Team ITP Race Report: Unadilla GNCC

Lucas Cooney
by Lucas Cooney
Dave Simmons Unadilla GNCC (Photo courtesy Amy McConnell, XCountry Photos)

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

Angel Atwell Unadilla GNCC (Photo courtesy Amy McConnell, XCountry Photos)

Dave Simmons ( Yamaha) 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 (Yamaha). 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 (Honda) 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 (Yamaha). 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 (Yamaha). 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 Unadilla GNCC (Photo courtesy Amy McConnell, XCountry Photos)

Adam McGill ( Honda) 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.

McGill will have a shot at redemption at the Powerline Park GNCC in St. Clairesville, Ohio on October 6-7.

Lucas Cooney
Lucas Cooney

I have been working exclusively in digital media since 1997. I started out with TSN.ca, spending nearly nine years creating and editing content on Canada's leading sports website. I left to join VerticalScope, Inc., one of the world's largest online publishers, to start a number of powersports publications. While at VerticalScope, I've helped create and oversee content for a wide variety of different publications, including ATV.com, Off-Road.com, ArcheryTalk.com, Tractor.com, RVGuide.com, and many more.

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