What Really Happened: GNCC - Round 8

By: Motocross.com

Posted: 06/16/09

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Words and Photos: Jeff Kardas

Round 8 of the 2009 Grand National Cross Country Series went down at Sunday Creek Raceway, two weekends ago. Located about 90 minutes southeast of the state capital Columbus, this is one of the rounds that's been on the schedule for many years, and one that's dedicated to a pioneer in off-road riding – John Penton. The John Penton GNCC was once again attended by the man himself and, while he's getting up there in years, is still a significant player at KTM USA, which had for years been headquartered in northeastern Ohio.

One of the things about having a round of the series in southern Ohio is that nearly half of the pro riders can call it their ‘home track', since this area has been a hotbed of talent for decades. Coming out of the area way back in the past are riders such as "King" Richard Burleson, Terry Cunningham, Mark Hyde, Jeff Russell and more recently, Charlie Mullins (the #5 Suzuki pictured above), Kailub Russell, Corey Buttrick, Robbie Jenks, and many others. The area is punctuated by steep, greasy and rooted hills, many of which are located within the bounds of the massive Wayne National Forest, which encompasses nearly half of the entire state.

The pits area at a GNCC are wide open, with absolutely no additional credentials necessary to get up and rub elbows with the stars. That leads to a lot of great conversations and time spent getting to know a top rider, since they also tend to stick around out in the open a lot more so than in, say, pro motocross. One of the biggest presences in the pits is the Geico Powersports team which, in this arm of the sport, is mounted on Kawasaki's. Previously, Kawasaki has had much more support on hand for the GNCC racers, but this year they pulled back a bit and limit their in-house support to their Team Green A riders in the amateur ranks. Suzuki/FMF Off-Road and Am-Pro Yamaha, not to mention the venerable Muscle Milk KTM team, are the best represented, although Husqvarna and Husaberg have factory-backed efforts as well.

One of the factory Husabergs is raced by Dustin Gibson, who sat out this round due to an injury. Gibson ended up last season in 2nd overall in the XC2 Pro (Lites) class, moving up this year to the XC1 Pros. His teammate is Jesse Robinson, who DNF on the day.

No, not THAT 338, this starting line place-holder is for Fred Andrews Racing's Josh Wiesenfels who chose that number because he "figured people would notice it". They do, and even though Josh is having a bit of a down season, he's led many laps in the past couple of years in the XC2 class on his Monster Energy backed YZ250F.

Another favorite Ohio racer is Geico Powersports' Jimmy Jarrett, who busted out a one-off Ohio State Buckeyes football helmet inspired Arai for this round in his home state. Jarrett was one of the two Kawasaki's up front for the entire race, pushing his teammate Paul Whibley (who's a New Zealander, by the way) for the entire race. Jarrett is also on the 2009 ISDE Trophy Team.

Here's a cool deal they do just before the start of a GNCC – the trail boss, the guy who actually laid out the pro version of the course – gets in front of the riders while they're lined up and still a captive audience. He then goes into great detail about the changes he made since the amateurs finished, and any particular spots to look out for or any other special instructions the racers may need before heading off. The rider turnout for this round was definitely low, with only 12 XC1 Pros and a few more XC2, which is about 30-50% off what they typically get. In fact, there were only about 200 riders lined up to start Sunday's afternoon race, which – if we recall correctly – is less than half of what we've seen nearly every other year here. This is grassroots racing, and in the bigger off-road market, so if things are bad here then they are bad everywhere.

The fun part about the start is the dead engine start deal, which can lead to all sorts of trouble on occasion. Here, Husqvarna's Glenn Kearney lights it up on the first half kick and is gone, into the early lead. In the next photo...

... Suzuki's Josh Strang, who just happened to be the series points leader heading into this round, cannot get his RMZ to fire up. Eventually he did of course, and chased the entire 3 hours to end up 3rd overall.

Part of what makes a GNCC a GNCC, and a National Harescramble a National Harescramble is right here: GNCC's will have double-track trails that the quads tore in the previous day, while a Nat'l Harescramble is all singletrack, since there are no quads. The double-track ruts always add a bit of flavor, as riders tend to try their hardest to avoid them but end up getting cross-rutted or stuck in the process. Typically the lines just push to the outsides of the trail, avoiding them all together. Monster/Yamaha's Jason Thomas shows us his best cross-rut recovery technique...

Pitstops are required in GNCC racing, and they typically try to accomplish a few things. Held usually at right around the halfway point, riders come in with 2 or 3 laps to go to fill up the tank, both with gasoline and for their bodies, water or energy replacement drinks. Most all of the riders use camelbaks full of water for the entire race, but many also jam a tube into a water bottle and stick it into their mouth during a pitstop for a nice, ice cold shot of water or energy drink to push them forward those last few laps. Charlie Mullins and Kailub Russell and the factory KTM team demonstrate.

Paul Whibley, a big strong New Zealander, has been up racing the GNCC series for several years now. He was a solid threat last season, but being in the shadow of David Knight and before that Juha Salminen, it was easy to overlook the rest of the podium. This year, Whibs is the new points leader, caught in a 3 way battle between himself, Suzuki's Josh Strang and Charlie Mullins. The rest of the series should be good as these three along with a few others push the pace in the woods to come out as the 2009 GNCC champ. Which brings us to an interesting point – it's been quite a while since an American rider has won the series, and if Whibs or Strang win it this time, it'll be even longer! Not since Barry Hawk back in... help us here, maybe 2005... has an American been at the top. The next great American would appear to be Charlie Mullins, who'll most likely snag a win at some point this season.

Jimmy Jarrett, shown here talking with teammate Whibley, has been solid at the top of the GNCC game for several years now, and is genuinely a veteran at this point. Jarrett's been on the U.S. ISDE team for several years as well, and typically makes a good showing. He's also no slouch on an MX track, and it's not unusual for him to show up at local northern Ohio races and put a hurtin' to the local pros.

Another near-icon in Ohio off-road racing culture is Fred Andrews (left in the photo above). Shown here on the podium with a Brit he imported to ride on his team – Jason Thomas – Andrews has seen a fair bit of success as a team manager. At first pegged to head-up Team Green's eastern woods assault, Andrews fell into that role nicely, snagging a couple of wins along the way and building a good relationship with Monster Energy. When Kawi pulled their support, Fred was able to pull together his old sponsors such as Parts Unlimited, THOR, Pro Circuit, Smith and others, in addition to help from Yamaha thanks to the family dealership, and put together a very professional and successful team. Fred Andrews Off-Road is a force in the XC2 class, and is another local done good in this sport.

Remember when motocross was a family sport? Well, it probably still is in a lot of cases, but at the top pro level it simply is not, and that's where GNCC differs. Very laid back, many of the riders travel with their families, as evidenced here by Barry Hawk, who rides with son and daughter on his bike heading to the line. At the line, his mother in law held his umbrella while his wife helped him get situated. Family fun! Barry ended up 5th on the day.

Corey Buttrick (the smiley guy in the middle) put in one great ride to end up 2nd in the XC2 class. Finishing up just behind his teammate Kailub Russell, those two along with Jason Thomas swapped the lead several times through the race. According to Corey in the post-race interviews, "everybody was falling everywhere. I'd fall or crash a couple of times a lap, then I'd see Kailub and Jason do the same thing, so we all just stayed real close to one another".

Kailub Russell is the son of GNCC trail boss Jeff Russell, himself an accomplished off-roader from years past. Kailub looks to be really turning on his speed this year, stepping into the top spot that was left behind by Thad Duvall, who completely dominated last year and is now in XC1. Certainly Russell had a home track advantage this weekend (since this quite literally is his home track), but he's also won several other rounds this year, and looks to be heading toward the XC2 crown.