This round is also one of the most picturesque; as it is hosted by the Snowshoe Mountain ski resort, with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountain scenery. The village is beautiful as well, and the race begins with a unique live-engine start through the main street of the resort. The asphalt road is by far the smoothest thing riders see all day – even the faster youth track is pretty rocky.

Unlike the adult riders, the youth classes only run one of the loops. The loop they run is the one on the west side, which is much easier than the east loop, and they also bypass the toughest sections on the west side as well. After everything was cut out, the course for the youth ATV riders was 4.2 miles long, according to the track map. Of the 130 riders entered in the youth bike race, JoJo Cunningham was the overall winner, with Canon Kuneff and Grant Davis rounding out the podium.

JoJo Cunningham came out of Snowshoe with his perfect season still unscathed, but Canon Kuneff definitely made him earn it this round! For the first nine laps of the race, the two riders battled back and forth, repeatedly swapping positions. By mid-race Cunningham had started to pull away from Kuneff, and they went one and two in YXC1. Meanwhile, third place rider Brayden Nolette was close to the pace of the lead pack, but a mechanical issue dropped him out of podium contention. After that it looked like Parker Todd was a shoo-in for third place, but a major issue on the last lap cost him over eleven minutes and dropped him back to fifth. Lane Whitmer had been hovering within the top five most of the race and was able to take advantage of Todd’s issue to earn his first GNCC podium of the season!

When asked about his race, Cunningham said “Overall I feel like Snowshoe was a good race. I got out front early and battled for the lead until around the halfway mark. From there I got into the lead and just rode it in to take my eighth overall win this year.” 

Throughout the first half of the race, Grant Davis and Nicholas Defeo were virtually neck and neck battling for the YXC2 lead. Up until lap six they were never over ten seconds apart from each other and traded the lead at least three times that I know of. On lap seven both riders got stuck in a rocky section, and Davis was able to make it out first with a thirty-five second lead. Once Davis was out of sight, Defeo struggled to run their previous pace, and by the end of the race was almost two minutes down, though still safely in second. The rest of the field finished a lap down from the top two YXC2 riders. Of these remaining riders, Cooper Jones rode the best, placing third for the day. One point of interest about Jones is that although he has yet to take a win this season, he has been by far one of the most consistent riders this year, finishing on the podium every single race!

When asked about his race, Davis was very brief “I got off to a good start. I was battling for the lead for four laps. We both got stuck in the rock section. I got out first then pulled away for the win.” 

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.