Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
03/04/2009
Lake Wales, FL
In a wide-open Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series, FMF Suzuki's Charlie Mullins made the first statement by taking a dominant wire-to-wire win at the Parts Unlimited River Ranch GNCC in Florida. After nabbing the $250 MotorcycleUSA.com Holeshot, Mullins put in a perfect day on a rough, sandy race track, with GEICO Monster Kawasaki's Paul Whibley and Shock Doctor KTM's Nathan Kanney taking the next spots on the podium.
"It was just one of those days where I couldn't make a mistake even if I tried to," said Mullins, and Ohio native who now lives in North Carolina. "I worked really hard to get this done, I'm pumped."
Behind Mullins, a variety of challengers stepped up to try to win the race. Whibley put on his typical late-race charge to net second in his first race for Kawasaki. "I usually don't get good starts, but this Kawasaki starts so well I started thinking holeshot," said Whibley. "So then I gassed it too quick and it didn't start. The first few laps, you couldn't go fast, it was dusty and there were too many guys. Once I finally got some traffic to clear, I could move up and start pushing it."
Whibley climbed from the back of the top ten into second with two laps to go, but Mullins upped his pace to keep the New Zealander at bay.
Kanney ran second early, and then 2000 GNCC Champion Shane Watts moved into second and put on an inspired charge until fatigue set in a few laps later. Am-Pro Yamaha's Barry Hawk ran with the lead pack, until his rear shock began to fade. Kanney ran into trouble, too when his rear brakes went out, leading to an extended pit stop. This opened the door to a hard-charging Whibley and Mullins' FMF Suzuki teammate Josh Strang. When Kanney stopped in the pits, Strang, who was way back early, moved all the way up to third. But then disaster struck for Strang when he ran out of gas on the last lap, the result of a problem with his dry break fuel system.
