Gnarly Routes Race Report: The Offroad Cup
Panther Creek Trail Rides, Tuscumbia, Missouri
Gnarly Routes Report:
Team Riders: Russell Bobbitt, Cole Kirkpatrick, Ryan Grantom
Bikes: KTM 300 XC TPI, KTM 250 SX, KTM 450 XC
For the second weekend in a row, Gnarly Routes conquered a nine-hour team race. It was an all out battle all day long with only ten seconds separating the top two teams. In the week leading up to the race, the venue received some much needed rain and a drop in temperature that made for an absolutely perfect course on race day. Steve Leivan, the promoter of the Off Road Cup laid out an eleven mile loop that featured standard Missouri gnar. It was littered with rocks, wet logs, roots, off-camber sections and plenty of elevation.
Russell started the race for the team and settled into a comfortable pace behind Nathan Rector for the first two laps as the course developed before taking the lead on lap three and building a small gap over second place. Ryan was up next for a three lap stint and put in solid laps but was passed by Andrew Clark of the local Missouri team, HBGP. When Cole went out, the Gnarly Routes team was down by well over a minute and the leading team continued to pull away. The team had to come up with a plan to get back into striking distance of the leaders.
Russell got back on the bike for another three lap pull, which meant he would be on course for another hour and a half pull. During this time, Russell managed to reel in the leaders and make a pass for the lead before handing it back off to Ryan. With only a minimal lead at this point and the HBGP team having their heavy hitter, Nathan Rector out on track , Ryan was passed towards the end of his lap. The team decided to do a quick rider swap to Cole for the next lap. Nathan continued to pull time on Cole and again Gnarly Routes was down by nearly a minute. During the lap that Ryan and Cole both put in, Russell re-charged as much as possible to attempt to get on course and make a push for the lead once more.
At this point, there were only four laps left in the race and both teams were trying to come up with a strategy to secure the win. The leap frog affect was happening due to the fact that each team’s fastest rider was out on the course at different times. So, with four laps to go, Russell took of with the intent of just doing two laps. After two laps and the lead in site, Russell continued to press on for a third lap. This was his ninth lap of the day (99 miles total) and he made it count and came around with the white flag waving with a fifty-five second lead.
The pressure was on as Cole was up and Nathan Rector of the HBGP team was on-course and turning lap times nearly a minute faster than Cole had been throughout the day. Cole took off, inspired by Russell’s effort on the day to keep the Gnarly Routes team in contention for the win. This was it, it was going to come down to a single lap after nine hours of racing. At the six mile mark, Cole’s fifty-five second lead was down to just over thirty seconds. The second half of the course was a bit tighter and all of the Gnarly Routes team riders were in the woods cheering Cole on to hold the lead.
As the checkered flag waved, the team waited anxiously to see if it would be Cole or Nathan of the HBGP team to emerge from the woods first. The familiar sound of a two-stroke came out of the woods first and down the hill to cross the finish line. Cole managed to hold Nathan off by only ten seconds after nine hours of racing! It was an epic day of racing and the team was pumped to take the victory.
