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#9
Bryan Cook
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Bryan Cook’s race started with some bumping
and grinding in the first turn which set him
up to start mid pack. Cook ran a solid race
and worked his way from 8th to 4th to finish
the race. Solid riding and solid set up have
the North Carolina rider sitting 3rd in points
and in the spotlight as all eyes watch the privateer
celebrate his best season ever.
Jarrod McClure spent the short break in the
GNCC action to train hard and service his machine.
Off track nutritional support and physical training
have the talented young rider in peak shape
for the demanding races. The training came into
play as McClure worked his way to the front,
finally settling in behind Cook for the last
lap run to the checkered flag. Scoring his second
top 5 by finishing 5th is quite an accomplishment
for yet another young and rising talent in the
series.
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#14
Jarrod McClure
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#12 Brent
Sturdivant
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Team LTE racer, Brent Sturdivant arrived at
this round with a brand new Can Am DS450, which
he hoped would allow him to move past the demons
that have plagued him thus far in 2008. The
tight track offered little room to make passes
and shave time on the leaders explained Brent,
but added his new machine ran flawlessly. During
the week prior to the event, prepping the new
machine had him search for every detail that
they had found to cause them issues and attended
to them, but the front shocks were overlooked,
causing them to fade badly. Blisters quickly
filled the riders hands from the hard hits he
was taking as he pushed forward and with roughly
a 1 ½ to go on the last lap, he wrecked
and attributed the crash to the front shocks
condition. He knew he was riding faster then
he should have he explained, but the chance
to finally get himself and the DS450 upfront
was paramount. Luckily the machine and rider
were fine, and those front shocks will be serviced
and placed on the “do not forget”
list as the next round closes in! It is awesome
to finally see Sturdivant feeling confident
after a race, and if they have indeed started
on the right track with this fledgling model,
then we should start seeing him inside the top
5!
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#4
Matt Smiley
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For Matt Smiley, another round of racing is second
nature as the tall and sleek Pennsylvanian casually
awaited the start. The veteran of countless races,
nothing seems to rattle him. The casual coolness
ends when the green flag fly’s and Smiley
turns loose the years of experience as he has
done for so long. Smiley would find himself in
4th on lap 1, and falling back for the next 2
laps before picking up 2 spots finishing out the
race in the 7th position. Matt has scored 6 top
10 finishes so far this season, and currently
sits in 8th in XC1 points. There is plenty of
racing left for Matt to pick it up and get inside
the top 5 for points!
