"It's a dream come true," said Mullins. "I'm really at a loss for words, right now. I've worked so hard and so many people have helped me along the way. There are so many people out there that helped make this happen and it feels really good to finally win it, it's been a long time coming."
"It's been 10 years ago I was in the youth class, and it's pretty cool to come up and be the champion," added Mullins. "When I started racing it was just me and my dad and my uncle just coming out on the weekends, just spending time with the family and having a good time. I really never thought it would progress to this, it's something I'll always remember."
Mullins put on an incredible display over the extremely rugged 12.5-mile course, while Kailub Russell, Cory Buttrick, Paul Whibley, and Josh Strang locked up in an intense battle for the runner-up position. Strang washed out on the loose rocky start, sending him to the back of the pack early on but the defending champion pushed his way to fourth, just behind Buttrick and Whibley.
Unfortunately, Strang hit a set of tree roots that sent him to the ground and furthermore added to his string of bad luck in 2011, as the Aussie superstar's day ended abruptly with a broken leg. JG Off-Road/GEICO Honda's Jimmy Jarrett volunteered to end his day as well, along with XC2 racer Cody Gragg - who both stopped to assist the injured Strang in the woods.
Buttrick ran a solid second for the first half of the race after rolling off a season-best second place on Friday, but unfortunately Buttrick pulled out of the race with an injured hand. WMR Racing/Clockwork/Planet Fitness KTM's Nate Kanney ran into mechanical issues in the final round of racing and the fifth place racer pulled off early on.
Russell took over second after his FMF/KTM teammate Buttrick dropped out and after that, the Pro class rookie never looked back - ending the race with nearly two minutes to spare over the seasoned Whibley.
"I was pretty upset on Friday because I threw second away twice," said Russell. "Today I knew I could turn things around and I started off well, I was right behind Charlie and Paul after the start. Charlie made a little mistake and I got around him and then I hit a root and flipped over the bars and hit my head. It knocked me silly for a minute, but I got going and ended up catching everyone back and making the pass for second."
