Race Report: Round 7 GNCC, Sparta KY
Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: FMF Suzuki
Bike: Suzuki RMZ 450
Result: 1st

With the sun beating down and the humidity rising, we sat on the start line baking, trying to keep cool before the wave of the flag. After the national anthem and announcement of the pro line up we were ready to go.

I got a mid pack start but moved into the top ten before we hit the woods.  I was riding comfortable and able to follow the riders in front of me easily. Over the course of lap one I moved up to 5th as riders made mistakes or I had opportunities to make a pass.

The track was pretty good in the woods with a lot of fresh trail.  There was a fair amount of rocks in the soil, and the many off cambers were really slippery.

By the fuel stop at the end of lap three, I was battling it out with Aussie Glenn Kearney and we both pushed past Nate Kanney and moved on toward the leaders, Josh Strang and David Knight.  Josh was leading with David hot on his heels.  We saw David make a mistake and go down.

With two laps to go the race was on.  Josh, Glenn and I were charging and left the others behind.  We swapped positions so many times.  Coming through the barrels we got the one lap to go board.  So I put the hammer down.  I moved past Josh into the lead and began to pull a gap.

I rode hard the last lap, not wanting to surrender first place.  I took the win by nearly fifty seconds.  I was pretty pumped as this win was hard fought, and it was a great race between Glenn who took second and Josh coming in third to complete an all down under podium.
 
1st- Paul Whibley
2nd- Glenn Kearney
3rd- Josh Strang
4th- Nate Kanney
5th- David Knight