The momentum of the WPSA ATV series surged forward June 3 and 4 in Lizella, Georgia and ratings reports from the broadcast of the series opener showed that 250,000 households watched the May 20 race on ESPN2. But a last-minute cancellation of the June 24-25 races came as a blow to the series, which will now hold only five races of the seven initially scheduled for its debut year.

Just two weeks before the Blue Rok Raceway was to hold a race weekend, the Perry, Fla. County Commission withdrew its permission to host the race. The commission hadn’t sought sufficient public input before approving the race, said raceway owner Donald Blue. “Several local landowners complained that the commission hadn’t followed the letter of the law. So the commission decided to reverse its original course and pull the plug on our race,” he explained.

WPSA Powersports officials have responded by doubling the point values of the July 8-9 race in Taylorville, Ill. and the races July 22-23 in Rossville, Ind. and Aug. 19-20 in Englishtown, New Jersey.

The cancellation was a shame, said WPSA spokesperson Justin Anderson, but the series will carry on and continue to draw spectators and even new sponsors. “What we have here, with multiple riders competing against each other on a closed course, is completely new to the sport,” he said.

Fans and riders continue to be excited about the most unique aspect of the WPSA - the Quad Terrain Challenge class, which Anderson said is “designed to demonstrate the machines’ and the riders’ ability to overcome obstacles, with an eye toward real world usage of an ATV. There are logjams, mudbogs, a rock crawl. There are also sections of the MX course that are used as well, like the whoops. The technical section of the MX course is usually a part of it.”

Besides collecting the best men riders, Anderson points out that the WPSA has established classes for amateurs of all levels and for women. “Basically what we’ve got in place is a ladder system to help riders who are interested in moving up to the pro classes a place to compete and hone their skills.”

The opening season is meeting its high expectations, said Mike Rogers, who leads the mechanics of the Can-Am team. “WPSA is allowing everybody to see all the action. It’s a great thing,” he said. “It’s bringing the excitement of GNCC racing: the woods, the mud, the obstacles, and it makes it available for the public to watch it.”

It’s also cramming together an intense line of obstacles, he pointed out. “It’s tough on the machines. Really tough. I think everybody’s struggling the same way because they aren’t letting us change a lot of things. The machines aren’t really meant for this type of use. They get beat up. We go through a frame every couple of races. Tires, wheels, they get beat up.”

That sounds like real excitement to Demetrius Knop, who’s anticipating a thrilling race at Wild Cat Creek MX July 22-23, where he works as track manager. “The WPSA looks to have a very professional operation, and I’m excited to have them come in here and put on a great race,” he said. “They’re doing a lot of good for the sport and I think that’s great.” It’ll be the most ATV use that the track his family owns has ever had, he said.

One of those ATVs will be driven by Scott Kilby, a champion in the GNCC series who’s hoping that victory in the WPSA could mean racing full-time. The short courses of the new series are more intense than the two-hour endurance races of GNCC, he said. “In the WPSA, you can’t worry about anything. You’ve just got to go for it. You can’t think about saving the machine. You can’t think about you getting hurt. You’ve just got to go for it if you want to be on top.”

The strategy in the Pro Stock Quad Terrain Challenge, he said, “Is to try to keep people off of you when you come to an obstacle you need a certain amount of time to slow down. When you hit a logjam you’re always worried about somebody coming next to you and that you’ll drive right into them. And that’s happened a couple of times, you can see on the video.” (The next ESPN2 broadcast will be of the July 8-9 races. The tapes air July 15 at noon and July 22 at noon.)

Kilby remembered watching William Yokley get very close as Kilby maneuvered the logjam. “He tried to drive straight into the logs instead of preloading the front suspension. You have to slow down a bit, then let off the brakes to release the suspension to before you get over the obstacle,” he explained. “If you don’t do that, sometime you can make it and sometimes you can’t.”

Once you are on the logs, he said, “You kind of crouch a little bit and let the bike work underneath you as you’re actually crossing the log. You try to sort of ride loose, but you’re holding on with all your might.”

That aggressive riding worked for Yokley, who took first in the class in that June 4 race. Jeremiah Jones won the day’s Superquad Pro 450 races. He’s currently in fourth place for total points with 116 points. John Natalie, Jr. has first place with 167. Doug Gust is in second with 150 points and Dustin Wimmer’s 145 points give him third place.

In the Quad Terrain Challenge, Daryl Rath has first with 139 points, Yokley is in second with 123 and Kilby has third place with 112 points.