Dream Come True
By
Doug Morris
December 14, 2004 — What a way to end another fantastic year of ATVing!
The old guy (me) got the chance to experience one of my lifelong dreams—race
a Grand National Cross Country.
That
dream started in the late 1980s, when I was racing hare scrambles in Kansas.
That was my personal favorite type of ATV racing. My dream was to race a GNCC,
with all the excitement, the prestige, and racing with the best riders in the
country. Every GNCC race report I read would just add more fuel to my dream.
On September 25, 2004, that dream came true. I raced Round 12 in Summersville, West Virginia. It was better than I had ever dreamed. Not only did I race a GNCC, I finished in second place in my first GNCC! (More later.)
This opportunity wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for a number of people. First on the list is Lazarus Sommers with GT Thunder. Thank you Laz.
Laz put together—or should I say, offered to sacrifice—two identically prepared Honda 400EXs, and they performed flawlessly. Why did Laz prepare two ATVs?
Public
relations guy and writer Jason Weigandt of Racer Productions and Racer X magazine
was my challenger. Little did I know, but Jason and I shared the same dream—to
race a GNCC.
What could be better than sharing a race with someone who loves the sport as much as you do? That made it that much better.
Jason and I spend way too many hours watching others race, taking pictures of others racing, writing articles about others racing, and just plain talking ATVing all the time, but never getting in on the fun.
I know there are many of you out there who are dreaming the same dream Jason and I did. All I can say is: ``Go for it!''
A
little about the track at Summersville. It was an excellent mix of open grassy
areas where you would fly wide open from one turn to the next, pitch it sideways
and accelerate to the next turn. What a rush.
Then came the woods and very tight trees with only inches of clearance on each side. No passing here, just ride smart and not too close to the rider in front of you.
Wide-open logging roads were mixed in just right where you could click it up into high gear and make up some time you lost in the trees.
Long, rocky downhills keep you on the pegs and watching for any little surprise lurking to send you tumbling over the bars.
A spectator favorite was an ATV swallowing section with larger boulders, mud, water and more trees to keep it interesting. Thanks to Pro racer Jeff Stoess, from Crestwood, Kentucky, who came to my rescue and pulled me out when I got high center on a large rock. I was hopelessly spinning my wheels until he helped me out.
Laz supports Pro rider Johnny Gallagher, which allowed us to pit on Pro Row alongside Bill Ballance, Chris Borich, William Yokley and the rest of the fastest cross country racers in the world, which just added to the excitement of the race. Way cool.
Remember that second-place finish I mentioned? That’s because there were only two racers in the class—Jason and myself.
It
was a screaming race. But Jason just plain outrode me, fair and square.
My previous racing experience allowed me to lead Jason the entire first lap and most of the second lap. Jason’s superior conditioning and youthful energy took over while I slowed to a stop after three laps. I was totally exhausted while wearing the biggest grin on my face ever.
A quick check of the results revealed a big surprise to me and
others. My real finishing position, out of 255 was 122!
For an old guy that doesn’t get to ride that much, that ain't too shabby and
truly surprised me.
If
you think you are fast in the trees, do like Jason and I did, go for it. GNCC
racing has a class for everyone. There are classes for first-year racers, stock,
utility, and age classes up to super senior (my class: over 50).
A special thank you also goes out to the companies that pitched in with products to help make the Honda 400s race ready: GT Thunder, Maxxis Tires, Pro Armor, HMF, ATV 4 Play, Pro Graph X, Power Madd, Shok-SpotR and, of course, Racer Productions for a fantastic race.
The most important thing to come out of the day was all of memories that will last a lifetime. It was a dream come true.
Thank you all.