GNCC Racing

Quick Fill #17: This Week in GNCC

Quick Fill #17: This Week in GNCC

Thursday, June 8, 2023 | 4:25 PM
by:
Thursday, June 8, 2023 | 4:25 PM

Welcome to Quick Fill. 

Another round is in the books and for the first time in 2023, we have a repeat winner on the bike side. Then, on the ATV side, we have our fourth different winner in the last four rounds. In other words, last weekend’s Mason-Dixon GNCC was undoubtedly a really exciting weekend of racing. Oh, and on top of that, it was finally dry for the first time in quite a while. Yes, maybe it was a little too dry for some folks liking but there weren’t too many folks upset with the dust. 

First, let’s dive more into what was just mentioned in that intro. On the bike side, Craig Delong was able to break through for his second win of the 2023 season and in doing so not only did he become the first repeat winner of the season, but he also took over the points lead. Delong has been incredibly consistent for his entire career and has continued to do throughout the entire 2023 season as well with his worst finishing coming in at seventh overall, which is still pretty darn respective in a championship hunt. 

It was also pretty cool to see Layne Michael back in action and he made a big splash as he ran at the front of the pack for the entire race and actually led for a while, leaving some folks wondering if he could be the next guy to win. While he didn’t manage to take the win, Layne still held on for second, his best finish of the season. Meanwhile, the fan favorite Steward Baylor led the points into this round but unfortunately suffered through several issues and ended the day in the ninth-place spot. However, he still scored some points and sits just eight points behind Delong in the championship points chase. 

On the ATV side, Cole Richardson would snag his first win of the season with a hard-fought battle against Brycen Neal that came all the way down to the final corners of the race. Cole was able to hold off Brycen for the win which could prove to be a huge confidence boost after two rounds that Cole would probably like to forget. Brycen held on for that second-place spot while Hunter Hart would find himself back on the box in third place. 

Brycen Neal still holds the points lead by 31 points over Hunter Hart, which is actually a pretty comfortable lead. The Gator himself, Adam McGill, has really stepped up as of late and with a solid fourth place at the Mason-Dixon, sits in the third-place overall position in the point standings. Meanwhile, Cole Richardson and John Glauda Jr round out the top five overall.

With the Mason-Dixon in the books, next up will be the infamous rough and rugged Snowshoe GNCC. We actually have a little bit of a break before heading into Snowshoe but its never too early to start talking about that one. First, the USA ISDE Golf Tournament is back once again, taking place on Friday. If you’re interested in playing, be sure to get signed up HERE. Also, the eMTB racers will be in action at Snowshoe and that race will actually take place on Friday afternoon at 4pm. As a reminder, you MUST stay off the eMTB course on your bicycle unless you’re competing in the event. This has gotten a bit out of control at times and it’s not fair to those who are racing, so please, respect them because you would want the same respect! 

Also, as a Snowshoe reminder, the Micros will not be racing so Saturday’s race times will be adjusted to the ‘traditional’ start times of 8am for Youth ATV, 10am for the AM ATV and 1pm for the PM ATV. Keep that in mind as you don’t want to miss your race! Additionally, the Yamaha GNCC University will be taking place once again leading into the Snowshoe weekend. GNCC U is actually sold out at this point, but if you’re interested in more information, you can get that HERE. If you missed out on it this year, keep it in mind for next year! 

Before we roll into Snowshoe, we actually have the High Point round of Pro Motocross to take care of next weekend, June 17th. While the whole Pro Motocross series is administered by our sister company, MX Sports, the High Point round has always been promoted by Racer Productions, so you’ll see a lot of familiar faces from the GNCC staff running equipment or helping manage the event. With that said, we know GNCC racers are responsible and understand racing, so we’re always looking for a little extra help at High Point in the form of flaggers or truck guards for some of the pro teams. So, if you’re interested in helping out, you can get more info and fill out the form HERE

Even if you’re not looking to come work, still make plans to come out and enjoy the racing. Yes, the 450 class in Pro Motocross has been a bit depleted due to injuries but there is still a lot of really good racing going on and the 250 guys have been putting on good shows so far in 2023. Additionally, High Point is the first eastern round of the season which you’ll likely see guys like Aaron Plessinger begin to excel even further. Check out highpointmx.com for all the ticket and camping options. 

Guess who is racing Erzberg this weekend?
Guess who is racing Erzberg this weekend? Ryan's iPhone

In other racing news, the infamous Erzberg Rodeo is taking place this weekend and our own Ryan Echols and Jeff Russell have made their way over to Austria for Ryan to try his hand at Erzberg. If you were at last year’s GNCC bike banquet, you probably heard that I got that trip to Utah to ride with the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC folks a couple months back, and Ryan got the “Ticket to Race” and head over to Erzberg with a little help from the folks at KTM. 

Ryan is actually racing a brand new 2024 KTM 300EXC (the European version of what we call the XC-W) and boy does it look trick! Big thanks go out to our friends at HBD Motografx for letting us modify one of their graphic kits a little bit so Ryan has a full blown American and GNCC look for Erzberg. 

That’s actually going to do it for this week’s edition of Quick Fill. Part of our staff is hard at work getting High Point Raceway looking pristine for next weekend’s High Point National and some of us are out in Colorado at the Thunder Valley round of Pro Motocross, helping to make sure this event is a good one as well. So, enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you back here next week for another edition of Quick Fill!