Fall was definitely in the air this past weekend in St. Clairsville, Ohio. Skies were overcast on Sunday and temperatures struggled to make it into the 40s. The area had seen some rain in the days leading up to round 11 but not so much that it saturated the track. Once Sunday morning rolled around, the entire team was ready to go to work and tackle the woods of Powerline Park!

In the Youth Race, Cody Ruckle and Zack Ponder were back to their winning ways! Cody put in a heck of a ride finishing second in the Super Mini (12-13) class and an impressive fourth overall. Cody left Powerline Park second in points only trailing the class leader by 14 points. Cody’s teammate, Zack Ponder also put in a stellar performance in the 85 (12-13) class and 15^th overall! Zack finished the day a full minute and nineteen seconds ahead of second place. This would bring about a protest from the second place finisher who claimed Zack was running an illegal setup. After having the bike torn down by GNCC determined Zack was 100% legal. Zack leaves Powerline Park 3^rd in points only three points out of first place!

Moving on to the morning race, Leeann Bange lined up against some of the top women in off road. Leeann had a very solid day finishing fifth in her class and 25^th overall. Leeann currently sits fourth in points trailing third place by only one point and second by just eight points. With solid rides in the last two rounds, Leeann could find herself easily sitting second place in the championship battle.

As we drew closer to the 1:00 p.m. start rumors of rain moving into the area started to circulate. With temperatures already in the mid 40s the addition of rain would make this test even more difficult! Jed and Brad made their way to the start and lined up with against the rest of the XC2 class and waited for the green flag to drop. Once it did Brad wasted no time making his way to the front of the pack, unfortunately he crashed very hard at the four mile marker. This placed Brad in sixth place forcing him to push hard to get back on pace. After making his way back into the fourth position he would have another bad crash due to the slick conditions which made him unable to return to the front.

Jed experienced a much different start. Going into the first corner Jed found himself at the back of the entire XC2 pack. He was able to charge up to the third spot by the end of the second lap. Jed would fall back to sixth, rebound back to third, fall back again and finally finish his day in the sixth position in XC2 and 12^th overall. Brad ended the day with a class finish of 11^th and 25^th overall.

Jed leaves Ohio sitting fourth in points behind Andrew DeLong. Brad now sits in the Fifth position in points by his teammate Jed Haines. All in all it was a good day for the team as we head into the final two rounds of the 2012 GNCC series!