Canard and Wharton Top Ponca City Nationals

Shan Moore | July 29, 2006

Trey Canard and Blake Wharton were the big winners at the 31st Annual NMA Ponca City Grand National Championships held in Ponca City, Oklahoma this week.

The final run-offs were held today and Canard, who lives in near by Elk City, won titles in all six of the classes he entered, which accounted for half of the 12 titles earned by Kawasaki riders at the week-long event. Wharton helped Suzuki’s cause by winning four of the nine titles won by RM-mounted riders.

Canard’s titles came in the 250 4-Stroke Non-Pro, 450 4-Stroke Non-Pro, 125 Open Non-Pro, 250 Mod Intermediate and 125 Mod Intermediate classes, while Wharton’s came in the 85 Open thru 16, 85 Stock 14-16, 85 Mod 14-16, and SuperMini thru 16 divisions.

Another multi-class winner was Zach Bell, who won three classes, 65 Stock and Mod, and 85 stock, while his brother Chase added two titles to his resume.

Sean Hackley claimed two pro division wins, 125 Stock Pro and 250 Stock Pro, while newly-signed Makita Suzuki rider Ryan Dungey claimed two wins, as well. A girls class was added this year’s event and Ashley Fiolek of Florida had the honor of becoming the first-ever Ponca City Girls Champion.

A record number of entries (2563) participated in the event, which was delayed by five hours on Friday while crews worked the track after an all-night rain left the surface covered in mud and standing water. However, for today, the surface was in great shape as 16 run-offs were run in perfect conditions.

Shan Moore | Contributing Editor

Moore covers all facets of off-road racing for Cycle News – from AMA Supercross and Motocross to GNCC and National Hare Scrambles events.