Of course, that’s to be expected as GNCC Racing incorporates a little bit of everything into a typical GNCC track, and a little air time on a motocross track can happen. While the Amateur National is in it’s 33^rd year, this year’s Loretta Lynn’s GNCC was the 31^st, making it the longest running current GNCC event. The Loretta Lynn’s GNCC began a year after the first Amateur National, and while we missed a GNCC there in 2013, we were back for this season and it was a popular return for most riders.

While we see a typical GNCC format there, the thing about the Amateur National is, with each class racing 3 motos throughout the week, and a lot of racers contesting more than 1 class, you never really know what can happen. The track is constantly changing, and most years, so is the weather.

Luckily for the racers, this year saw some of the most perfect weather the Amateur National has ever seen with no rain and temperatures in the mid 80’s. This is a welcome relief for experienced Loretta Lynn’s racers as most years you can expect it to rain at some point, and it’s usually pretty darn hot too.

Taking a slight departure from the normal Tuesday Toolbox format, we’ve picked out a two of those familiar faces this week to give a little bit of a report on how their week at the ranch went.

Aaron Plessinger
Aaron Plessinger got his start in GNCC Racing, which comes as no surprise as his dad, Scott, claimed the 1994 and 1995 GNCC bike championships. Coming up through the ranks of GNCC Racing, Aaron always established himself as a contender though his mini days and a brief career on big bikes too before beginning to focus solely on the motocross side.

Plessinger took the Super Mini (12-13) class championship in 2009, and claimed a couple of Super Mini (14-15) wins in 2010 before moving to a big bike and even snagging a 200-A class win that same season. Aaron finished 3^rd in the final 250-A points in 2011 behind Grant Baylor and Zach Nash, then in 2012, took a couple of 250-A wins before moving to the XC2 class and landing a 2^nd place in his first ever XC2 class race. While Aaron’s focus is on motocross these days, he can still find the time to go GNCC Racing and even snagged the XC2 class win at last year’s Steele Creek GNCC after a hard fought battle down to the wire with Jason Thomas.

After spending some time in the Arenacross ranks this winter, Plessinger came into Loretta Lynn’s as a name to watch in the 250 A and Open Pro Sport classes. He didn’t disappoint as he ran up front in both classes. Plessinger took 2^nd place in the first Open Pro Sport moto, giving him a good chance to challenge for the title. However, eventual class winner RJ Hampshire proved to be the man to beat at the ranch this year, as well as Colt Nichols who would be Plessinger’s biggest challenge in the 2^nd and 3^rd motos. Plessinger was able to hang on to take 3^rd place in the Open Pro Sport class. While a racer is a racer and he undoubtedly wanted to take the class win, that’s still an excellent result in a very tough class.

Unfortunately, Plessinger ran into some issues in the 250 A class and crashed out the first moto with a small injury, rebounded for a 3^rd place in the 2^nd moto, then bad luck struck again in the final 250 A moto with another crash. However, we all know that’s the name of the game in racing and it can’t always be perfect!

Rodney Smith
Rodney Smith is one of the most decorated GNCC bike champions of all-time, with 5 GNCC titles to his name. He last title came in 2004 at the age of 40, which by today’s standards is a pretty impressive feat all in itself.

Smith came from a motocross background and found success taking his racing out of the United States. Smith went to Brazil and ended up taking a Brazilian Motocross championship before returning to the United States and trying his hand at GNCC Racing. Smith’s addition to the series was something new at the time as it was rare to see a California native racing on the east coast, but Smith did it and he proved it was the right choice.

Rodney would take the 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2004 GNCC championships. He even continued to contend for race wins right up until his retirement after the 2006 season. Of course it didn’t stop there as Smith stuck around to assist the Factory Suzuki team until it was disbanded in 2012. As one of the biggest names to ever come out of GNCC Racing, it was pretty cool to see Rodney back on the track at Loretta Lynn’s.

While Rodney had never contested the Amateur National before, he’s no stranger to Loretta Lynn’s as he was able to log a few overall GNCC wins there in his day. Now, you may think that a 5-time GNCC champion would have a pretty easy time in the Masters 50+ class, right? Well, think again! The thing to remember about the age classes at Loretta’s is, there’s some guys in there who used to hold their own against some of the best riders in the world.

Smith took the early lead in the first moto of the Masters 50+ class but you can’t forget that he was going up against one of the biggest names in Vet racing, Earl “The Pearl” May who knows his way around Loretta Lynn’s pretty good. May snuck around Smith to take the first moto win with Rodney claiming 2^nd.

The second 50+ moto saw the same thing with Smith out to an early lead before May would reel him in to take the win. With 2 moto wins under his belt, it made May the favorite for moto 3. However, this time Smith was able to hold him off to take the 50+ class win. It wasn’t enough for the class championship, but there’s no doubt that you could very well see Smith back at Loretta’s again challenging for that 50+ class championship.