Yamaha's Walker Fowler Grabs GNCC XC2 Class Championship

Cypress, CA (9/26/2011) - Yamaha's Traci Cecco and Ballance Racing's Walker Fowler enjoyed a spectacular GNCC ATV weekend by winning their races and a pair of class championships in Somerset, Penn. on Saturday, Sept. 24. In the morning race, Cecco stormed to her sixth win of the season on her YFZ450X to claim her eighth career GNCC title - a record for the series. While Fowler's 10th consecutive XC2 Pro Am win in the afternoon race makes him undefeated this year. With just three events remaining in the season, the YFZ450X ace now has an insurmountable points lead and captures his first XC2 Pro Am title. In the premier XC1 Pro class, Taylor Kiser finished just off the podium aboard his own YFZ450X. He is now fourth in points heading into the final rounds.

Plenty of rainfall in the area made the long off-road course muddy and slippery in places, resulting in one of the closest GNCC Women's races in memory. Cecco trailed season-long rival Angel Atwell on the first of four long laps, and then turned the tables on lap two to take over the lead with a healthy 25-second advantage. But the race was only halfway over, and Atwell rallied to nip past Cecco on lap three, holding a slim 1-second lead as the pair flew past the line to begin their final lap. Riding flat out, Cecco put in a scorching sub-30 minute lap time - the fastest of the race - passed Atwell again, and streaked to the finish with an advantage of just 1.4 seconds after more than two hours of racing. "What an amazing accomplishment for Traci to win her eighth championship today," said Yamaha ATV racing manager Donnie Luce. "This puts her in a very elite group of GNCC riders while further elevating her racing legacy on the mighty YFZ450X."

Although rival Eric Hoyland took the holeshot in the afternoon XC2 Pro Am race, Fowler didn't panic. He instead followed the race strategy that has proved so dominating this season. Fowler passed Hoyland for the lead on lap one, and then proceeded to methodically build up a gap over his competitors. Yamaha-mounted Gabe Phillips likewise passed Hoyland on lap two, making it a 1-2 Yamaha freight train for the remainder of the event. Fowler enjoyed a nearly 10-second lead by the end of lap one, stretched it to a minute on lap two, to nearly three minutes on the penultimate lap, and then nearly to four minutes by the checkers to win the XC2 title in amazing style. "Walker is thrilled with his championship, and also that he's tied Brandon Sommers' XC2 Pro Am win record," Luce added. "Now he's already set a new goal of winning every race, which has never been done before."

Cecco and Fowler weren't the only Yamaha racers winning in the Pennsylvania woods. In Sunday's motorcycle competition, Jordan Ashburn scored his third consecutive GNCC XC2 Pro Lites motorcycle win aboard his Obermeyer Am Pro Yamaha YZ250F. Meanwhile 2009 GNCC champion Paul Whibley took second in XC1 Pro on his Am Pro YZ450F.