GNCCRacing.com: While it’s fresh in your mind, go ahead and tell us about your race today. You said that you really wanted that win and left everything out there on the track…

Johnny Girroir: Yeah, for sure. I felt good all day just riding with Mike [Witkowski] and Craig [DeLong] and it was shaping up to be a good battle between the three of us. I got around Craig on the last lap but then went down and he got back around. I made a ton of mistakes in front of Mike and burnt myself out. I still finished right there in second though, and still in the points lead and we’ll go at it again.

Congrats, by the way, on leading the points in a stacked XC2 class. Even though we’ve raced since then, the main reason I’m interviewing you now is to talk about your first-ever XC2 win at Wild Boar last weekend. How did that feel?

It felt really good - it’s a huge monkey off my back! I knew I could be up there, I wanted to be, and it’s a huge confidence boost to have finally done it.

Tell us a bit about that race.

It was good! I’ve been looking forward to it all winter since I’d been training at Kailub Russell’s place, which is just six minutes down the road. I spent a lot of time pounding sand whoops so I was comfortable in the sand and knew what to do. I managed the race well and felt good leading up to it.

Now, most people primarily remember you from last year, but you’ve made occasional appearances at GNCCs for a couple years now, right?

Yes, although the fact that they were “occasional” was not the plan. In 2018 I tried to do the whole series but tore my MCL with a few rounds still left to go. Then last year I did the first three but I got really sick with a lung infection and I missed the rest of the season, actually spent a month or so in the hospital. So, I’m hoping to make this year my first complete season.

How was it trying to get over that and get back to riding and training?

It was tough, you know, because I knew where I could be and I knew where my speed was, but I couldn’t last long at all. Even biking and running I couldn’t do for very long at first, without running out of breath. It was just a long slow process. I worked a lot with Steve and Denise Hatch, and they were patient with me and made me believe that I would be back. It does feel really good to have come out to these first three rounds and be on the podium at every one.

What made you decide to pursue the GNCC series back in 2018?

I was sick of staying in New England. I had won five J-Day championships, and … maybe, maybe not, but I felt like I could have just sat up there and won a bunch, but it wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere as far as making a career out of racing goes. I was still working a day job every week, and I wanted to take this to the next level. I knew GNCC was where I had to go. Seeing Josh [Toth] and Ben [Kelley], two people I grew up riding with my whole life, come down here and be successful was also motivating, because I knew I could do it too.

Speaking of those two, it seems like there’s been a lot of fast guys come out that area and the J-Day series lately. Do you have any idea why that might be?

Yeah. J-Day raised the bar, in the last ten or so years that they’ve been around. That thirty-minute moto format, where you have to sprint the whole time… everyone is just super-fast up there. When Chris Bach came up, I remember he went back and told Cory Buttrick, who was Factory KTM at the time, not to bother coming up because those guys are crazy. I think the series upped our speed in the woods and it just turned into a really good era for New England riders because of that.

How did you get started riding and racing?

My dad got me a bike when I was about two and a half years old. He put training wheels on it and tied a rope to the back of it and ran around the yard with us. He could never ride growing up and wanted to give us the things we wanted that he never had. Growing up, we had the best of the best. My dad ended up passing away in 2010 when I was fourteen. I took a few years off from riding and then came back. I’m doing this for me, but I’m also doing this for him too – I want to make him proud of me, want him to be looking down smiling.

That’s really touching, and I’m sure he is… besides winning a championship this year, what are your goals for the season?

Yeah, just try to win that championship and stay healthy! So many people are hurt right now, so keep it on two wheels and be smart, manage the year well, I guess.

Can you tell us something interesting about yourself that does not involve motorcycles?

Uhh… there’s a lot of interesting things about me… (laughs)