TEAM ITP RACE REPORT RND10

Photo by Amy McConnell Xcountry

Two and a half months is a long time for a racer to wait. If
they’re in  contention for a championship there is a lot of chomping at the bit
to get back  to work. If they’re not in it to win it, they just want to try to
salvage the  season, polish some skills while looking ahead to next year, or
simply have some  fun with the series “family.” Of course if they’re among the
few who actually  are leading in the point standings, the season cannot end soon
  enough.
 



As  the traditional summer break of the 2012
Grand National Cross Country Series  drew to a close, Team ITP was apparently
ready to rock the final four events on  the schedule. With fresh ITP Holeshot
and QuadCross tires mounted on their newly  tuned quads, our guys and gals were
clearly well rested and motivated at the  rugged Unadilla circuit, one of the
icons of powersports.

 Dave Simmons (Yam) once again  dominated the morning race, winning the overall by
close to four minutes. It was  his seventh overall triumph of the season and
tenth straight victory in the  Super Senior 45+ class.

 Also claiming a big win was Glenn  McConnell (Yam). This Masters 50+ competitor
grabbed his fifth victory of the  season and in the process snuck into the
points lead for the first time in 2012.  After skipping the first race of the
year he had been gradually moving up the  leaderboard, and Unadilla would be the
breakthrough.

 Angel Atwell (Hon) finished eighth  overall in the morning and second in the Women’s
class. She is keeping things  tight in this battle, down by just eight in the
season points chase.

 One Team ITP rider who would probably like
the  season to be over is Pat McGuire (Yam). Before the summer break he was
leading  the way in the XC2 Pro Am standings. But he’s obviously having too much
fun and  added to his points gap by snatching his third victory of the year and
placing  seventh overall in the afternoon event.

 Not far behind in this class was  Matt Hanna (Yam). This Greg’s ATV-backed
up-and-comer ended the day in fourth  place for XC2, which was good enough to
move him up one spot to fourth in the  standings (just two points out of
third).

 Adam McGill (Hon) is probably ready  to wipe the 2012 season completely off the
memory card. After yet another  competitive performance which saw him leading
the premier XC1 Pro division  early, he suffered yet another heartbreaking Did
Not Finish. Knowing Adam and  his positive attitude, however, he’s probably
ready to uproot tall pines at the  next race.

 That will come at the ITP-sponsored  Powerline Park GNCC in St. Clairesville, OH, on
October 6-7.