2017
GNCC Racing Series
Round #9 - John Penton
Millfield, OH
July 8, 2017 |
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John Penton GNCC UTV Race Report
::Continued::
Cody Miller, the defending XC1 UTV champion,
tried several times to track down his brother,
but very time he got close, Hunter Miller pulled
away. Miller earned his second runner-up finish
this year and is still well in contention to defend
his title. Interestingly, his co-driver was AMA
Hall of Fame motorcyclist Randy Hawkins.
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Cody Miller
battled his brother Hunter for nearly
the entire race to the lead before finishing
in the 2nd spot at the checkered flag
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“We’re working hard and my Yamaha is getting
better every race,” said Cody Miller. “My brother
came off the line hard today and he absolutely
held a strong pace. We would track him down and
he would gap us again. He was ripping. I am super
proud of him for taking his first overall win.
We have worked really hard to get to where we
are.”
Randy Hawkins, who amassed 73 AMA National race
victories, is a seven-time AMA National Enduro
Champion, and 13-time ISDE gold medalist, is now
working with Yamaha’s first-year program running
its YXZ 1000 in GNCC. He came away impressed.
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AmPro
Yamaha's Randy Hawkins (left) took over
the co-driving duties for Cody Miller (right),
which was his first time ever racing in
a SXS. |
“I’ve never even ridden in one of these, much
less raced one, but I knew I was in good hands
with Cody,” said Hawkins. “To see the UTV side
is just amazing. I have a whole new level of respect
for these guys. This is a pilot program for us
at Yamaha. I’m super excited at how things are
going in our first year out. Cody has done a wonderful
job.”
Tim Farr struggled in the first two races this
season, but quickly showed his experience in the
woods here. Farr started on the third row and
actually led several laps of the race on adjusted
time before finishing third.
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Houser Racing's
Tim Farr grabbed the Holeshot from the
second row & he held the time adjusted
lead for three laps by nearly 15 seconds
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“It was a fun track and it was rough,” said Farr.
“So we wanted to make sure we didn’t make any
mistakes. We came through on the first lap and
we had good battles all day long. It’s hard to
judge where to make passes; where the lappers
and the bottlenecks are going to be. It’s a lot
of luck sometimes.”
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Coastal Racing's
Sean Bogdan rolled over exiting the MX
track in the fourth lap, which held up
the second row of racers for approx 20
seconds, which allowed the Miller Brothers
to pull away on time adjustment
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Coastal Racing’s Sean Bogdan secured the fourth
spot with Yamaha’s Walker Fowler rounded out the
top five on his rear bumper.
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Coastal Racing's
Sean Bogdan held off Walker Fowler in
the final lap as the pair finished less
than four seconds behind Tim Farr in third
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