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GNCC Morning ATV Racing
Klotz Ironman - Round #13

Crawfordsville, IN
October 21, 2006

By: David Smith - Racedaypix.com

Overall Winner, 35+ C Class Racer, Glen Pritchard
While I was driving to Indiana for the season finale of the 2006 GNNC Off Road Racing Series, I received 3 calls from different racers worried that the rains drenched the course. I was thinking that this was going to be one of those weekends that you get a tractor to pull you in and out. I was more than pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the track that it was actually the best I had ever seen the parking and pitting area for this event. Things really starting looking good when the sun came out and we were all blessed with a great day of racing on Saturday.

After five long laps and over two hours later, it was the Suzuki mounted Novice C 35+ Racer, Glen Pritchard taking the checkered flag with the overall win as he proved that youth doesn’t always win with Pritchard 47 years old and still going strong. In the second overall spot was Sportsman class rider Scott Fleischauer aboard a Yamaha followed by the Women’s champion Traci Cecco who tried her hand in 4 Stroke A at Powerline Park, but returned to the front row in the morning sporting her #1 plate, and she pulled out another win and finished third overall out of nearly 400 racers that race in the Morning Race.

Yamaha's #1 Traci Cecco grabbed the Holeshot and never looked back as she extended her lead to two minutes over Angel Atwell by the checkered
Polaris's Stephanie Parton switched to the Outlaw 525 at Powerline Park, and it appears she is getting it dialed in as she closed the gap on Atwell to only 2 seconds.

On another note, Trail Boss Jeff Russell with the help of William Yokley decided to race the final round of the GNCC, and it would be the first time Jeff ever raced an ATV in a GNCC, and he was on pins and needles on Friday waiting for Yokley to arrive with his Suzuki LT-R450, and without any real seat time on the Suzuki, Jeff finished an impressive 11th overall and appeared to be having a blast in the process.

Trail Boss, Jeff Russell, lined up in the Morning on a William Yoikley's prepped Suzuki LT-R450 with both Yokley and Ballance showing their support
Jeff Russell's first attempt on an ATV in a GNCC race was very successful with a 11th Overall finish and a greater appreciation of what is involved to race an ATV

Also with the Ironman GNCC in the heart of Polaris country, it was only fitting for Polaris to release a handful of it all new Polaris Outlaw 525’s to the media and a few of their factory racers, and for ATVriders.com, John Gallagher Sr. rode the all new machine, and he was overwhelmed by the throttle response and over 30 pound diet from his existing Outlaw 500 that he found himself going faster through sections than ever, but unfortunately, he ran into some bad luck on the trails and clipped a tree in the final lap of the race, which ended his race early, but he is now really looking forward to the 2007 season more than ever. After racing on Saturday, Gallagher returned to his roots and raced Sunday morning in the Masters (55+) class on a borrowed 450 and finished in the 4th spot for the class. Dirtwheels editor, Cain Smead, was also back in action for the first time since Florida when he raced the Outlaw 500 and to close out the season he raced the Outlaw 525 and finished out the day with a 8th overall finish.

Mike Ockerman grabbed the Holeshot over John Gallagher, and the pair battled for several laps with Ockerman claiming his first win and best overall finish
Dirtwheels Editor, Cain Smead, raced the all new Outlaw 525 and finished an impressive 8th Overall and 4th in the Sportsman Class

Now my nominee for the official Iron Man of the weekend comes in a youth size. Walker Fowler got up early Saturday and surprised a few folks by racing the Youth Race and winning the overall. Then he jumped on a 300EX and ran the 10:00 AM Youth Production class finishing third after some mechanical issues. Walker, then got up Sunday morning and ran the Big Wheel (12-13) and claimed the overall win from the second row. 4 Hours and 45 minutes of hard racing later, Walker earned two overalls and a class third. Great Job.

Zachary Strong and Walker Fowler battled for the lead for several laps before the pair ran into separate issues at the time Zach held a 5 minute lead on the eventual class winner David Muchisko
The Youth Production Class appears to be a hit with the young riders especially Jesi Stracham, which is evident by her smiling ear to ear on her 300EX

There was plenty of excitement going on in the Utility ranks with several class championship up for grabs going into the final round of racing. In the Utility Modified division Rick Cecco was back again on his Can-Am, but this time he put it in the winners circle by working his way through the pack and past Jerime Dudding and Bryan Buckhannon, but the real story of the day in this class was who didn’t score any points. With Scott Kilby sidelined with a broken collar bone from a recent street bike accident, it appeared that Brock Parker would walk away with the championship. A last minute deal between Brock Parker and Can-Am put Kawasaki rider Brock Parker on Scott Kilby’s Can-Am Outlander for the final race of the year, and Parker only needed to finish in 8th place or better to claim the championship and with seven wins under his belt already and only twelve riders on the line, it seemed to be a done deal. In a strange turn off events, a clutch component failed on Parker’s Can-Am in the first lap, and after unsuccessfully trying to repair the machine, Parker too was left sidelined with a DNF with the championship defaulting to Scott Kilby.

Rick Cecco came from behind to claim claim his first win on a Can-Am Outlander in the Utility Modified Class
David Reese has flown under the radar all year on his Honda 450 Foreman in the Utility Mod Class as he finished out the year in 4th place

If the turn of events wasn’t strange enough in the Utility Modified Class, the Utility Unlimited Class was just as insane. The battle between John Bowers and Michael Shelley for the points lead has been intense all year, but he pair of them have run into their share of bad luck in the final rounds of series with Bowers experiencing fuel issues in the first lap at Powerline Park and Shelley claiming the win, which put Shelley in the drivers seat for the championship, and he only needed to finish in 6th place even if Bowers won the final round to claim the championship. As luck would have it, the pair found themselves battling for the lead with Shelley in the lead until he smacked a tree, which took him out of the race in the final lap of the race, which dropped him back to 9th place with Bowers claiming the win and the Utility Unlimited Championship. Meanwhile, Danny Jessee rode his best race of the season and finished out the day in second, which netted him a 4th place year end finish. Ironically, Michael’s brother, John Shelley, had his best race of the year as well working his way from 10th up to a 3rd place finish.

Michael Shelley put in an incredible season in the Utility Unlimited Class only to let the championship slip away in the last lap of the race
John Bowers returned from a 2 year retirement to claim the Utility Unlimited Championship

In the Utility Stock class, Mike Swift continued his season ending winning streak by securing his 4th consecutive win and the Utility Stock Championship over Sam Williams. Kevin Trantham gave Swift a run for his money early, but later dropped several minutes behind Swift to finish in second place ahead of Sam Williams. Chad Hill was in the third position until a 39 minute fifth lap dropped him back to a 5th place finish for the day.

Michael Swift came on strong at season end with four consecutive wins, which gave him plenty of breathing room over Sam Williams in the championship race
Pro Bike Racer, Rodney Smith, forfeited his chance to race on Sunday by finishing four laps on a stock Suzuki King Quad

With several hundred novice riders in the mix, it proved to be an exciting final round of racing with 1st Year Racer (16-24) Race leader Zachary Humphrey dropping seventeen minutes and eleven positions to 12th on the final lap. Stephen Hartsock gladly took the lead and held it for the win. Caleb Maychettee with a bad first lap charged all the way from 10th to finish in the second spot. Kyle Kessler did much of the same gaining and losing positions until the final lap where he ended up in third for the day.

Mark Pittnam clinched the 22+ C Class Title with his best overall finish of the year
Novice C 22+ racer Jesse Lowe was the hard charger of the day. He finished the first lap in the 22nd spot and worked for four more laps to finish in third only two seconds behind the number two spot. Novice C Stock 4th place finisher Sam Collins was in the lead heading into the 5th and final lap of the season but managed to lose 4 minutes somewhere on the course. Josh Ross on the other hand ran almost three minutes faster than the rest of the class to go from third to first. TJ Whited was the second place finisher a minute and a half ahead of the third place Evan Williams. Ross’s victory secured his season championship for the class by only three points ahead of Williams. In the Youth Production (13-15) class David Muchisko gets a win in the new class while Cory Ross takes home a second in the class that many racers hope will return next year. Walker Fowler took home the third after a clogged fuel vent line cost him eight minutes on the third lap.

Joey Margueria won his 8th race of the year and easily wrapped up the championship in the Sport Class on his Yamaha Blaster
With 9th Place secured in the Utility Stock Class, Mike Chirdon switched to a Kymco to race in the Sport Class and finished an impressive 3rd place on the Mongoose

Many of the racers were caught off guard on this last race of the season when lap times allowed this race to go for a fifth lap. Many of the classes were up for grabs and if you take note there was quite a bit of lead changes on the fifth and final lap. In spite of how some of the classes finished, I hope that all the racers had a great year and achieved their goals. Train hard and polish up the quad because in just about four months we will be back in Florida for the season opener at a new track. See you there.

Morning ATV Podium
(left to Right) - Angel Atwell, Glen Pritchard, Traci Cecco
GNCC ATV Race Video Clips & Interviews
Morning ATV Race
Traci Cecco
Traci Cecco
Angel Atwell
Glen Pritchard
John Gallagher
 
Walker Fowler
 
   
Videos By: Harlen Foley

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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