Top Amateurs (Chelsea Taylor)

With less than a seven-point gap separating the top three racers in the 250-A class, one can assume that the racing action is anything but boring. In fact, I may argue that the class had produced some of the best racing we’ve seen all season.

My mind keeps wandering back to the John Penton GNCC when Zach Nolan and Alex Teagarden were battling it out throughout the entire race, and especially once they hit the motocross track. The XC2 podium was taking place simultaneously, but everyone suddenly switched their focus to the track to watch the battle unfold. Zach ended up taking home the win, but Alex crossed the line just four hundredths of a second behind him.

One thing about GNCC Racing is that sometimes stuff goes on that we just simply can’t see, but The John Penton wasn’t the only race that we witnessed the intensity of the 250-A class. These guys have put in race-long battles all season with some coming down to the final portions of the race. To make things even more interesting, Chris Venditti and Alex Teagarden are tied for second in the points championship.

At Tomahawk Chris grabbed his second win of the season by just 16 seconds. However, at Snowshoe Alex claimed his third win by over five minutes. The 250-A class is just a classic example of how anything can happen in racing, and the fight for the championship is set to continue this September at Unadilla.

This year we’ve started recognizing the top three amateurs in the afternoon race, both ATV and bike. I highly recommend that you stick around for their podium because you can just see how hard they pushed for the whole race just by the look on their face, and of course they always have a good story to tell about their day.

GNCCers at Loretta Lynns! (Jared Bolton)

Last week’s Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s, presented by AMSOIL saw several familiar faces to the world of GNCC Racing do pretty well in their respective classes. Former top XC1 competitor, Garett Edmisten made his way to the ranch in both the 25+ and 30+ classes. It’s no secret that each year these classes are full of former top Pro Motocross talent and this year was no different with names such as Robbie Reynard, Barry Carsten, Austin Stroupe and others taking part in the event.

Garrett would see some tough motos in 25+, with a good bit of mud playing a big role. However, the 30+ class would go exceptionally well for “The Sandman” as he showed that consistency is key in a three-moto format. Garrett’s 5-7-5 moto scores would be good enough to give him second place overall in the 30+ class at the end of the week! The 25+ class win would go to Michael Stryker, who is a hometown buddy of former GNCC pro competitor, Nate Kanney and Stryker also served as Ryan Sipes mechanic through the 2015 season.

Korie Steede returned to Loretta Lynn’s once again to take on the Girls Sr (12-16) class, where she would put in three solid motos to come away with fifth place overall for the week. This Girls Sr class proved to be extremely competitive and Korie even logged an excellent third place finish in the final moto of the week! Another fast girl was Shelby Rolen, who is no stranger to Loretta Lynn’s. This year marked her 12^th Loretta Lynn’s appearance where she would finish a career best seventh place in the Women’s All-Star class.

Logan Grounds, who leads the 50 Jr. (4-6) class in GNCC Racing, was also at Loretta Lynn’s competing in the 50 (4-6) Limited class. Logan had some tough motos throughout the week but still managed to pull off a 20^th place overall finish for the week. While Logan likely hoped to finish a little higher, just simply making it to Loretta Lynn’s is an incredible accomplishment all in itself. An honor that only a select group of racers can achieve, so we salute Logan and all the other GNCC Racers in attendance for their excellent week at Loretta Lynns'!

More Summer Break Blues (Rodney Tomblin)

The GNCC Summer Break may be one of the hardest times of my year, every year. Somehow this year seems exceptionally challenging. The last couple of race off-weekends have literally thrown me off. I don’t know why it seems to be affecting me more this year than others, but for some reason it is. It is nice to have a little time off in some sense, but the fact remains I’m missing some GNCC Racing.

I realize that folks are really busy right now, though. Some are enjoying the time off relaxing and recharging while others are working to reach the next level. This is good because when the information does begin to flow, there should be plenty and it leaves us with a sense of anticipation for the return to racing and heading to Unadilla to begin the final stretch of the championship.

The Rattlesnake National Enduro seemed to produce some good results for N-Fab/AmPro Yamaha’s Grant Baylor. For Grant, the win couldn’t have come at a better time. Realizing his hopes for the GNCC title are gone he has been able to focus on that discipline and it seems to be paying off. Josh Strang also had a good run at the Rattlesnake, which was good to see as the last time we saw him at Snowshoe he admitted to having ridden “the struggle bus” all day, which left me to wonder if there may be some problems. However, with a solid Rattlesnake performance, I think he is right on track, especially considering that Strang is not regarded as an enduro specialist.

Another note of interest is that XC1 ATV competitor, Landon Wolfe, tried his hand at the Rattlesnake National Enduro and finished an impressive second place in the Open-A class and 29th overall. This wasnt Landon's first rodeo on the two-wheeled machines as he's been racing the bike when the opportunity arises. Could we see more performances like that from Landon? I believe so and its going to be interesting to watch it unfold.  

Likely you have seen top ATV XC1 contender and four-time Snowshoe winner Adam McGill busy on social media since the break. Adam really seems to have found a place of comfort heading into the break. That’s good news for the “Mafia” but bad news for the “Fanatics.” Adam has been a threat these past two seasons and even though he had a slow start to this season, he is still on target and not out of the realm of possibility winning the ATV championship. The final four rounds could get very interesting and even though it will be tough to beat Fowler, he is digging to try and do just that.

Walker Fowler has been spending the summer break doing just that; taking a break. We read where he has torn down a 150 plus year old barn for the slate roof. We have read where he has been on the lake, wake boarding and blowing off steam, then we heard about a summer camp he was doing with the FCA. Walker is trying to balance the training with fun and a little reaching out. This may be what he has needed; to get away from the grind for a little while, to put everything into perspective and ready himself for the fight in the final four rounds. If Walker has his way he will get out front and run away with the race but I’m not sure its going to be that easy as the competition is really stepping up and hungry this season.

As far as Walker’s time at the FCA Camp, he said that it was an “awesome time” and that they had 15 students and three huddle group leaders. He was instructing and floating between huddle groups, which gave him a chance to work closely with each student.

Huddle leaders included other GNCC notables like Drew Landers, Camron Abee and Rhett Cox who are three great riders themselves. The one thing that seemed to excite Walker was the fact that they had four young ladies that he feels would be lining up in the WXC class soon. The students ranged from beginners to advanced riders and that the entire crew enjoyed the experience. Walker also noted that it was a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) camp and that IXCR’s Mark Nichols of Fuel Ministries with some help from Team Faith’s and GNCC’s pastor, Chuck Lemaster extending “The Word of Christ” while teaching skills of ATV and motorcycle racing and riding.