Ponca City, Oklahoma
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By To ny Alessi
PONCA OTY. OK. JULY 27-31
a w a s a k i T eam G ree n ra cers
Travis Hod ges and Ada m Mennen ga gra bbed the lion 's sha re
o f wi ns in th e P ro a nd Inte rm ed iat e
classes during 'the 24th ann ual running
of the NMA Ponca City Gra nd Na tional
C ha mpio ns hips a t Pon ca City, Oklahoma . Hodges an d Me nnenga joined
so me 1800 other en tra nts who made the
trek from the four comers of the Uni ted
Sta tes for this tim e-h on ored motocross
tr a d it io n know n as th e Ponca City
Grand Na tionals.
"Everyone from Jeff Ward to Damo n
Huff ma n, Kevin Windham a nd Rick y
Ca rmic hae l have at one time or ano ther
been a part of th e Pon ca City. ex p erience," N MA fou nder Ron Henri ckson
sa id . "It's th e proving ground for th e
next ge nera tion of pro racers,"
K
Travis Hodges was th e week's top
pro ra cer af ter he racked up a tot al of
three cl ass cha mpio ns h ips, wi nnin g
125cc Stock and Modified, and 250cc
Modified Pro divisions.
Hodges was especia lIy fas t in the
125cc Stock Pro class afte r havi ng a heated early race battl e wi th bo th KTM racer
Kenny Bar tran a n d Ya ma ha's Mark
T hompso n, w ho was h a vin g one of
those weeks.
"Well this week didn't start off too
good," Thom pson said. "My new modified 125 was stolen out of our trai ler at
our hotel room, then I hit a tree in one of
my othe r 125 races and kind o f hammered my stock bike."
Thom pson still wen t on to a thi rdplace finish overall, behind Bartra n and
the week's top p ro, Ho dges,
.
Mennen g a seems to h a ve m ade a
stro ng transiti on from the minis to the
125cc Intermediates , scori ng a pa ir of
(Left)Travis Hodges was the week's top Pro racer at this year's 24th runn ing of the NMA
Grand National Championships at Ponca City.
(Below) Adam Mennenga (79) is obviously feeling right at home on the bigger bikes,
winning both the 12Scc Stock and Modified Intermediate ctasses.
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