2017 GBC Heartland Challenge
SxS / UTV Endurance Racing
Carlisle, Iowa
August 18, 2017
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GBC Heartland Challenge
SXS Race Report
Kyle Chaney Takes GBC Heartland
Challenge UTV Overall Win
2017
GBC Heartland Challenge Links |
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Carlisle, IA (8/25/2017) -The GBC
Motorsport’s Heartland Challenge celebrated it's
tenth running of the event this past weekend, and
with hot and dusty conditions, it was a fast, furious,
and grueling event! XPS / Can-Am’s #191 Kyle Chaney
made his way out for redemption at this year’s GBC
Heartland Challenge and came away with a clear victory
aboard his turbo-powered Maverick X3. In second
place, the Team Dr Powersports #41 entry of Jason
Watt, an Iowa native also running a Can-Am X3, put
up a good fight through the dusty course to land
on the box. Bringing home third place on the podium
was the Team RW / SSi Decals / Team UXC #45 Polaris
RZR of Kevin Trantham.
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GBC
Heartland Challenge 4 Hour UTV Open Podium
(left to right)
Kevin Trantham (3rd), Kyle Chaney (1st),
Jason Watt (2nd)
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This year’s GBC Heartland Challenge was extremely
competitive with 57 entries in total, with 13
of them being in the premier “Open” class and
20 of them in the "UTV 1000” class which
also saw a big payout of $3,000 and $2,000 for
each class, respectively. There was also a dedicated
“GBC Challenge” section specifically built for
the UTV racers which not only challenged the racers,
but their machines as well.
This section significantly saved the teams time
on the course, but also put the machine as risk
of a breakdown due to the gnarly obstacles in
their way such as; huge chunks of concrete, rocks,
tires, logs, and a big dirt wall to climb over.
Racers who were brave enough for this sections
surely would be rewarded for their efforts.
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Maxxis'
Kyle Chaney grabbed the early lead in the
land rush style start |
With an unbelievable lack of rain in the past
two months, Western Iowa has been in a drought,
unlike last year’s conditions. The dust was surely
to be one of the hardest obstacles at this event
and whoever got out into the lead first was surely
to benefit from the clean air. Dr. Powersport’s
Jason Watt snagged the early hole shot but two-wheeled
it around the off-camber section of the entry
point, allowing Maxxis’ Kyle Chaney to dive into
the inside of Watt before entering the first forest
section. From this point forward, Chaney drove
without fear and set a blistering pace for the
entire remaining 4-hour event.
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#191
XPS / Maxxis Tires / Can-Am Maverick X3's
Kyle Chaney secured his second career win
at the Heartland Challenge |
“I am super stoked to be able to bring this XPS
/ Maxxis Tires / Can-Am X3 out to the Heartland
Challenge because I knew how gnarly and rough
this event can get and I wanted to put the car
through it’s paces. The suspension travel and
low center of gravity and of course the all-out
power really made for an amazing race. The only
issue we had was with my light bar for the night
stage. We couldn’t get it to turn on at all, so
we stopped into the pits and had them gas up the
car, and we finally figured out the wiring for
the switch came loose and once we got that fixed
we were good to go with the car. I actually ended
up getting a little sick about 2 hours into the
events, and I quit breathing properly, but finally
got myself back to being calm and collected and
got back on pace for the remainder of the event,”
said Chaney.
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#191
XPS / Maxxis Tires / Can-Am Maverick X3's
Kyle Chaney |
“I really wanted to get out to an early lead
but we came out of the holeshot in second to Jason
Watt and I hurried and got around him before we
entered the woods. I wanted to get out early and
put a decent gap on everyone, which I did, and
that definitely helped me when we had to stop
and take the long pit to fix the light, it was
nice to have some time early on in the race. The
dust was incredibly bad, but the roughness of
the track really got to me as well. It was beating
me up and making me dizzy even, it was very challenging,”
said Chaney!
Team Dr. Powersports / JW Builders / DWT Wheels
/ Garage Products / Valentine Food’s Jason Watt
got off to a great start pulling the hole shot
ahead of Chaney. A slight off-camber on the holeshot
corner was all it took however for Watt’s machine
to tip up slightly, allowing Chaney to get around
him. Watt was second into the woods section and
the first to pursue Chaney, as closely as the
dust plume would allow.
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Team
Dr. Powersports / JW Builders / DWT Wheels
/ Garage Products / Valentine Food’s Jason
Watt |
I got off to a really good start. The X3 fired
up immediately on that dead-engine start and we
took off to snag the holeshot and then went into
the woods in second behind Kyle. I closed in on
him and was following as closely as I could with
the dust. After we broke away from the pack a
little bit, it was a pretty clear track and we
decided to just try and run a smart and smooth
race for the remainder of the four hours. We just
tried to keep the car together and with the help
from my co-pilot Cody Taylor talking me thru just
about every corner out there really made a huge
difference. My fiancé, with Jeremy and Rick Valentine
in the pits making sure the car was good along
with water and goggles. We took the challenge
section the first lap and actually got hung up
and then lap after learned how to get through
it smoothly and put our head down and charged
ahead. The sportsmanship is really great out here,
if we came up onto someone going fast, they were
always quick to move out of the way as fast as
they could and let us by, everyone was super nice
and we had an absolute blast out here,” said Watt.
Team UXC / Polaris / RT Pro / Maxxis Tire's Kevin
Trantham became the first recipient of a cloud
of thick dust during the hole shot mayhem of Watt
and Chaney, but quickly found himself up into
third place by the time the woods section approached.
Trantham pushed his Polaris RZR to the limit and
also was taking advantage early on by not taking
the challenge section and actually opted out of
it to avoid the early carnage. This paid off for
Trantham as he kept his car in one piece and was
able to finish the race in third place.
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Team
UXC / Polaris / RT Pro / Maxxis Tire's Kevin
Trantham |
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