There were two new faces on the XC2 Pro Lites line at the Power Line Park GNCC, Aaron Plessinger and Chris Douglas both made the move up and both ended up putting in impressive results with 2nd and 7th-place finishes respectively. Hoop caught up with Plessinger right after he crossed the finish line for this quick interview.
Aaron was pretty pumped to be on the podium! Photo: Krista Shaw
Aaron, it’s your first XC2 Pro race, did you have any idea coming into this that you’d end up on the podium?
No, I was just going out there to have fun! I mean, I knew I could run with them guys but I didn’t think I would be top-three or anything. I got the holeshot and then I kind of messed up going into the 3rd corner and someone got by me. Then Stew and Thomas got by me and I just rode with them. On the first lap, me and Thomas went around this rock section and Ryan Echols and Stew got by Thomas and me. I just rode my race and and then Nick Davis and Jed Haines caught up with me and I rode with them for a bit until they dropped back and I just ended up second!
As you said, you started out the race with a holeshot, were you feeling any nerves out there?
I was super excited! I was stoked on the holeshot! That just pumped me up even more and I was thinking about that the whole race and it pumped me up and made me want to go!
You knew coming in that you had speed to run with these guys based off of some of your top amateur performances, but was it any different racing head-to-head with those guys?
It kind of tightened me up a little bit, but after I got off the start and everything and knew I could stay with them my nerves went down and I just rode on.
Plessinger started the race with a holeshot which was impressive in itself, but keeping his composure for a podium finish takes it to another level! Photo: Krista Shaw
When did you end up making the decision to move up for this race? I think you caught a lot of people off-guard this weekend.
It was kind of a sudden choice–it was yesterday on the way here that I decided that I was going to race XC2.
You’re a guy that races both motocross and GNCC—and is very serious about both disciplines—after a result like this in GNCC does that make you want to switch your focus to just one?
I don’t know, I haven’t really decided on that. But after this right here I might lean a bit more towards this [GNCC Racing] but I don’t know, I’ll always race both.
So we’ll see you at the rest of the GNCCs then?
Yep!
