KTM Race Report from The John Penton
by: Jason Weigandt
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | 12:00 AM
From: KTM North America
| GNCC ATV Series - Round 6 Millfield, OH |
| FRE KTM riders Adam McGill and Taylor Kiser finished second and third respectively at the 6th round of the ATV GNCC Series. |
"I was sitting comfortably in third until I got tangled with a lapped rider," commented Kiser. "Fortunately, we (the top three) had pulled a big enough lead that I was able to untangle and enter the race only losing one position." With one lap to go, Kiser caught Matt Smiley who had moved into third while Kiser was down, and passed him to take the last podium position. Kiser finished third, behind his teammate McGill who rode a solid race to take home second overall.
With six rounds down McGill still holds the series points lead over Bill Balance. The points earned at this round helped Kiser move up to sixth in overall points.
Next Event: The Spartan - Spart, KY - May 31, 2008
| GNCC Bike Series - Round 6 Millfield, OH |
| Knight Makes the Best of the Worst. |
Rain plagued the riders all day as the track slowly deteriorated from the rush of water that turned an already muddy track into an even worse wreck as the riders lined up for the start of the event. Despite the horrible track conditions, Knight and his Red Bull KTM teammate, Nathan Kanney, had great starts as they both came around the first corner inside the top three.
Both riders swapped 2nd and 3rd position through the first two laps of the race. Unfortunately, Kanney's day ended on the end of the third lap when his bike seized after too much water found its way into the airbox from the many creek crossings and hard rain fall the riders were dealing with throughout the day. Kanney's early departure from the race still earned him 14th overall. Meanwhile, his teammate Knight, who was also slowed up by the mud, managed to finish 5 laps finishing 4th overall on a day when many managed not to finish at all. Now six rounds into the season, Knight still holds a commendable points lead.
In the XC-2 class, Justin Williamson, got off to a great start and was running in 4th position when he got stuck in a creek crossing with other riders on the first lap. The amount of water that was sucked into his bike caused the bike to stop running. He had to be towed off which ended his day early resulting in a DNF. "The track was pretty beat up and lines were running all over the place. There was a lot of water on the track and where water wasn't flowing across, mud was. I was upset that my race ended early, but we will come back stronger at the next event," commented Williamson after the event.
Next Event: The Spartan - Sparta, KY - June 1, 2008