2017 GBC Heartland Challenge
ATV Endurance Racing
Carlisle, Iowa
August 19, 2017
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GBC Heartland Challenge
ATV Race Report
Team Yamaha WFR Takes 8th
10 Hour ATV Overall Win
2017
GBC Heartland Challenge Links |
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Carlisle, IA (8/26/2017) - Team
Yamaha WFR Racing left a wake of destruction at
the 2016 GBC Heartland Challenge with their seventh
win, and in 2017, number eight was locked into the
history books as well. The team again was comprised
of Walker Fowler, and Johnny Gallagher, but with
Cole Richardson out this time around, it was Mike
Notman filling in for the duty. The trifecta were
unbeatable for the 10 hour event! The Team 22 Films
entry of Adam Weckel and Matt Lindle rounded out
the podium in second place on a pair of Honda TRX’s.
The overall podium for classes combined, out of
the 73 entries, also went to Team WFR in first,
with Team Distortion Racing in second, and Team
Matt, Mike N Corbin in third place.
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GBC
Heartland Challenge 10 Hour ATV AA Class
Podium (left to right)
Team 22 Films (2nd), Team Yamaha WFR (1st)
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With an incredible amount of dust and dry conditions
for the day prior’s UTV race, Saturday’s ATV race
saw a little reprieve as a cooling shower hit
over night giving the track a little moisture.
With it, however, came the humidity which put
some added stress on the racers for the 10 hour
event which kicked off almost on the nose of 1:30PM.
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The
2017 GBC Heartland Challenge had 73 Team
entries in the 10 Hour ATV competition &
they all started at the same time in a LeMans
Style Start at 1:30PM on Saturday |
The track was, as always, in great shape and
thoughtful layout that provided the racers with
some truly unique and fun racing experiences throughout
the course. As tradition, the GBC “Challenge”
section was no slouch this year either as it offered
some daring obstacles for those who were brake
enough. They included broken chunks of concrete,
boulders, old tires, telephone poles and big dirt
mounds for the racers to try and tackle, all with
the pay-off of saving precious time if they completed
the section smoothly.
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For
2017, Walker Fowler, Johnny Gallagher &
Mark Notman teamed up for Yamaha's Team
WFR |
“Yah know, it went really well, I was kind of
an anchor this time around and I elected to let
Johnny be his own mechanic, and I guess we should
have actually let Mark work on it,” joked Fowler.
“He was too busy getting ready for this race and
Johnny’s bike went down and we were going to have
to put a lot of time on my bike, which I’m not
too concerned about but I wanted to spare an hour
on mine so I rode the boss’s bike. This was a
bike I had about 4-5 years ago and I gave it to
Mark to fix up. I had one good lap on it and was
feeling calm and comfortable, and apparently she
was wasn’t happy I was riding it again and I cartwheeled
it out into oblivion,”! Fowler said with a laugh.
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Walker
Fowler secured his 8th Win at the GBC Heartland
Challenge |
“It was a good day! A little different this year
for sure and it’s pretty cool to race against
Matt and Adam this year in the class. With Mike
on the team this year, after he gave up racing
to help out our program things have been awesome!
We’ve known each since they were really young,
and I was kinda-sorta young. I’ve watched both
of these guys grow up and its great to watch them
turn into racers and be able to race with them
now,” said Gallagher.
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Johnny
Gallagher & Walker Fowler are the only
two ATV racers in the GNCC Series to claim
overall wins this year |
“I feels good to get back on top of the bike
and ride again for this event. I started riding
again a few weeks ago to get prepared and I told
those guys it would probably be best if I started
out first, and have a nice smooth track for myself,”
joked Notman. “I took three different shifts at
one hour each and it turned out great for us.”
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Mark
Notman came out of retirement to compete
at the Heartland Challenge |
Team 22 Films brought home the second place on
the podium in the AA class and the team was only
comprised of two racers; Matt Lindle leading the
charge and Adam Weckle batting clean-up. Lindle
raced off the line first for the team and immediately
got out into the lead early on.
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After
winning the Ironman Class the past couple
of years, Matt Lindle teamed up with Adam
Weckle for 2017 & finished 2nd in the
AA Class |
“I like to go fast,” laughed Lindle on the podium.
“Yeah, I totally smoked myself and my second leg
was totally garbage, haha. I rode way too hard
the first two hours and I was just having way
too much fun. I wanted to thank our families big
time. My family and Adams family helps out big
time for all of the races we do, especially this
big one. Andy and the entire IATVHSS crew are
always top-of-the-line when it comes to putting
these events on and GBC always kills it as well,”
said Lindle.
“I had a really good time out there today racing
with everyone and I can’t thank everyone enough
who supports us. 22 Films, Glann Innovations,
GBC Tires, Rath Racing and everyone else,” said
Weckle.
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Team
22 Films' Adam Weckle |
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