GNCCRacing.com: Hey Sean, hope you’re doing well! Now, 2017 was your first season in the GNCC series, right?
Sean Royall: Thanks, I’m still pretty excited. Yes, 2017 was my first season doing the whole series. 

How did you get started racing?
I’ve ridden since a young age, but it was actually my best friend’s dad who got me started racing. He talked my dad into taking me to a local North Carolina Hare Scramble event, telling him how much of a family sport it was. I did okay and had a lot of fun, so we went back for another race and then another race, and the third race we did I won. We never looked back and racing was what we did from then on out.

And what made you want to pursue the GNCC series?
I had raced a few over the years and knew they brought out a whole new level of racers and competition. After so many years of riding similar tracks in my local series, racing had gotten a little stale for me. I had taken a few years off during college, then moved to Colorado after graduation. So I had taken a nice break from the race scene, and really dirt bikes in general too. When my wife and I moved back to North Carolina, I got back into racing. The GNCCs had been something I wanted to do for a long time. Doing them really rejuvenated the racer in me and made me really enjoy being at races again. The whole atmosphere is awesome and the fun factor was there again. 

What does winning a GNCC championship (especially in your first season) mean to you?
Oh man, I was super excited! It’s what I set out to do and why we signed up each weekend. Not only was it my first GNCC championship, but it was actually the first championship I ever won in any series too. I had been close a couple of times, but I would either get hurt or something else would keep me from being able to wrap it up. Winning a championship was great and I’m still enjoying the highs of it. It was certainly a hard-fought season for me, right down to the last lap at Ironman. 

Did you go into it thinking that you could win?
Honestly, I felt like I could win and was ready and willing to work for it, but that didn’t mean that I would actually be winning … It was apparent at the very first round that it wasn’t going to be easy. I placed fourth, but the leader finished over four minutes ahead of me, which was hard to wrap my mind around. Even as the season progressed and I had a couple of wins under my belt and I figured I would be able to get some momentum on my side, there were still lots of setbacks that would occur. There were many growing pains and lessons learned throughout the year. This definitely wasn’t easy!

I’m sure it wasn’t – not that many people have GNCC titles. So what were some of those bad moments? And what were some of the good ones?
Well, there was the race that I forgot to put my gas cap back on during a pit stop. Getting fuel sprayed all over my lap was definitely a bad one. So was the entire Snowshoe track (laughs). But getting my first win was unbelievable. I also had a pretty dominating win in my hometown track of Steele Creek, which was great! I think the best moment of my season was getting the win at Ironman. That was the one that solidified the championship for me. My mom was there with me too. She is a breast cancer survivor, and being around all the pink breast cancer awareness stuff means a lot. With all of that going on in one weekend, I can’t think of a better way to end the season.

That sounds like it was pretty special for both of you! Will you be coming back in 2018? I know that as of the banquet you and your wife were still discussing it.
(laughs) ... Yeah, that’s still a big discussion at the house. The plan, as of right now, is to move up to Vet A. I will definitely be lined up at round one, and I intend to do most of the series. I think we will probably skip the New York rounds this year because they are such a long drive, but who knows, maybe I can talk her into it! 

In general, she and the rest of your family are very supportive of your racing though, aren’t they?
Oh absolutely! If it weren’t for my family I wouldn’t even be involved in the sport. We all know the amount of time and money it takes, and luckily my wife understands that it is something really important to me, and has been a great supporter because of that. The whole season I was getting lots of encouragement from friends and family. That helped me get through those bad races, stay positive, and keep looking forward. 

Speaking of time and money, what is your day job like? Does it allow you to ride or train during the week?
I’m the Parks and Recreation Director for the Town of Beech Mountain. Right now I really don’t get to ride the dirt bike any during the week, but I do have great access to the gym. Currently we’re cutting trail at my house so I can have a small practice loop which will help. Although I don’t get to ride motorcycles that much, luckily we are in the heart of some of the best mountain biking on the east coast, so I do ride my mountain bike a ton, which is pretty great!

Being a Parks and Recreation director sounds interesting – what does your job entail?
Really just a lot of meetings (laughs). Nah, I do get outside some. We do a lot of special events, and since Beech Mountain is a bit of a resort town we do a lot of outdoor recreation things. Last year I helped put on and organize the first Beech Mountain Enduro mountain bike race. It was cool to cross over some of my interests and hobbies into work projects, and it for sure opened my eyes to what the GNCC crew does for us racers each weekend!