2017 GBC Heartland Challenge
SxS / UTV Endurance Racing
Carlisle, Iowa
August 18, 2017
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Walker Fowler Wins
Heartland Challenge UTV 1000 Class
::Continued::
In the UTV 1000 class, which was last year’s
premier class, Team WFR / Maxxis Tires / Yamaha's
Walker Fowler came home with the overall victory,
but not without doing some intense battling. Team
Fireplace Stone and Patio brought home a second
place in their Can-Am Maverick while Team Wheatley
Racing rounded out the podium in third place,
also driving a Can-Am.
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GBC
Heartland Challenge 4 Hour UTV 1000 Podium
(left to right)
Team Wheatly (3rd), Team WFR (1st), Team
Fireplace Stone (2nd)
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Fowler came out of the holeshot in about eighth
place and knew from the start he had his work
cut out for him.
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Team
WFR's Walker Fowler took the UTV 1000 Class
Win |
“These races are super long and even after an
hour race in these cars I can hardly stand up
afterward, let alone walk around, so I knew this
4 hour race was going to be brutal. We got off
to a mid-pack start and fought our way through
the dust and started picking people off. The challenge
section was really cool with the rocks and logs
and we figured it out pretty quickly and that
saved us quite a bit of time. This Yamaha YXZ
really loves the MX section of the track and has
tons of suspension travel so we took advantage
of that the best we could. The woods aren’t necessarily
this machine’s forte and with the Maxxis Tires
and FOX Shox, we made it work beautifully. My
machine has the electronic shifting paddles and
even the stock gearing ratios, along with stock
axels and drive system and we really hammered
this thing today and it never skipped a beat.
I haven’t missed a Heartland Challenge yet and
I’m stoked to have won the event for the first
time in a UTV,” said Fowler.
Team Fireplace Stone and Patio brought home a
solid second place finish in their Amsoil / Custom
Axis / Can-am Maverick. They were into the pack
immediately off the start and were caught up with
a few of the Open racers after the challenge section
and then found their pace for the remainder of
the event to finish strongly on the podium.
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Team
Fireplace Stone & Patio |
In third place was the entry of Team Wheatley
racing, also in a Can-Am Maverick.
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