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GNCC
ATV Racing
Round 10 - "Mountain
Ridge" |
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Shanksville, PA (9/24/2011)
- Brian Wolf took advantage of a late race mistake
by Adam McGill to take a thrilling win at the
VP Racing Fuels Mountain Ridge GNCC in Somerset,
Pennsylvania - round 11 of the 2011 Can-Am Grand
National Cross Series.
For most of the two-hour race, no less than
five riders were in contention for the overall
victory. However, it was McGill who led the
most laps, taking the early lead after making
first-lap passes on Wolf and $250 Motosport.com
Holeshot Award winner Jarrod McClure. McGill's
Foremost Insurance/Warnert Racing Can-Am teammate
Chris Bithell was among the front-runners, along
with Kiser on the Ballance Racing Yamaha, Wolf
on a GT Thunder-backed Honda and series points
leader Chris Borich on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki,
as McGill led the pack through one of the toughest
courses of the year.
The battle for the lead heated up when Wolf
passed McGill halfway into the final lap. However,
the XC1 rookie got stuck behind a lapper with
two miles to go, allowing McGill retake the
lead. At that point, McGill looked to have his
third win of the year all wrapped up; however,
a half-mile later the West Virginia rider clipped
a tree and watched helplessly as Wolf took the
lead and eventually the win.
"That last lap was pretty crazy,"
said Wolf. "I let McGill go by at the start
of the race and he took off like a bat. That
last lap, there were so many lines in the rocks
that you just had to banzai it and hope you
didn't break. McGill was ahead of me at the
end, but then he snagged a tree. It was anybody's
race but in the end I came out on top."
McGill was disappointed at finishing second,
but he still managed to gain a few points on
Borich in the race for the 2011 title.
"About a mile before the finish I was
on some slippery rocks and I caught a hand guard
on a dead tree and it turned me sideways,"
said McGill. "I was so furious I couldn't
even scream. But racing is racing and it was
a good hard-fought battle."
Bithell rounded out the podium and was within
striking distance of the leaders when he crossed
the finish.
Fourth went to Kiser, who was having a good
day after struggling two weeks before at Unadilla.
Meanwhile, Borich suffered a flat tire on the
final lap, but managed to salvage 16 valuable
points with a fifth place finish.
FRE KTM's Bryan Cook finished sixth, with JET
Suspension's Donnie Ockerman seventh, and Yamaha-mounted
Kevin Yoho in eighth.
Jarrod McClure and Johnny Gallagher (Yam) rounded
out the top 10.
