Chad Wienen scored his and Yamaha’s first AMA Pro ATV championship at the final event of the season in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. on Saturday, Aug. 11. Racing a Yamaha YFZ450R for his new Wienen Motorsports team this year, Wienen put together a smart pair of 3-4 moto finishes to claim the historic championship with a 31-point advantage over nearest rival John Natalie. In all, Wienen took six wins and 10 straight podiums during the season. Making the event at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch even more special, Yamaha’s own Thomas Brown finished sixth for the day with 5-3 moto results to claim fifth in the final standings. Along with Wienen, Brown also helped give Yamaha the AMA Pro ATV Manufacturers title for the first time ever.
With a comfortable points lead heading into the final round, to grab the title Wienen needed to finish but not necessarily win. So in the first of two motos, he settled into third place, ceding the fight for first and second to rivals Joe Hetrick and Josh Upperman, staying out of trouble and drawing closer to the historic championship. Wienen then adopted the identical strategy in moto two, playing it safe in fourth place while Natalie, Josh Creamer and Yamaha’s Brown all climbed the podium. At day’s end the formula worked to perfection, solidly giving Wienen the championship.
"This time last year I was out with an injury and I made up my mind that I was going to come back and give everything to win a championship in 2012," Wienen said. "It's been a long time coming but we did it!” Yamaha’s ATV racing coordinator Donnie Luce added, “Chad and his Ryan Cox-prepared YFZ450R have added their names to the Yamaha history books by winning the most prestigious championship in ATV MX racing. We are glad to share this first series championship with him and the entire Wienen Motorsports team.”
| Pro Class |
| 1 |
John Natalie |
|
| 2 |
Joel Hetrick |
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| 3 |
Chad Wienen - YAM |
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| 4 |
Josh Creamer |
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| 5 |
Josh Upperman |
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|
 |
| Standings |
| 1 |
Chad Wienen - YAM |
459 |
| 2 |
John Natalie |
428 |
| 3 |
Joel Hetrick |
382 |
| 4 |
Josh Upperman |
363 |
| 5 |
Thomas Brown - YAM |
350 |
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