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Editor's Note: This article is about the GNCC Series. For the motocross community, there is a whole other segment to the dirt bike racing you may not know about, Cam gives his thoughts on the event and how his race went. (Photos By: Ken Hill )
Whitetails X Factor Deer farm right off U.S 31 in Peru, Indiana was the site for round 6 of the 2018 GNCC season. The race was the first Midwest event of the year for the series after many rounds in the Southeastern United States. Last year, this event never had any good luck weather wise. The race postponed to a later weekend due to monsoons of rain only to have the same scenario occur again. Due to constraints, race promoters and organizers were forced into making what they could out of what was given to them by Mother Nature. A combined AM and PM race of 2 hours was ruled and essentially the event became a survival one. This year it seemed that this event would again face wet weather, potentially very heavy rain. But while lower Michigan and the state line was getting pummeled by precipitation, somehow the site of the GNCC was spared. In fact, we could have used a little bit more rain in certain parts of the 12 mile course.
GNCC’s always require a lot of land to hold one of their events. This course was a big one. 11.5 miles in length. The start occurred right next to the highway with two 180 corners and quickly threw racers into high speed field sections. The visibility was very challenging as vision was impossible due to such dry hard dirt. This made the start so crucial to establishing a good lead. After a bit of fields the course brought riders into the woods. The course had so many small rocks, tree roots, and gnarly rocks you had to keep the balls of your feet on the pegs even more so to establish good control. A big huge mulch pile which was super soft was one of the highlights of the course. One section had to be re-routed due to a massive mud hole between ravines that trail bosses thought a good base would keep ruts from becoming too deep. However that was not the case and the mud hole was deemed impassible. After a few more miles in the woods, the course again hit some super-fast field sections. The dry, rock hard, and concrete dirt made traction a pain as many flat corners required some flat tracking skills to keep speeds up. More woods was left and a mud hole to round out the last 4 or so miles of the course.
Well, I had an awesome start! 2nd out of the gate in 250A is always a good signal of potentially an awesome day and confidence booster. However the first corner shut me down right there. I got into the rear tire of the leader and slammed into the ground. I felt an impact and some pain but did not think really of it as I quickly got up and pummeled the kick starter. I felt wetness on the back of my arm which I knew immediately was blood due to the fact that the ground was completely void of any water for at least the first two miles of the course. I was doomed from making up any time as the dust made vision 5 feet in front of your bike all that you would get. Essentially I had to keep even throttle and bide my time until I got to tacky dirt in the woods. But, once I hit the woods, I felt stinging in my arms, and it got worse and worse. The mud hole that got rerouted was intense! I think I had 6 riders in the bottom just staring at how massive it was. I didn’t waste time and quickly blitzkrieg my way through the mud, knowing that if I stopped and started I would probably face the same fate. Keeping my momentum up was crucial and holding the bike wide open I eventually got through. However, the stinging got very apparent over any chop and by the time I saw my dad, I needed to have him look me over for three seconds. He was very alarmed and immediately told me to see the EMTS. I got to the trailer and they had the same look of concern. They all told me I need to get to the Emergency Room. It turns out I got ran over by three or so bikes in the first corner but in all the dust and mayhem I thought I just hit the ground hard. We sadly had to pack up and get to downtown Peru to be worked on at the local ER. The end result was 5 severe lacerations to the arm, loss of body tissue, and a slight tear in the triceps. 25 staples, 5 stitches, an IV of antibiotics, and cutting off dead tissue was my surgery for the day. The pain wasn’t that bad but it had to be cleaned out and closed up otherwise a huge infection would occur and that would be a big mess. Kailub Russel won the overall, Josh Toth won XC2, and Jason Raines won the tiddler XC3 class in style.
I will for sure be off for a few weeks. The staples have to remain in the skin in order for my wounds to close up. So Bark Buster may be on a bit of a hiatus, only bench racing for me for a bit. In all, I am happy it’s really minor in the long run. The picture looks gross but after being fixed up just a scar will remain..
#681 Cameron Prochnow