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Strang Wins Parts
Unlimited River Ranch GNCC
Chris
Bach and Charlie Mullins Round out the Ppodium
Lake Wales, Florida
(March 2nd, 2010) -- FMF Makita Suzukis
Josh Strang drew first blood at the opening round
of the 2010 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country
Series at Westgate River Ranch in Lake Wales,
Florida, winning a hard-fought battle over KTM
privateer Chris Bach at the end of three hours of
racing.
Photo
By: Shan Moore
Josh Strang won the GNCC opener in Florida.
Nearly 1200 riders representing
eight countries attended the series opener, which
saw no less than five different riders hold the
lead at one point or another in the highly
competitive XC1 division.
At the drop of the green flag,
it was defending series champ Paul Whibley taking
the $250 Motorcycle-USA.com
Holeshot Award on his Am-Pro WR450F. Meanwhile,
Strang was at the back of the pack after his bike
failed to start on the first kick. At the end of
the first lap, however, it was last year's River
Ranch winner, Charlie Mullins, holding a lead the
Obermeyer/Am-Pro Yamaha rider eventually turned
into a 45-second advantage. And at the midway
point of the race, Mullins looked to be well on
his way to his second-straight River Ranch win,
however he eventually fell victim to one of the
waterholes that littered the rough and sandy
14-mile course.
Photo
By: Shan Moore
Privateer Chris Bach was second.
"There was one little pond
that we were hydroplaning across, and I splashed
up some water and my engine sucked it on and quit
on me," said Mullins. "I kicked and
kicked and finally got it going, but after that I
was pretty winded for the rest of the race."
Mullins' ordeal left Strang with
a bit of breathing room out front, until late in
the race when Bach moved up to challenge. During
the first two hours of the race, Bach had
methodically worked his way up into a top-three
position, and when Mullins drowned out, it left
only Strang in front of him.
"I got a surprisingly good
start, which I wasn't expecting to get, but
unfortunately someone in front of me made a
mistake in a mud hole and covered me with
mud," said Bach. "I had to stop and pull
all the tear-offs off my goggles and by the time I
got going I was all the way back in last."
Photo
By: Shan Moore
Charlie Mullins led until drowning out in a
waterhole.
"After I got going, I just
settled down and was moving up," added Bach.
"I was watching my pit board and it said I
was in fifth, and then fourth, and then the next
thing I knew I was in third behind Mullins and
Strang. Then when Mullins had problems, I knew the
only one left in front of me after that was Strang."
Bach caught Strang during the
final hour, and passed him in the palmetto
section. However, Strang retook the lead when Bach
stopped for gas. Bach took the lead again when
Strang fell in the palmetto section, but Strang
reclaimed the lead, this time for good, when Bach
took a wide line around a lapper about two miles
before the finish.
"I'm stoked to get the win
and get off to a good start for once," said
Strang, who has had bad luck at the Florida race
in each of the last three years.
Photo
By: Shan Moore
Paul Whibley got the holeshot.
Perhaps the biggest story of the
race was Bach, a privateer from Indiana who was
making his first ride in the XC1 class after
finishing as the top Amateur in last year's
series.
"I've been waiting a long
time for this and I sure didn't think it would
come today," said Bach. "Performance
SuperCycle and Clockwork KTM are helping me, and I
owe them a lot of thanks, but it is basically a
privateer effort."
Despite his troubles, Mullins was able to salvage
a third.
"I'll take third, I'm okay
with that," said Mullins. "It's a long
season and I just gotta keep at it. I was happy
with the way I rode, I was able to put the bad
luck out of my mind and keep pushing."
Whibley held the fourth position
on the final lap, but ran out of gas within a mile
of the finish, handing fourth to GEICO/JG
Racing/Monster Kawasaki's Jimmy Jarrett.
Photo
By: Shan Moore
Jason Thomas won the XC2 class.
Australian Husqvarna rider Glenn
Kearney ran as high as fifth, but went over the
bars on lap four and dropped back a couple of
spots. Kearney worked back up and passed Jarrett
for fifth, but crashed again on lap five.
"I finally passed Whibley
when he ran out of fuel on the last lap and I
thought I was going to end up with fifth, but then
DuVall caught me by surprise at the end and I
ended up with sixth," said Kearney.
Am-Pro Yamaha's DuVall wound up
with fifth, ahead of Kearney, while seventh went
to veteran Barry Hawk, also on an Am-Pro Yamaha.
Factory FMF/KTM Off-Road's Cory
Buttrick, who moved into the XC1 class for 2010,
finished eighth, with Mexico's Enduro Champion
Homero Diaz finishing ninth on a KTM, ahead of the
unlucky Whibley.
In the XC2 division, Jason
"UK7" Thomas took advantage of the new
rule, which allows 250 two-strokes to compete with
250 four-strokes in the Lites class this year,
riding a Monster Energy/FAR Racing/ Andrews
Cycles-backed YZ250 two-stroke to a first place
finish in the division.
Last year's champ Factory FMF/KTM
Off-Road's Kailub Russell went down in the first
turn, but recovered to finish third, despite
tearing the skin off his hand on the choppy
course.
"I just washed out the
front in the first turn, but going into the woods
I was already in third, so I was pumped about
that," said Russell. "The skin ripped on
my hand and it was pretty bad after that.
Jesse Robinson, riding a
two-stroke KTM, capitalized on Russell's injury to
claim second.
"I was behind Thomas at the
start but I kind of pumped up, and then Kailub
caught me," said Robinson. "Later in the
race, I just picked it up and moved into
second."
Meanwhile, Kawasaki rider Josh
Weisenfels and KTM-mounted Jake Korn rounded out
the top five.
John Day grabbed the $100
Motorcycle-USA.com Holeshot Award at the start of
the XC2 race.
Open A Rider Jordan Ashburn
claimed the Top Amateur Award.
The second round of the Can-Am
Grand National Cross Country series, The Maxxis
General GNCC, is this weekend, March 6-7, in
Washington Georgia.
For more information, log on to www.gnccracing.com
XC1 Results:
1. Josh Strang (Suz)
2. Chris Bach (KTM)
3. Charlie Mullins (Yam)
4. Jimmy Jarrett (Kaw)
5. Thad DuVall (Yam)
6. Glenn Kearney (Hus)
7. Barry Hawk Jr. (Yam)
8. Cory Buttrick (KTM)
9. Homero Diaz (KTM)
10. Paul Whibley (Yam)
XC2 Results:
1. Jason Thomas (Yam)
2. Jesse Robinson (KTM)
3. Kailub Russell (KTM)
4. Josh Weisenfels (Kaw)
5. Jake Korn (KTM)
6. Dustin Gibson (KTM)
7. Steward Baylor (KTM)
8. Scott Watkins (Kaw)
9. Travis Hullfish (Kaw)
10. Corey MacDonald (Yam)
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