But first, Yamaha is holding a big autograph signing on Friday. We posted about this earlier in the week, but we have a revised address:
Photo By: David Scearce
Meet Yamaha's stars next Friday.
Friday Night October 23 between 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. at Action Motorsports
3960 State Rd. 38 E
Lafayette, IN 47905
By the way, we're moving the Friday track walk for the ATV pros up to 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
Maxxis just called in with a cool promotion for the Ironman:
Hi Jason,
I can not believe it's already October and I am contacting you about the final round of GNCC! What a year it has been. Maxxis Race Support will have a raffle on Saturday and Sunday. We will be raffling off a set of the new Razr Ballance radial ATV tires as well as a set of the new Maxxcross Radial SI motorcycle off-road tires. I also have a selection of promo items for the raffle. We are encouraging anyone who is interested to stop by the truck to say hi and fill out a raffle ticket.. There is only one entry per person.
Thanks for your help and see you at the race!
~Heather Avery
Maxxis
We always get treated well at the Ironman, as the locals love the event. One newspaper in the area prints small updates on the GNCC Series all year under the heading "leading to the Ironman." They put together a good little article on one of our ATV racers. Click here.
So last week we asked for your championship battle stories. We had a few come in, and I'm requesting more as we head to the Ironman. I'm putting in a different email address this week because I know this one works (I think we had some problems last week): jasonw@racerxonline.com
In bike Four-Stroke Lites B, we have AJ Stewart versus Greg Funk, 1 point apart heading into the finale. Stewart and Funk are two former Youth GNCC standouts. I talked to AJ's dad this week, and AJ really thought he blew it in Yadkinville. "He crashed on the first lap and got stuck in a mud hole, AJ was trying to catch back up, he got stuck on the last lap in the mud again. Lost a minute and a half there, he thought he blew it. He didn't speak all the way home. We started cleaning up the bikes, he still wasn't talking. It hit him hard."
Photo By: Courtesy the Stewarts
AJ Stewart will be raising money for MS again.
By the way, AJ Stewart will hold his charity ride again, November 1st, at Jeff Miller's track in Smithfield, PA. That's a six-mile loop. Miller's band will also play at 2 p.m., that's the same band that played at Snowshoe. To make a donation please contact AJ at 724-725-5373 or at stewartk@atlanticbb.net or at the track in Indiana. CLICK HERE for more.
Did you read Tuesday Toolbox with "Big" John Knox? Most of you have seen Big John at the races, and you've probably spoken to him before. But did you know he once played in the NFL? Was one a tennis pro? Check out Rachel "Seattle? London? What's the difference" Fluharty's interview with him HERE.
Here's another letter:
Hey Jason,
Just finished reading the Quick fill and thought it is worth mentioning the battle in the Masters B/C class. This class may just be one of the best battles going into the final round. Charlie Johnson and Brian Jasper have fought tooth and nail this year for that championship and will do so all the way to the last lap. Not only are they separated by only one point (even after dropping races) but they are also tied when it comes to wins. So basically the Ironman will decide it all. Charlie eats, sleeps and breathes cross country racing and trains just as hard as anybody out there. Charlie's class low result is 4th place (just once) and he has five class wins (six after the Ironman). Not to bad for a guy who is 51 years old!
Daniel Engle
Excellent, we'll be watching that one. Here's another from a racer named Brian Temple.
Jason,
I have looked through the points for all the bike classes and the way I see it the Senior A class in the only class in a dead tie. I didn't know how long or short a story you wanted but just trying to get to the last three rounds have been epic! Ear infection in NY...couldn't hardly walk! Truck broke down on our way to NC and a friend of mine had to stop off and get my bike and gear and haul it to the race for me. I borrowed another friend's car and drove down so that I could race.
Photo By: Courtesy Temple
Brian Temple's work station.
So here's my story. I missed the first round in Florida and have been trying to claw my way back into this championship ever since. This is the first year for me to race a full season in the GNCCs. I raced several rounds back in 2003 but wasn't able to complete the year due to breaking my wrist.
I started the year on a KTM and made the switch to Yamaha right before The John Penton. Fred Andrews and Joey from the FAR Yamaha team helped me make the switch and have been a big help through out the year with tuning and set up.
I have been in a fierce battle with Steve Thaxton and Larry Silvia at every round. With three rounds to go I was sitting in 3rd place 11 points down on 1st place Thaxton with Silvia wedged in the middle in 2nd. I knew I would have to race hard to make up some points. I showed up to North Carolina still not feeling well with the ear infection that I had left over from New York. I finished in 2nd place and gained 5 points and went in to 2nd place for the championship.
Now going into Ohio I was feeling much better and was ready to push as hard as I could and let the cards fall where they fall. I led the first three laps and then was caught by Rick Matteson. I raced with him for a couple of laps but knowing he wasn't in the championship hunt I backed off a bit and rode my own race. With so much on the line I rode around the dreaded mud hole every lap. I looked over at the mud hole every lap and would see countless bikes stuck with the riders pushing or even worse a few bikes with out any riders even around. I certainly did not need this.
Photo By: Courtesy Temple
Temple's crew.
I am racing every weekend leading up to Crawfordsville and will be training hard throughout the week. Whoever finishes in front of the other will win the championship. It's a whole year coming down to one last shootout in my home state of Indiana. I suspect I will have a lot of friends and family coming for support. I am also president of an off-road riding club named Saddleback East and I am sure there will be a lot of members attending the race.
I would like to thank... my wife "the pit crew" and S & S Powersports in Clarksville, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky, CheapCycleParts.com, MSR, Arai, Boyesen, Motul, Tucker Rockey, MT 7 Suspension, BALE Rental, Yamaha and the FAR Yamaha Team.
-- Brian Temple
Good luck to Brian and Steve.
Here's another good story:
I think our son Josh Cartwright wrapped up the 85 12-13 Championship at Ohio's Powerline Park. After the race I checked with the official score keeper and he confirmed my math. If Josh doesn't race the last round, and if the current 2nd place rider wins in Indiana, Josh will win the championship by 1 point. It appears the battle now is for 2nd place between Danny Keller currently in 2nd, and Jon Michael Rainey in 3rd. Rainey is currently in 2nd place in the 90 Limited ATV class as well. This is Josh's first year to run the GNCC series. We saw the GNCC series on television and he wanted to give it a try. He raced one GNCC in 2008 at Sparta, Ky and placed 2nd. He is a motocrosser at heart and has qualified for the Loretta Lynn Amateur Nationals 6 times, including this year. In fact, he rode his stock Suzuki RM 85 set up for motocross the entire GNCC series. We made no changes to the bike whatsoever. People asked us every race why we didn't at least use bark busters. Maybe next year. Josh has had a great year so far; qualifying for Loretta's in motocross and winning the GNCC Championship in his first attempt. Next on his plate is a State Championship with his school Cross Country team. They are currently ranked number 1 in the state of Tennessee. The state championship is in Knoxville the same weekend as the last GNCC in Indiana. Thanks Joey Cartwright
Youth ATV Racer Charlie Welch has won this year's 70cc CVT Title. The Daily Journal in Franklin, Indiana did a story on Charlie, here's the text:
A young four-wheeler racer from Franklin says winning a national championship has boosted his confidence.
It also has made him eager to get back on a track.
"I wanted to go race more and go back and win," Charlie Welch Jr., a sixth-grader at Clark-Pleasant Intermediate School, said when asked about what it was like to earn a national title.
On Saturday, Welch, 11, clinched the national title for the 70cc four-wheeler/ages 6-11 class in the Grand National Cross Country series during an event at Can-Am Unadilla in New Berlin, N.Y.
He earned the championship with seven wins in 10 races - and with three races still left on the schedule. The next race is Sept. 26-27 in Yadkinville, N.C.
There, Welch will make his debut in the 90cc class after having won about everything he could in the 70cc division. Welch, the son of Charles and Natalie Welch, also races dirt bikes and is seventh for his age group in the GNCC standings.
He started competing in motorsports at age four and soon was able to defeat much older riders.
"It gave him a little more determination because he was so good at an early age," his father said. "He's kind of a natural, I think."
The young rider developed an all-out style at an early age, one that hasn't changed as he's started to mature, his father said.
"His moments when he's had his head rattled and broken ribs, it's never slowed him down," Charles Welch said.
The broken ribs, from a crash during a dirt-bike race last year in Union, S.C., helped him earn a GNCC award for his toughness. The honor usually is reserved for professional racers.
Charlie Welch Jr. competed for an hour after breaking his ribs. It was the only serious injury he has suffered in competition, his father said.
He already had won a season championship before this year, taking the 2008 Indiana Cross Country 90cc title.
He has more than 100 victories in all at the national, state and local levels. He once won 16 straight races at the local level.
It seems likely he will add to those totals.
Eventually, Welch wants to go to college and become a physician. For the immediate future, though, he plans to keep racing quads and dirt bikes - and winning more races.
"That and getting more sponsors," he said.
LOCAL RACER PROFILE
A weekly series
Name: Charlie Welch Jr.
Age: 11
Resides: Franklin
Family: Parents, Charles and Natalie Welch; sister, Sadie, 9
Occupation: Sixth-grader at Clark-Pleasant Intermediate School
Type of racing: Cross-country racing on four-wheelers and dirt bikes
Racing vehicles: 2009 DRR four-wheeler powered by a 70cc engine; 2003 Suzuki dirt bike powered by a 65cc engine
Numbers: 31 (four-wheeler); 93 (dirt bike)
Crew members: His parents and Mike Hill from Midwest Moto
Sponsors: Midwest Moto, High Octane Grafix and K-dog Welding in Franklin; Indiana-based Sicc Racing and IXCR; ; Jim's Body Shop in Whiteland; DRR, GT Thunder, Finish Line Café and Snyder Motorsports, all in Ohio; Lucas Oil
Other hobbies he enjoys: School ("I like school"), running cross country, riding and practicing on his four-wheeler and dirt bike
Daily driver: His school-bus driver, Mark Myers
Dream car: The 1969 Dodge Charger that was the "General Lee" on the TV show "Dukes of Hazzard"
Future plans: Continue racing four-wheelers and dirt bikes as long as he can; go to college and get a good job, possibly as a ear, nose and throat physician
Whom he wants to thank: His parents; his sister, who also races; Mike Hill at Midwest Moto, and all of his sponsors; pro racers and his pit-crew helpers and friends.
If you skipped out on reading Charlie's profile above, you really need to go back and read his "Daily Driver" answer.
Finally, I'll post Paul Whibley's race report from over the weekend. I thought it was pretty funny:
Whibley race report:
Photo By: David Scearce
Can Whibs finish the job next weekend?
Over the weekend I got to a CRA event near Hubbard OH. It was a pretty fun track with plenty of mud holes, a section around a junk yard and a unique start.
For some reason at this event they decided to have a mass start, one row, something I'm familiar with as most of our races in NZ start like this. The other thing, it was a live engine moto type start. But the start of the race was signaled by a guy waving a hat!!! I guess he was the Official starter, I pinned it when the hat got waved??!! I hope he wasn't just an excited spectator. Anyway everybody went so I think it was the "Official" start. I grabbed the holeshot and controlled the race. Only short laps of about nine minutes but the track was fun so the race progressed quickly. A 4th gear tapped out, up hill ski jump had a small crowd gathered as did the numerous bog holes that deteriorated quickly with lines going everywhere.
After 2 hour racing I took the win. It was a fun track and turned into a good bit of training.
Okay, Whibs is still working toward locking up the GNCC Title next weekend. Maybe a few other riders are. If so, email me. jasonw@racerxonline.com
See you at the races.
Share