Hurricane Mills, TN - The final round of the GNC MX Season was greeted with a record number of 965 entries, and almost every class today was run with a staggered gate to get through all the divisions, but even so several class LCQs will need to be concluded tomorrow morning to determine the final top 20 riders for each class.
Unlike last year, the southern midsummer heat is on full blast with temps in the mid 90's and high humidity to go along with it, so many riders and fans spent as much time as possible in the shade trying to get some relief from the heat, as others headed to the river for a swim or just sit and relax in the water to cool down.
With the record turnout and the dry conditions, the Racer Production crew was kept busy all day trying to keep the track watered to keep the dust to a minimum, which was a never ending task. Also, with so many entries the track became extremely rough today and compiled with the heat it made for a long moto for those that weren’t use to riding in these conditions. Unfortunately heat and fatigue can lead to wrecks, and there were a few of them today and even yesterday during practice. ATVriders.com member, Justin Hoffler (Muff) was seriously injured yesterday and was taken to the hospital in Nashville, and I hope to have more information on his injuries tomorrow.
There were some great battles today with Angela Moore taking the 1st Moto win over Heather Byrd, so the Women’s A Championship will come down to tomorrow race, and in the Women’s B, Jamie Luburgh took the win. The battle in the Pro Am class between Josh Creamer, Rocco Arno Jr, and Josh Upperman was intense with Arno Jr taking the win and claiming the win in both of his divisions in the Pro Am Classes.
There were 21 Pro Signed to compete this weekend, so only one would be eliminated for Sunday’s Main Event. The qualifier had Jeremy Lawson going down early in the 1st lap over a step up jump and Joe Haavisto out of the race with a blown engine by lap one. Jeremy Lawson was able to resume the race while Pat Brown maintained the lead. Chad Weinen dropped out of the race in the 4th lap when he snapped his chain and Jeffrey Robbins was the next rider out which left the remaining 8 riders to advance to the Main and the remaining 3 heading to the LCQ.
For the LCQ, Jeffrey Robbins grabbed the Holeshot, but his lead would be short lived as he went flying off the big table top sideways and wrecked early in the race which opened the door for the battling Joe Haavisto and Chad Weinen to automatically advance. Even so, Joe wasn’t going to settle for a 2nd place finish and passed Weinen to take the lead as the pair slowed down to save themselves for Sunday.
If everything goes as planned, live coverage of the both Pro Motos at 12PM and 3PM will be posted on ATVriders.com. Otherwise a race summary will be posted directly following the each Pro Moto.
Today’s Results have been uploaded along with a few photos from today.
Day One - Saturday's Results
Saturday's Photo Gallery
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