Race report Steele Creek GNCC

This weekend Jr and I attended our first GNCC event at Steele Creek in Morganton NC.
Morganton is located at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Really pretty up there and Morganton is happy to have the racers and fans show up for the weekend.




The GNCC folks go all out for their events with the full pit set up and bannered start area.




I was surprised at the big rigs, even with the state of the economy Suzuki, Yamaha and KTM put on full factory effort into their off road teams.






Husky’s were some of the best looking bikes when I got started in 72 and they still are.



Josh Strang gets the holeshot in XC1 and never looked back.



KX 450’s put the power down even if you are still turning.



UK’s Jason Thomas pulls the holeshot in XC2 using half the strokes of most.


Strang charged hard in the first lap and opened a little gap on the field.



Jimmie Jarret looked good on the opening lap but only completed 2 laps before he was out.



By the end of the second lap 18 year old Cory Buttrick was closing the gap on Strang and the more lappers they came into the closer he got.




Kailub Russell moved in to the lead of XC2 and finished 3rd overall. If the race had not been shortened due to a massive rain storm he would have had a shot at winning the thing overall.


Paul Whibley has not quite got up to full speed yet on his new Yamaha but will be there soon. He rode to 4th in XC 1.



Nathan Kanney looked good on his KTM for 5th .




Glen Kearney took 6th on that sweet Husky.



Rookie Steward Baylor rode his 2 smoke KTM to 4th in XC 2.



You don’t have to be a pro to be stylish.



This section reminded me of old school GP motocross. Rough and fast with spectators sitting right on the edge of the track.




The GNCC’s have some unique obstacles



Anybody recognize this guy? He has a few championships under his belt.



This was Jr’s first GNCC and he rode Schoolboy 200 C in the am race. He bogged a little off the line but charged hard through the first couple of turns to put himself in 5th by the time they hit the woods.




This downhill was about a quarter of a mile long and would be rated black diamond if it were covered in snow.




The kid swapped out and took a big digger on the third lap falling back to 10th but laid down his fastest lap of the race on his final lap to finish up 8th out of 20 and 188 out of 460.




We will be heading to the Big Buck GNCC next month and depending on how he does there we may hit a few more this summer.
These are big time events and a lot of fun for rider and spectator, if you get a chance check one out.