Mullins wins GNCC opener

From the Can-Am GNCC Series
with files from John Hopkins

LAKE WALES, FL - In a wide-open Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series, FMF Suzuki's Charlie Mullins made the first statement by taking a dominant wire-to-wire win at the Parts Unlimited River Ranch GNCC in Florida on Tuesday.

After nabbing the $250 MotorcycleUSA.com Holeshot, Mullins put in a perfect day on a rough, sandy race track, with GEICO Monster Kawasaki's Paul Whibley and Shock Doctor KTM's Nathan Kanney taking the next spots on the podium.

"It was just one of those days where I couldn't make a mistake even if I tried to," said Mullins, an Ohio native who now lives in North Carolina. "I worked really hard to get this done, I'm pumped."

Behind Mullins, a variety of challengers stepped up to try to win the race. Whibley put on his typical late-race charge to net second in his first race for Kawasaki.

"I usually don't get good starts, but this Kawasaki starts so well I started thinking holeshot," said Whibley. "So then I gassed it too quick and it didn't start. The first few laps, you couldn't go fast, it was dusty and there were too many guys. Once I finally got some traffic to clear, I could move up and start pushing it."

Whibley climbed from the back of the top 10 into second with two laps to go, but Mullins upped his pace to keep the New Zealander at bay.

Kanney ran second early, and then 2000 GNCC Champion Shane Watts moved into second and put on an inspired charge until fatigue set in a few laps later. Am-Pro Yamaha's Barry Hawk ran with the lead pack until his rear shock began to fade. Kanney ran into trouble, too when his rear brakes went out, leading to an extended pit stop.

This opened the door to a hard-charging Whibley and Mullins' FMF Suzuki teammate Josh Strang. When Kanney stopped in the pits, Strang, who was way back early, moved all the way up to third. But then disaster struck for Strang when he ran out of gas on the last lap, the result of a problem with his dry break fuel system.

Kanney then mounted one more charge to get back into third.

Mike Brown, the 2001 AMA 125 National Motocross Champion, rallied all day after a bad start to finish fourth. Hawk pulled through for fifth despite rear shock issues.

Hawk's teammate Thad DuVall suffered an even worse start to the year when he crashed halfway through the event and broke his wrist. DuVall's timetable for return is not yet known.

Similar to Mullins, Shock Doctor KTM's Kailub Russell rode to a dominant win in the XC2 Lites class by capturing the $100 Cometic Holeshot Award and riding away from his competition.

Monster Energy Andrews Yamaha's Jason Thomas ran second all day and New England's Jake Korn nailed third for his first GNCC podium.

Taylor Kiser won the ATV XC1 Pro class on a Yamaha from Chris Borich (Suzuki) and Adam McGill (KTM).

New BMW Motorrad Canada rider Guy Giroux was top Canadian in 50th overall and 21st in the XC1 Pro class.

Martin Lafreniere placed 74th overall and eighth in 4 Stroke A Lites aboard a Yamaha and KTM's Jeremy Daudelin took 10th in 4 Stroke A Lites and 89th overall.

Bruno Labelle finished 126th overall and was eighth in 4 Stroke B Lites on a Yamaha.

Other Canadian highlights included Andre Ferraton winning the 200 C (18+) class on a KTM and Joel Lepley taking his KTM to third place in the Golden Masters (58+) division.

Other top fives went to Simon Ferraton (KTM) in 200 C Schoolboy (12-17), Jef Dufour (KTM) in 250 C, Mario Michaud (KTM) in Super Senior C (45+), Eric Plante (Yamaha) in Vet C (30+), Vanessa Marcoux (KTM) in Women and Jake Michaud (KTM) in 65 (10-11). All finished fifth in their respective classes.