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GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 9 - "SnowShoe"
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Snowshoe, WV -Although the results
are still unofficial, it appears that Brian Wolf
will be $10,000 richer after winning the prestigiousMotorcycleUSA.com
Snowshoe GNCC in Snowshoe, West Virginia - round
nine of the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country
Series. This is the second year in a row that
the HMF Honda rider has claimed the top prize
at this race, despite the fact that he's an XC2
Pro-Am rider. What made it even more exciting
was that Wolf battled back and forth with eventual
Pro class winner Chris Borich in a thrilling race
that was only decided in the final few miles.
The Snowshoe GNCC is a special event in that
$50,000 bonus money is paid out based on the
overall finish of the race, and factoring in
a time differential (the XC2 class started a
minute-and-a-half behind the XC1 class, Wolf
was awarded the overall win despite physically
crossing the finish line behind Borich. In the
meantime, Borich went home with a $5,000 check
for finishing second overall, while another
XC2 rider, Walker Fowler, claimed $3000 for
finishing third overall.
"This is crazy," said Wolf. "I
never thought it was possible to win this two
years in a row. I guess you just play the game
and see what happens. This is the toughest race
of the year and it's just a matter of who can
play the game the longest. Nobody wants to run
hard though this stuff and take chances and
we built this bike so we could run hard and
take chances and that's what we did today."
The overall results are pending and will be
reviewed by the AMA the first of the week based
on a report that the XC2 riders took an inadvertent
"alternate" line during the first
two miles of the course, although Racer Production's
Tim Cotter made it clear that "no one appears
to have taken a different line to intentionally
gain an advantage."
In the meantime, Borich extended his lead in
the XC1 division by taking his seventh win of
the year, putting his Yoshimura Suzuki across
the line nearly a minute and a half ahead of
Yamaha rider Donnie Ockerman, while Can-Am's
Adam McGill finished third.
"I got the holeshot and I really didn't
want to lead, then all of a sudden the Pro-Am
guys came out of nowhere," said Borich.
"I knew it was going to be a long day because
Wolf was riding pretty good, he had some pretty
good lines out there. I got the lead on the
final lap and put the hammer down and tried
top make up as much time as I could but it wasn't
enough for the overall. It was kind of a survival
race out there but I was able to add to my points
cushion for the championship so it was a good
race."
Ockerman's runner-up finish marked his best
of the year and his third podium of the year.
The Illinois rider made the best of a good start
and it paid off.
"I knew those guys had horsepower on me
so I start outside and cut inside in the first
turn and it worked out - I was third when we
went into the woods," said Ockerman. "I
just kind of followed everyone on the first
lap and kept the hammer down for the rest of
the race."
Despite getting off to a poor start, McGill
worked his way into third by the end of the
two-hour race.
"No matter what you do it seems it's the
wrong move or the wrong decision," said
McGill. "It just seemed everything I did
today was wrong, but that's racing."
Taylor Kiser kept himself in the championship
hunt by putting his Ballance Racing Yamaha into
the fourth place position in the XC1 class,
while Can-Am's Chris Bithell rounded out the
top five.
FRE/KTM's Bryan Cook finished sixth, with Polaris
rider Jarrod McClure finishing seventh ahead
of a trio of Yamaha riders: Brandon Sommers,
Jeffrey Pickens and Johnny Gallagher.
In addition to the overall win, Brian Wolf
also topped the XC2 division - his third win
of the year - leaving him 10 points ahead of
Walker Fowler in the XC2 points standings.
Fowler was second in class on his Yamaha (to
go along with his third overall finish).
"I'm super-pumped with third overall,
I've never done that before, so this is cool,"
said Fowler. "I didn't really know where
I was all day, I didn't check the scoring monitor."
FRE/KTM's Josh Kirkland finished third, with
Kevin Yoho (Yam) and round-five winner Gabe
Phillips (Yam) rounding out the top five.
In the morning race, U2 class rider Clifton
Beasley took the overall win on his Can-Am -
his first time to do so - and by doing so also
claimed the GT Thunder ATV Amateur $100 Overall
Award. Beasley finish a little over a minute
ahead of Women's winner Traci Cecco. Meanwhile,
another U2 rider, James Miller (CAN), was third
overall.
In the Youth race, Marshal Goings took the
overall win and topped the 90 Modified (12-15)
division in the process.
| Pro
XC1 & Pro-Am XC2 Top 10 ATV Race Results
& Point Standings |
XC1 Pro ATV Race
Results:
1. Chris Borich (Suz)
2. Don Ockerman (Yam)
3. Adam McGill (CAN)
4. Taylor Kiser (Yam)
5. Chris Bithell (CAN)
6. Bryan Cook (KTM)
7. Jarrod McClure (POL)
8. Brandon Sommers (Yam)
9. Jeffrey Pickens (Yam)
10. Johnny Gallagher (Yam)
XC1 Pro ATV Point Standings:
1. Chris Borich (256/7 wins)
2. Taylor Kiser (216/1 win)
3. Adam McGill 178)
4. Don Ockerman (150)
5. Chris Bithell (145/1 win)
6. Johnny Gallagher (118)
7. Bryan Cook (116)
8. Brandon Sommers (105)
9. Jeffrey Pickens (104)
10. Jarrod McClure (95)
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XC2 Pro ATV Race
Results:
1. Brian Wolf (Hon)
2. Walker Fowler (Yam)
3. Josh Kirkland (KTM)
4. Kevin Yoho (Yam)
5. Gabe Phillips (Yam)
6. Blake Kramer (Suz)
7. Mark Notman (Yam)
8. Eric Hoyland (Yam)
9. Nathan Thomas (Hon)
10. Joey Margueria (POL)
XC2 Pro ATV Point Standings:
1. Brian Wolf (196/3 wins)
2. Walker Fowler (186/3 wins)
3. Josh Kirkland (178/1 win)
4. Kevin Yoho (168)
5. Gabe Phillips (157/1 win)
6. Eric Hoyland (119/1 win)
7. Corbin Knox (113)
8. Mark Notman (107)
9. Blake Kramer (102)
10. Dustin Canipe (99) |
