Round 7 of the GNCC series took us to the state of West Virginia for the inaugural running of the Mountaineer GNCC. The Racer Productions crew done an excellent job at prepping this new facility, with old school trails and 90 degree temps we knew that this would be a test of physical and mental strength.
As the green flag flew Brad would capture the Motosport Holeshot award as he led the XC2 class into the woods. Jed followed closely behind entering the woods inside the top 5. Early on Brad would follow along with DeLong and Thomas. As he rode with them he fell and tweeked his front end. After stopping in the pits and making the adjustments Brad pushed hard to get back to the front. Unfortunatley Brad crashed in a rock section which provided more of a challenge. Knowing that every point counts, Brad continued to push all the way to the end of the race where he would finish in the 9th position.
As Brad experienced some difficulties on the new course, Jed would have a slightly different day. After Brad was forced to make an early pit stop Jed would inherit the 3rd place position. After finishing on the podium for the first time in his career at the previous round, we thought Jed would duplicate that finish in WV. As the day went on Jed would find himself in a battle with Jesse Robinson. Jed would fall twice on the slick West Virginia rocks which allowed Robinson to move ahead. Jed would continue his consistent ways by finishing in the fourth position.
Brad – “I felt good riding behind DeLong and Thomas today. The real bummer came for me when I feel. I was super comfortable riding at their pace and felt that a podium was a definite for the day! This has me even more motivated to go to Snowshoe where I plan to run up front!”
Jed – “I was excited to be back in the northeast close to home! I’ve been working hard on my starts and it showed with another top 3 start. Due to a couple of costly mistakes I feel out of the top 3. At the end of the day I feel that my speed was there and I look forward to heading to Snowshoe. Also I want to give Randall Riggs a shoutout for the amazing performance. Not too many guys can go out and ride both the morning race and evening race. That dude is a machine!”
Jed Haines 4th XC2
Brad Bakken 9th XC2
Leeann Bange 5th Women’s
Zac Nash 7th 250A
Corey MacDonald 10th Open A
Zack Ponder 5th 85 12-15
Cody Ruckle 5th Supermini 12-13
