2013 GBC Heartland Challenge ATV Endurance Racing Carlisle, Iowa August 17, 2013

Carlisle, IA (8/20/2013) - Four teams of AA pro racers took to the line for the sixth annual GBC Heartland Challenge and Team Woodhead Mafia claimed victory after a dramatic finish. Team Yamaha took a close second with Team MAXC rounding out the top three. The Indiana boys from Team IXCR won the Series Challenge and Kevin Trantham won the Pro 4x4 Ironman class.

Many ATV Racers & fans gathered in Carlisle, Iowa to participate in the 2013 GBC Motorsports Heartland Challenge Endurance Race

Adam McGill and Braden Henthorn teamed up to form Team Woodhead Mafia and earned their first GBC Heartland Challenge win. McGill had a good start and quickly took the lead from Jarrod McClure, who had grabbed the holeshot.

The Heartland Challenge uses a Grand Prix style start that makes racers run to their ATV

Once in the lead, the two laid down hot laps to leave the rest of the AA class in the dust. At one point the Honda racers had a six minute lead over the rest of the class.

Jarrod McClure grabbed the Holeshot on his JB Offroad / Can-Am DS450 ATV

McGill and Henthorn took turns racing the rough track; the pair ran into a few issues throughout the ten hour endurance race. One occurred when Henthorn broke some of the light mounts on his DeRisi Racing Honda and they had to stop and repair them so he could navigate through the night. The only other problem the team had occurred when McGill’s air filter ripped; the thick dust had put a hurting on their filters, and the team quickly realized the issue and fixed it.

Adam McGill makes his way around the course at the 2013 Heartland Challenge track on his Baldwin Motorsports powered Honda 450R ATV

The race came down to a dramatic finish between the Woodhead Mafia and Team Yamaha. Team Yamaha had begun to catch up and was only about thirty second down when the blue team, consisting of Gabe Phillips, Johnny Gallagher and Walker Fowler, decided to put Fowler back on the seat for the final few laps. When his occurred McGill took the bars back from Henthorn and put on a charge. McGill succeeded in holding the Woodhead Mafia’s lead and after four years of trying, they claimed their first win at the Heartland.

“I can’t believe it! We did it! After four years, we finally took the win! The Hondas worked great. Braden and I rode hard and finally brought it all together. We had a few issues, but were able to work through it! I am just so pumped right now, we had a lot of help getting here and keeping things together during the race and I really couldn’t be happier,” exclaimed McGill just minutes after crossing the finish.

Braden Henthorn on his Honda 450R ATV as the sunsets on the 10 hour Heartland Challenge ATV Endurance Race

 “We had a lot of fun. The quads held together; the Hondas were tough and really helped us get this done. I had the issue when I broke my lights off, but a quick pit stop got me going again. I am really happy to get this win and can’t thank everyone enough who helped us,” regarded Braden Henthorn after the race.