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2015 GBC Heartland Challenge
ATV Endurance Racing
Carlisle, Iowa
August 21, 2015
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GBC Heartland Challenge
ATV Race Report
Team Yamaha & Team UXC
Racing Take Big Wins
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GBC
Heartland Challenge Links |
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Carlisle, IA (9/17/2015) - Team
Yamaha dominated Saturday’s GBC Heartland ATV race.
The event, originally scheduled for 10 hours, was
shortened at the seven-hour mark due to thunderstorms.
Johnny Gallagher, Cole Richardson and Walker Fowler,
pocketed $5,000 for the victory. Team Elka’s Brian
Wolf, Wesley Wolfe, and PJ Denault finished second,
ahead of Team MZM’s Josh Beach, Cole Setser, Brandon
Nichols.
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| GBC
Heartland Challenge AA Class Podium (left
to right)
Team MZM (3rd), Team Yamaha (1st), Team
ELKA (2nd)
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The GBC Heartland Challenge 10 Hour ATV endurance
race is held just outside Des Moines, Iowa each
August during the Iowa State Fair. The six-mile
course ran through woods and open fields and also
included The GBC Challenge Section, which included
a mixture of logs, dirt mounds, concrete piles,
and rocks. The section acted as a short cut on
the course, but it came a risk of getting stuck
or damaging equipment, which played into the strategy
of many of the race teams.
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The
8th annual GBC Heartland Challenge had another
great turn out as the event attracts more
racers each year |
The Le Mans-style start kicked off at 1 p.m.
The more than 70 teams lined up by class on a
straightaway and the racers ran at the sound of
the horn and get on their ATVs. It was a 25-yard
dash across the hot pits, and Team #21 Derisi
Racing / TireBlock’s grabbed the holeshot ahead
of a dusty start to the race, but that would change
dramatically by the evening with thunderstorms
moving in shortly after sunset, which ended the
race early for the first time in its eight-year
history it was called for weather.
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Team
#21 Derisi Racing / TireBlock’s grabbed
the Holeshot in the LeMans style start with
the #66 Team Can-Am Pro 4x4 in chase |
Richardson started the race for the Yamaha squad
but lost the lead when the team had to swap ATVs
in the pits on the first lap. They quickly regained
the lead from the Elka team on lap two. From there,
the team wasn’t seriously challenged to net Yamaha
its second consecutive victory and third win in
the last four years here.
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#1
Cole Richardson hammering through the logs
& tires in the GBC Challenge section
of the course |
Richardson said the competition was strong. “This
is an awesome event,” said Richardson. “Everyone
was keeping us honest out there. It definitely
would have been interesting if we had kept going.”
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