GNCCRacing.com: How does it feel to be the YXC1 champion?

Grant Davis: It’s awesome! I’ve wanted to do this ever since I was on a 50, when I was watching the older kids winning. I trained really hard this year, rode a lot and managed to get it done!

What does your training involve?

I usually work out for about two hours a day, and then ride an hour and a half or so. I mostly ride at our house, we have a lot of different tracks to practice on. Sometimes I’ll go over to my friend’s house or to a motocross track, just to do something different.

Of the races we’ve done so far, which one has been your favorite?

Florida! I love it there. People think it’s odd sometimes since I’m from Pennsylvania where it’s all rocks and no sand, but I just love that place.

What was the biggest challenge you faced so far this year?

Honestly, the biggest challenge I faced this year was Jack [Joy]. He was my main competitor all year. I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes or he would be right there and passing me.

Makes sense, I know the two of you had some pretty good battles! Do you feel like you learned and improved as the course of the season went on?

I think my biggest improvement was mental. In the start of the season, the problem I had was that I would get a little nervous with Jack being right there, so I would try to push too hard and then wreck or make stupid mistakes. Now I don’t let pressure from other riders get to me, I just hold my pace and stay smooth and in the end that’s a lot faster. Some of that is learning from mistakes but I think some of it is just getting older too.

What were some of the highs and lows of your season?

I started off winning the first two races by quite a bit. We had some suspension issues at the first Georgia race, then when we came back to Georgia I crashed and broke my front brake line. I won every race until Ohio, then in Ohio I got a vine in the rear wheel and it derailed the chain. Luckily, one of the Coastal guys were there and he helped me get it back on, otherwise I don’t know how I would have gotten it fixed.

Overall, sounds like you’ve had a pretty good year! So, how long have you been racing GNCCs, kind of tell us your background in the series.

I started in 2014, on a 65. My first year in GNCCs, dad thought I would be fourth or fifth, but I battled with Lucas Grounds all year and finished second to him in the championship. The next year I came back and won that championship. The next year I rode an 85, finished second to Lucas again in the championship. Then the next year I finally beat Lucas and won the 85 class championship. The next year, 2018 I think it was, Jojo Cunningham had an awesome battle for the championship. It came down to the final round and he beat me. Then last year I won the YXC2 title, and now this year I’ve won the YXC1 title.

Why do you enjoy GNCC racing so much?

I like faster tracks, but I also like for things to be rough and a little technical, and that’s pretty much what GNCC racing is.

Do you know what your plan are for next season yet?

No, not yet. We’d kind of like to stay and defend the YXC1 title and get to run the number one plate, but the problem is that I’m getting kind of tall for the bike. So, we’ll probably go to big bikes but just don’t know yet. We do know that I’ll be riding for Babbitts Kawasaki again. I do locals here on my 250f, and I’m usually in the top five overall, so I should be able to race them in GNCCs. At the last race this season we’re going to try the B Lites class. Since it’s the last race of the season we can still bump back to youth next year if we decide that’s the right thing to do. And if we decide to go to big bikes we can look at the lap times to figure out whether I should run A or B.

Sounds like a solid plan. Speaking of Babbitts, how did you end up with them?

I rode Yamaha the year before I started riding for them. The team came to the last round in Indiana and saw how I rode, and decided they would like to have me on their team. I’m so happy they wanted to have me, it’s a great opportunity and I love the bikes!