Hey everyone! It's Zman Zack Ponder again.  Just wanted to let everyone know how the 8th race of the GNCC series went.  We was in the beautiful mountains of Masontown, WV.  It was pretty cool seeing some of the crew's family there since it was right next to Morgantown.  Nice to see Mrs. Hawk and the rest of the Hawks there! Well to the race.....the Saturday race for the 4 wheelers had awesome weather so for sure at 8am Sunday it would be dry right?  Wrong, after some rain during the night, the already technical course was slick now.  The race still went on cause we are GNCC racers and that's what we do.  After getting some tips from Hall of Famer, Randy Hawkins, I was confident that it would be a great day.  I got in my race zone as Rodney Tomblin talked  and Ricky Towery did what he does and thanked God and ask for him to keep us safe.  There is just something about 8:00am - prayer- National Anthem - GNCC and a Yamaha YZ 85 under you that gets your adrenaline going!  Teeeennn seconds was yelled, the flag dropped, and as always, my Yamaha YZ 85 cranked up and I headed to the 1st turn on a mission.  The new Kendall tires hooked up on the wet dirt and I was 4th out of 27 racers as we hit the rocky woods.  I stayed in the top 4 the first lap, but 1st place set sail from the rest of us, so we just kind of kept digging.  I was able to get to the 2nd spot then I would fall back to 3rd and I battled that way with Connor Smith, Hunter Williams, Cody Barnes, and Parker Jones pretty much for the whole race.  With 2 laps left, I made my move to 2nd and made a mistake on the rocky hill and fell.  On the last lap, I was able to get to Conner, but when I got out of the race line to pass, I had another get off!!  After that, I just concentrated on keeping 3rd from those other guys.  As I got the checkered flag, realized I had got 3rd. It's not the win we came for but all in all, not a bad points day.  I'm working hard so the wins will come.  The 85 super minis 12-13 class is stacked with great riders so I just need to be patient and realize my time will come again.  I ended up 3 out of 27 in my class and 8th  overall out of 157 riders.  Thanks to everybody that supports us and the GNCC crew for a fun and awesome track!  Also thanks to the ladies at sign up too.  My dad has been telling everyone how smooth sign up has been since Florida.  Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and thank you to our soldiers for allowing us kids to live the dream.  Get well soon Christopher Vendetti.  Thanks to Sonny Morabito for all his time he puts into my dream.  Everyone get signed up for the Yamaha GNCC University at Snowshoe...you won't be disappointed!  God Bless! Thanks to Obemeyer Yamaha/ Raines Riding University/Offroadviking.com, Fly Racing, AmPro Yamaha, Yamalube, Kenda Tires, GYTR, Yamaha Generators, GE, Factory Connections, Accelerade, HBD Graphics, Sun Star, Rekluse, FMF, Enduro Engineering, Flat Tire Defenders, Raines Racing, X Goggles, Unibiker, IMS, CV4, WEISCO, SBS Brakes, and Gaerne Boots.