Story by Ryan Smith
Photos by Jason Hooper

A big crowd showed up for ATV racing in Ohio.

 

Round number six of the Can Am GNCC Series headed to Millfield Ohio for the John Penton GNCC. Over 280 riders hit the morning race and Sportsman rider Anthony Hill took the overall followed by Kevan Logston, both former XC2 riders. Since the Sportsman class does not factor into the overall podium, Stefanie Verkade was credited with the win on her Montgomeryville Cycle Center backed ride. This was Verkade’s first overall ever at a GNCC race! She used a bottleneck on the last lap to get around second place finisher Angel Atwell on her Tom Clark backed Honda, and Traci Cecco on her Factory Yamaha. Verkade was in tears on the podium after grabbing that win!

Stefanie Verkade is your winner!

 

Doug Henke took top Utility honors by coming out of retirement and winning the U2 class, followed by Sam Williams and Robert Smith on his Big Nutz/Aftermidnight Racing backed ride. Bryan Buckhannon stayed perfect on the season with the win in 4x4 Open on his Can-Am followed by Scott Kilby on his Warnert Factory Can-Am. Casey Cardin rounded out the top three. Michael Swift took another win on his Factory Warnert Can-Am ahead of Andrew Langston and Jamie Bougher, who is just returning back to action after an injury had him sitting out the Big Buck and Loretta Lynn’s.

In 4x4 Lites, Clifton Beasley remains perfect on the season with his sixth win on his Factory Warnert Can-Am. Jerime Dudding is still chasing him on his LTE Racing Can-Am and was only 45 seconds back this time. Kevin Johnston took third place on his Factory Kymco.

In the Novice Classes, 16-19C was won for the second time by Nick Plisko on his Big Nutz Racing backed ride followed by Justin Kirchhoff and Kolton Burd rounded out the top three. In 20+ C, David Burton took his first win of the season ahead of Kevin Gills and Big Nutz Racing backed Cory Blinkiewicz. Will Wilkinson took his second win of the year in 24+C followed by Nathan Yoder and Michael Nunnally.  In 30+ C, Mike Muskopf took the win ahead of Robin Seitz and Michael Ulery. In 36+ C, Brian Stump took the win by only two seconds ahead of Tommy Mitchell, and Harold Bash rounded out the top three. John Gallagher took another win in Super Senior on his Factory Polaris followed by John Kenney and Tom Skinner. Hunter Dalrymple took the Schoolboy win ahead of Seth Mumford and Tyler Seiverd on his Cardio Stack-backed ride.

The afternoon race saw 265 racers hit the woods, many of whom are not XC1 or XC2 riders. The highest finishing amateur was Parker Jones from the College A ranks. Craig Bowman took the runner-up postion and Ronnie Mills rounded out the top three on his Cardio Stack Racing-backed Suzuki. Christopher Stephens took his first win of the year in Junior A followed by Scott Day in 2^nd and Lance Smith in 3^rd. In Senior, Dave Simmons took his 4^th win of the season on his Northridge/ITP/GTHUNDER backed Yamaha. Thomas Wright took home second place honors and Glen Pritchard took home third.

Scott Kilby rode strong and nearly pulled off a win when Bryan Buckhannon stalled in Open 4x4. But Buckhannon's machine had stalled right after crossing the finish.

 

In Vet A, Gary Bryson took home his second win in a row followed by Justin Petroff and Eric Lemley. The Highest finishing B rider once again broke the top 50 overall with James Davidson grabbing the win and an impressive 48^th overall. Josh Konecheck took home the runner up on his Wilson Racing Polaris. Jamie Bithell took home third place honors. Phillip Wall took the win in Junior B ahead of Jamie McCart and Dirk Decesare. Michael Shelley took home the win in Vet B aboard his Kawasaki, Ryan Reed took home second place and Bryan Rausch the third place spot. Scott Gibson took home the win in Senior B followed by Curtis Forrester and Phil Deschamps. J

In the Sport class, Joey Margueria took home his 5^th win in 5 races followed by James Cashion and Josh Headden. Joey is doing well on a Suzuki LT-Z400, but he hinted that he may be bringing his old Blaster back at some point in the season.

The Can Am GNCC series continues at the end of May at the Sparta GNCC in Kentucky where the racing will continue to heat up as riders jockey for year end positions.