Day one of this weekend's first-ever Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series double-header provided nothing short of epic racing as over five hundred bike racers showed up at Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. for the season finale Parts Unlimited Loretta Lynn's GNCC.
What started out looking like a relatively easy runaway win for points leader Charlie Mullins, turned into an electrifying nail-biter in the end.
Mullins came into Friday's round leading the point standings over a field of the best off-road racers in the world, including Australia sensation and defending champion Josh Strang and 2009 GNCC Champion Paul Whibley of New Zealand. Not one to play it safe, however, Mullins grabbed the lead on the opening lap and started to pull away from the competition. But the race - and the title chase - took an unexpected turn when Mullins' bike sputtered to a stop on lap five after suffering an engine failure.
AmPro Yamaha's Paul Whibley assumed the lead at that point with Mullins' FMF/KTM teammate Cory Buttrick in second, as Mullins worked frantically to restart his bike.
In the meantime, FMF Makita Suzuki's Josh Strang had managed to work his way into the battle for the lead after finding himself at the rear of the pack when he collided with Whibley in the first turn. Both Whibley and Strang turned in epic rides to move through traffic during the first few laps, with Whibley having the benefit of getting away before Strang. Whibs was hitting one of the deep and fast-running creek crossings wide open in order to make up time and the strategy paid off as the Kiwi found himself in the right place at the right time when Mullins dropped out.
At the end of three hours of intense racing, Whibley took the checkered flag with only an 11 second gap over Buttrick, who claimed his best finish of the year with the runner-up position. Meanwhile, third went to Strang, who kept his title hopes alive with the finish.
"I can't control what anybody else does so I just have to go out there and win races," said Whibley. "Late in the race, I saw Mullins' bike laying over beside the track so I knew I had the lead at that point. It was tough to make up time in the woods so I was hitting the creeks as hard as I could to try and get it done."
