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Texas GNCC The first GNCC was moved last year from Florida to Texas. It is the farthest west the GNCC goes and gets the series started a little earlier, while most of the typical GNCC locations are still frozen. This was a combined GNCC/ Hare Scramble so I made the trip after having a good ride at Hollister. There was a practice the day before which was a good opportunity to get the bikes dialed in and get rid of a little arm pump. I followed Brian for a lap around the track and he looked really good. He was taking good lines, missing the bumps and not overshooting the turns like the main line. It was pretty rocky which made me feel good about my choice of riding the four stroke. It rained pretty good over night and I thought it was going to get muddy. Upon arriving at the race it looked perfect out. I walked around a little bit and scouted out a rocky uphill and the start. There were a bunch of D-36 riders who came out for the race. Brian Spearle and Jordan Brandt would be riding on the first row. I flew out with G, Man, the Gragg's brought about ten bikes out and even Stevie Bonita caravanned out to try a GNCC. Brian and I had good starting spots due to the race being the second round of the Hare Scramble series. I am not comfortable with starting the four stroke and got off to a poor start. Brian got a great jump and tucked in on the inside for a good top three start. He got into the lead and rode strong for a little bit before he crashed and dropped back just outside the top ten. I was just inside the top twenty and was right behind Spearle. The course was almost typical of a GNCC back east. It was semi fast quad trail with lots of rocks, roots, bumps, and more rocks to keep it interesting. The four stroke worked really well when we got into the open stuff, but most of the course was in the trees and it truthfully was a little too much bike for me in the trees. Brian was battling for a top ten for most of the race. His bike was a little bent up from the first lap crash but he didn't let it bother him and he kept charging. Up front Mike Lafferty had a serious challenge from two new riders to the GNCC series. Juha Saliman is a ten time world champion from Finland and is arguably the best in the world right now. He is riding for the factory KTM team and should be in the hunt for the championship this year. The other is Australian Glenn Kearny. Glenn came over last year and finished on the podium which earned him a ride with team Suzuki. The three of these riders pulled away immediately from the rest of the pack. Lafferty likes to go fast right off the bat but the other two were able to keep pace. Juha was said to look comfortable and tried to make a pass and pull away a couple times but would make a mistake and the other two would catch him. A lap for the end Lafferty got caught up with a lapper and Juha made him move. He pulled a thirty second lead and held onto win the first race he entered since arriving on American soil. Glenn had a solid finish for second, followed by Lafferty. Chuck Woodford was fourth followed by Steve Hatch. Brian finished tenth Pro and twelfth overall. I rode a consistent race but didn't charge very hard but was happy I kept a decent pace to the finish. I finished 14th pro and 20th overall. |