Coastal Racing's Brycen
Neal Second at Wild Boar GNCC
Drew Landers dominates College
A to capture Top Amateur Award
Morgantown, WV (3/16/2017) -
The Coastal Racing / Answer / Maxxis / Waynesburg
Yamaha ATV Team scored two big podium finishes
on Saturday at a grueling Round 2 of the Grand
National Cross Country (GNCC) Series in the sands
of Florida. XC1 Pro ATV rider Brycen Neal fought
his way back from dead last to finish 2nd overall,
while team rider Drew Landers dominated the College
A (16-21) class by a margin of 13 minutes to capture
the Top Amateur Award with 14th overall.
|
Brycen
Neal was forced to play come-back at the
beginning of the XC1 Pro race |
Neal got off to a good start in the XC1 Pro class
but the Ohio native made a mistake in the mud
hole within the first mile of the race and dropped
to the back of the pack. Neal was able to pass
nearly half of the class by the end of lap one,
where he came through in the 7th place position.
As the halfway point approached, Neal was able
to put himself within striking distance of a podium
finish but it wasn't until the final lap that
he upped the pace completely. With a strong finish
to the brutal two-hour race Neal was able to pull
himself to within 45 seconds of the leader to
finish 2nd overall with an impressive come-from-behind
performance.
"That was definitely the most physically-demanding
and roughest track of the circuit and my Coastal
Racing/Maxxis/Answer/Lonestar/DWT/Custom Axis-backed
machine handled the conditions perfectly,"
Neal said. "I myself felt like I could've
gone another lap at the end. All-in-all we are
very happy with the first two rounds but we're
looking forward to working out some small kinks
to finally get to the center of the podium."
|
Brycen
Neal earned his second straight podium finish
at the second round of the GNCC Series |
In the College A (16-21) class, Coastal Racing
/ Answer / Maxxis / Waynesburg Yamaha's Drew Landers
bounced back from a tough season opener one week
ago to claim a convincing victory in the class.
Landers put himself into a favorable position
early on as he jumped into 2nd place by the end
of lap one.
Landers made the pass to take over the class
lead by lap two, where he then set his sights
on climbing through the overall ranks. Upping
the pace substantially in the final laps of racing,
Landers created 13-minute gap over 2nd place,
while vaulting himself into 14th overall to claim
his second-career Top Amateur Award.
"It was a super rough Florida track and
I'm really happy to come away with the College
A win and finish as the top amateur with 14th
overall," Landers said. "I won the Top
Amateur Award last year at Round 2 and after that
it seemed like I couldn't get any luck but it
looks like we are on the right track now! I had
a terrible start but I was able to work my way
through the pack and into the lead early on. After
that I focused on running my own race and tried
not to make any mistakes."
|
Drew
Landers had a stand-out performance in Florida,
finishing 14th overall |
Coastal Racing/Answer/Maxxis/Waynesburg Yamaha
ATV rider Eli Kiger got off to a mid-pack start
in the College A (16-21) class where he passed
his way up to 3rd by making a good line selection
through the first mud hole on the opening lap.
However, Kiger succumbed to a different mud hole
on the same lap, where he sunk into the mud and
lost substantial time before getting out.
Kiger was able to get back on track by lap two
as he caught up to just outside the top five after
one hour of racing. The Pennsylvania native maintained
the 6th place position for the second half of
the race where he ultimately finished for the
day.
"I felt like I was riding really well at
the beginning until I sunk the whole quad in the
second mud hole and lost about 4 minutes,"
Kiger said. "I finally got going again and
pushed as hard as I could for two laps and made
my way back up to 6th. I've been battling the
flu all week and when the one-hour mark came around
I had nothing left in my body but I was able to
keep it together for the last two laps and salvage
a 6th place finish."
The six-round UTV Championship kicked off on
Saturday as Coastal Racing/Polaris/CST/Walker
Evan's Sean Bogdan and his co-pilot Jade Kiger
lined up on row two of the XC1 Pro class. The
duo didn't get off to the best start as they entered
the woods in the 4th place position off their
row. With extremely dry and dusty conditions,
visibility was very low at times making it hard
to charge ahead at full speed.
Despite the tough conditions, Bogdan and Kiger
were able to climb from 11th on the opening lap
to 8th place in the class, where they ultimately
remained in the final two laps of the race.
|
Sean
Bogdan and Jade Kiger fought for a top-ten
finish at the SXS Opener of GNCC Racing |
"The dust was unreal, making it hard to
see in some sections," Bogdan commented.
"We had some good laps until the track started
to get rutted, making it extremely rough on the
car so we backed off a little through the woods
and drove as fast as we could in the field sections.
Florida is a tough track so I knew I had to be
smart but stay fast to finish inside the top ten."
Next ATV Event: GNCC Round 3
- March 25, 2017
Results from the Wild Boar GNCC - Saturday, March
11
XC1 Pro ATV Results
1. Walker Fowler
2. Brycen Neal (YAM)
3. Adam McGill
4. Jarrod McClure
5. Chris Borich
College A (16-21) ATV Results
1. Drew Landers (YAM)
2. Boedy Lamoreaux
3. McCain Jennings
4. Joseph Yurchison
5. Nicholas Royalty
6. Eli Kiger (YAM)
Overall ATV Championship Standings
1. Walker Fowler (60)
2. Brycen Neal (46)
3. Jarrod McClure (43)
4. Adam McGill (37)
5. Chris Borich (34)
College A (16-21) ATV Championship Standings
1. Boedy Lamoreaux (34)
2. Corey SIlverthorn (31)
3. McCain Jennings (29)
4. John Glauda Jr. (29)
5. Eli Kiger (29)
10. Drew Landers (20)
XC1 Pro UTV Results
1. Cohl Secoy
2. Cody Miller
3. Kyle Chaney
4. Hunter Miller
5.William Yokley
8. Sean Bogdan (POL)
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