed the pros and cons of the track. Dana, Tim and Jason Dunkelberger also checked out sections. Given the chance, I think I would have tried for the five times out there thing. Dana was having a bit of trouble getting used to his motocross bike. He hadn't tested it full out yet and was still fine tuning the setup. After Quads the little guys got to practice.
CMC was in charge of the Bike aspect of the race. FormulaUSA was in charge of the Pro-Quads. These are two separate entities. CMC made the executive decision to not have heats and then a main event for the bikes since they had over 50 motos scheduled after all the dust settled. The bikes would come out and run their main event. One moto. Pro-Quads on the other hand had their qualifiers, heats and main event just like the rest of the series. And then we all got the heck out of Dodge. It was gonna get ugly before the night was over with all those bikes and the 50+ motos left to run.
There were three heat races and one LCQ. Tim Farr was in the first heat and easily won it. Kory Ellis had the second heat and again was top dog. Dana drew the third heat with Doug Eichner, Tavis Cain, Jimmy Elza, Nick Nelson and Johnny Hale all in his race. It was going to be a tough heat he knew, but he ended up with a respectable holeshot followed tightly by Tavis and Doug Eichner. Dana went on to win his heat race comfortably followed by Doug, Tavis, Johnny and Jimmy. Turns out that Dana once again turned fast heat time, earning him first choice of starting gate in the main event.
The FormulaUSA crew (minus Jimmy White - who had to do his day job), did a fine job putting the quads where they belonged in the program. Once we finally got on the track things went very quickly for us. I know that Dana and Dunk were pleased to be ahead of the rest of the program for a change!
The start gate was at a weird angle when compared with the first corner. I had an idea that it could get a bit messy in that first corner when someone got pinched off. Luckily for us media people there was some awesome berm and foam 'haybale' protection to huddle behind. Also lucky for us media people is the fact that so many fans in the stands are willing to offer their point of view for us to digest and publish if it works into the story. However, most of what this nice man was saying to Cain Smead was never relayed to me, so, alas I wasn't able to pass his valuable information on to all of you (can you smell a side story here or WHAT?).
Amateur quad riders also showed that they had what it takes to run this track. We had a couple of local guys that we are very proud of because they finished so well. Congrats to Lane and Kyle Pullen (son and father) who made the trek from our backyard to Anaheim to run the Supercross track. Note to riders: If you can't back it up (or don't know if you can for sure) don't brag about it before practice. I happened to overhear a couple of guys, who shall remain nameless, who were just a little more confident about their abilities than they should have been. I think that they may have been a bit surprised that the way a bike and rider dress out, doesn't necessarily mean that that rider and bike is a winner. What I mean is sometimes a bike that isn't pretty and a rider who isn't wearing brand new top-of-the-line gear, may have what it takes to win. Don't get caught up in the 'Pretty Bikes Will Always Win' game.
Jeremy Schell scored the holeshot in the main event. Dana was second in line with Tim Farr and Doug Eichner going bar to bar just behind into the first corner. Dana took Jeremy in the first switchback and Tim took Doug by the end of the first rhythm section. Dana was checking out but still fighting a bouncing quad that was set up just a little stiff for the track. Tim worked his way around Jeremy and then set his sights on Dana. The battle was on when Tim began to pressure Dana. Dana kept on the gas managing to stay just a fraction of a second ahead of Tim until just before the white flag lap. Tim was running the rhythm section like it was a sand drag. He was so smooth and controlled through there that if you didn't know better you would swear there were no bumps. He took Dana and Dana went nutzo. He wasn't going to give up that easily. Just after the rhythm section there is a hard right corner and some large doubles. Dana and Tim went through those literally side by side with Tim having a mere half a bike on Dana. Dana actually landed on Tim's rear tire just after the pass (see movie of the pass and near wipe-out here). I thought Dana was down, and of course made some really loud scared Mommy noises. But Dana stuck with Tim. He kept the pressure up and it paid off for Dana. Tim went for a shift and ended up sticking his boot in the sand pit where he stalled his bike. Dana shot around Tim and completely checked out. Jeremy Schell got around Tim also here, but Tim quickly regained composure and literally ran out of time to catch up with Dana. Tim did however get Jeremy before the checkers. Finals included Dana with his very first Pro-Class win,Tim, Jeremy, Doug Eichner, Johnny Hale, Keith Little, Kory Ellis, Brian Steele, Josh Frederick, and Jason Dunkelberger with top ten honors. Other notable riders in today's racing action include Mr. Tavis Cain (soon on his way to AFRICA to film for Huevos 5), Ron Orner who once again didn't embarrass himself, and Darrel Patten.
Our camp went for major celebration! We were so happy to have this milestone for our rider and brand new team. Everything was working, mechanical wise, our team is simply 'clicking,' and the big bonus, we had all our family and friends at our hometown race to see it happen. Dana and Derek took congrats from Wes Miller (who wasn't filming for a change). The Trinity team was also pretty happy with their finish. Jeremy Schell has been out of things for a while, doing the normal grown-up stuff like marriage, family, day job (you get the picture), so his finish was really special for them as well. Johnny Hale was also a very happy camper with his first top five finish for the series.
That's it for now. Be safe, play hard and call your Mom.
Mom.
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