#GlennMcconnell

The GNCC Dealer Challenge is an incentive program designed to enhance the involvement of dealership support to racers in the GNCC series. Throughout the season, teams earned points every round based on each team member’s respective class-finish.

“GNCC’s Dealer Challenge is a great way for dealers to interact with amateur racers,” says Lazarus Sommers, CEO GT Thunder. “It’s always a pleasure to work with amateurs where you can really help their program in many ways – including parts selection, training, professionalism and the mind set for competitive racing.”

Dave Simmons led the way for Team GT Thunder I, earning a perfect season in the ATV Super Senior (45+) class. Glenn McConnell helped the team to victory as well, topping the Masters (50+) division. Senior A (38+) class-winner Tom Wright also claimed a class title. Brayden Shick put in a solid season for the team, finishing second in the Schoolboy (13-15) A/B division.

ATV racers wrapped up the grueling 13-round Grand National Cross Country series this pas weekend in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. and Team ITP racers finished the season in style.

Dave Simmons ( Yamaha) raced to his ninth overall morning race victory and his 13th straight win in the Super Senior 45+ class. He’s the Muhammad Ali of amateur cross country ATV racing.

Glenn McConnell (Yamaha) won the finale by eight and a half minutes. His seventh victory of the season was just enough to secure the Masters (50+) class championship.

As the traditional summer break of the 2012 Grand National Cross Country Series drew to a close, Team ITP was ready for the final four events on the schedule. With fresh ITP Holeshot and QuadCross tires mounted on their newly tuned quads, Team ITP was well rested and motivated at the rugged Unadilla circuit, one of the icons of powersports.

Dave Simmons ( Yamaha) once again dominated the morning race, winning the overall by close to four minutes. It was his seventh overall triumph of the season and tenth straight victory in the Super Senior 45+ class.

Also claiming a big win was Glenn McConnell (Yamaha). This Masters 50+ competitor grabbed his fifth victory of the season and in the process snuck into the points lead for the first time in 2012. After skipping the first race of the year he had been gradually moving up the leaderboard, and Unadilla would be the breakthrough.

Angel Atwell (Honda) finished eighth overall in the morning and second in the Women’s class. She is keeping things tight in this battle, down by just eight in the season points chase.

The Mountaineer Run, held at Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, WV, was another new stop on the 2012 Grand National Cross Country schedule, but for many it had an old school feel. Round seven of 13 was held on a technical, rough, rocky, semi-muddy course not far from the familiar Snowshoe GNCC site. Plus it was also just good old fashioned hot, which all added up to a challenging weekend for man and machine. But Team ITP was up for it, and notched a number of victories using a variety of ITP QuadCross and Holeshot tire setups.

A most impressive display of skill and endurance was put up by Patrick McGuire (Yamaha). The Valencia, Penn. native blasted out of the first turn in first and never looked back, leading the XC2 Pro Am class from start to finish, securing his second win of the season by nearly three minutes. It was good for ninth overall out of 186 top competitors in the afternoon wave of racing, and moved him back into the points lead.

Finishing second in XC2 was Matt Hanna, backed by Greg’s ATV and running ITP tires on his Yamaha YFZ450. It was Hanna’s third podium appearance of the season, which puts him in fifth place in the class standings.

Photos by Amy McConnell, XCountry Photos

It’s always an interesting adventure to compete at a brand new venue. When the 2012 Grand National Cross Country Series arrived at Park Mammoth Resort in the rolling hills of south-central Kentucky for the fifth round of the series, everyone was faced with trying to learn new trails and figure out an ideal machine setup. Racers and mechanics took their closest guess — because no pre-riding is allowed in GNCC racing — and then hoped for the best when the green flag flew.

Luckily the Team ITP riders had a number of options to choose from when it came to tires – from the Holeshot to the QuadCross XC.

Dave Simmons ( Yamaha) captured yet another overall amateur morning race victory. On what turned out to be a mostly tight and technical course, Simmons led the way ahead of nearly 240 other athletes in a wide variety of classes. This performance marked the fifth time in a row he’s won the Super Senior 45+ class in 2012, and was his third morning overall of the season.