Jamie Guida vs. The Wild Boar GNCC 8

Many of you know about and participate in events in the off-road world. The GNCC, WORCS, Hare and Hound, and numerous other series have incredible turnouts. It makes sense because you can pay your entry, ride for a couple hours, and then head home to do whatever you want with the rest of your day. Until last year, I had never competed in or even been to a real off-road race.

I was invited by the Red Bull Factory KTM team to come to the GNCC event at Ironman in October of 2022. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I wasn’t sure how to prepare, what to expect, or if I’d even enjoy it. I was told I’d be competing in the Industry class and that it was a two-hour race. Wonderful! That first off-road race was eye-opening. For those that don’t know the story, I crashed on the first lap and thought I may have broken my collarbone. I finished the first lap, did the second, and then quit. Yep, I quit. This poor choice led to the nickname “Quitside” from my ‘friends’.  To be honest, I had a blast at the event. It was a lot of fun, and I can see why people enjoy them. I definitely wanted to do another at some point if for nothing else but redemption. 

Fast forward to November of ’22 at the Dubya USA World Vet Championships and Michael Lindsay, Kris Keefer, Steve Matthes, myself, and a few others are discussing doing the 24 Hours at Glen Helen Race or possibly some other event. ML and I were discussing doing another GNCC and he tells me that we should do the Wild Boar round in Palatka, Florida because it’s the same weekend as the Daytona Supercross. That seemed like a great plan, and I was excited to have another chance to finish. It’s always more fun to race with your buddies, right?

I reached out to Mike Ulrich with Yamaha and asked if I could get a bike to ride for the event and incredibly, they said, ‘yes’. I was told the AmPro Yamaha team would have me a bike and give me any support I needed. Mike actually asked me, “Do you want to ride a stock Yamaha 450 or a factory race 250.” I laughed out loud. Who would pass up a chance to ride a Factory Yamaha 250 race bike? Not I. This was getting interesting. The pressure was building to not only finish but to do decent on such a great bike.

This event is coming off some winter months and admittedly I haven’t exactly been working on my cardio. I have been riding some moto, but that just does not compare. As the event got closer, I started hearing how brutal the course is in Florida with all the sand rollers and Palmetto trees. I was asked why I would choose this event and told it was one of the most difficult in the series. This was not helping my confidence. But at least I would not be suffering alone. Right, Michael Lindsay?

The week before the event I reached out to Zach Osborne who has been sidelined with an injury for the first few rounds. I jokingly said I may just ride his bike since he couldn’t race. I also asked if he was healed enough to switch out at the halfway point if I needed it. He was all in. He would be attending to support the team and I was looking forward to getting his advice.

I got to Daytona on Friday for Supercross Press Day, and it was hot and humid as you’d expect. We attended a Feld Entertainment media event that evening at the speedway where I was getting lots of advice from guys like Davey Coombs. I specifically remember DC telling me, “Oh, you’re going to have so many blisters on your hands. You should take some of the sand and rub it all over your hands before you ride. That will help.” That did not sound right. He was laughing the entire time. Davey gave me no helpful advice if I’m being truthful. He just told me not to quit. The main advice I was getting from people was I just needed to finish so I should pace myself. Got it. I also ran into Zach Osborne at the Daytona Supercross, and he again proceeded to ask why I picked one of the most difficult rounds to race. So far, I hadn’t heard a single positive about doing this race. I now need to mention that Michael Lindsay had decided not to race. Thankfully, Mike Ulrich was going to race it with me. At least I’d have someone else to suffer with.

With very little sleep ML and I headed to the event Sunday morning for the 10 a.m. start time. When we arrived, I was introduced to the AmPro Yamaha team including my mechanic for the day, Josh Siegel. He’s ZachO’s guy and had me dialed. For the record, I was getting to race Zach’s practice bike. I want to mention team members Randy Hawkins, Lucas Statom, Derek Spangler, and Corey McDonald as well. Those guys all made the opportunity unreal by welcoming me as if I was actually part of the team. I went to registration to get my transponder and race numbers for the helmet and then rode the bike to tech.

Immediately I noticed the narrow bars and skinny grips Zach uses. It felt very odd, but I figured I’d adjust. Once I went back to the rig it was time to get my gear on and head down to the start. If you’ve never been to a GNCC the start is something you need to experience at least once. It’s rows and rows of hundreds of dirt bike racers waiting for their class to start. Before each group goes a voice over the loudspeaker says, “Tennnnnnn seconds” as the anticipation builds. It’s also a dead engine start which adds to the process. Josh Siegel gave Mike and me a fist bump and I was once again told to just pace myself. It was go time.

When the flag waved, I hit the start button and it fired pretty quickly and I was heading into the first turn in about 6^th, I think. GNCCs are pretty tight from my two-race experience so I followed waiting for an opening. Pretty quickly we came to an opening with a sand whoop straight where I showed my blistering speed. The AmPro Yamaha 250 came to life when I opened the throttle and it absolutely ripped. I have no idea how many people I passed or if they were even in my class. I just pushed ahead with Mike Ulrich in tow. I figured out pretty quickly Mike was much faster than me but was not going to pass. His only objective was to make sure I didn’t quit. Thanks, Mike.

The course was approximately 14 miles of sand, Palmetto trees and roots, at least one mud hole (I found it), and some bricks. I honestly had a blast the first lap. Early on I got some significant arm pump, but it went away by the end of the first loop. I felt my pace was decent for the first lap as I passed a lot of riders from other groups and had some faster ones come up on me. I did my best to be courteous and get out of their way, but that is not easy when the lane is only wide enough for one bike.

I went by the flagger area at the end of lap one and wondered where I was in my group but there was no way of knowing. I saw one of the team guys trying to give me water, but I felt bulletproof at that moment, so I declined. I did have a hydration pack on by the way. Somewhere along the second loop my legs started burning from standing through the sand and I was getting tired. Very tired. I’d guess around the 10-mile mark of lap two I hit a tree with my right hand and smashed two fingers. Not much you can do though. I was in the middle of the woods so might as well keep going. Not to mention all I could hear was Kris Keefer and Steve Matthes’ voices calling me Quitside. I was going to finish or pass out.

Zach’s Yamaha YZ250FX is a fun bike to ride. The suspension is softer than what I’m used to since it’s set up for off-road, but it handled amazingly in the sand and tight corners. During the first lap when I still had some stamina I felt like I could lay the bike into some of the ruts with full confidence. It tracked through the turns well and never felt unsettled. It never deflected off anything or put me in a position of concern. Maybe I was going too slow. The rider triangle was pretty comfortable. It felt a little small at first, but I got used to it quickly. The engine had a ton of low-end grunt for cutting through the sandy corners and the bark the Yamaha creates with the FMF slip-on muffler when you open the throttle makes your heart rate spike. When I opened up the throttle it had plenty of top speed the few times I shifted up through the gears. For the most part, I stayed in 3rd or 4th gear and just plugged along. In the end, I was thankful for the narrow bars. The tight course would have surely left me with more smashed fingers without them. Zach runs the Fasst Company Flexx handlebars which were very noticeable in the sand whoops. It's an awkward feeling when your bars are flexing that much but I have to imagine my arm pump would have been unbearable without them. Zach's ODI grips were a bit too thin for my liking. My hands were never very comfortable but we managed. I've never ridden a bike with a mousse before and I'll have to say the Dunlop tires and mousse combo was awesome. There’s no doubt the BluCru is a beast. I hope to get another ride on it at a future GNCC.

Eventually, I passed the white flag and gave the flag guy a “thank you”. There was not a chance I could have done two more laps. This third lap is where I started rethinking my life. Maybe I am a quitter because I wanted to just lay down in the woods and call it. I was beginning to feel dehydrated, and my legs were screaming at me. I fell a couple of times on this lap which didn’t help. Honestly, it’s all a little foggy. I’m fairly certain they added about five miles to the final lap because it would just not end. I felt my feet start to burn and tingle and my vision was blurry, so I knew dehydration was setting in. I was certainly a little worried but also knew there weren’t many options but to finish. I will tell you it’s almost impossible to ride any slower than I was going those last few miles without just falling over. I felt bad for Mike. He was just hanging behind me to keep me motivated.

There was a section of track where they had dumped house bricks in the sand towards the end of the course. I was yelling in my helmet for a couple of miles, “Where are the damn bricks. Just get to the bricks.” Finally, I saw the bricks and knew I was almost there. When I finally rounded the corner and saw the checkered flag it was a wave of emotions. From relief to excitement with a whole lot of exhaustion to tie it all together I rode back to the semi knowing that I was going to need help getting off the bike. My legs were rubber and I had nothing left. To my surprise when I pulled into the tent my ‘friends’ Randy Richardson from Michelin as well as Andy White and Brad Behrens from FXR were there to greet me with congratulations all while videoing and taking pictures of my demise. What are friends for but to make fun of you on social media?

I got a hand off the bike and just laid down on the ground to catch my breath and get some strength back in my legs. I could barely stand or walk and needed to pee really badly. I had never been that exhausted in my life. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done on a motorcycle and opened my eyes to how much work I must do. With a lot of water poured on me and some down my throat, I began to feel a bit better. Once I was changed and had had some time to recoup, I walked over to find out where I finished. Somehow, I ended up in second place. That is one plaque I’m keeping. The team also gave me the number plate and side panels off the race bike which I was thankful for.

I had a quick chat with Ricky Russell and Liam Draper who were about to go out for their pro race and joked about fast lines. Those guys are absolute animals. ZachO came and congratulated me as well. I made some joke about that being the best finish his bike has seen this year and told him thanks for loaning it to me. There wasn’t much time to chill out or even watch the pros because ML and I had a flight to catch.

My second GNCC was a success in my eyes. My goal was to finish, and I did that. My total time was 2:09:45 with laps of 40:24, 43:25, and 45:55. I don’t know how that last one is correct. It felt like an hour at least. But I feel blessed to have the opportunities I’ve had in the industry. I can’t believe a factory team let me use a race bike to compete in an event. It seems unreal. As brutal as the event was, it was so much fun. Putting myself through that was a challenge and I can’t wait to do it again.