GNCC Round 7 Race Report

Walker Fowler is Back On-Top at the Dunlop Tomahawk GNCC
Adam McGill’s Hard Charging Effort Earns Him Second Overall, Borich in Third

ODESSA, N.Y. (June 10, 2017) – After a three week break, the AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series presented by Maxxis, an AMA National Championship, continued today, June 10, at the Seneca Highlands in Odessa, New York. Track conditions were favorable, where fans lined the start to see six-time GNCC champion, Chris Borich narrowly edge out GBC/Canyon Motorsports/Fly Racing’s Landon Wolfe for the $250 Wiseco Holeshot Award at the third annual Dunlop Tomahawk GNCC.

Chris Borich narrowly edged out Landon Wolfe for the $250 Wiseco Holeshot Award.

Wolfe wasn’t ready to settle for second and quickly took the lead with Dillinger’s Celtic Pub/GBC Motorsports/Moose Racing’s Marty Christofferson in tow as they headed into the woods. Wolfe continued leading majority of the first lap with Christofferson, Borich and WFR/Yamaha/Maxxis/Fly Racing’s Walker Fowler on his tail.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with my starts, but I need to work on that,” said Fowler. “Luckily, we were ahead of McGill off the start or it would have been a long day. It took me until the end of the first lap to get into the lead, and I was surprised with how wet the track was that first lap.”

Walker Fowler remains the only rider with an overall win at the Tomahawk GNCC.

Fowler struggled to get through the frontrunners, but advanced through the riders and made some quick passes to be in the lead as he approached timing and scoring for the first time. Meanwhile, McGill was working his way through the pack after a bad start and sat in sixth.

As the second lap wore on, McGill closed the gap on Fowler and was on Fowler’s back wheels as the white flag came out. With the added pressure from McGill, Fowler ended up hitting a tree allowing for McGill to make the pass. After getting back on-track, McGill got hung up with some lapped riders where Fowler was able to catch back up.

Adam “The Gator” McGill proved he’s still chomping for a win this year.

“Toward the end of the race I got into some lapped traffic and that made me lose some time,” reported Fowler. “McGill caught up with me and was pushing it a little too hard and I tagged a tree. Then more lapped traffic was ahead of McGill and I was able to make that time back up once I got back going.”

With only one open field section remaining, Fowler realized this was the prime opportunity to get back to the front. The duo were side by side, but Fowler was able to make the move and lead the way to the finish. Despite McGill’s efforts to end Fowler’s success, Fowler remains the only person to have an overall Tomahawk win on his resume.

Overall Podium: (3) Chris Borich, (1) Walker Fowler, (2) Adam McGill.

“We progressively keep getting better. We are like a steam roller, and just keep getting better each race,” said McGill.

Borich ran a consistent third-place race to round out the overall podium. JMR/ATVriders.com-backed Jarrod McClure just missed the box, with fourth overall, and after leading most of the first lap, Wolfe maintained his pace to land a top-five finish.

BNR Motorsports/Maxxis/Pro Graph-X/Precision’s Josh Merritt scored his best finish of the season with seventh overall, and GBC/Fly Racing/HMF/Yamaha’s Johnny Gallagher followed in eighth. ATV Innovations/Solo Pilot’s Westley Wolfe and Christofferson rounded out the top-ten overall.

Coastal Racing’s Brycen Neal was struck with bad luck on the last lap where his right rear wheel fell off. Neal displayed the heart of a champion, where he rode the last mile of the race with only three wheels to finish 13th in class and 65th overall.

Brycen Neal faced an all-new obstacle on the last lap, where he rode his way to the finish with only three wheels.

In the XC2 Pro-Am division, Cameron Bruce jumped out to the early lead and claimed the $100 All Balls Racing Holeshot Award. In the end, it would be a New York sweep of the podium with M.R. Unlimited/Hygear Suspension/GBC Tires/Tire Spine’s Devon Feehan, M.R. Unlimited/Hygear Suspension/GBC Tires/Tire Spine-backed Hunter Hart and Hygear Suspension’s Greg Covert.

XC2 Pro-Am Podium: (3) Hunter Hart, (1) Devon Feehan, (2) Greg Covert.

A 20th overall finish earned John Glauda Jr. top amateur honors along with the College A (16-21) class win. Drew Landers and Jeffrey Pickens took the second and third top amateur positions in the 1 p.m. race.

Claiming his sixth 4×4 Pro win of the season was Cunningham Racing/Can-Am/Maxxis-backed Kevin Cunningham, who also topped the overall charts in the 10 a.m. race. Schoolboy Sr. (14-17) class winner Ronnie Rusch finished second overall, and Can-Am/DJR/QuadBoss-backed Bryan Buckhannon trailed in third overall and second in 4×4 Pro. Team UXC Racing’s Michael Swift rounded out the 4×4 Pro class podium.

10 a.m. Overall Podium: (2) Ronnie Rusch, (1) Kevin Cunningham, (3) Bryan Buckhannon.

Dillinger’s Celtic Pub’s Katelyn Osburn claimed her first WXC win of the season in front of her hometown friends and family. Angel Knox finished just behind Osburn in second, and Traci Pickens rounded out the class podium.

Layne McCormick rode his way to another youth overall win, where he lead the race from start to finish. McCormick’s victory now has him sitting 17 points ahead in the championships standings. Colton Buck and Devin Corrothers followed in second and third.

WXC Podium: (2) Angel Knox, (1) Katelyn Osburn, (3) Traci Pickens.

The 1 p.m. race was broadcast LIVE in its entirety on RacerTV.com and can be viewed as an archived video now online by visiting the GNCC LIVE page online. A highlight show featuring the event will air Saturday, June 17 at noon.

The 2017 AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series resumes in two weeks, June 24 and 25, with the popular AMSOIL Snowshoe GNCC in Snowshoe, WV.

For more information on the series, visit the official website at www.gnccracing.com or call (304) 284-0084. Join the conversation on the series Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and be sure to always hashtag #GNCC.

Tomahawk GNCC
Odessa, New York
Round 7 of 13
Saturday, June 10

XC1 Pro Event Results:

Walker Fowler (YAM)
Adam McGill (HON)
Chris Borich (SUZ)
Jarrod McClure (HON)
Landon Wolfe (HON)
Josh Merritt (YAM)
Johnny Gallagher (YAM)
Westley Wolfe (SUZ)
Marty Christofferson (HON)
Tucker Wyatt (HON)

*Overall National Championship Standings:

Walker Fowler (205)
Adam McGill (149)
Brycen Neal (112)
Chris Borich (112)
Jarrod McClure (108)
Landon Wolfe (105)
Johnny Gallagher (88)
Hunter Hart (79)
Devon Feehan (77)
Marty Christofferson (70)

*Indicates that the Overall National Championship Standings will determine the 2017 National Champion.

XC2 Pro-Am Event Results:

Devon Feehan (HON)
Greg Covert (YAM)
Hunter Hart (YAM)
Cameron Bruce (YAM)
Matthew Lindle (HON)
Brandon Icard (HON)
Kenny Shick (YAM)
Levi Coen (HON)
Sam Hough (HON)
Kenneth Kelly (HON)

XC2 Pro-Am Series Standings:

Devon Feehan (177)
Hunter Hart (165)
Greg Covert (154)
Matthew Lindle (152)
Levi Coen (90)
Austin Abney (88)
Sam Hough (85)
Kenny Shick (80)
Brandon Icard (79)
Cameron Bruce (70)

About GNCC Racing

The AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series presented by Maxxis is America’s premier off-road racing series. Founded in 1975, the 13-round championship is produced exclusively by Racer Productions. Cross-country racing is one of the most physically demanding sports in the world. The grueling three-hour GNCC races lead as many as 2,400 riders through tracks ranging in length from eight to 12 miles. With varied terrain, including hills, woods, mud, dirt, rocks and motocross sections, GNCC events are tests of both survival and speed. The series draws talent from all over the U.S., Central America, South America, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. GNCC Racing is televised weekly on NBC Sports and RacerTV.com. For more information, please visit www.gnccracing.com.

About the American Motorcyclist Association

Founded in 1924, the AMA is a not-for-profit member-based association whose mission is to promote the motorcycle lifestyle and protect the future of motorcycling. As the world’s largest motorcycling rights and event sanctioning organization, the AMA advocates for riders’ interests at all levels of government and sanctions thousands of competition and recreational events every year. The AMA also provides money-saving discounts on products and services for its members. Through the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio, the AMA honors the heroes and heritage of motorcycling. For more information, visit www.americanmotorcyclist.com. Not a member? Join the AMA today: www.americanmotorcyclist.com/membership/join.

Tags: 2017, atv racing, cross country, gncc, race report, round 7