GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 13 "Klotz Ironman" |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Morning
ATV Podium
(left to Right) - Angel Atwell, Glen Pritchard,
Traci Cecco |
GNCC
ATV Race Video Clips & Interviews |
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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.
www.gnccracing.com
122 Vista Del Rio Drive,
Morgantown, WV 26508
304-284-0084
ATVriders.com
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