Walker Fowler Continues Dominant Season With Tomahawk GNCC Win

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by Press Release
McGill, Borich join Fowler on the podium


After a three week break, the AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series presented by Maxxis, an AMA National Championship, continued today, June 10, at the Seneca Highlands in Odessa, New York. Track conditions were favorable, where fans lined the start to see six-time GNCC champion, Chris Borich narrowly edge out GBC/Canyon Motorsports/Fly Racing’s Landon Wolfe for the $250 Wiseco Holeshot Award at the third annual Dunlop Tomahawk GNCC.

Wolfe wasn’t ready to settle for second and quickly took the lead with Dillinger’s Celtic Pub/GBC Motorsports/Moose Racing’s Marty Christofferson in tow as they headed into the woods. Wolfe continued leading majority of the first lap with Christofferson, Borich and WFR/Yamaha/Maxxis/Fly Racing’s Walker Fowler on his tail.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with my starts, but I need to work on that,” said Fowler. “Luckily, we were ahead of McGill off the start or it would have been a long day. It took me until the end of the first lap to get into the lead, and I was surprised with how wet the track was that first lap.”

Walker Fowler Tomahawk GNCC

Walker Fowler remains the only rider with an overall win at the Tomahawk GNCC. (Photo by Ken Hill)

Fowler struggled to get through the frontrunners, but advanced through the riders and made some quick passes to be in the lead as he approached timing and scoring for the first time. Meanwhile, McGill was working his way through the pack after a bad start and sat in sixth.

As the second lap wore on, McGill closed the gap on Fowler and was on Fowler’s back wheels as the white flag came out. With the added pressure from McGill, Fowler ended up hitting a tree allowing for McGill to make the pass. After getting back on-track, McGill got hung up with some lapped riders where Fowler was able to catch back up.

Adam McGill Tomahawk GNCC

Adam Adam “The Gator” McGill proved he’s still chomping for a win this year. (Photo by Ken Hill)

“Toward the end of the race I got into some lapped traffic and that made me lose some time,” reported Fowler. “McGill caught up with me and was pushing it a little too hard and I tagged a tree. Then more lapped traffic was ahead of McGill and I was able to make that time back up once I got back going.”

With only one open field section remaining, Fowler realized this was the prime opportunity to get back to the front. The duo were side by side, but Fowler was able to make the move and lead the way to the finish. Despite McGill’s efforts to end Fowler’s success, Fowler remains the only person to have an overall Tomahawk win on his resume.

Tomahawk GNCC XC1 Podium

Overall Podium: (3) Chris Borich, (1) Walker Fowler, (2) Adam McGill. (Photo by Ken Hill)

“We progressively keep getting better. We are like a steam roller, and just keep getting better each race,” said McGill.

Borich ran a consistent third-place race to round out the overall podium. JMR/ATVriders.com-backed Jarrod McClure just missed the box, with fourth overall, and after leading most of the first lap, Wolfe maintained his pace to land a top-five finish.

BNR Motorsports/Maxxis/Pro Graph-X/Precision’s Josh Merritt scored his best finish of the season with seventh overall, and GBC/Fly Racing/HMF/Yamaha’s Johnny Gallagher followed in eighth. ATV Innovations/Solo Pilot’s Westley Wolfe and Christofferson rounded out the top-ten overall.

Coastal Racing’s Brycen Neal was struck with bad luck on the last lap where his right rear wheel fell off. Neal displayed the heart of a champion, where he rode the last mile of the race with only three wheels to finish 13th in class and 65th overall.

Brycen Neal Tomahawk GNCC

Brycen Neal faced an all-new obstacle on the last lap, where he rode his way to the finish with only three wheels. (Photo by Ken Hill)

In the XC2 Pro-Am division, Cameron Bruce jumped out to the early lead and claimed the $100 All Balls Racing Holeshot Award. In the end, it would be a New York sweep of the podium with M.R. Unlimited/Hygear Suspension/GBC Tires/Tire Spine’s Devon Feehan, M.R. Unlimited/Hygear Suspension/GBC Tires/Tire Spine-backed Hunter Hart and Hygear Suspension’s Greg Covert.

Tomahawk GNCC XC2 Podium

XC2 Pro-Am Podium: (3) Hunter Hart, (1) Devon Feehan, (2) Greg Covert. (Photo by Ken Hill)

A 20th overall finish earned John Glauda Jr. top amateur honors along with the College A (16-21) class win. Drew Landers and Jeffrey Pickens took the second and third top amateur positions in the 1 p.m. race.

Claiming his sixth 4×4 Pro win of the season was Cunningham Racing/Can-Am/Maxxis-backed Kevin Cunningham, who also topped the overall charts in the 10 a.m. race. Schoolboy Sr. (14-17) class winner Ronnie Rusch finished second overall, and Can-Am/DJR/QuadBoss-backed Bryan Buckhannon trailed in third overall and second in 4×4 Pro. Team UXC Racing’s Michael Swift rounded out the 4×4 Pro class podium.

Tomahawk GNCC Morning Podium

10 a.m. Overall Podium: (2) Ronnie Rusch, (1) Kevin Cunningham, (3) Bryan Buckhannon. (Photo by Ken Hill)

Dillinger’s Celtic Pub’s Katelyn Osburn claimed her first WXC win of the season in front of her hometown friends and family. Angel Knox finished just behind Osburn in second, and Traci Pickens rounded out the class podium.

Layne McCormick rode his way to another youth overall win, where he lead the race from start to finish. McCormick’s victory now has him sitting 17 points ahead in the championships standings. Colton Buck and Devin Corrothers followed in second and third.

Tomahawk GNCC WCX Podium

WXC Podium: (2) Angel Knox, (1) Katelyn Osburn, (3) Traci Pickens. (Photo by Ken Hill)

The 1 p.m. race was broadcast LIVE in its entirety on RacerTV.com and can be viewed as an archived video now online by visiting the GNCC LIVE page online. A highlight show featuring the event will air Saturday, June 17 at noon.

The 2017 AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series resumes in two weeks, June 24 and 25, with the popular AMSOIL Snowshoe GNCC in Snowshoe, WV.


2017 GNCC National Championship Standings


  1. Walker Fowler (205)
  2. Adam McGill (149)
  3. Brycen Neal (112)
  4. Chris Borich (112)
  5. Jarrod McClure (108)
  6. Landon Wolfe (105)
  7. Johnny Gallagher (88)
  8. Hunter Hart (79)
  9. Devon Feehan (77)
  10. Marty Christofferson (70)
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