GNCC Somerset Race Recap!

The Grand National Cross Country Series (GNCC) stopped in our home state of Pennsylvania for the GEICO Mountain Ridge at Mountain Ridge Park in Somerset, PA. Round #9 of the 13 round series was also co-sactioned with our local PA State Harescramble Series and Atlantic Grand Prix Series as well as the new National AMA Harescramble East Series.
Although the weather predictions for the weekend showed a 60% chance of rain and showers we stayed optimistic and hoped for the best. After walking much of the track on Saturday and watching the Pro Quads I was praying that we weren’t going to get any rain at all overnight or on Sunday for that matter. On Saturday we did see some showers and rain at times but it was just enough to be considered refreshing. Cloud cover was constant throughout the weekend and it wasn’t until the Pro Bike race on Sunday until we saw the sunshine. Dark clouds that were visible over the distant mountain tops would keep the umbrella and rain coats near but they wouldn’t be needed on Sunday because it didn’t rain or shower at all! And it’s a good thing too because it would have made the track even more brutal than it already was.
The track for the afternoon bike race was a 14 mile loop which consisted of about every type of rock and boulder you could think of. It seemed that even in the “smooth” field sections there were rocks protruding through the soil which kept you honest and searching for another spot to catch your breath. Up in the woods were some of the biggest boulders that I have even ridden through, let alone raced through. I thought Rausch Creek was bad but this track definitely has them beat. I’ve heard about last year’s race here, which I missed because I had Lymes Disease, and now I know why I didn’t really see any familiar faces from the PA State Series. Regardless of how vicious and technical the track was I didn’t expect any less because it’s a GNCC and it host some of the best riders in the world.
And there they were at the start, right in front of me…David Knight, Charlie Mullins, Barry Hawk, Nathan Kanney, Josh Strang, Thad Duvall, and Justin Willamson just to name a few. I really got a good feel of what it’s like to be up front because these are the best of the best in the most prestigious off road racing series in the world. As I looked to the left and right of the 250 A line which precedes the Pro XC1 and XC2 classes in front of us and I realized that I would have to run the best race of my life to even be in the mix of the talent that I was competing with. Most of these guys focus on this sport as a living and most will be getting signed or turning pro next year. Me, I’ve just started riding a dirtbike 5 years ago and this is only my forth year of racing. But never the less when that flag drops I’m hitting it as best I can for as long as I can and that is the best I can do.
The flag dropped and I got a terrible start, which was not in the grand plan of how to start off for the day. The top of the pack took off and I banged bars with the riders who were in the same boat as me. The first 4 miles were great, I was keeping a good pace and then we went into the woods and hit the first boulder section and there were guys everywhere. It didn’t take me long to get stuck in this boulder section, which I realized wasn’t even part of the track. There must have been a bottle neck so people spread out to get around them and I followed a couple people on the wrong trail. Getting lost on the first lap was another situation that wasn’t in the grand plan for the race. Eventually we got out of that section and continued to pound out miles on the 14 mile loop. The field sections were 5th gear pinned and 90% of the woods were big boulder rock racing. This is probably the fastest and slowest track I have ever raced on. I came through the scanner after the first lap and felt that I had a good grasp on the lay out of the course so I went all out on the second lap trying to make up time, every boulder section I was quickly getting through, and the other woods sections I was railing all of the obstacles, in the field sections I was going so fast I was scarring myself, and the pine tree section I was weaving in and out pinning it from corner to corner. This is how I should have been riding the whole race if I even wanted to have a shot at being in the mix. I felt great and thought that I would be able to make up for that horrendous first lap. I was doing about 44 minute lap times so it was about an hour and a half when I came in to pit. The pit went great and then I went back out and continued to push as hard as I could. I got to about the 5 mile mark and went into a boulder section and the bike got out from under me and the gas was pinned and I hit a boulder and then slammed into a tree. All of a sudden I felt the exhaustion from pushing so hard from the past hour and I was spent. It’s not good stopping your momentum in a rock section like that because when you crash it takes a lot out of you and then you need to use all of your muscles to get out of the rock section so you are trying to use energy that you don’t even have. And the rocks kept going and going so I didn’t have anytime to charge back up. Around the 8 mile marker a spectator pointed me onto the wrong line so I tried turning around in between trees and over boulders and crashed again. Still I haven’t been able to regain any strength because I have been using everything I had to just get through these sections. Then I put everything that I had left just to get through the Boulder Rock Garden around the 9 mile mark and just before exiting the woods there was one little boulder section left and I went down really hard. My front washed out on the slick rocks and I was stuck in this rock gully. I was so spent I couldn’t even pick up my bike; three spectators had to help me back up. I pretty much decided then that I was done. My bike was bashed up; I was hurt and cramping up, and in that condition I wasn’t going to be able to make it around another 14 mile loop. I continued on for the remaining 5 miles went through the scanner and got the white flag. I tried to keep going on the last lap but I only made it till about the 3.5 mile mark.
On a day that I had to ride my absolute best, putting in a bad ride wasn’t going to cut it at this level. I ended up finishing in 14th place and although I understand the level of competition I am competing at, I know that if I put in a good ride I can do better than that, even if just a couple spots better. I’ll have a chance to redeem myself at the National Harescramble at Rausch Creek I in a few weeks.
DHaggs Sr. ran the morning race and put in a really good effort in the Super Senior 45+ class. He ended up finishing in 7th place in his class which is pretty impressive. He too just put his head down and pushed for the whole race just trying to make it through all of the technical sections.
Pitman Jimmy B also made the trip and filled his normal rolls as Pitman and Photographer…he’s working on his video skills. If you need some help with your imagination regarding the track terrain you can look below because I took some video of the sections I was talking about when we walked the track on Saturday. You can also see DHaggs Sr. in action when I took some video of him during the morning race on Sunday.
I would like to Thank my Sponsors: DHAGGS Harescramble Racing, MSR Racing, Scott Powersports, Kenda USA, DP Brakes, Scott USA, TAG Metals, Decal Works, Twin Air, IMS, Devol Eng., FMF, TM Designworks, Cycra Racing