Brandon Sommers Nabs Amateur Overall at WEXCR Round 2 – GT Thunder Memorial Race at Husted Hills

Tim W | 05 May 2015 | Racer Articles | |    

On May 3rd, WEXCR hosted Round 2 at Husted Hills in honor of the GT Thunder Family and Brandon Sommers walked away with the Amateur Overall.

“It was definitely cool to win the Amateur Overall Award, but it was really awesome to do it at a race that was dedicated in the memory of my amazing parents,” he said.Sommers1[1]

Sommers pulled the holeshot at the race and spent the first few laps working through traffic and trying to pace himself for a long, hot race. “The old carbureted Yamahas are holeshot machines,” he exclaimed.

“Thanks to my best friend Dustin Hendershot, I had to start pushing harder toward the end of the race if I wanted to win my class,” Sommers explained. “I wanted to go slow, but I wanted to win even more than that. After swapping positions a few times, Dustin snagged a tree on the last lap and I was able to finish without any pressure. Afterward, I was exhausted, but I was happy to be able to finish the race without slowing down too much. I raced an ancient 2008 Yamaha YFZ450 in the Vet Class.”

To prepare for the race, Sommers said, “I washed my bike, made sure no pieces were falling off of it and I only had one beer Saturday night because it was calling for a hot race day, haha.”

Sommers stated that his favorite part of the race was the holeshot and first lap. “After that,” he said, “I started getting tired!” He said the heat and the last lap of the race were the hardest parts of Sunday.

Sunday was the first time Sommers has raced a WEXCR race, but he has attended as a spectator several times. “I enjoy the WEXCR races because of how welcome everyone makes us feel, all of our friends and the great people putting on the series,” he said.

This season, Sommers has goals to race, spend time with friends and have as much fun as possible. He said, “I take everything one day at a time!”

Recently, the Sommers Family announced that they are expecting a new baby this December. “It has been a long, rough road, but we are finally blessed with a child on the way! We are excited about being back at the races this year and really look forward to bringing our baby to the races next year and the years to come! It’s such a great family atmosphere. Hopefully our child will get Mommy’s good looks and my…well…um…20:20 vision? Haha.”

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Sommers would like to thank his mom and dad. “Every good thing that I am or have done can be credited back to them,” he explained. Next, he would like to thank his gorgeous wife for everything she does, Steve White and Andrew Kimble for pitting services, Dustin and Nicole Hendershot and the Hanna Family for their friendship, support and generosity and Tim, Vikki and the entire WEXCR Crew for putting on a great race series. He would also like to thank everyone who is helping him currently or who has helped him in the past including GT Thunder, HLS, Snure Interlocking, Pirate MX, Wiseco, Maul Tech ATV, Flexx Handlebars, Fly Racing, ATV Four Play, Hess Motorsports, BNR, Greg’s ATV, Rath Racing, ProGraphx, Precision Stabilizers, Worldwide Chiropractic, Pacillo Chiropractic, Yamaha, Maxxis, Hiper, Snyder Motorsports and FMF Racing.

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