John Natalie grabbed second in Moto 2 on Saturday for Round 5 of the Mtn. Dew ATV Motocross National Championship at Briarcliff MX in Nashport, OH but a sixth-place Moto 1 finish gave him fifth overall and he's now tied for second in the Championship standings.
Points leader Chad Wienen swept for the first time this year taking the overall and reclaiming the top spot of the podium after a two round drought. Wienen, however, is the only rider to reach the podium every round this season. He now leads Natalie and Joel Hetrick by 41 points.
Natalie, a MotoSport rider, grabbed the holeshot for Moto 2 but was unable to fend off a hard-charging Weinen and gave up the lead on Lap 4. Hetrick went 4-3 for second overall and capture enough points to tie Natalie who had a strong hold on second-place in the standings for much of the season. Thomas Brown, who won Round 4, went 3-4 for third overall and is now in fourth-place, 19 points behind Hetrick and Natalie.
"The race went really well, we had some motor issues in the first Moto. The cam got put in wrong," Natalie said. "We had no power but we had a nice place to start and worked up to sixth. The second Moto I pulled the holeshot and I was able to gap Chad but he cut into me and knocked me off the track."
Natalie has dealt with suspension issues for several rounds that bounced him around on the track which eventually wore him down as the race went on and he'd fall behind. He leads in the Holeshot Championship with nine points so speed was never an issue and now it sounds likes the suspension problem is fixed.
"We got a whole different brand of suspension and put it in. It was amazing," Natalie said. "I'm not going to say it made me faster, maybe a second faster, but it made it so much easier to ride where I don't get tired."
Natalie credits the new suspension for keeping him from crashing when Wienen cut into him in the second Moto. The new suspension helps suck up rough riding, jumps and even minor mistakes where the old suspension might let Natalie spin out of control.
"That's one of the issues behind us," he said. "We're going to go to this next race and win it."
Round 6 of the 2014 Mtn. Dew ATV MX National Championship is June 28 at Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, MN. Check out the full schedule and find directions here.
2014 ATV MX Round 5 Results
- Chad Wienen (1-1)
- Joel Hetrick (4-3)
- Thomas Brown (3-4)
- Josh Upperman (2-5)
- John Natalie (6-2)
- Ronnie Higgerson (5-7)
- David Haagsma (7-8)
- Tyler Hamrick (8-9)
- Nicholas Moser (9-11)
- Josh Creamer (16-6)
2014 Mtn. Dew ATV MX Championship Standings
- Chad Wienen (236)
- Joel Hetrick (195)
- John Natalie (195)
- Thomas Brown (176)
- Josh Upperman (170)
- Josh Creamer (139)
- Jeffrey Rastrelli (117)
- Tyler Hamrick (99)
- Casey Martin (91)
- Sean Taylor (89)
