| GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 11 "Unadilla" |
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On Friday when all of the racers arrived this year to
Unadilla there was a glimmer of hope that the grounds
would stay dry and perhaps we would see the sun. This
all changed during the night when the skies opened up
and drenched the hills of New Berlin. The World famous
Unadilla hit the Tri-fecta of National events this season
with the MX Nationals, The ATVA MX Nationals and now
the Grand National Cross Country all suffering from
severe rain soaked conditions.
Morning Race
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Nathan Beyers claims the Overall and 22+ Class
Win and moves into third place in points |
The riders left the track and expressed a wide range
of feelings for what they experienced on the mud of
Western New York. Some claimed that it was possibly
the worst conditions they ever raced, others said it
was just miserable; some even kept their quads in the
trailer. Then there was a guy who showed up at the morning
race waiting for conditions just like this. Nathan Beyers
of Cumberland, Indiana was the overall winner of the
morning race. Beyers ran in the Novice C (22+) class
and not only managed to take the overall victory by
almost six minutes, but had to overtake a huge number
of riders in terrible conditions all at the same time.
Nathan’s best overall finish prior to this was
at the 2006 Showtime GNCC with a 13th in similar rain
soaked conditions. Second place on the overall podium
of the AM race was the 2006 GNCC Women’s champion
Traci Cecco on her Yamaha. Third place on the podium
for the morning was taken by Doug Hunter on a Polaris
that belongs to Matt Smiley. After walking around the
track all morning and having trouble just walking from
one point to another with out falling, my hat goes off
to these riders for working hard to get to the finish
line, let alone the podium.
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| The
Texan, Lexie Coulter made the long trip north
to New York worthwhile claiming her best finish
of the year with a 4th Overal land 2nd in the
Women's Class |
Stefanie
Verkade was off to a great start holding down
2nd Place till smacking a tree and breaking
her nose. Despite a broken nose, she pushed
on to finish in 5th |
In the Women’s class Lexi Coulter worked her
way from 8th to finish second ahead of Angel Atwell.
Although Traci has rapped up the title for 2006 season
there is a battle brewing for the second spot. At
this time Angel Atwell and Stephanie Parton are tied
in points with only two remaining races this season.
In the Super Senior class John Gallagher was leading
the race for the first three laps and did not finish
the fourth lap giving the race win to Ken Vickard.
In the Novice C Stock class Evan Williams spent the
whole race chasing the leader Josh Ross by seconds
at a time to finally take the lead and hold it on
the final lap. The Utility Stock class had a great
battle as well with Mike Swift and Rick Cecco swapping
the lead on a number of occasions. Every time I saw
them on the course they were with in sight of each
other and racing hard to fight off one another. Mike
held off Rick into the scoring area and won the race
by seven seconds. The Utility Modified class we saw
another clash between Brock Parker and Scott Kilby.
Brock kept his Kawasaki in front of the Can-AM of
Kilby for the duration of the race to capture his
seventh win of the season and inch closer to claiming
the championship.
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| Rick
Cecco was back to racing his Honda Rincon and
finshed out the day in 2nd place after battling
with Michael Swift |
The
battle for the Utility Unlimited Championship
intensified with John Bowers passing a smoking
Michael Shelley |
After the AM race was over I had a moment to chat
with Traci Cecco and ask her what she thought of the
race. Traci agreed that the course was tough and the
conditions were less than favorable. When I asked
her what her favorite part of the race was she replied
“the checkered flag.” I am sure that she
was not the only one happy to see the checkers at
this year’s race.
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Morning
Top Three Overall (left to Right)
Traci Cecco, Nathan Beyers, Doug Hunter |
Afternoon Race
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Sean Neidlinger grabbed the Pro Am Holeshot,
but he wasn't able to hold onto the lead and
finished out the day in 10th place with Jeffrey
Pickens claiming his 2nd win of the season. |
The afternoon racers made their way to the line with
high anxiety after hearing the reports of the AM racers.
They heard of the vicious mud holes, the hills climbs
with riders scattered about and the difficulty of
passing in these conditions. No matter how much this
can affect your race it is time in the season that
championships are won and lost and when the conditions
can defeat a rider before they ever leave the starting
line. The flip side to this is some racers love conditions
like this, they love the mud and slop and this is
when they do their best. One of these riders is Brandon
Sommers racing on his GT Thunder prepped quad. Brandon
fought his way through some of the best riders in
the business from his start in the 4 Stroke A class
to finish in the 12 overall position for the day.
This was the top spot for a rider that was not in
the Pro or Pro/AM class. Not only did he win the 4
stroke A class, but he did it by nearly 8 minutes.
In the Pro/AM class there was quite a few lead changes
and a great battle for the win. Early leader Sean
Neidlinger ran into some troubles on the second lap
and slipped from the lead spot dropping all the way
to the 10th position. Jeffery Pickens won the Pro/AM
division over Ryan Morphew in a race that close from
start to finish. There was less than 20 seconds or
less between these two riders the entire race. They
both finished ahead of third place rider Taylor Kiser
from Florida.
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| Jarrod
McClure lead the Pro Am Class to the final lap
when dirt clogged his Carb, which dropped him
back to 7th place |
Tyler
Lenig finishes yet another race in the top 5
and is well on his way to winning the Pro Am
Class Championship |
Junior 25+ Dennis Shadron got his third this season
while he is trying to catch points leader Kevan Logston
who also has three wins this year. In the Vet 30+
class George Long IV was the only rider who managed
to finish all 5 laps. George switched from the PRO/AM
class earlier this year and has done well since the
change. 4 Stroke B rider Justin Kosmer landed his
4th class victory of the year and stretched his points
lead in the class. Open A class has Ryan Lane currently
in the number 1 spot with seven wins on the season
after Unadilla. In the Open B class Brian Adams beat
the class points leader Nathan Wallpe who still managed
a second. Adams is in second spot behind Wallpe by
five points. This is a class that will go to the wire
to see who comes out as the champion with two races
left this season. Another class that seems to still
be in the air is the 4 Stroke B class with Justin
Kosmer sitting on top with 169 points, Mike Budd with
164 points, and Brent Foltz in third with 162 points.
One other class that has a pair of riders fighting
for position is the 4 Stroke A class. Although the
Championship seems to be in the hands of Brandon Sommers
the real heat is Kevin Yoho with 167 points and Donald
Ockerman with 165 points in third. This class could
change dramatically with a poor performance in Ohio
or Indiana.
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| Brian
Adam came from a last place start in Open B
to claim his 4th straight win as he reels in
Nathan Wallpe for the Championship |
Frank
Grimplin earned his 2nd win of the season in
the Senior Class and hasn't finished below 3rd
since switching to the class at Loretta Lynn's |
Out of all of this foul weather and rain I did get
one neat tidbit that I like to hear. During the afternoon
race Kurtis Marshall ran into some bike troubles and
had to return to the pit and fix his quad. Realizing
that he was not going to take the win he stopped and
helped a few riders along the way. On the Last lap
of the race he was getting back on his quad when his
brother Marc Marshall in the Open A class came by
to put him a lap down. Kurtis said that he jumped
back into the race and chased down his brother and
the two of them raced each other for the last five
or six miles to the finish. They both agreed that
this was the most fun they had both encountered for
a while. Now on one last note, if you think that the
conditions were ugly on Saturday, be glad that you
did not have to race on Sunday. It rained during the
night and really soaked the already bad conditions.
If that wasn’t bad enough, about twenty minutes
after the start of the AM Bike race the skies opened
up like I had never seen at a GNCC. There were EZ-ups
flying and spectators fleeing for cover as well as
many riders just pulling out of the race. Bottom line
being that the conditions were bad on Saturday, but
they really could have been worse. See you in Ohio.
The
AMA-sanctioned Suzuki Grand National Cross Country
series is America's premier off-road racing series.
The 13-round series is produced exclusively by Racer
Productions. Cross-country racing is one of the most
physically demanding sports in the world. The nearly
three-hour long GNCC races lead as many as 1800 riders
through tracks ranging from eight to twelve miles
in length. With varied terrain including hills, trees,
mud, dirt, rocks and motocross sections, GNCC events
are tests of both survival and speed. GNCC featured
sponsors include Parts Unlimited, Moose, Maxxis, Pirelli,
Wiseco, Klotz, FMF and ITP, and riders compete for
over $2.8 million in series prizes and contingency
money. Associate sponsors include Moose Utility Division,
Scott, Acerbis, Alpinestars, Cometic, Outerwears,
Twin Air, Polisport Plastics, Thor, Motion Pro, Hyper
Wheels, Elka Suspension, MotoTee's, Weekend Warrior,
Owens Motorsports, Tom's Marina Polaris, EK Chain
and Laeger's. Media Sponsors include Dirt Rider Magazine,
ATV Sport Magazine, www.ATVRiders.com
and Racer X Illustrated. For more information log
on to www.GNCCRacing.com.
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