At the Snowshoe, the toughest GNCC event of the year, the toughest riders and toughest machines shone like waxed gravel. KYMCO USA factory ATV racer Justin Wood toughed it out to the max, riding his KYMCO MXU 700i LE, ATV to his sixth 4x4 Lites class win for the season and earning his best-ever overall finish at No. 13. That’s No. 13 overall out of an entry list of 294 riders.
This GNCC Round 8—the AMSOIL Snowshoe—not only has the nastiest and gnarliest course, but the race begins on pavement at 4,800 feet, in narrow rows of five, which gave Wood a start on row 41. This simply made it a passing festival as he smoked by nearly 200 riders on his way to his 13th overall finish, as he made his way off from the Snowshoe Resort, into the steep descents and climbs on the mountainside.
Wood said, “This race starts like the old Blackwater race; live engines on pavement. We started off with the holeshot, but one mile into the race the craziness began. This event really stood up to its reputation as America’s toughest race. The logging roads were fast with big breakers, the woods were full of giant rocks and Howard’s Hole is a huge mud hole.
“We started on row 41, with five bikes per row. Howards Hole had hundreds of mud-covered ‘mud flies’ tugging out the stuck machines. There were quads stuck everywhere; 4x4s and sport quads, multiple lines all mired in hard and rocks the size of cars. I saw bikes with their wheels broken off, frames broken in half and one on fire. This race takes the mountain sides and is one race that is hard to just simply finish. Some people come from all over just to do one single lap at Snowshoe and then they’re done."
He added, “I would like to thank my sponsors for putting together one heck of a program for us, and an awesome bike: KYMCO USA, CST Tires, DW Rims, Motorex, Fastt Flexx, Rox Speed FX, Golding Clutches, Fly Racing, MZM, Axis Shocks, Tireblocks, Spider Graphics, Vanilla Gorilla, McGill Mafia, GSE Performance, Kenny Vincent, The Sleep Temple, and Vigilant Vet Racing.”
Wood’s six 4x4 Lites class wins on his KYMCO MXU 700i LE are backed up by a second- and third-place finish, and he now sports a seven-point lead over second place. The next GNCC is Round 9, the Wiseco John Penton, at Sunday Creek Raceway, Millfield, OH.
