GNCCRacing.com: Hey Hannah, it sounds like you had quite the weekend! How was the race? 
Hannah Hunter: Yeah, I won the Mountaineer Run! I got off to a good third-place start and made it into the woods in second. Sadie Gorrell [the Amateur Women’s class points leader], and I had a really fun battle the whole first lap. When she made a mistake, I was able to get around her, and then I put my head down and rode really hard the rest of the race. I pulled off a first in my class and a 37th overall. 

Again, congrats on a great ride! Now, tell me a little bit about yourself.
I’m a 15-year-old sophomore in high school. Right now I’m the youngest girl in the Women’s Amateur class, and the only one on a 250cc instead of a 450cc. Despite this, I’m still second in point. Other than racing, I’ve been wrestling for five years now and I’m on my high school wrestling team. I also love to ride bicycles in my free time. 

I bet that keeps you in good shape for racing. Is it ever hard to balance high school sports, school itself, and racing?
It is kind of hard, but since I’m an ‘A’ student, my teachers are willing to let me slide on things like attendance. 

An A student – are you planning on going to college? What do you want to do with your life?
Yes, I plan on going to college. I would like to go to Penn State, hopefully on a scholarship. I plan on trying to keep doing the full GNCC series while I’m in college but I know that will be much harder. I will definitely do whatever ones I can get to. And I either want to be a physical trainer or own my own business. 

What are your future plans as far as racing is concerned?
My goal is to someday race in the WXC class. I hope to move into it right when I turn sixteen, since you can’t race in the WXC class until you turn sixteen, plus you have to be sixteen to ride a 450 anyway.

Since you can’t race on a 450cc yet, what are you competing on right now?
I actually have a Honda efi 250cc dirt bike engine mounted up in my frame of my quad. It takes a lot of money and work to convert the machine like that, but is definitely faster that way. I can pass some of the 450cc quads. Not all of them, but some. Right now, since I’m the only one in our class on a 250 that’s kind of a big deal. Plus when I’m done riding a 250cc, we can just take that engine out of the frame and then the 450cc engine will go right back in the frame.

That’s awesome, I had no idea you could put a motorcycle engine in a race quad like that! And in addition to being on a smaller machine, you’re younger than most of the women in your class, right?
Yes. I am the youngest. There’s a few that are close in age to me, and a lot that are older. There’s a pretty wide age range in the women’s amateur class.

Despite all of this, it looks like you’ve had a good season. You’re second in women’s amateur class points, right?
There’s definitely been some ups and downs, but for my first full amateur season, it’s pretty good. 

Tell me about some of those ups and downs.
Some ups: Tomahawk was my best race this year. I got a class win and it was a super fun track. The first race of the season was pretty good too. I was racing close all day with Sadie Gorrell; it was probably the hardest battle and probably the most fun race I’ve ever had with another rider.

Some downs: I had a clutch failure in Snowshoe, and then in Unadilla I was really hoping to win and was running second, but I had problems and ended up only completing two laps.

How did you get started riding quads in the first place, and why did you decide to race GNCCs?
My dad and my grandpa raced, and when I was five my dad got me a Kawasaki 50cc to ride. As far as why I did GNCCs, you’d have to go ask my dad (laughs). He rode the GNCCs for a long time. He worked for Maxxis once and was a pit crew for Team Traci Pickens and for Matt Smiley. I’ve been around the GNCCs for awhile now. Back when I was on mini quads I won the 70cc championship against the boys and then the girls class championship when I got older. 

What other riders do you really look up to here at the GNCCs?
I mostly look up to Traci Pickens and Jarrod McClure. But I look up to all of the WXC women who are really fast, and my buddies Chris Borich, Hunter Hart and Alicia McCormick too.