Monday, January 28

Miller and McElroy Reign at the Palace

By Press Release

AUBURN HILLS, MICH. (January 26, 2002) - In the effort to take freestyle motocross to the finest venues in America, the IFMA Freestyle Motocross tour stopped at the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Detroit Pistons. In an epic battle, Dustin Miller wore the crown on Friday night breaking Drake McElroy's string of four consecutive wins. However, McElroy would refine his run during the Saturday night event and be crowned the victor in a near sold out Palace.

Friday night Brian Foster was first out in the final with Jesse Olson next to ride. Olson not only knocked Foster out of the hot seat, but had an incredible run and posted one of his best scores with an impressive 92.0. Doug Parsons and Ronnie Renner were both unsuccessful in knocking off Olson before Trevor Vines landed a sterilizer to end his run and bumped Olson with four riders remaining. Vines survived Jimmie McGuire's challenge, but Dustin Miller rode a textbook run and posted the new score to beat with a 93.0. The only rider remaining was top qualifier Drake McElroy. With four wins in a row on the line, McElroy had a smooth and top notch run, but it fell just short to bump Miller off the hot seat.

"It feels good to be back on top. Drake had a good run, but not quite enough," joked Miller after his run.

Saturday night's final started with Doug Parsons as the first rider and warmed up the hot seat for the night. Jesse Olson bumped Parsons and watched Dustin Miller's run from the best seat in the house. Miller uncharacteristically qualified through the last chance, but proved he was one of the men to beat when he posted a score of 93.0. Jake Windham returned from his finger injury on Friday night, but fell just short of knocking Miller off the hot seat. Pulling every trick in his bag including the sterilizer, Trevor Vines took over the hot seat from Miller. Vines was feeling the heat because the next rider was Drake McElroy and McElroy was looking to get back to his winning ways. McElroy never repeated a trick, didn't use a big finishing move, but he showed that he was the smoothest rider on this tour and took the top spot from Vines with a text book run. McElroy positioned himself for the win, but would have to watch as two riders remained. Both Jimmie McGuire and Ronnie Renner posted their best qualifying runs ever, but neither rider would be able to match the text book riding of McElroy. McElroy held on and claimed his fifth win in the last six events.

"It feels good to be back on top again. Dustin rode good last night and deserved to win, but it was my night tonight," McElroy said as he sat in the hot seat.

Weekend Results Top Five Friday and Saturday nights

Friday

Dustin Miller - 93.0
Drake McElroy - 92.7
Jimmie McGuire - 92.5
Trevor Vines - 92.0
Ronnie Renner - 91.2

Saturday Drake McElroy - 94.0
Dustin Miller - 93.5
Trevor Vines - 93.0
Ronnie Renner - 92.5
Jake Windham - 91.3