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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542014
P106 INTERVIEW I 2025 AMA H&H AND AMA NGPC CHAMPION DANTE OLIVEIRA and trained with, they all raced GNCCs at times, so I knew about it. But I think just learning the courses is different. GNCC guys come over here and race a grand prix or a WORCS race or a hare & hound, they're at a disadvantage. Whereas I've been to that desert, that motocross track, or that grand prix track. I've ridden it be - fore, and I know the dirt, I know the layout, and knowing the lay of the land, where going back East for GNCCs, it's new for me. "The challenge is being able to learn the tracks and adapt quickly and charge right off the bat." And this year, of course, Oliveira took on another chal - lenge—and successfully. Origi- nally penciled in for NGPC and WHS, he won both openers in January. But then the AMA Hare & Hound (H&H) National Championship Series kicked off the very next weekend and presented another opportunity to do some racing. "Mateo started talking a few weeks before and saying if round one of the H&Hs gets some rain, he's going to go line up. I was like, 'Oh, he's kind of crazy!' "I stayed quiet and kept racing, but I started think - ing about it here and there. I watched a couple of You- Tube videos, then we raced around the [WHS] out in Page, [Arizona], and I felt like that was pretty much like a desert race in a way, how it was laid out chasing the ribbon. Sure, you're doing laps on it, but in a way, I thought, it felt like how a "My grandpa and grandma on my dad's side were born in Portugal. We were at the Auto - dromo International do Algarve road race circuit for the parc ferme that year, and they had some stores around there, and there was 'Oliveira' on the butt patches of some of the leath - ers and whatnot on display, so that was pretty funny. I'm ex- cited to go back; I had a blast in 2019." Not a shock since he was the fastest Club rider, and with teammates Ricky Russell and Austin Walton, led XCGear to the Club team win for the week. Asked if he ever thought as an up-and-coming prospect that he'd find himself racing on an international level, he pon - ders before answering, "I don't know if I ever thought about racing all around the world, but I knew I wanted to race dirt bikes for a living. I don't think I ever put much thought to where I was racing, what I was racing, but all I wanted to do was race dirt bikes." Last season saw him expand his repertoire more with a couple of forays into the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series, filling in for injured FMF KTM teammate Ben Kelley. He com - peted in five of the 13 rounds, taking the overall at round four in South Carolina; his other overalls ranged from sixth to 12th. GNCCs are known for being physically demanding three- hour marathons in the woods with lots of variety in terrain and seemingly endless lappers to pick through as the race drags on. They're very different than nearly any racing type that the West Coast offers. "With everything in racing, it's just the confidence in showing up, in lining up, and just going racing," he declares. "I feel like where I live, I have a pretty great mix of everything that you need to go and race nearly anywhere, terrain-wise. The guys I grew up Oliveira knows how to have fun both on and off the bike. "I'm a racer, so I have high expectations no matter where I go. It impressed me with how gnarly the desert is and the skillset involved in racing there."