Held in the rolling hills of Summersville West Virginia, the 8th round of the Grand National Cross Country series is now in the history books.

We arrived at the track on Friday evening to find several hundred lined up at sign up, and several more rolling down to tech inspection. It was a rush to find a prime parking spot along the track for what was anticipated to be one beautiful race weekend.

The host of the “Mountaineer” GNCC was The Good Evening Ranch. The Ranch is also a beautiful resort with cabins, horse rides, petting zoo and even a golf course. The large rolling hills of pasture would soon be filled with trailers and racers from all over the United States.

Morning Racing - Saturday had begun with slightly overcast skies and a threat of rain but would eventually become warm and dry before the morning racers had finished their first lap. With the prayer and National Anthem finished, the “Ten Second Call" rang out over the P.A.

Traci Cecco fired off to the first turn with Stephanie Parton in tow and Ashley Whaley close behind. But as Traci exited the apex of turn one, luck was not on her side. In the loose damp hay she would get turned around and this opened the door for Stephanie Parton to get an early lead. Ashley Whaley stayed close on her trail. Headed into the woods it was Stephanie Parton, Ashley Whaley and Angel Atwell. Stefanie Verkade would take a terrible spill exiting turn two but remounted her quad after shaking it off and re-entered the race.

Before the end of lap one Traci would catch Stephanie as they entered the MotoCross track and Cecco re-took the lead. But once again luck had no plans for Traci as she chose a bad line which left her hung up in the mud . This allowed Stephanie Parton to secure the lead and eventually the womens class victory for the “Mountaineer”.

It has been a close battle all year and with Cecco and Parton. With this win Stephanie Parton is now in the points lead and she is certainly dead-set on stretching that lead out before the end of the season. Angel Atwell, Traci Cecco, Shanna Bradshaw and Jean Lovely would round out the top five.

4 Stroke Stock - In other classes the heat had been turned to the boiling point. Billy Good had come from a dead last start to fourth in the four stroke stock class before the end of the first lap. With his eyes set on a win Billy was determined that the rugged dusty track wasn't going to stop him.

Back in the pack was a more-than-ever-determined Harlen Foley. He has not had great luck all year and was determined to show the contenders in the series and his sponsors that he could indeed ride his Alba Action Suzuki to a podium position. The determination would pay off for Foley, as he filled the second place spot for the overall while only missing the overall win by sixteen tenths of a second. Will Cashion had also played his cards well after a bad start left him playing catch up all day. He would fill the third and final spot on the podium.

“If I wasn't last I was next to last,” said Cashion, but this obviously did not discourage his determination.

Utility Class - Mike Penland took the crew to the first turn and into the woods with championship fashion. And with a dominant ride all day Mike finished second to his friend Ken Robey in Utility Stock. Ken was able to nudge out Penland by only three tenths of a second. Talk about tight racing.

Scott Kilby in the Utility Modified class was first into the woods and would hang on to that position when it counted most , at the finish. Unlimited saw Parkersburg West Virginia's own Doug Henke take the first place trophy home.

With the morning race not even in the books, our evening class riders were headed to the starting line. Dust had begun to become a problem as the ground dried up so the Racer Production's crew were out watering down the start. I guess the ground had been a little wetter than they thought as the water truck became stuck right at the bottom of the hill directly in front of the starting line. This delayed the start by almost thirty minutes.

Not to mention really changing lines for those who had came out early for a good starting position. The racers we talked to were not worried about the start but more about the ominous “FMF DOOMSDAY DOWNHILL” which was about forty yards of steeply sloped hill with super large trees laid perpendicular across the course and a swampy muck at the bottom with a short but muddy creek jump to the road bed.

Afternoon Action - “Ten Seconds” and the Pro class headed into turn one with Bill Ballance and his factory Yamaha powering away from the rest of the class. Yoshimura Suzuki rider William Yokley was hot on Bill's trail and Alba Action Sports Chris Borich would make three coming into turn two.

Soon Bill would get a break, as several of the riders behind him would get stuck in a tight wet hillclimb and for a few seconds he was all alone.

But this was not to last, as there was someone behind him who also had a goal of a Pro class win. That person was Chris Borich and he battled with Bill all day.

The Killer B's were at it again coming into the last lap at the downhill. Chris just couldn't make his line stick through the monstrous logs for fear of crashing them both. Chris tried hard to get first back on the Moto track but just didn't have enough as Bill Ballance had his eyes on the checkered flag.

Chris Jenks, riding his Four Stroke Tech Machine, was on his game today also as he rounded out the top three on the podium for the day. A modest Jenks said he felt he isn't ready for the front but after his performance today, everyone agrees he is.

Brandon Ballance and Bryan Baker rounded out the top five positions. Baltimore Maryland's Andy Lagzdins had an awesome day and came in sixth, his best finish of the year. William Yokley took a disappointing sixteenth finish, but no matter what comes his way he is still smiling.

ProAm - Racers were raging in the background of the Pro's dust. Curt ”Adam” Mcgill had plans to catch the Pro class again but with major engine failure, all he could get was a ringside seat to the action. This left the door open for Chris Bithell to capture his best finish of the season in first place. Duane Johnson was also hunting for another top five and grabbed second place. Duane is currently in the number two spot in the Pro Am class.

Senior Division would see Dave Simmons take another win and lead his class with dominating force. Dave has won every race this year in the Senior class and is charging to another class championship. He leads John Cunningham Jr, the Senior class second place, by thirteen points. These guys really battled hard and the work paid off today. I just have to ask myself when will someone challenge Dave Simmons in his win streak? With all the talent coming to the GNCC series it couldn't be long.

Four Stroke A had its share of ups and downs all day as leaders changed with the conditions. But Todd Rothermel came out on top when it mattered and Ryan Morphew was right there with him. Travis Stiles had a great finish as he came in third. This was Travis's best finish since his win at the Orange Crush GNCC.

So here we are with another Round of Grand National Cross Country Racing in the history books and in just two weeks they best of the best will race again at the “WISP” in Mchenry Maryland.

Will the Killer B's dominate the Pro class or will it be another rising star in our Pro Am class? Only time will tell as we move on to Round Number Nine.