T
eam Green Kawasaki riders
celebrated 25 years of com-
petition by claiming 12 titles
at the 31st annual NMA
G r a n d N a t i o n a l C h a m p i-
onships at Jack Blevins Motocross Park in
Ponca City, Oklahoma. Half of those
titles were won by Trey Canard, who
lives in nearby Elk City, while 14-year-old
Blake Wharton upheld Suzuki's honor by
claiming four titles of his own on the
rough, but fast, Ponca City course.
Canard's performance was a bit of
redemption as the 15-year-old had spent
the previous two months recovering from
a broken wrist.
"It's been a long year; I got hurt at Oak
Hill and had a horrible [Lake] Whitney,"
Canard said. "At Whitney, I got food poi-
soning or something and I was sick all
runoff day and then I went to Oak Hill and
broke my wrist."
At Ponca City, Canard seemed to show
no ill effects from his earlier misfortunes
and rode strong all week in the nearly 100-
degree Oklahoma heat, winning all but one
of his motos, en route to wins in the 250
Four-Stroke Non-Pro, 450 Four-Stroke
Non-Pro, 125 Open Non-Pro, 125 Stock
Intermediate, 125 Modified Intermediate
and 250 Modified Intermediate classes.
"It feels really good to win here and,
hopefully, I can carry this momentum into
Loretta's next week and get a couple more
wins," Canard said. "I have been practicing
starts all summer, and I just got good starts
and just tried to be as smooth as possible
and keep my momentum going."
The only blemish on Canard's record
at Ponca City was when he crashed while
leading a preliminary moto of the 125
Stock Intermediate division and finished
second to P.J. Larsen. Canard came back
strong, however, to easily win the runoff.
"I am going 'A' after Loretta's and,
hopefully, someone picks me up," Canard
added. "I am going to ride some outdoors
next year, so we will see how it goes."
Wharton capitalized on a week full of
great starts, as well, grabbing the holeshot
Jack Blevins Motocross Park
Ponca City, OK
July 23-29, 2006
AUGUST 16, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S
60
STORY AND PHOTOS BY SHAN MOORE
31st Annual NMA Grand National Championships
After spending the last few
months recovering from a
broken wrist, Kawasaki's
Trey Canard released
pent-up energy at Ponca
City, claiming six class titles.
Fourteen-year-old
Blake Wharton did
Suzuki proud by racking
up four class titles.
