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

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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!