|
Snowshoe
GNCC
Round 8 - ATV Racing Links |
|
|
| |
|
Snowshoe, WV (6/23/2012) -
Brian Wolf’s aggressive racing style has
almost become synonymous with the Snowshoe GNCC,
the most grueling stop on the 13-round Can-Am
Grand National Cross Country Series. Wolf has
had his fair share of good times on Snowshoe
Mountain—including two overall wins in
2009 and 2010—but in the last two years,
Wolf has run into issues that have hindered
his ability to complete in the full two-hour
race. After leading much of the 2012 Motosport.com
Snowshoe GNCC, Wolf experienced yet another
mechanical issue on the final lap, leaving Chris
Borich to secure his seventh victory of the
season in the XC1 Pro ATV class. West Virginia's
Gabe Phillips went on to grab his fourth victory
in the XC2 Pro Am division.
JG Offroad/FRE/American Honda’s Brian
Wolf immediately put himself into the lead
at the beginning of the two-hour race and
by the end of Lap 1 Wolf had stretched the
lead to nearly one-minute over Ballance Racing
Yamaha’s Walker Fowler and Maxxis/Yoshimura’s
Chris Borich. Fowler ran into some issues
midway through the race, pushing the young
gun outside the top five for quite some time.
“At one point I think I was all the
way back to sixth and I guess I figured that
was as good as I could do today, but before
I knew it I had caught up with [Chris] Bithell
and Borich,” Fowler said. “The
mud holes were getting wider and deeper so
it was getting a little more difficult to
maneuver around, but the fans were awesome
today in helping all of us get through!”
As Fowler dropped back, his Ballance Racing
Yamaha teammate Taylor Kiser pushed his way
into the lead-battle with Borich and Wolf.
But it didn’t take long for Motoworks/Can-Am
rider Chris Bithell to make his way around
Kiser for the third spot, despite some mechanical
issues he was experiencing along the way.
“Halfway through the second lap the
link bolt came out of my stabilizer and I
lost it,” Bithell said. “I thought
the day was over but something sparked in
me with the fans cheering like crazy and I
honestly rode the rest of the race purely
on adrenaline.”
Bowers/Coastal National Guard/Yokley Racing’s
Jarrod McClure moved his way into the fourth
place position and then engaged Fowler in
a battle for the final podium position. McClure
laid the pressure on the final lap, but after
getting caught up in the treacherous Snowshoe
terrain, he wasn’t able to secure a
pass on Fowler for the podium spot. Meanwhile,
Taylor Kiser lost a few positions as he got
hung up on a rocky section on the final lap.
Borich inherited the lead from Wolf on the
final lap of racing and the duo battled it
out for the lead spot until Wolf snapped his
chain near the 3-mile marker and wasn’t
able to finish. Bithell then made his way
into the second place spot, finishing only
30 seconds behind Borich for what would be
a season-best second place for the Pennsylvania
native. Borich's win makes it five in a row
for the points leader.
“It was one of the toughest roughest
tracks we’ve been to this year but it
was an awesome time,” Borich said. “I
was having a ball and the screaming, cheering
fans made a huge difference helping us out
of the mud hole.”
Fowler secured the third place position,
followed by McClure in fourth and Taylor Kiser
rounded out the top five. Fowler's third place
moved him into the third spot in series points,
just behind Kiser who sits in second.
