MILLVILLE Jeffrey Rastrelli always felt a little bit "off."
No matter how hard he trained, no matter the number of hours he put in working on his bike, no matter how many times he told himself to focus, something didn't feel right.
A year ago, in the middle of his fourth full season as an AMA Pro ATV Motocross racer, he felt weak and was often vomiting on the track during practice sessions and races. So the 26-year-old from Palm City, Fla., sought some help.
"I didn't know what was going on, why I wasn't performing," Rastrelli said. "I saw a doctor who said I'd had some health issues for years. He helped me get on a certain diet and training program and it's changed my whole life."
Rastrelli has found a comfort level and success on the track this season more than ever before. He sits third in the Pro Class standings as the AMA ATV Motocross series makes its annual stop at Spring Creek MX Park this weekend.
The pro races are scheduled for Saturday afternoon, with motos set to begin at 2 p.m. and 4. An autograph session with the pro riders will be held following the second moto.
It was exactly a year ago that Rastrelli was diagnosed with low-to-no stomach acid. He said the races at Spring Creek last year were the first time in a long time he had felt close to 100 percent.
"It wasn't that I was eating bad, but the things I was eating were bad for me ... bread and certain other things," he said. "I wasn't getting any nutrients out of the food I was eating. Now I'm all healed up.
"The doctor really changed my whole career. I was always fast, but could never last through a 20-plus minute moto."
Pro motos last 18 minutes, plus two laps. Rastrelli's new-found health has allowed him to form an exercise routine that has done him a world of good on the track, in terms of both strength and endurance, two necessities for ATV racers.
"Mentally, too, it's been a huge help," he said. "I was always in a fog, always a little off. The whole diet and everything about it ... I stay to it very strictly. It's working; I've been on the podium (top-three finish) now four rounds in a row."
Rastrelli needs that strength and stamina to attempt to chase down the two riders in front of him in the standings -- second-place rider Joel Hetrick and points leader and five-time defending national champion Chad Wienen.
Wienen enters this weekend's races with 255 points; Hetrick is seven points back of him. Rastrelli has 202 points, and is likely out of title contention with just four rounds left in the championship series, but he said this season has been a great learning and growing experience.
"All-around, I have more stamina and energy," he said. "I feel like I can go all day now. Before, I'd wake up and wouldn't want to do anything. Now, I can wake up and go all day. Before, it was a drag. I had no energy.
"On the track it's unbelievable. I can't even compare where I am now to where I was then."
Rastrelli has his sights set not only on another podium finish at Spring Creek, but he wants to earn his first moto win and first overall victory (the best average finish after two motos on a race day) of his pro career.
He said a wreck in the first round of the championship this year has proven costly. He finished 17th in that moto, but has been a thorn in the leaders' sides ever since.
"I won't be able to catch those guys in the points," he said, "but my goal by the end of the year is to win one. I've (finished) second. I've finished third. But I've never won one.
Friday: Hetrick trying to track down Wienen
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Pro ATV Motocross: Change in diet has sparked Rastrelli toward top - Post-Bulletin
