Moose Racing - On The Podium

6/7/10

Inclement weather resulted in a very slick and challenging racetrack at round eight of the Can-Am GNCC series this past weekend in Millfield, Ohio. A revised racing schedule saw the normal three-hour race shortened to just two.

A poor start saw XC1-class point's leader, Josh Strang, working his way through the pack. By lap two Strang had moved into second place and began challenging for the lead. Strang would take over the lead on the third lap and held it entering the fourth and final lap.

A pass by Cory Buttrick put Strang into second place until the two riders ran into a bottleneck near the end of the race. Bikes and riders littered the entire hillside and there looked to be no clean lines to get around. After assessing the situation, Buttrick attempted to make his was through but got stuck in a deep rut.

In a show of sportsmanship not commonly found in professional sports, Strang got off his bike and helped Buttrick get going again. Once to the top of the hill, Buttrick stopped to return the favor but Strang was able to get back underway as the other competitors approached. "I can't thank Josh enough for what he did," said Buttrick "It was the best thing anyone has ever done for me during a race. Big thanks to Josh Strang, he's a class act."

The help from Strang allowed Buttrick to take home the win while Strang would cross the line in second. His runner up finish, combined with the misfortune of his closest competitor, Charlie Mullins, allowed Strang to extend his series points lead to 20 with the summer break only a few weeks away.

"It was only two hours but it seemed like forever," said Strang. "The track was kind of hard, with a couple of difficult hills and a few bog holes. I was in the back on the first lap and I got bogged down, but then I got going on the second lap and got up there with Cory. This event got real rutty and slippery and it was pretty gnarly, but a second was good today and I was able to stretch the points lead a little."

In the XC2 class, Jesse Robinson, Scotty Watkins and Jason Thomas battled it out for two straight hours through the deep ruts, mud bogs and slippery hillsides to make it a Moose Racing podium sweep, in that order. After a streak of runner up finishes, this is Robinson's first win as he closes the gap on Thomas for second place in the overall standings.

Taking the Overall Amateur Award as the winner of the Open A division was Moose Racing rider, Jordan Ashburn.

"I got the holeshot in Open A and just pushed hard all day," said Ashburn. "I crashed more than I can count, but it was still a good day."

Ashburn's speed was also good enough to net him eighth overall for the day, beating out many of the XC1 and XC2 pro riders.

Round nine of the series will take place in two weeks time with the MotorcycleUSA.com Snowshoe GNCC from Snowshoe, West Virginia on June 25 - 26, 2010.

Over in the United Kingdom at the third round of the British Enduro Sprint Championship, the Team Suzuki Enduro team of Paul Edmondson and Tom Sagar both brought home second place finishes in the E1 and E2 classes, respectively.

The next British Enduro championship round - the 'Knighton Enduro' - is on July 10th and 11th in Wales.

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