Society Hill, SC Camp Coker BulletProgressive GNCC Racing
Initially, it might appear unexpected to see a brand-new winner as the Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series provided by Specialized, an AMA National Championship, struck its 4th round. FMF KTM’s Factory Racing’s Dante Oliveira generally does his damage in western-based off-road races, however he’s delving into some GNCCs this year substituting the hurt Ben Kelley. Now, in simply his 4th race in ’24, he’s a winner, and he did it by topping his colleague GNCC points leader Johnny Girroir.
The conditions at the FMF Camp Coker Bullet, in Society Hill, South Carolina really felt rather familiar to Oliveira.
“Everybody had actually been stating Coker was my round and it was today!” Oliveira stated. “I left to a terrific start and put the hammer down, took control of the lead in the 2nd turn and rode clever, charged where I could, handled where I needed to, and it wound up exercising. There were some areas where Johnny was certainly quicker than me in the tighter things, however it was so difficult to pass, there weren’t as lots of choices as there generally are. It would open back up and I ‘d provide ‘er the beans. He navigated me at the hour mark and after that he wound up tucking it in among the sand berms, so I snuck back around him and regrouped. It absolutely feels great, however this design is certainly my design. Choppy, nasty, whooped out. It feels fantastic to come out and get a win, however if I might go and get one at one of the nastiest rounds it would absolutely be ill.”
Dante Oliveira (KTM) Mack Faint
When the green flag flew it was Phoenix Racing Honda’s Mike Witkowski making himself the $250 Steel City Medical Center holeshot award. It would not take long for Oliveira to take over the lead in the sandy conditions. Girroir would fight wheel-to-wheel with him the whole race, crossing the line 1.2 seconds behind him to make 2nd general on the day. Girroir now has 1-1-2-2 general surfaces to begin the ’24 GNCC season.
“It was an excellent race,” Girrior stated. “I left to a great start and was following Dante the very first lap– we were ripping. Yeah, he had me outdoors things. It was square edged, dirty, West Coast conditions. I seemed like I had more in the tight things, however there’s no losing consciousness there. No problems, that’s the track and everybody needs to race it. Hats off to Dante, he rode a killer race. We were wheel-to-wheel the entire race which’s what racing’s everything about! We were riding our hearts out. He ‘d slip up and I would capture him, I ‘d slip up and he ‘d retreat. We were most likely within 3 to 5 seconds for 3 hours. I feel great,
