Organizers did not get the amount of competitors they hoped for, but the crowd and those that did participate enjoyed the first-ever Bedford County ATV Terrain Challenge presented by Trott Group Powersports at the Bedford County Fair on Monday night.

Michael Swift takes the lead over Lance Smith and Doug Hayes in the Open Unlimited Utility Pro Class. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

"I was pleased with the crowd turnout but sort of disappointed with the rider turnout," Challenge director Steven Daugherty said. "But, every rider that came up to me wanted it next year and loved it. I feel like it was a success."

It took help from B&W Excavating and Hawkins Equipment to get the Challenge off its feet with track preparation and accomodations.

"It took a lot of donation of time from a lot of people to really help make this go," Daugherty said. "Then, all the money goes back into the community."

Rookie events like this one usually do take some time before they are fully embraced by the community. Couple that with the fact that it was on a Monday night and the attendance numbers were likely where they should be.

Daugherty said that if enough people contact the fair board and the Trott Group, then they will have the support necessary to host another challenge.

Although the track for the event was mostly created for the motorcross running on Saturday evening, it played out nicely for the ATV competitors.

"It was man-made to imitate natural turrain," Daugherty said. "The jumps imitate hills seen in trails. The telephone polls are imitating logs."

The mud pit and flowing stream caught some of the younger drivers and allowed the field over most of the classes to stay tight.

Roger Hall, Savannah Haynes, Michael Swift, Louis E. Davis, Chris Landers, Clint O'Brien and Randy Senn all claimed first place in their respective classes.

Much of the interest came via Daugherty and his neighbor Swift, who competes on the World Power Sports Association ATV Tour.

Swift, who races for Can-Am with three others, was kind enough to take some time off from the Tour to compete in front of fellow and alongside Bedford Countians.

The crowd enjoyed seeing their professional rider extract time from a full plate of competition to race locally.

"You never see that anywhere else," Daugherty said. "He's not getting paid but he's got bikes, goes to certain races and his schedule is full. It's real nice."

Perhaps the influx of the Challenge and Can-Am's appearance will aid in the popularity of the sport on a local basis.

"It's going to be a good thing," said Swift, who is accompanied on the Can-Am team with Chapel Hill's Cliff Beasley. "If (Daugherty) sticks in there and does it every year, it will get more and more popular. Once he gets a good class, it will be more exciting than watching the motorcross."

Joining Swift and Beasley on the Tour team are North Carolina's Scott Kilby and Georgia's Brock Parker.

Four-wheeler races have their own singular flavor that is atypical from motorbike or car racing.

"A lot of people don't know how big Cliff (Beasley) and I are into this and the level that we're on with it," Swift said. "I kind of thought that I shouldn't race because it's taking away from everybody, but it went well."

Swift knows first hand the draw that ATV races can bring as opposed to stock car races as he lives on Haskins Chapel Road just down from Duck River Speedway in Wheel.

"Once they get started and get spread out, people are just waiting for somebody to crash," Swift said. "You get the good guys out there and they're probably not going to crash. Then people are just watching them go around, around and around.

"When you do what they did with the utility four-wheelers and put logs in there, people are trying to beat each other across them and they fly off the bike after hitting the log wrong or get stuck in the mud. People change positions every lap. It's just so much more exciting."

Here's the rest of the results:

200CC-399CC

Chris Landers

600CC-UP

Louis E. Davis

OPEN WOMEN'S

Savannah Haynes, Amanda Deason, Jennifer Feldhaus

OPEN UNLIMITED UTILITY (PRO)

Michael Swift, Lance Smith, Doug Hayes, Chab Floyd

OPEN 2X4 UTILITY QUAD

Clint O'Brien, Eric Powell, Zach Taylor

400CC-599CC 4X4 UTILITY QUAD

Roger Hall, Amanda Deason

OPEN 2X4 SPORT QUAD

Randy Senn, Josh Stokes, Chab Floyd, Savannah Haynes

OPEN 40 YRS.-OVER

Louis E. Davis, Roger Hall