Subject: Team Am-Pro Yamaha Race Report

The GNCC series keeps rolling along and this weeks location was non other than the infamous Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills Tennessee. The track was around 12 miles in length and the track has a lot of different aspect to it. From the shale rock lined trails, to fast grass tracks, to the amateur national MX track there is a little bit of everything to keep the riders on their toes.

It was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature hovering around 72 degrees, the track was dry and a little dusty but not too bad.

Here's how our guys did after the three hour event

Barry Hawk
Barry's day started on the right foot and he had the best start he has had all year, he rounded the first turn in 5th and when they headed into the woods he was up to 4th. As the first lap continued he lost a little time on the leaders, but was still maintaing a good pace. The next lap he was feeling like he was riding as fast as he could without crashing and just couldn't make up time on the leaders and was being passsed by other riders. "I just felt really un-comfortable on the bike all day, I would try and push and would make mistake after mistake and then I was getting caught by other riders, I didn't know what was wrong" Barry said. As the race continued it kept getting worse for the former GNCC champion. Later in the race a lapper pulled to the side of the trail to let a group of riders by and when Barry pulled up and tried to go around the rider pulled into Barry and they hit and he went into a tree. Barry solidier on and never gave up and rode the best that he could. "It was a very frustrating day". After all the frustratioin he wound up finishing 12th overall, it was a very disappointing day for him but unlike most racers, Barrry was back on the bike Monday morning to figure out what was wrong, him or the bike. After a back to back test session with two identical suspension set-ups he found the problem. Their was a malfunction with his race shock, nothing anybody could have prevented, sometimes mechanical things have their way of breaking no matter what you do. So the day wasn't what he had wanted but it was a great relief to find out that it was something that will be easily fixed. "I thought it was me and I didn't know what was wrong with me, I was so relieved when we found the problem and now I can move on."

Charlie Mullins
Charlie blasted off to yet another great start and rounded the first turn in 2nd. By the time they reached the woods he moved into the lead. He kept the lead until the 4 mile mark and then he took a wrong turn on the course. "I was leading and came up on a split in the trail and I went left, but I saw the arrow out of the corner of my eye and it was pointing right!" He turned around and re-entered the course very quickly but had dropped to 5th. The next few laps he stayed right there with the lead pack and maintained his 5th place position. As the race continued he kept his focus and composure and knew his hard work training during the off-season would pay off in the end. The last two laps of the race saw Charlie's training pay off. He moved past into 3rd when the two lap board came out and he was still feeling strong but the other riders were tiring. Beginining the final lap he was 35 seconds down from second place. He put his head down, pushed, and rode mistake free until he caught up to the rider. As they came closer and closer to the finish they traded places a few times on the MX track. They had two turns to go until the finish and Charlie was right on his tail. "Garrett took the inside in the second to last turn and I knew the only way around was the outside, it was either crash or pass him and I went for it". The last ditch effort to get past worked out and Charlie got around and crossed the finish line with a hard faught 2nd place. He showed a lot of strenght throught the race and never gave up until the end.

Thad Duvall
Thad rocketed off the line on his WR250F and entered the woods towards the front of the pack. As the riders jockied for position on the first lap Thad made it clear that he wanted to be up-front. His race was an all day long battle with none other than 5-time GNCC champion Rodney Smith. Thad and Rodney pushed each other the entire race and passed back and forth numerous times. As the race continued it was clear that it would come down to either Thad or Rodney for the class win. They had a very quick pace established and were moving up past many top XC1 riders and into the top 10 overall. In the end Rodney's experience in the "entry level" XC2 pro class gave him the victory. Thad never gave up and finished a very close second place in class and 8th overall. He continues to improve his consistency and smoothness during the races and it won't be long before he gets that first victory in the XC2 class.

Points Standings
Charlie Mullins: 2nd overall
Barry Hawk: 6th overall
Thad Duvall: 5th (XC2) 13th overall

Thank you to all of our continued help from sponsors, family and fans. We appreciated all that you do for us and look forward to seeing you at the races.
 

Jason Raines
Team Am-Pro Yamaha