When you've been wallowing around in the mud way behind the leaders and then end up on the top spot podium, does this mean you're lucky? It sure does, from the looks of it. Jeff Picken took home top spot for the Maxxis Penn State Cross-Country in Boyers, Pennsylvania . This is the eighth round for the Parts Unlimited Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals. Jeff Picken, the winner, was crawling around the mud behind the race leaders for most parts of the race…so, how did he end up as the winner?

With a little good luck, he won. And not to mention, a fair bit of bad luck for his leaders. Chris Bithell was one of the ATV race leaders who led for most parts of the race and he was the one who set the pace while the rest of the ATV racers struggled a fair bit at the back.

And then things took a change in the sixth round when Chris Bithell had to retire because his ATV broke down, to Picken's delight. Brian Shaw, who eventually took second place, said that he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what happened. He counted his blessings that he was still in the race with his ATV. After that, Picken, Jeremy Rice and Brandon Sommers just went head to head, weaving in between positions. At one point, Jeff Picken was the fourth. Bad luck hit Brandon Sommers and Picken, once again, delightfully took the third position. And as he was coming up to the last lap, Bithell's ATV broke down and later on, Rice encountered problems with his ATV. Everything in front of Picken, sort of strangely, got swept away. Even Picken admitted that he had luck.

While Jeff Picken was enjoying his good luck, Rob Zimmerman had bad luck with his ATV. Despite the good start, which he said was unusual for him, the run was a pretty good one. And everything started going awry when he busted a tire, took a tumble and got his ATV buried in a mud hole. Even for someone as good as Zimmerman, getting back into the race with a bruised-up ATV was hard…and he finished sixth for this race.

And whoever said luck had nothing to do with ATV racing does not know ATV racing all that well. Picken should be thanking Lady Luck for loving him.