Ironman veterans know you can’t complain too much about the dry and dusty conditions, as this race has been overly saturated more times than not. Save last year’s near-perfect conditions, and the extra dry and silty race back in 2022, a lot of Ironman events in people’s minds tend to be a bit on the muddy side. Oh, and anyone who was there for the 2021 “water race” will likely never forget trying to get through the deep, swift creek crossings.

So as a whole, the 2024 edition of Ironman was actually really, really good and nobody really complained about the dust.

THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE

As already mentioned, the Ironman event always draws a huge crowd. More than 2,800 racers took part in the weekend and there were a lot of familiar names that aren’t at the typical GNCC event. Saturday’s ATV race drew even more attention as some first-time ATV competitors took part in the morning race. Ryan Villopoto, Damon Bradshaw, and Jaime “Darkside” Guida teamed up to contest the Industry Class, which is a special addition to the Ironman event. This Industry Class allows solo or team efforts, and the trio would put in four solid laps to end up fourth place.

Who bested these guys? Well, former GNCC ATV Pro competitor Santo DeRisi took the win ahead of team BNR Motorsports’ Ryan Smith (who is a decently fast ATV racer) and Kevin Yoho (another former GNCC ATV pro). Third place would go to the duo of 12-time GNCC Women’s ATV champion Traci Pickens and seven-time ATV champion turned one-time bike champion, turned trail boss, turned Team Manager, Barry Hawk. Hawk has been heavily involved in GNCC competition in one aspect or another for a really long time.

Sunday’s 10 a.m. bike race was also packed full of action as a number of the aforementioned guys, and a lot of others, took to the course. The Industry Class continues into Sunday’s motorcycle race, and it would see a stacked fiel as well, with Yamaha coming out in full force with the debut of their 2025 YZ250FX off-roader. Sunday’s Industry Class win would go to the duo of Josh Merritt (current GNCC ATV pro who actually won the Powerline Park GNCC earlier this year) and Yamaha Outdoor’s Scott Newby. Supercross privateer star Justin Starling returned to Ironman for his second GNCC effort, testing the 2025 YZ250FX for Racer X. He rode to a solid second place in the Industry Class, besting West Coast racer Kody Moore.

Sunday morning’s Sportsman A 25+ Class was stacked full of talent as well. The win would go to Ohio’s Triston Landrum, who has been a top A Class contender for a number of years. Much like this year’s Pro Motocross season, Filthy Phil Nicoletti would turn a lot of heads as he put in a really solid ride to take second place ahead of another west coast racer, Noah Kepple, who doubles as a writer for Cycle News. Another Supercross privateer star, Jeff Walker, would take the fourth-place spot while Ryan Villopoto rounded out the top five. Apparently Barry Hawk and Damon Bradshaw had quite the battle going throughout the race, but in the end The Hawk would top The Beast as they would finish sixth and seventh in a field of more than 60 A Class racers.

Country music up and comer Blake Redferrin headlined Saturday night’s Monster Energy Concert Series, and after playing to the crowd and having a meet and greet session late Saturday night, the musician also lined up for the Sportsman A 25+ class. He’s no stranger to GNCC events, as he grew up racing off-road and motocross events before turning his attention to music. Redferrin even has a top five Open B class finish to his credit back in 2010, and while he was only able to make one lap at the Ironman due to some time constraints and a lingering shoulder injury, Redferrin says he hopes to be back for more racing soon.

ACTION IN XC1

With the 2024 GNCC Racing National Championship already wrapped up by Johnny Girroir back at The Mountaineer GNCC in September, the door has been wide open for those looking to end the year on a high note. Girroir actually opted to sit out this round as he is set to become a dad for the second time very soon. Like many other season finales, Ironman always seems to produce some of the best racing of the season and coming into the event it was hard to pick a clear favorite.

Lyndon Snodgrass would jump out front early and lead the entire first half of the race while 2023 GNCC champ, Craig Delong, would keep him in his sights each of the first three laps. On lap four, Delong was able to make his way around Snodgrass and control the lead all the way down to the checkered flag, eventually building a pretty comfortable lead of just over 50 seconds by the end of the race. Delong’s 2024 season started pretty catastrophically with a string of freak issues before rebounding to land a second place at round six, then a win at round seven. Delong would then find some other issues and suffer a minor injury on the first lap of round 11, which sat him out of round 12 completely. So being able to rebound for a race win in the 13^th and final round of the season is a huge accomplishment for the champ.

Liam Draper, the 2023 XC2 class champion, saw a similar story, as he had a few issues early in the season that dropped him out of contention for another XC2 title. When the series returned from summer break, Draper turned his attention to the XC1 class and really stepped things up, landing on the podium in all four of the final rounds after the break. Draper would finish the Ironman event with another second-place finish, ending the year on a really strong note and setting himself up as someone to watch in 2025.

Snodgrass would end the day on the podium with a third-place finish, his second of the year. Fourth place would go to Evan Smith, who put in his best finish to date while Ricky Russell would round out the top five. Many were expecting to see Steward Baylor at the front of the pack, as he really excels in these late season events when he wants to end on a high note. However, Baylor would suffer a freak electrical issue on the second lap. They were eventually able to get the motorcycle refired and rolling, but he’d lost so much time they felt the smartest thing to do was just call it a day, as pushing through the dry and dusty conditions seemed really unsafe. Baylor ended up heading over to the RacerTV truck and helped call the rest of the race.

XC2 ACTION

The hunt for the XC2 championship was already wrapped up as well, with Grant Davis taking the title early at the previous round, as well as his second overall win out the XC2 class, which is incredibly impressive! With the title done and decided, Davis opted to ride a KTM 250XC two-stroke but unfortunately was only able to put in one lap aboard the machine and ended his day early

Much like the XC1 field, the door was wide open for racers looking to end the year with a bang and that’s exactly what happened. 2023 FMF XC3 125 class champion Toby Cleveland would jump out to the early lead. Toby started the 2024 season strong with a fifth place XC2 finish, but went through a number of ups and downs throughout the year. He managed two other fifths and a fourth-place finish, but a podium just seemed to elude him all year long.

Thad Duvall would take over the lead on lap two with Toby on his rear wheel just over three seconds behind, but a mechanical issue from Duvall on lap three would hand the lead right back to Cleveland and he would hold on to take his first-ever XC2 class win, which was actually his first time on the XC2 podium all together!

Phoenix Honda’s Cody Barnes would put together a solid ride of his own, working his way from fourth place on the opening lap to end the day in second, while Angus Riordan would dig his way out of a hole as well, coming from seventh place on lap one to rounding out the podium in third.

With the 2024 season in the books, these racers have a little time off before jumping right back into preparations for 2025. It’s a blank slate and everyone is now tied at zero points. With so many historical moments happening in 2024, the 2025 season has huge shoes to feel. With 2025 marking 50 years of GNCC Racing, there’s no doubt the upcoming season could be one of the best in the history of the series.