Though there was no rain on race weekend, rain earlier in the week did plenty of damage. The AM ATV race was super gnarly, with plenty of places to get stuck and lots of alternate lines forming. The worst sections were bypassed for the AM Bike race the following day, though there were still a few deep spots and holes where the riders could get into trouble. The sections that weren’t muddy woods were made up of fast access roads, grass tracks and a sandy moto track. Temperatures were much milder than the previous race, with temperatures in the mid-70s. Of the 103 females who raced this weekend, Hannah Hunter and Becca Sheets were the winners in the premier WXC classes.

Alicia McCormick took the holehot in the WXC ATV race. She was followed into the woods by reigning champion Traci Pickens and Hannah Hunter. By the end of the first lap, Kate Osburn had moved into the lead, with McCormick dropping back to 2nd and Sydney Sams moving into third. Sadiee Gorrell came through the scoring zone in fourth. Each of these riders in the top four were separated from the others by only a handful of seconds. Hannah Hunter was in fifth, but about thirty seconds back from the lead pack after briefly getting stuck about a mile into the race. Abbi Troy was an equal distance behind her. Jaida Phillips was in seventh, but only completed the first lap and ended up ninth for the day. Despite good starts, Kassidy Williams and Pickens, fell clear back to eighth and ninth place and were down by a substantial margin. Morgan Solesbee encountered substantial problems – she came in seven minutes down from them in tenth, and only completed that first lap.

Mud tends to be an equalizer, and when the track gets as challenging as it did Saturday, it gives riders who aren’t usually up front a chance to shine if they can choose good lines and avoid the many pitfalls that can trip up even the most talented and experienced of riders. Osburn picked a bad line, getting held up by a stuck 4x4 that never made it out of the hole. She was able to eventually get out, but in the meantime dropped down to fifth. This gave Sams had her moment in the sun – she led the WXC class for the first time since moving up from the amateur ranks this season. However, Hunter was hot on her heels and Gorrell was close behind and closing in as well.

Sams, along with Pickens and Gorrell, encountered problems on the third lap – most likely they got stuck, given the difficulty of the track and the fact that their laptimes were nearly or actually double what they had been on the second lap. Sams took fifth, with Pickens in sixth and Gorrell in seventh. Troy, who had gotten badly stuck the previous lap was unable to catch them and finished eighth.

This left only McCormick, Hunter, Osburn and Williams vying for the podium. McCormick was in the lead going into the final lap, after running one of the fastest laps of the day. However, she made a mistake on the last lap, running twelve minutes slower than the previous lap. She was still able to stay ahead of Williams, finishing third. She said it was an especially tricky race. “The track changed every lap and fell apart by the end. It was a race where the smarter rider was more likely to win than then fastest. I’m glad I finished third, and I owe a big thank-you to the many clean spectators who were still willing to jump in and get muddy helping us out (laughs)”

Hunter rode a smooth and clean last lap to take the win. When asked about how her race went, she told us “I was third off the start then decided to get stuck a mile in, which set me back about two rows. I had to play catch-up all day, but put my head down and was still able to take the win and finish twelfth overall.” Meanwhile, Osburn took second place, which as she puts it “Was a good points day, all things considered!”

In the Girls SR (12-15) Class, Hannah Moore earned her second win of the season, best overall finish to date (15th) and took over the points lead. Mackenzie and Madison Luckadoo finished second and third. After battling each other all race, they were separated by only four seconds. In Girls JR (8-11), Courtney Crump earned her first win this season. Khyler Davis and Avery Collins rounded out the podium.

Outside of the regular Girls classes, Morgan Johnson had the highest overall finish of all the girls, taking 8th overall and 10th in YXC1. Chloe Harper also raced YXC1, but ran into problems and did not finish the race. Madison Harrington and Brooke Williams competed in XC2, finishing 11th and 13th, respectively. Gabryella Whitehead was fourth in 90 Limited (8-12).

In the Women’s class, Andrea Rodgers won by nearly three minutes. Amie Dunlap placed second, her highest finish of the season. Sydney Cain finished third in what was her first GNCC this season.

In the Micro ATV race, Khyler Davis was the top finishing girl, placing 3rd overall. She was followed by Camy Crump (15th), Raelynn Dickerson (25th), Adeline Nicely (26th), Ashlynn Osterich (29th) Tori Barrett (35th) and Grace Updike (37th).

In the WXC bike race, Mackenzie Tricker once again took the $100 Trail Jesters WXC Holeshot award. Rachel Gutish entered the woods right behind her, though Tayla Jones and Becca Sheets quickly worked their way past her. About halfway through the first lap Tricker and Jones crashed into each other while going full-tilt (40+ MPH) down one of the field sections, headed for a mudhole. The resulting crash was incredibly violent and terrifying, but fortunately the ground where they landed was soft enough that though it was painful, neither rider suffered serious injury. Tricker’s bike was damaged enough in the crash that she was unable to finish.  Jones’ bike was mostly intact, and she was able to push through the pain and continue racing, though she came through the scoring zone in 12th on lap one, with a long day ahead of her.

This left Sheets, Gutish and Rachael Archer out front battling for the lead and the three of them were within seconds of each other on heading into the second lap. Korie Steede came though the scoring zone by herself in fourth, about forty seconds down from the main pack. She in turn had roughly another forty seconds on Brooke Cosner, who was battling with Shyann Phelps. Jamie Astudillo, Shelby Rolen and Sammy Steiner came through in quick succession, and the top ten on lap one was rounded out by Alli Phillips, who came in a minute down from Steiner.

On lap two, Gutish and Archer were both able to pass Sheets. Archer took the lead and kept it for the following two laps, with Gutish holding on to 2nd and Sheets never very far behind in 3rd. Meanwhile, there were a few battles going on in the rest of the class. Jones blasted her way through the WXC class, passing Rolen, Phillips, Steiner, Astudillo, and Cosner on the second lap. On lap three she made up a two-minute deficit and passed Phelps and by the end of lap four she got around Steede as well. Despite the impressive rebound, the lead pack had too much of a gap over her for Jones to reasonably make up, leaving her in 4th for the day – still an impressive ride, all things considered. Steede rode alone almost the entire day, finishing 5th behind Jones. Cosner and Phelps were close together and battled most of the day, with Phelps just edging out Cosner for 6th place. Astudillo took 8th, Steiner was 9th and Rolen rounded out the top ten.

On the next-to-last lap, Gutish and Sheets were both able to pass Archer early on, when she made a mistake trying to get around a lapper. Then Sheets and Gutish battled back and forth for several miles. Sheets made her final pass on Gutish near the middle of the lap, in a drag race down one of the wide-open straightaways. She charged hard the last lap and went unchallenged by the other WXC racers, putting a full minute on the eventual runner-up. This is now Sheets’ fifth win in as many races. When asked to reflect on what has been a perfect season for her so far, she told us “Well, of course it feels awesome but I’ve NEVER started out a season like this. So, it’s a different kind of pressure since I’m not chasing anyone in the points. The chase still remains within me though. I’m just going to have to remain focused the way I have been and stay humble in the process.”

Gutish went into the white flag lap in second and not far behind Sheets. However, she was passed by Archer after taking a bad line through a muddy section on the moto track, then went down trying to catch back up, and finished a minute down from Archer in third. When asked about her race, Gutish said “I’m incredibly excited to be back on the podium! I haven’t been on the box since my elbow injury in March of last year and subsequent switch to a two-stroke machine. There were times in the last year or so that I’ve questioned whether I was ever going to be able to run up front again. Honestly getting third and having good battles with first and second all day was a huge relief and confidence booster going into the rest of the season!”

Though Archer was able to pull away from Gutish, she was unable to regain much ground on Sheets and finished second, down by roughly thirty seconds. As close as the young Kiwi has been to the top of the box so far this season, it is likely only a matter of time before she nets that elusive win. When asked about her race, Archer commented “The whole season the WXC class has been flying and Camp Coker was a battle from start to finish. I had an average heart rate of 182 for two hours – the three of us were going at it hard! I got into the lead about midway through the race, but got caught in traffic on lap four and both Gutish and Sheets got past me. I knew I needed to put at the start of the last lap, so if I was gonna get back in the lead I had to put the hammer down to make up for time lost gassing. I caught Gutish and managed to pass her, but I wasn’t able to make up any time on Sheets in the end. I’m looking forward to racing at High Point again in two weeks!”

In the Girls (8-15) class, Kaitlyn Lindsey finished 50th overall and finally broke Gracie Gooch’s winning streak. This was Lindsey’s first win this season – she has been runner-up at every other GNCC she has attended this year. Points leader Gracie Gooch took second, while Morgan Johnson pulled double duty, finishing third after racing ATVs the day before. Outside of the Girls classes, Cate Nash raced YXC1, finishing 12th in class and 70th overall. 

Prestin Raines earned her second win in a row in the Women’s class. Marina Cancro finished 2nd and was the last women’s class rider to stay on the lead lap. Kayla O’Neil finished 3rd for the third race in a row. In Women’s C, Makalya Conner took the win over Shelbie Roman by several minutes, who in turn beat third place Roni Merrill by a similar gap. 

In the micro bike race, Paisley Harris was the fastest girl, finishing 21st overall. She was followed by Rylan Husted (24th), Kymber Davis (47th), Sadie Weiss (48th), Mya Dexter (55th) and Olivia Hoffman (57th)