2015 WORCS MAXC Racing Round 7 - Copperhead Row Martinsville, IN September 12, 2015

Gosport, IN (9/16/2015) - The 2015 WORCS Mid-America Cross Country series headed just down the road from the last event in Paragon, Indiana to the town of Martinsville, Indiana which played host to round seven of the series and was aptly named “Copperhead Row”. This round played many tricks on the current points leaders in both the UTV class, Kyle Chaney, and in the Pro quad class, Braden Nichols. Both suffering mechanical failures and letting some new names enter the podium steps in each class this past weekend, but still leaving themselves with plenty of wiggle room in the points championships.

MAXC Racing ATV Overall Podium (left to right) Tyler Weltich (3rd), Fred Marley (1st), Jay Humphrey (2nd)

Sick Racing / Dirt Works / MAXXIS / Houser Racing’s Fred Marley got off to a great start after firing his Honda TRX450R from the dead-engine start. Marley dumped the clutch and came off the line in second place behind Austin Gourley who was the holeshot winner.

#615 Austin Gourley grabbed the Pro Class holeshot followed closely by #19 Fred Marley

Marley immediately was hot on the heels of Gourley, also had the pressure from behind in the form of Braden Nichols who got off to a later start than the rest of the group. Marley was able to get around Gourley fairly early on in the race as he suffered a mechanical issue nearly the same time that Nichol’s suffered from a blown engine. This allowed Marley to have a completely clear track ahead of him and run his own race at a very quick pace all the way to the checkered flag, taking his first win of the season, at his first MAXC event of the season as well.

Fred Marley took over the lead early into the race & held the lead for all 7 laps

“I had a couple lappers I got into but it was pretty smooth sailing the whole race. I’ve been racing the GNCC series and working full-time so I’ve been staying busy this season as well. The race went really well and I was smooth with no mistakes and getting out front early was a nice advantage. It’s unfortunate those other guys had to break down but that’s racing for you,” said Marley.

Penny Pinchin’ Racing / MAXXIS / Custom AXIS / Lonestar Racing’s Jay Humphrey got off to a last-place start on the Pro row, however, he was able to close that gap greatly by the end of the race. Humphrey’s slow start actually helped him in the long run as he was able to avoid any possible “early-race” jitters, which could have caused a mistake or a crash. With Nichols and Gourley out of the contest, Humphrey slid past them heading into the second lap of the race and then set his sights on Marley who had a very large lead at this point. Nevertheless, Humphrey put his head down and charged hard because he had the overall time on his mind, as well as Tyler Weltich who was charging hard in third place overall in the timing. Humphrey stayed on the gas and was able to come out in second place overall, matching his previous best race-score from earlier in the season as well.

Jay Humphrey worked this way up from the rear of the pack to finish second