In the mountains of West Virginia, the seventh round of the GNCC series kicked off on Sunday. Rocky trail, dusty fields, and grass track connected itself into an almost eleven mile course. Beta USA’s Cory Buttrick and Jesse Groemm lined up for the tough and technical event at 1PM. Off the start, both Beta 250 RRs pulled mid-pack starts before moving forward through the pack.
Groemm quickly picked up the pace and moved forward. On the third lap, Groemm worked his way into fourth and then made his way into third after a mishap by Thomas. Slowly he reeled in Temple to get up to second place but a necessary wheel change put him into fifth place on the day.
Groemm comments, “It was very rocky and gnarly but I like those conditions and I felt strong. My Beta 250 RR was eating the rocks up and handling great. I was riding in second place in XC2 with 1.5 laps to go but unfortunately had an issue and had to change the rear wheel. When I got going again I was in 7th and I had to make two passes and ran out of time finishing the race with a 5th. I’m happy I’m starting to ride at speed again; I’m looking forward to the next GNCC in Ohio and hopefully we can get on the podium. I’m thankful to have a great team and a great bike.”
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| Groemm takes his 250 RR to a fifth place finish. |
Meanwhile, Cory Buttrick latched onto the front group in the opening laps before settling into the seventh place position in XC2. Buttrick made a mid-race charge gaining time before crashing hard on the final lap losing positions to ultimately take 11th place.
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| Buttrick wheelies out of a mud hole. |
After a weekend off, the East Coast team resumes racing at the John Penton GNCC in Ohio on June 7th.