NATALIE AND WEST WIN 2007 WPSA POWERSPORTS ATV TOUR TITLES AS BITHELL AND WIENEN WIN AT PENNSYLVANIA'S FIELD OF DREAMS

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Chris Bithell and Chad Wienen put exclamation points on their respective 2007 seasons Sunday, winning the Pro portions of the Grand Championship National WPSA PowerSports ATV Tour event at Field of Dreams. With a runner-up finish, John Natalie, Jr. won the SuperQuad Pro 450 Riders' Championship, while a fifth-place effort netted Jesse West the QuadTerrain Pro Stock title.

The race, which represented the season finale of the 2007 Tour, will be telecast on ESPN2 on Sept. 28 at 3 p.m. EDT.

SuperQuad Pro 450
Natalie (No. 13 Elka, Maxxis/Honda) took the lead at the start of the 14-lap SuperQuad Pro 450 final and appeared to be poised to run away with the event. However, Wienen (No. 44 Team Rockstar, MSR, Pro Taper, Yoshimura/Suzuki) had other plans, moving to within striking distance late in the event, and then taking the lead on the final lap. It was Wienen's fifth victory this season, the most of any rider on the Tour.

"I started pretty deep," said Wienen. "This is why I put in all of those hours of training and it really paid off. I couldn't thank everyone enough. We're getting ready for next season. We're going to win the championship in 2008."

Natalie, with his Houtzdale, Pa. hometown crowd cheering him from the sidelines, finished second to net his first WPSA Riders' Championship. Dustin Wimmer (No. 191 MSR, Pro Taper, Yoshimura/Suzuki) was third.

Natalie overcame injuries sustained in a crash during practice earlier in the season to earn the title. He won four races this season, and put up an impressive seven podium finishes.

"This goes back to the old philosophy of never giving up," said Natalie. "We never gave up this season. We worked hard as a team. We kept plugging away at it, took the points lead a couple races ago and never looked back. I'm really excited and I think our team did a great job.

"We're already looking forward to next year," added Natalie. "We're ready to do this again at the end of the 2008 season."

Suzuki clinched its second consecutive Manufacturers' Championship on Sunday. Suzuki quads won six out of 10 races this season.

"We've had a tremendous year," said Pat Alexander, Team Suzuki's Race Director. "Chad Wienen won a number of events. Dustin Wimmer battled right down to the end for the championship. Then, of course, Doug Gust did a great job for us. He did all of the work developing this new quad over the last couple of years. I have a great bunch of guys."

QuadTerrain Challenge
Bithell (No. 6 Warnert Racing/Can-Am) took the lead early in the QuadTerrain Pro Stock final, and led all 10 laps for the victory, his first this season. Daryl Rath (No. 67 Jack Link's/Arctic Cat) and Chris Borich (No. 2 Warnert Racing/Can-Am) completed the podium.

"I'm about ready to pass out," said Bithell, who also competed yesterday in a cross country race at Unadilla MX in New York, and then made the 400-mile trip here. "I raced all day yesterday, and then had to go home. I was running on almost no sleep, so it feels really good to win."

West (No. 888 West Racing/Arctic Cat), dubbed the "Working Man" this season for his hard work on and off the track, fought his own battle with adversity and injuries, but won one race, and visited the podium five times.