The youth bike course was 5 miles according to the track map, the same length as it was last round, and the micro course was the same length as well, clocking in at 1.6 miles. A total of 137 youth riders and 46 micro riders competed at the Steele Creek GNCC. Out of those riders, JoJo Cunningham took his fourth straight overall youth win while Colby Goodman won the micro overall. 

Cunningham took an early lead in the YXC1 class, and was starting to pull away from second place rider Canon Kuneff by the second lap. However, Brayden Nolette was able to pass for second place on lap three and started running Cunningham down. Nolette made a pass on lap five, but was unable to make it stick, and he came up only 22 seconds short of the leader. While Kuneff came up pretty short of the lead pack, he finished comfortably in third. When asked about his race, Cunningham said “A mid-pack start had me pushing too hard to get to the front, and I wore myself out by the first couple laps. Happy to come away with my 4th straight overall of the season and be moving back into the dirt again.” 

Like Cunningham, Grant Davis has also had a perfect season thus far, picking up another YXC2 win at Camp Coker and finishing third overall again as well. Garyson Smith, who finished second in YXC2, took an early lead in the race and battled back-and-forth with Davis throughout the first three laps. After lap four Davis was able to keep Smith behind him. Smith was also forced to battle with Cooper Jones, who had been close behind most of the race but finally made a pass on lap four. Smith retook the second place position the next lap, and Smith took home a third place finish for the day.

The overall non-YXC rider in the bike youth race was Owen Barnes (KAW), racing in the 85 (12-13) class. He finished 13th overall. 

It was a tight battle between Colby Goodman and Hunter Porco in MXC1. While Goodman started out with the lead, Porco passed him on lap two. Porco led a majority of the race, extending his gap to nearly twenty seconds at its widest point. Going into the last lap though, he had a slim margin of just over one second, and Goodman was able to make the pass and take home the win. A little back from Goodman and Porco, Mason Tsakanikas and Caleb Wood were having a heated battle of their own, staying within just a handful of seconds for the last half of the race. Tsakanikas came out on top, and earned his first MXC1 podium of 2019.

While Colby Goodman won the overall and had a great ride, like most of the little kids, he was more interested in the other attractions that Camp Coker had to offer. He said “It was my favorite place that we’ve been to so far because they had a cool place to swim and ropes and towers to jump off of!’

Maddox Moretz placed 5th overall and won his third MXC2 race of the season at Camp Coker extending his lead over Nash Peerson in the points standings. Moretz came through the scoring zone in first place every lap, but Peerson stayed close, finishing only six seconds behind the leader. These two ridders actually lapped the competition, with third place Bently Saxon coming up one lap short. When asked about his race, Moretz said “I loved the sand and the small motocross section we got to ride in the 65cc race.”

The overall non-MXC rider in the bike micro race was Trent Gaines, competing in the 50 Sr. (6-11) class. He placed 8th overall.

The next round of the 2019 AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series will take place on May 4 and 5 in Peru, Indiana with the X-Factor Whitetails GNCC. ATV and Micro racing will take place on Saturday while Bike racing will take place on Sunday.