2016
GBC Heartland Challenge
SxS / UTV Endurance Racing
Carlisle, Iowa
August 19, 2016
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GBC Heartland Challenge
UTV Race Report
::Continued::
Jason Luburgh joined Bikeman teammate Treavis
Poynter. The pair took a detour from dominating
TORC’s new UTV class to race here. While they
had planned to share driving duties, Luburgh was
doing so well that he drove the entire race.
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Bikeman
Performance's Jason Luburgh is better known
for his UTV racing success as a 2 Time Terracross
Championship & current TORC UTV Points
leaders |
“I pitted for fuel and Treavis talked me into
staying in,” said Luburgh. “It was rough and I
am definitely spent. We found some good lines
and stayed out of the ruts. It was really survival,
finding a pace and staying with it. The Bikeman
Turbo worked really well today and The GBC Tires
allowed me to go anywhere I wanted to.”
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GBC's
Jason Luburgh drove the entire 4 hour race
to claim the 2nd spot on the GBC Heartland
Challenge Podium |
Matt Burton is a retired X Games and flat track
competitor. He won the 900 Class last year and
decided to put it all on the line in the top class
this year. He came away with a third in his bone
stock Polaris RZR.
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Matt
Burton claimed the UTV 900 class win in
2015, so he decided to make the move to
the UTV 1000 class this year & claimed
the final spot on the podium |
“This machine is completely stock; I don’t even
have an aftermarket exhaust,” said Burton. “It
was exciting, but it got really rough at the end.
We had to come through the pack. I’m retired now,
so this is what I’m doing. I wish I had a little
more power. These guys really packed a punch.
It was really tough. We really started rolling
the laps at the end because I knew Hunter Miller
was coming.”
Hunter Miller was pleased to finish fourth after
leading several laps. A broken axle and getting
stuck in a bottleneck slowed his charge in the
end.
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Maxxis'
#90 Hunter Miller held the lead before dropping
back to a 4th place finish |
“I had broken a front axle at around two hours
and was running in two-wheel drive,” said Miller.
“I was getting it done, but I came up on a bottleneck
and got high centered. I came back up to fourth,
and then I got stuck again. It was all good, considering.
This is the best I’ve ever done here and since
I’ve only finished one GNCC this year, it felt
good to just finish this one. This the toughest
race we do all year, so to nearly finish on the
podium is pretty solid.”
Kevin Trantham was held up at the start of the
race and had to climb through the pack to fifth.
After pitting, Swift took over and held the position
until the end.
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Team
UXC Racing's Michael Swift & Kevin Trantham
rounded out the UTV Open Top Five |
“We had to line up on the second row at the start
and we got stuck behind a car that wouldn’t fire,”
said Trantham. “We were a ways back, but we put
our heads down and charged forward. We moved up
quite a few places. We had a good night. We would
have liked to get a podium, but it’s still a good
night.”
Though disappointed by not making the podium,
Swift enjoyed his ninth Heartland Challenge. He
has always relished the camaraderie of the event
and its competitors.
“It got a little rough at the end, but it had
some good lines to get around so it was good,”
said Swift. “We’ve come out here since it started.
We like to come out for the race, but we also
like to hang out these people.”
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