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2016 GBC Heartland Challenge
ATV Endurance Racing
Carlisle, Iowa
August 20, 2016
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GBC Heartland Challenge
ATV Race Report
Team Yamaha Takes 10 Hour
ATV Overall Win
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2016
GBC Heartland Challenge Links |
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Carlisle, IA (9/5/2016) - Certain
things can always be taken for granted: the sky
is blue, the sun rises in the east and sets in the
west, and Team Yamaha will win the GBC Heartland
Challenge. That truism came to fruition again this
year as Johnny Gallagher, Walker Fowler and Cole
Richardson handed Yamaha its seventh victory in
the AA ATV class in nine years. Team Puppy Power
with riders Randee Prindle, TJ Campbell and Hunter
Van Patton finished second on Honda’s, and Team
Got Wood Racing rounded out the top three.
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GBC
Heartland Challenge 10 Hour ATV AA Class
Podium (left to right)
Puppy Power (2nd), Team Yamaha (1st), Got
Wood Racing (3rd)
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With rain the night before, as well as the morning
of the race, the track came in perfectly for the
ATVs, just as it had the night before for the
SXS racers. Though the race started an hour late
due to the overnight rain, which shortened the
race slightly, with 68 entries taking the start,
the race was competitive throughout its nine-hour,
25-minute run.
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| The
2016 GBC Heartland Challenge had 68 Team
entries in the 10 Hour ATV competition &
they all started at the same time in a LeMans
Style Start shortly after 2PM on Saturday |
The track was similar to year’s past with its
normal cross country type layout. But the real
test was handed down by GBC in its “Challenge
Section.” The short-cut section featured unprecedented
obstacles--including broken up concrete, dirt
mounds, and telephone poles--that confounded every
racer at least once during the race.
So dominant was Team Yamaha’s race that they
finished seven laps ahead of their nearest AA
Class competitor. But the statistics don’t stop
there. It also marked Gallagher’s fifth victory
in seven starts, as well as Fowler’s sixth win,
and Richardson set the fastest daytime lap at
11:01 and night lap at 11:13.
“This is our first 10-hour experience where everything
went flawlessly,” explained Fowler. “The three
Yamaha machines were perfect all day. We tried
a different strategy by putting Johnny out first
when the track was smoother. He’s a speed specialist.
It was a good move. I went second and Cole went
third. It’s all about having fun and everyone
just killed it today. It was fun as always. This
is our third in a row and we’re seven for nine
for Yamaha. The track shaped up awesomely. Andy
did what he had to do to give us a good track.
“The Challenge section was a lot harder this
year,” added Fowler. “We actually skipped it early
on to avoid hurting the bike. It was gnarly, but
it was just another fun aspect of the race.”
Johnny Gallagher was tapped to start the race.
With his typical comic style, Gallagher explained
how the team came to that decision. “With all
of the rain last night it was unanimously decided,
without my consent, that I would start,” joked
Gallagher, “I didn’t put up and argument and it
worked out great. I had a decent start and it
worked out great. I had to work hard to get up
to the lead, but once we got up there, we just
started clicking off laps and led all day. It’s
fun to win it again. GBC is the catalyst for making
this event happen and it’s grown into the biggest
off-road endurance race in the Midwest.”
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The
mud specialist, Johnny Gallagher, started
the race for Team Yamaha |
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