2007 GNCC Series Round #8-The Snowshoe- Snowshoe,WV Youth Coverage

[Pappy]

Round #8 of the Can Am GNCC Series climbed to the top of West Virginia's "Snowshoe Mountain" resort for the latest round of the 13 round series. Replacing Wisp from last years schedule, Snowshoe offered much more in the way of posh accomodations then any other GNCC venue to date.

[Pappy]

582 entries accended the 7 mile drive to the top of the facility where views were spectacular and temperatures much colder then many had planned on. At 4800 feet, the weather can change in minutes and many soon discarded shorts and t-shirts for sweatshirts and jeans.

[Pappy]

The podium was set up in the middle of the "Village" and Can Am wasted no time displaying it's models for all to see. With shuttle service available for everyone to get around the vast complex, it was pretty safe at first, however by friday evening many wanted to see if it could carry tires and fuel:chinese:

[Pappy]

The ski lift would be operational for those interested in heading to the bottom for a different view, and to bring back mountain bikers who took to the challenge of racing down the many trails opened to them.

[Pappy]

With some free time and pent up energy, some spent the evening hours just goofing off ....and honing their aim:p

[Pappy]

6:45 AM Saturday morning I started my 1.5 mile hike down to the starting area. The morning calm and solitude was going to soon be awoken by the sound of GNCC racing's youth riders .

[Pappy]

Seth Mumford awaits the start in the chilly morning air aboard his Cobra. Seth has had the worst luck this season, but turned it all around at round #7 scoring the overall win! This race would be a challenge and I had my fingers crossed he was finally on track and would have a good race to back up his win.

[Pappy]

Kyle Riley came into this round with a slim lead over hard charging Dylan Bradford. Riley is a super talented rider and knew he had to stay upfront if he wished to keep the points lead.

[Pappy]

Mathew Harris all lined up for the start on his Kasea as others begin to find their row for the "old school" start.

[Pappy]

Garrett Harvey was taking in the splendid view from his row #1 pick

[Pappy]

Factory Kawasaki reps cruised the youth riders and spent a ton of time writing down notes! Cudo's for them taking the time to get up early and check out what our Youth riders have to offer them!

[Pappy]

The Racer Productions staff was extra busy at ths event with a myriad of issues to deal with. The Youth course was shortened due to a few of the hills being deemed to wet for competition causing last minute changes to an already burdened staff. I think I heard as many pluses as minus for this event so I will have to call it a draw on how people viewed the event.

[Pappy]

The rally type start was born more out of a lack of starting area then any real connection to the famous Blackwater events held in the area from years gone by, however it did serve a purpose as safety was much more in control at the start. Riders drew numbers from a bucket at registration and that number was their starting row. 5 riders maximum per row helped keep things much more organized as the first turn was approached on pavement.

Spectators look over the start as the event was almost underway

[Pappy]

Big John makes one last safety sweep of the first turn before the green flag waved. The host facility was very strict on pit riding and State Police were present to control the state road that runs through the facility.

[Pappy]

Jesi Stracham was cautiously taking the first turn as she became the first youth rider to lay down tracks at the Snowshoe! Jesi is a talented competitor but has suffered from mechanical issues in far more rounds then she would have liked this season. She is currently ranked 8th in 90cc Mod 11-15, but at any event she can pull up and run with anyone on the track.

[Pappy]

Cody Hill started in row #2 and had never riden on asphalt before. He was more nervous about that fact then about the race:p His fears may have been warranted, but the style of start and flat out good riding by all the young racers showed this to be all worry over nothing! Not one problem at the first turn for the 68 youth riders that I saw!

[Pappy]

Seth Mumford leads his row onto the course as the event picked up the pace and the usual sounds of these small machines started making themselves known to the upscale ski type community

[Pappy]

Dylan Bradford heads out with Kyle Riley and Austin Findley in pursuit

[Pappy]

Michael Spalding made the switch to the Cobra in an effort to remain competitive these days. Spalding is another rider who possesses a ton of riding talent and I was hoping he could get up there and battle with the leaders.

[Pappy]

Jerry Welch has backing from Polaris and for good reason! When you take to these events on a 4 stroke quad and run against some of the fastest Cobras in the land, and still remain a top 5 rider your getting the job done and then some!

[Pappy]

With the start complete, I headed over to the edge of the world and tried to find a spot to catch the riders as they headed out for the 2nd lap. Mumford was still holding the lead but Bradford had already caught him.

[Pappy]

Joshua Merritt made the switch to a Cobra a few rounds back and has seen the podium every round since! He was again running in contention in 3rd in this picture.

[Pappy]

Cody Hill had finally worked all the bugs out of his TRX90 and was wanting badly to finally have a good finish. He was well inside the top 10 as the 2nd lap was underway.

[Pappy]

Douglas Robey had a best finish at the Georgia round claiming the 4th spot in 90 Mod, and faces a big challenge running with other quads that far out perform his Kymco. That doesnt mean he cant get the job done, finishing 8th at the Sparta round against some stiff competion!

[Pappy]

Devin Langford was having issues with his Xtreme in 90 Limited 11-15, but he kept at it and finished 3rd in his class at todays event!

[Pappy]

Ryan Earley...8 rounds complete, worse finish has been second!! 4 first, 4 seconds...thats some riding right there! He is your 90 Limited 8-10 class leader!

[Pappy]

I have been watching young Micheal Mussi for several years now, and he is a machine on a quad! Changing to the TRX90 this season hasnt produced the results he is accustom to, but that all changed at this round, and he found himself winning 90 Mod 8-10! Great ride Micheal!

[Pappy]

Jay Shadron powers his way up and down the West Virginia landscape on his way to a 4th place finish in 90 MOd 8-10. Jay is the points leader in this class and this is the first event he has finished worse then 2nd!

[Pappy]

Brycen Neal pops out of a small treeline headed for another lap

[Pappy]

Solid into lap 3, Mumford was holding off Bradford as he works his way across a small rock section. The course was approximatly 3.5 miles long and was mainly open with only a few small sections of larger rock.

[Pappy]

Jesi was running in 5th I believe when she passed me on lap 3, but bad luck struck her and she was towed off the track soon after

[Pappy]

Charlie Welch and Braydon Schick have been battling hard all year, but this day the victory went to another rider in 70 CVT . Charlie pictured here running great on his way to a 3rd place finish and keeping control of the class points lead

[Pappy]

Lap 3 was also unkind to Cody Hill, who was still running well until his chain came off going up one of the hills in the woods. He had a spectator help him push his quad the rest of teh way up the hill and get the chain back on , only to loose both headpipe nuts soon after. With the down time and loss of power, he was going to have the next 4 laps to think about his move to Youth production and get away from the mini's:p (I'll take a bad finish over the broken elbow at Big Buck anyday;) )

[Pappy]

Youth riders attract some attention for those awake enough to catch them in action!

[Pappy]

One section was pretty narly for the low ground clearence of the mini quads.

[Pappy]

Brayden Schick's Apex was "steaming" ahead as his radiator called it a day

[Pappy]

9 laps completed and Bradford and Mumford where still battling it out.

[Pappy]

With a lapper in the way, and the win based on time Bradford almost wipes out the flagger as he attempts to make one last stab at being first


I believe the flagger had his toe's warmed up:eek2:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1369/607273541_6f2a3d0710_b.jpg

[Pappy]

Mumford flopped off his quad at the end as everyone checked on him, he was just plum wore out

[Pappy]

When the times were calculated, Bradford took the overall win!

The summer break is now on, and everyone has some time off to figure out what they can do to catch those Cobras!

Results by class (http://www.racerbanners.com/results/gncc/2007/class.asp?e=45&c=9999999&r=8)

I did not get as many shots as usual as this event was pretty tight and due to having to walk a ton, I was just to tired to do much trekking up and down the side of a mountain.
Youth Gallery (http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=2971395)

[KWIK CHIX RACIN]

Originally posted by Pappy
Jesi was running in 5th I believe when she passed me on lap 3, but bad luck struck her and she was towed off the track soon afer
BROKEN CRANKSHAFT

[Dale@AGP]

Pappy, great shots and great coverage on the youth quads...looks like it was a great race.

Dale

[Arctic Cat Dad]

Pappy once again great pictures. These kids are some great riders. And you do a great job of getting there pictures!!

Michael did a pretty good job for being on a pretty much STOCK Honda. He needed a win. He quit the Nationals at KY, Says he hates to travel. But he wanted to run his home track. Snowshoe.

Way to go Klye and Cody on some good finishes!

[pual0101]

nice Coverage Pappy, we made it out ofregistration just in time to catch the start of the Minis, i saw the pink girl at the start and my wife just thought that was the cutest thing(we're having our first baby girl in about 5 wks) so we had to catch that. Would have watched more but i ran the 10am race

[hr15]

There is no doubt all the kids give it their all,thanks for covering the youth race.Great pix too!

[GNCC Laeger 250]

Thank You soo much for the great coverage. These kids are awesome to watch & are the stars of tomorrow. The picture is one lap to go w/ Brayden leading. He did not make it to the finish on his own , but special thanks to Mr. Harris for helping me push it the last 0.5 mile or so to give Brayden a top five finish. I don't think I could of pushed it myself uphill.

Thanks Again
Blaine