Welcome to The Weekly Dirt, the place to go each Wednesday to catch up on the latest happenings in the realm of off-road motorcycling. This week’s Dirt is coming from Snowshoe Mountain Resort in Snowshoe, West Virginia. Snowshoe is a really cool race that runs through the center of a ski resort and up and down the ski runs. Where else can you sit at a Starbucks and watch a motorcycle race at the same time?
Josh Strang claimed the $5000 top prize for winning this year’s Snowshoe GNCC. Photo by Shan Moore
FMF/Makita Suzuki’s Josh Strang came out on top of a race-long battle with WMR/Clockwork/FMF/Planet Fitness KTM’s Nate Kanney to win this year’s Snowshoe GNCC at Snowshoe Mountain Resort in Snowshoe, West Virginia. Billed as America’s Toughest Off-road Race, this year’s Snowshoe GNCC was tougher then usual after off-and-on rain showers made the rocky mountain trail as slick as ice on places. Strang managed to avoid the really deep mud holes scattered along the course and passed Kanney in the final stages of the race to take the win by a two-second margin. The Aussie off-road star took home a $5000 top prize for the win.
After winning last year’s Snowshoe GNCC, Nate Kanney was a close runner-up this year. Photo by Shan Moore
Nate Kanney controlled most of the race, but admitted afterwards that the Snowshoe is the kind of race that you don’t really want to be leading until it really counts. What that means is, the guys behind him had the advantage of seeing Kanney’s good lines, and were able to avoid his bad lines. With just miles to go in the three-hour race, Kanney blitzed through a tough mud hole, while Strang elected to go around it. In the end, Strang came out with the lead and never relinquished it.
Pat Smage claimed his fourth national MotoTrials title at the Trials Training Center. Photo by Shan Moore
The 2011 National MotoTrials Series wrapped up this past weekend with the final three rounds on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Three-time champ Pat Smage came in with the series points lead and needed only to win one of the three events to lock out defending champ Cody Webb. Smage did just that, winning Saturday and Sunday’s rounds to take the title. Webb won Monday’s event and finished the year in second overall.
