The Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series is America's premier
off-road racing series. Founded in 1979, the 13-round championship is
produced exclusively by Racer Productions. Cross country racing is one
of the most physically demanding sports in the world. The grueling
three-hour GNCC races lead as many as 1,800 riders through tracks
ranging in length from eight to 12 miles, competing for more than $3
million in prizes. With varied terrain, including hills, woods, mud,
dirt, rocks and motocross sections, GNCC events are tests of both
survival and speed. The GNCC events attract riders from all 50 states and around the world.

Race lengths

• Youth ATV's: 1 Hour
• AM ATV's: 2 Hours
• PM ATV's: 2 Hours
• Bike Youth: 90 Minutes
• AM Bikes: 2 Hours
• PM Bikes: 3 Hours (and no less than 2 hours and 45 minutes)

Course lengths vary from track to track, but generally
ATVs run an 8-10 mile course, ATV Youth run a 2-3 mile course, Bike Youth run a 3-5 mile course, and Bikes run an 8-12 mile course.

Current GNCC Tracks

River Ranch GNCC - River Ranch, Florida

The General GNCC - Washington, Georgia

Steele Creek GNCC - Morganton, North Carolina

Big Buck GNCC - Union, South Carolina

Loretta Lynn's GNCC - Hurricane Mills, Tennessee

Indy 100 GNCC - Gosport, Indiana

Rock Run GNCC - Patton, Pennsylvania

The John Penton GNCC - Millfield, Ohio

Snowshoe

Snowshoe Mountain

Snowshoe Mountain is a ski resort in Snowshoe, West Virginia. The resort has skiable terrain across and covers a total area of in the Allegheny Mountains, which are a part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range. It is positioned in the bowl shaped convergence of two mountains, Cheat and Back...

 GNCC - Snowshoe Resort, West Virginia

Unadilla GNCC - New Berlin, New York

Mountain Ridge GNCC - Somerset, Pennsylvania

Power Line Park GNCC - St. Clairsville, Ohio

The Ironman GNCC - Crawfordsville, Indiana



List of all GNCC events since 1985

Riders

The GNCC Series attracts the top off-road and even motocross riders from all around the world. In any given weekend over 1,000 of the best off-road racers will compete in a GNCC event featuring classes for everyone from the top pros to kids as young as 7 years old and Masters class riders over 60 years old.

XC1 Pro Bike Class

Josh Strang - FMF Makita Suzuki

Charlie Mullins - FMF KTM

Paul Whibley - Am-Pro Yamaha

Cory Buttrick - FMF KTM

Chris Bach - Factory Beta

Kailub Russell - FMF KTM

Nathan Kanney - WMR KTM

Thad Duvall- Am-Pro Yamaha

Jimmy Jarrett - Geico Honda

Kenny Gilbert - R2W Racing KTM

Mike Lafferty - Factory Husaberg

Russell Bobbitt - FMF KTM

Nick Fahringer - Factory Husaberg

XC2 Pro Bike Class

Steward Baylor - KTM

Jordan Ashburn - Obermeyer Yamaha

Andrew Delong - FAR Husqvarna

Jason Thomas - FAR Husqvarna

AJ Stewart - Yamaha

Morgan Moss - Yamaha

Zack Smith - Keystone Offroad Racing KTM

Steven Squire - Obermeyer Yamaha

Brad Bakken - Obermeyer/Raines Racing/ OffroadViking.com Yamaha

Women's Bike Class

Maria Forsberg - RPM KTM

Mandi Mastin - Yamaha

LeeAnn Bange - Yamaha

Ashley Crouch - Geico Kawasaki

Shelby Rolen - KTM

Samanta Steiner - KTM

XC1 Pro ATV Class

Chris Borich - Suzuki

Taylor Kiser - Yamaha

Adam McGill - Can-Am

Chris Bithell - Can-Am

Bryan Cook - KTM

Donald Ockerman - Honda

Johnny Gallagher - Yamaha

Brian Wolf - Honda

XC2 ProAm ATV Class

Walker Fowler - Yamaha

Gabe Phillips - Yamaha

Eric Hoyland - Honda

Aarol Bright - KTM

Parick McGuire - Yamaha

Matt Hanna - Yamaha

Michael Lancaster - Honda

Women's ATV Class

Traci Cecco - Yamaha

Angel Atwell - Honda

Kristen Atwell - Yamaha

Lexie Coulter - Can-Am

Shanna Bradshaw - Honda

Kara Merritt - Yamaha

Throughout the series' history, the events have been visited by other well known Motocross and ATV competitors including Travis Pastrana

Travis Pastrana

Travis Alan Pastrana is an American motorsports competitor and stunt performer who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several events, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, and rally racing. He runs a show called Nitro Circus with some of his friends...

, Doug Henry, Broc Hepler, Joe Byrd, John Natalie Jr and country music star Craig Morgan.

GNCC Legends

Ed Lojak: 4-Time 100 Miler Series Champion, 5-Time GNCC Champion, 6 Time AMA National Hare Scamble Champion

Mark Hyde: 4-Time Blackwater 100 Overall Champion

Randy Hawkins: Team Am-Pro Yamaha Owner, 7-time AMA National Enduro Champion

Scott Summers: 5-time GNCC Bike Champion, 4-time AMA National Hare Scramble Champion

Scott Plessinger: 2-Time GNCC Champion

Fred Andrews: Team Monster Energy FAR Yamaha Owner, 1993 GNCC Bike Champion

Shane Watts: 2000 GNCC Champion, Only rider to win ISDE Overall on 125cc bike

Rodney Smith: Team FMF Makita Suzuki Trainer, 5-Time GNCC Champion

Juha Salminen

Juha Salminen

Juha Salminen is a Finnish enduro rider. He is a 13-time World Enduro Champion and has also won the German championship and the Spanish championship . In motocross, he won the Finnish championship in 2002...

: 2005 and 2006 GNCC Champion, 12-time World Enduro Champion

David Knight

David Knight

David "Knighter" Knight is a three-time world champion enduro rider from the Isle of Man.After competing in the Enduro FIM Junior Cup, Knight debuted in the World Enduro Championship riding for Yamaha. He finished runner-up in the 250 cc class to Juha Salminen in 2001 and to Samuli Aro in 2002...

: 2007 and 2008 GNCC Champion, World Enduro Champion

Barry Hawk: 7-Time GNCC ATV Champion, 2003 GNCC Bike Champion

Bill Ballance: 9-Time GNCC ATV Champion

Bike Teams

Team FMF KTM

KTM

KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

 Off-Road

Team Am-Pro Yamaha

Yamaha

Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...

 

Team FMF Makita Suzuki

Suzuki

is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu, Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles and 4x4 vehicles, a full range of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles , outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines...

 Off-Road

Team Geico Honda

Honda

is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...

 

Team Monster Energy Andrews Husqvarna

Husqvarna

Husqvarna , originally a military arsenal founded in 1689 to produce muskets for the Swedish Army.The company Husqvarna has since grown, and its production has changed from weapons, sewing machines, kitchen equipment, bicycles and motorcycles to lawn mowers, chainsaws and construction products. The...

GNCC History

Dave Coombs promoted various motorcycle races across the country and in 1975 he was contacted by a preacher at a church in a small town in West Virginia. The preacher wanted to help the economy of his struggling town by hosting a motorcycle race. Dave Coombs saw major potential in the land and thought that a grand prix style race through the town and surrounding country side would be special enough to bring visitors to the town.

He named the race The Blackwater 100. The name "Blackwater" comes from nearby Blackwater Falls and 100 for the number of miles in the race. The land was rugged and the race was tough. In fact, The Blackwater was known as "America's Toughest Race","The Indy 500 of off-road racing" or "The Father's Day Massacre". The race became even more popular when Dave invited a group of magazine editors from California, who went back and wrote about their experiences with the rugged race.

When the Blackwater was first raced in 1975 the GNCC series did not exist, and after a few years the AMA started the National Hare scramble

Hare scramble

Hare scramble is the name given to a particular form of off-road motorcycle racing. Traditionally a hare scramble can vary in length and time with the contestants completing multiple laps around a marked course through wooded or other rugged natural terrain...

 Series with different promoters throughout the country. During this time, Dave and Rita Coombs were holding several 100 mile long events which became known as the Wiseco 100 Miler Series, and would evolve into the GNCC series in 1984. The GNCC series has experienced much growth, 3 wheelers were added in 1983 and ATVs became popular a few years later. By this point, the Blackwater 100 was one of the most famous races in America and its reputation only grew when videos were produced.

"Blackwater 100 The Video" in 1990, "Blackwater Revisited" in 1991 "Blackwater Trilogy" in 1992 and "Blackwater Blackout" in 1993 brought the action to even more people. Some of the most insane shots in the videos were of the infamous Route 93 stream crossing. It was a near vertical assault on muddy clay banks and it was even worse when it was raining. The fans would form a human wall on the top of the banks and would catch bikes and ATVs when the riders could not make it all the way up the bank, these fans became known as the "Mud Fleas". Unfortunately this also brought a crowd of rowdy spectators who were more interested in the party than the race. In the video of the 1993 event Dave Coombs said that the party at the race was "an insane asylum, and the patients are running it" he also referred to the campground as "Derelict

Derelict

Derelict or dereliction commonly refers to:* Abandonment of property, then referred to as a 'derelict'* Derelict , property which has been abandoned and deserted at sea by those who were in charge without any hope of recovering it...

 Drive".

A notable feat in Blackwater history was in 1990 when Tommy Norton won the Blackwater riding a 125cc KTM

KTM

KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

. He would be the only rider to take the overall Blackwater 100 win on 125 machine. Former KTM North American President Rod Bush was the first person to complete all 100 miles on 125cc machine, 9 years after the initial race. Scott Summers won the race twice aboard his Honda XR600 making it the biggest bike and only 4 stroke to take the Overall win. Mark Hyde and Ed Lojak won the most Blackwater overalls with 4 each.

After the 1993 event, a study found that E. coli

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...

 levels in nearby creeks and rivers had risen to unhealthy levels. The local power company, whose land encompassed much of the track, did not want an E. coli outbreak on their property. This ultimately ended the legendary event and only survives in memory today.

However, by this point the GNCC series had earn the reputation as being the Premier Offroad Racing Series in America. Throughout the 90s the series would still grow more and more. With domination on the bike side by riders such as Scott Summers, Scott Plessinger and Rodney Smith, while Barry Hawk dominated the ATV side, the series gained even more mainstream coverage in various media.

In 2000 the series saw its first non-American champion as Australian Shane Watts took the title. On the ATV front Bill Balance continued to dominate through 2008. Barry Hawk made the switch to bikes in the early 2000s and found success gaining many top 5s and wins. In 2005 Factory KTM brought 10-Time World Enduro Champion Juha Salminen over to contest the bike series, and he was on another level. This pushed the other pro class riders to train harder and become faster than ever. Salminen won two championships in the two years he raced the series. In 2007, KTM brought another world champion to dominate in the form of David Knight.

Since then the tracks and the racers have become increasingly faster. This has propelled the riders to becoming even higher level athletes and has also provided some amazing racing action for the fans. In today's GNCC series, Chris Borich continues to dominate the ATV side while in 2011 the bike side seems to be a wide open race each weekend, and thus far the racing has come down to the wire more than once with many lead changes throughout the day.

The series is still going stronger than it ever has. With television coverage by the RacerTV program on the Versus Network, and the ever growing media coverage, the series still continues to grow.

Past Champions

Over the years the series has been contested by thousands of different riders across the world. Each year an Overall Champion is crowned for both the bikes and ATVs.

GNCC Overall Bike Champions

2011 Charlie Mullins KTM Hickory, NC

2010 Josh Strang SUZ Australia

2009 Paul Whibley KAW New Zealand

2008 David Knight KTM Isle of Man, UK

2007 David Knight KTM Isle of Man, UK

2006 Juha Salminen

Juha Salminen

Juha Salminen is a Finnish enduro rider. He is a 13-time World Enduro Champion and has also won the German championship and the Spanish championship . In motocross, he won the Finnish championship in 2002...

 KTM Vantaa, Finland

2005 Juha Salminen

Juha Salminen

Juha Salminen is a Finnish enduro rider. He is a 13-time World Enduro Champion and has also won the German championship and the Spanish championship . In motocross, he won the Finnish championship in 2002...

KTM Vantaa, Finland

2004 Rodney Smith SUZ Antioch, CA

2003 Barry Hawk, Jr. YAM Smithfield, PA

2002 Rodney Smith SUZ Antioch, CA

2001 Rodney Smith SUZAntioch, CA

2000 Shane Watts KTM Maffra, Australia

1999 Rodney Smith SUZ Oakley, CA

1998 Rodney Smith SUZ Oakley, CA

1997 Scott Summers HON Petersburg, KY

1996 Scott Summers HON Petersburg, KY

1995 Scott Plessinger KTM Hamilton, OH

1994 Scott Plessinger KTM Hamilton, OH

1993 Fred Andrews YAM Salem, OH

1992 Scott Summers HON Petersburg, KY

1991 Scott Summers HON Petersburg, KY

1990 Scott Summers HON Petersburg, KY

1989 Ed Lojak YAM Tarentum, PA

1988 Ed Lojak HUS Tarentum, PA

1987 Ed Lojak HUS Tarentum, PA

1986 Ed Lojak HUS Tarentum, PA

1985 Jim Maltba KTM Mount Clare, WV

1984 Ed Lojak HUS Tarentum, PA

GNCC XC2 Bike Champions

2011 Steward Baylor KTM Belton, SC

2010 Kailub Russell KTM Boonville, NC

2009 Kailub Russell KTM Kingston, OH

2008 Thad Duvall YAM Williamstown, WV

2007 Justin Williamson KTM Sanford, FL

GNCC Overall ATV Champions

2011 Chris Borich SUZ Sunbury, PA

2010 Chris Borich SUZ Sunbury, PA

2009 Chris Borich SUZ Sunbury, PA

2008 Bill Ballance YAM Oakland, KY

2007 Bill Ballance YAM Oakland, KY

2006 Bill Ballance YAM Oakland, KY

2005 Bill Ballance YAM Oakland, KY

2004 Bill Ballance YAM Oakland, KY

2003 Bill Ballance LRD Oakland, KY

2002 Bill Ballance LRD Oakland, KY

2001 Bill Ballance ROL Oakland, KY

2000 Bill Ballance ROL Oakland, KY

1999 Barry Hawk LAE Smithfield, PA

1998 Barry Hawk LAE Smithfield, PA

1997 Barry Hawk LAE Smithfield, PA

1996 Barry Hawk LAE Smithfield, PA

1995 Barry Hawk LAE Smithfield, PA

1994 Barry Hawk LAE Smithfield, PA

1993 Barry Hawk LAE Smithfield, PA

1992 Bob Sloan HON Martinsville, IN

1991 Chuck Delullo HON St. Marys, PA

1990 Chuck Delullo HON St. Marys, PA

1989 Bob Sloan HON Martinsville, IN

1988 Chuck Delullo HON St. Marys, PA

1987 Tom Tokay HON Webster, PA

1986 Tom Tokay HON Webster, PA

1985 Tom Tokay HON Webster, PA

1984 Ted Trey HON Frederick, MD

GNCC XC2 ProAm ATV Champions

2011 Walker Fowler YAM Roger, OH

2010 Brian Wolf HON Medina, OH

2009 Josh Kirkland KTM Proctor, WV

2008 Donald Ockerman YAM Marshall, IL

2007 Brandon Sommers YAM Millersburg, OH

External links

• Official website
• List of GNCC Events from 1985 - 2010
• GNCC on Facebook