Round 9 of the 2008 Can-Am GNCC series took place at the Mountain Ridge ATV Park in Somerset, PA. Known for its notorious rock sections, the Mountain Ridge GNCC is one of the gnarliest of the 13 venues the series visits each year. Team Red Bull/KTM's Nate Kanney, a New York native is no stranger to rocky conditions and was looking forward to getting out on the trails in the last GNCC round before the series takes a 2 month summer break.

After being edged out for the $100 Racer X Holeshot award by Team FMF Suzuki's Jimmy Jarrett, Kanney made a move for the lead. "I walked a lot of the course in the morning [prior to the race] and as soon as I saw all the rocks in the woods it reminded me of what I grew up riding--really technical and kind of hairy rock sections. So, straight away I knew I was going to go flat-out in the first rock section, and that's exactly what I did. I ended up hitting one rock which kicked me completely sideways and I lost 4 or 5 positions all at once. I realized right then that it wasn't possible to go that crazy today and still have a good finish. So from there I kind of started over, and backed it down a bit."

Kanney soon found his rhythm and began moving his way back through the field and ultimately into 2nd place by the 3rd lap. Winner of the previous GNCC round, Josh Strang was hot on Kanney's heels and the two began setting a blistering pace, battling throughout the long, 14 mile GNCC course. Coming into the 5th and final lap, Kanney had to pit for a splash of fuel which allowed Strang, who didn't have to pit, to get around him.

Coming into the final few turns, Kanney and Strang had the GNCC fans on their feet as they battled fiercely to the finish. Strang was able to cross the finish line in second place with Kanney coming across in 3rd place less than a second behind him. "I definitely would never want to go into a 2 month Summer break having to think about a bad result at the last race. I'm happy to have finished 3rd today, but I'm even more happy to have had such an awesome battle with Josh throughout the race. I've been waiting all year to have a dog fight with him and it was awesome going back and forth so many times."