Bryan Buckhannon (4x4 Open), Forrest Whorton (4x4 Senior), Braden Henthorn (XC2) and AJ Koontz (Junior A) were class winners at Round 9 of GNCC racing.
GBC's XC1 pros Kevin Yoho and Johnny Gallagher finished 7th and 8th at John Penton. Anaheim, Calif. - July 11, 2012 - After battling the best off-road ATV racers in the world at 8 events during the last 4 months, the team of GBC Motorsports athletes had one final obstacle in the form of triple digit race day temps to conquer before entering the 8-week break from GNCC racing action.
Starting things off right in the morning race it was once again the dynamic duo of Bryan Buckhannon and Forrest Whorton grabbing class wins in the 4x4 Open and 4x4 Senior classes. To illustrate the dominance of these two riders in 2012, each of them need only score 1 podium finish in their respective classes in the remaining four rounds to secure the class championship.
BNR's Rob Smith has been steadily improving all year and placed his Dirt Commander equipped Can-Am on the Utility Overall podium for the first time, with a 3rd place overall and 2nd place in the U2 class.
When the afternoon race lined up temperatures had reached upwards of 102 degrees and all in attendance knew that only the strongest would survive this brutal test of man and machine. In XC1 competition Kevin Yoho had a stellar ride spending much of the day inside the top 5 before a crash late in the race dropped him to 7th on the day. Following Kevin home in 8th place was the veteran Johnny Gallagher.
Despite a last lap mishap that saw him lose one of his riding boots, DeRisi Racing's Braden Henthorn topped the XC2 class for his 2nd win of the season and now sits only 11 points out of the points lead. "My GBC tires worked awesome out there today," Henthorn said from the podium. "I grabbed the lead about halfway and thought I had it in the bag until I ran my leg over on the last lap and ripped my boot off. I wanted this win so badly I just hopped back on the bike, left my boot behind and high-tailed it to the finish." Joining Henthorn on the XC2 class podium in 3rd place was his teammate Eric Hoyland.
AJ Koontz topped the Junior A class for the 4th time this season and is locked in a tight points battle for the class championship as well. Brycen Neal came up just seconds short of another College A class win and overall amateur award, ultimately settling for 2nd place. Close behind Neal was Brody Livengood who matched his season high 4th place on the day.
Other standout performances included Kevin McKeown's 2nd place in the College B class, James Reeves' 3rd place in the Junior A class, and Ashley Barbee's 2nd place in Women's Amateur class.
GBC Motorsports' GNCC athletes will enjoy an 8 week break before returning to action September 15th in New Berlin, NY at the famed Unadilla facility. Be sure to check in on your favorite GBC riders throughout the racing season by visiting our Facebook and Twitter pages.
About GBC Motorsports: GBC Motorsports has been building ATV tires for over 30 years. Manufactured under the Greenball name initially, in 1995, GBC Motorsports was formed to focus on bringing to the ATV and Powersports market performance tires for every riding style. GBC Motorsport's passion is to provide the highest quality, best value, and most innovative performance tires to the Powersports enthusiast.