GNCC Round 12 Coverage – The Wiseco John Penton

The rains held off in Ohio this weekend.

This past weekend saw the penultimate round of the 2024 Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC Racing) Series presented by Specialized, an AMA National Championship, kick off in Millfield, Ohio with The Wiseco John Penton on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

As Saturday morning rolled around the wind and rain had seemed to move on from the area and the only real muddy, slick conditions appeared to be throughout the pit areas. Track conditions would seem to improve throughout the day, with a few slick spots still remaining throughout the course of the day.

As the XC1 Pro riders saw the green flag wave it was Phoenix Racing Yamaha’s Brycen Neal grabbing another $250 Kanati Performance Tires XC1 Holeshot Award to start his day. Neal would lead the majority of the race, with WFR/GBC/Fly Racing/BNR/Yamaha Racing’s Walker Fowler hot on his heels. As the duo were making their last lap charge, chaos would erupt with Fowler making the pass for the lead in conditions that saw both him and Neal needing a lot of help from the mud fleas to get their machines over a slick rocky area. Fowler would make it out of the area just ahead of Neal and would hold that lead until the checkered flag flew. Neal would finish second on the day and continues to hold the points lead with 16 points over Fowler.Action Off-Road/GBC/Houser Racing’s Wyatt Wilkin would work his way back to a podium finish after a machine issue took him out of the last race. Wilkin would start his day back in eighth, but was determined to battle at the front again, and would round out the podium in Ohio. With Fowler, Neal and Wilkin all being from Ohio – it was an Ohio podium sweep at The Wiseco John Penton.

Both Hunter Hart Racing/Fly Racing/Ithaca Recreation Sports’ Hunter Hart and Phoenix Racing Yamaha/Action Off-Road’s John Glauda Jr. would push themselves throughout the race to finish inside the top five after starting back in ninth and tenth. Sturdivant Racing’s Branden Owens would cross the line sixth overall on the day.

Action Off-Road/GBC/BNR Motorsports’ Joshua Merritt would come through to finish seventh on the day after starting back in 12th on the opening lap. JMR/GBC/Elka/Moose Racing’s Jarrod McClure would start his day just outside of the top five but would unfortunately be unable to push forward and would cross the line eighth on the day.

Coming through in ninth overall was Action Off-Road/Maxxis/Fly Racing/Lonestar’s Austin Abney after he would start his day back in 13th. Abney would continue to push forward making the necessary passes to get inside the top 10 overall. BNR Motorsports/Fearless/Kenda Tire’s Steven Harrell rounded out the top 10 overall finishers and tenth in the XC1 Pro class.

In the XC2 Pro-Am class it was BNR Motorsports/Pierce Performance/GBC Tire’s Alex Thieman making his way into the lead after battling throughout the first lap with the $100 BNR Motorsports XC2 Holeshot Award winner, CST Tires/LMR Motors/Elka/Fly Racing’s Braxton Grosse. Thieman would continue to hold his lead for the duration of the race and taking over the points lead by one. Grosse would continue to hold onto second place for the extent of the race in Ohio. Phoenix Racing Yamaha’s Grayson Eller would have his work cut out for him as he came through in 10th on the opening lap of the race. Eller would battle back to finish third on the day and make up valuable points as he sits one point behind Thieman heading into the finale.

As the morning race got underway, Kenda/KMK/Ryco Electric’s Cody Collier would get a good jump off the 4×4 Pro line and earn himself the $100 BNR Motorsports Holeshot Award as he headed into the woods first. Collier would lead over Pro Row 784/TMS/Edgewood/DeRisi Racing’s Brandon Frazier for the first two laps of the race but would be unable to hold off Frazier as he made the pass for the lead. Collier would fall back to fifth as they came through on their third lap but would unfortunately suffer a mechanical issue while out on the last lap of the race, pushing him back to a sixth place finish.

Frazier would continue to hold the lead after making the pass earlier in the race, as he came through with over a minute lead on the rest of his competition. Frazier currently holds a 27 point lead over Collier in the National Championship standings as the series heads to its season finale at the end of October at Ironman Raceway.

Coming through to take second overall and in the 4×4 Pro class was KMK Off-Road/OBOR Tires/FXR’s Kaden Wharff. After a good start, Wharff would maintain himself at the front of the pack for the duration of the race as he came through in third for the first couple of laps and would work his way up to second to finish off the day. Rounding out the top three overall in the AM race was Trevor Meadows in the 250 All-Star (14-17) class as he earned his second class win of the season. SBR/Action Off-Road/DeRisi/HMF’s Haedyn Mickelson would battle back to earn third in the 4×4 Pro class at the penultimate round of the 2024 GNCC Racing season.

JMR/Action Off-Road/GBC/Moose Racing’s Katelyn Osburn would grab herself the $100 BNR Motorsports WXC Holeshot Award to start off the day, and she would head into the woods with the rest of her competition right behind her. It wouldn’t take long for the battles to heat up in the WXC class as Elioff Racing/BNR Motorsports/GBC Tire’s Jessica Elioff would take over the lead on lap one. However, Osburn Off-Road/Pierce Performance/Moose Racing’s Chloe Harper was not giving up and would push herself to make a pass for the lead while out on their third lap. Elioff would be unable to make a pass back around Harper as she came through to take the win with just .951 of a lead. Elioff would come through second while Kenda/Moose Racing/Teixeira Tech’s Hannah Hunter put herself in the mix to finish third on the day.

Elioff would also be able to clinch the 2024 GNCC WXC ATV National Championship with that second place finish on the day, as she claimed her second-straight WXC title one round early.

Catch GNCC Pro ATV free via RacerTV.com all season long. Pro ATV Racing starts Saturday’s at 2pm ET, with the exception of Big Buck, Snowshoe and Ironman events where they will start at 1pm ET.

For more information on the GNCC series, visit the official website at www.gnccracing.com

The Wiseco John Penton GNCC Results and Points Standings
Millfield, Ohio
Round 12 of 13
Saturday, September 28, 2024

The Wiseco John Penton XC1 Pro Event Results:

1. Walker Fowler (YAM)
2. Brycen Neal (YAM)
3. Wyatt Wilkin (YAM)
4. Hunter Hart (YAM)
5. John Glauda Jr. (YAM)
6. Branden Owens (YAM)
7. Joshua Merritt (YAM)
8. Jarrod McClure (HON)
9. Austin Abney (YAM)
10. Steven Harrell (YAM)

Overall National Championship Standings:

1. Brycen Neal (302)
2. Walker Fowler (286)
3. Joshua Merritt (221)
4. Wyatt Wilkin (217)
5. Steven Harrell (157)
6. Hunter Hart (154)
7. Adam McGill (154)
8. Austin Abney (139)
9. Jarrod McClure (124)
10. Chris Borich (127)

The Wiseco John Penton XC2 Pro-Am Event Results:

1. Alex Thieman (YAM)
2. Braxton Grosse (YAM)
3. Grayson Eller (YAM)
4. James Glauda (YAM)
5. Jeremy Ledonne (YAM)
6. Kenny Shick (YAM)
7. Brady Myers (YAM)
8. Chance Hickey (HON)
9. Alex Elioff (YAM)
10. Keaton Henderson (YAM)

XC2 Pro-Am Series Standings:

1. Alex Thieman (275)
2. Grayson Eller (274)
3. Braxton Grosse (219)
4. James Glauda (178)
5. Daulton Keyes (161)
6. Kenny Shick (146)
7. Christopher Howard (146)
8. Dylan Walraven (145)
9. Keaton Henderson (141)
10. Alex Elioff (135)