GNCCRacing.com: First of all, thanks for taking a little time to talk today. And by a little time I mean, literally the next 15 to 20 minutes, because you’re at the airport on a layover right now!

Korie Steede: Yeah, man I am ready to be home. I’ve had a blast this last week but I’m exhausted!

Before we dive into the adventures of this last week, set the stage. Tell us about who you are and how you got involved in racing.

My dad hill climbed bikes when I was a kid and Fred Andrews was my neighbor, so I grew up with all those kids. I always knew I wanted to be like those riders when I grew up someday. So I started in moto and Fred invited me to do a GNCC, he said I’d love it. I raced in the youth class for a few years and decided to go back to moto. But honestly there’s really not much there for girls right now. So that brought me back to woods racing in 2018. And since then, well, here I am, full bore!

Things have been working really well for you, especially this season. You’re in the WXC class, and from my perspective I think you’ve been hitting your stride. Not the best round one and two but since then you’ve pretty well been a podium regular.

Yeah, round one I was in third about two miles from the finish and my bike blew up. And I broke my thumb, so I had to sit out round two. Decided to give it a go in round three and ended up getting third in the WXC. Things are starting to click for me!

Last year you got the chance to do Moto FITE Klub, which is awesome, how did that come about?

Yeah, I’ve known Rob Buydos for quite a while and he had me come race the Pit Bike State Championship that was held at the GNCC last year. He’s got these crazy ideas that somehow seem to work out and be a ton of fun. After that he told me about Moto FITE Klub, and he invited me to come out to represent the Women’s Pro Class. He told me it’d be televised and be awesome. That’s all I needed to hear! So I got a group of girls together and I think we killed it!

I wanna backup to the Pit Bike State Championship. I got to help out Rob on the mic for that event. It was a TON of fun. And being that it was a fun event I got to be really biased on the mic and root for my home state, Indiana. If I remember correctly, you represented Ohio, who took first place while my Indiana boys took second. I’m still bitter about this. We want redemption!

Yeah! Me, Willy Browning and Koda Devore! It was a strong team!

Again, I’m still bitter. We need a rematch! Fast forward a year. Now you’ve got the Pit Bike State Championship under your belt as well as Moto FITE Club. Travis Pastrana and Ryan Sipes make plans to race Flat Track, GNCC then hold a big Pit Bike event with the rest of the crew from Nitro Circus. Your name comes up! Now you and Becca Sheets get to roll out with Sipes and Pastrana to have some fun for an entire week after the Hoosier GNCC.

It’s been quite the week, for sure! I mean on a normal Monday after a GNCC you want to relax a bit. You wash everything and just recover. Instead, we got on a tour bus, drove through the night, and got to Kevin Windham’s place. Woke up at 7:30AM and pretty much started racing right away. It was nuts! Meeting everyone, practicing and racing. I think we raced 14 times this past week with maybe a two day break. It was a blast and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but man am I ready to be home and sleep in my own bed. I knew those tracks were going to be wild and scary but wow, I can honestly say, even seeing it on TV won’t do it justice. These tracks were intense! It was an incredible experience!

I’m sure it’s difficult to pick, but what are a couple memories from the week.

It’s difficult to pick just one or even a couple. But I did get to race a straight rhythm with Phil Smage (Smagical), he ended up beating me. But I had the lead off the drop, we went up this wall jump, then he blitzed the whoops and took the win. It’s so difficult to pick one experience over another. Just the whole Nitro Circus crew in general. They’re insane, they want to go out and send backflips and have fun the whole time. It’s such a fun crew to be around.

How old are you? This is a lot to take in right?

Yeah, I’m 20. These are people I watched a kid. It was so cool!

Alright, jumping back into GNCC. You have made such amazing progress this season, what’s making the different for you this year?

Honestly, it’s just been my mindset. My first year on the big bike was 2018, and now I’m here in the WXC. It was scary coming from moto to woods racing. Right into the two hour race and obviously a much longer track. I used to beat myself down mentally, getting top five and top seven, I knew I could do better. It was tough for me to get over the hump, to tell myself, “you got this!” When I’d practice, I’d be right there with my times and everything. It was just a matter of turning that practice speed into race speed. I try not to overthink and just let the race come to me.

Getting to hang with Becca Sheets this last week and seeing what she’s done in her career, how has that motivated you?

Becca is the girl to beat right now. I try to learn from her as much as I can, and I want to be there one day.

On a personal note, you rock the number 912 on the arm of your jersey, for Lucas Grounds. Tell us a little bit about that.

Hell yeah, I do! The simplest way to put it, I just love that dude! Every time I’m around him I’m always laughing. He’s always picking on me, and I pick on him. He’s like a little brother to me and I’d do anything for him.

Obvious question, but let’s put it out there in the universe. What are you goals as a rider in the WXC?

I want to win more Championships than any other girl has. It’s my goal, it’s on my wall and I will get it done one day!