Photo By: David Scearce
A celebration for the new GNCC Champion!
We'd love to point to some magic potion here that we could then apply to every other GNCC round, but in reality this event features a big combination of elements that make it work. First and foremost is the help we receive from the Shaver family who owns the facility (and their shop, Tom's Marine). These people eat, sleep and breathe GNCC all year to prepare for this event. And now the whole darned community is behind it. No doubt, if you were out on the bridge watching Ironman Hill, you saw a lot of fans who didn't have moto swag on. It looked like a bunch of the local high school students were just coming over to watch, many of whom aren't even big followers of the sport. Getting those people to watch our races is good for everyone-maybe one of those kids will buy a bike or an ATV, or some gear, or go to a race again. That would be good for all of us.
And we got to throw some great racing and close championship battles into the mix. Nate Kanney held off Charlie Mullins in the best finish of the year on the bike side. The two were elbow-to-elbow all the way through the final turns, with Kanney holding on to the lead (and win) by a bike length. Our finish-line flagger Ricky Towery yelled out "it don't get no better than that" as the duo crossed together, and the fans were cheering in response. A few minutes later, Paul Whibley romped home as the new GNCC Champion, and soon his team was all over him with hugs and silly string. Paul is a very quiet and reserved guy, but I can tell you he was one happy hombre after this race. He was just ecstatic when I met him over at the rig an hour after the event, when it had all sunk in. Congrats to Whibs and his upstart team-read more about Team JG Racing, JT and Gretchen, on Rachel SwineFluharty's Tuesday Toolbox HERE.
Photo By: Krista Shaw
Team Warnert Can-Am swept all four utility titles this year.
Drama was in the air on Saturday, too. The Open 4x4 Class that we previewed last week took it to a whole new level, with Bryan Buckhannon powering his way not only to the class win and championship, but to the GT Thunder Morning Race Overall, as well. That's raising your game under pressure! Good job, B Buck, and a valiant effort by Kilby this year, too, to keep it close. And Darryl "Getting Better All the Time" Rath took second in the race. That's also two-straight morning race first overalls at the Ironman for Buckhannon.
Also, Michael "Mr. Perfect" Swift went 13 for 13 in 4x4 Limited this year, matched only by Senior B dominator Shawn Javens, who didn't lose a race all year, either.
And more congrats out to Senior A champion, Dave Simmons, who decided to step up and win the Junior A 22+ class by a resounding four minutes! By the way, Dave will be old enough to race the morning class next year. He will totally dominate the overall if he does.
Photo By: Krista Shaw
The muddy start field claimed ATV victims in the SECOND TURN of the race!
Kirkland and the whole FRE KTM team was pumped, they took the Women's and XC2 Titles and took third in XC1 with Adam McGill. As for Wolf, he has hinted before that he may not be back next year, and he's still not sure. But he had no regrets after logging a great season, which included snagging that $10,000 overall win at Snowshoe.
Some other big number-one plates had been snagged already, including Doug Howarth taking the ATV Youth crown and Chris Meadows winning the Youth bike title. We had number-one plates prepared for both, but Howarth didn't make the long trip from New York. Meadows did come, but he raced a big bike in the morning race and ended up ninth in the Sportsman class. Good job and congrats to the new kids.
Also congrats to the Youth ATV overall winner Jay Shadron. He actually borrowed the Cobra used by last year's winner Josh Merritt, and the machine delivered the win again! Two year's in a row by the same machine with different riders. Merritt was hoping to use the win as a sales pitch, and Jay did all he could to oblige. We also had a third-generation GNCC star on the Youth podium when Emily Wise rode to the box. Emily sent us a great letter and some photos of her family at the races way, way back in the day. Look for more on that next week.
Photo By: Krista Shaw
Chris Meadows is the new bike youth number-one.
Hey, how big was this Ironman race? Check out some of the links I found covering various topics.
First, the people in New Zealand are pumped on Whibley:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/sport/speedway/3005394/Pahiatuas-Whibley-takes-US-title
And here's some coverage of Kanney's bike win:
A quick PR on Josh Strang and his sponsorship from Foremost Insurance:
Some cool coverage of the race from our friends at Motorcycleusa.com
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/505/4918/Motorcycle-Article/GNCC-Bike-Klotz-Ironman-Results.aspx
And finally, another awesome article from Jeff Kardas covering the event. This is even better than the link I posted on Monday:
http://motocross.com/photos/g/20091028/what_really_happened__gncc_finale-18223.html
Now some house cleaning. First, our final Ironman results are already posted. On November 9 we will post Tentative Championship Results and give you a week to comment. On November 16 we will post Final Championship Results.
We also have a deadline to reserve your table for our GNCC banquet, which is Monday, November 30 at 5 p.m. And we WILL celebrate our UTV classes at the banquet as part of the ATV show on Friday night.
And remember from last week, our 2010 GNCC dates are set. We're going to bring the UTV Series back, and we will race them in six races next year. Thanks for hanging in there with us, guys and gals.
You might have caught pretty much everyone in the Chris Borich pits running some cool hats and shirts. It's all part of a new line he's selling over at www.chrisborichracing.com Check it out!
Photo By: Krista Shaw
Bill will be back in 2010!
Brandon Sommers, unfortunately, had a terrible end to his season when he crashed and broke his leg. Talked to him this week and he said he's hurting pretty good. But Brandon couldn't help himself, so he hopped on his machine for a quick ride around the yard. Already training! Get well soon, Brandon.
Bike riders were going all international after coming back from the ISDE in Portugal. We had a lot of GNCC racers represent over there, including Kanney, Caselli, Buttrick and Mastin, but the biggest tip of the visor goes to Jeff Fredette, who collected his 29th ISDE medal in 29 tries. Then he came to the Ironman and finished second overall in the morning race!
And also congrats to the Carter Engineering team we mentioned here weeks ago, which ended up as America's top club team!
For more international intrigue, we have announced the two riders who will head to Japan for the final round of the JNCC Series. Josh Strang and Kailub Russell will represent the GNCCs, and now they have to fill the big footsteps of past winners Paul Whibley, Charlie Mullins and Nathan Kanney. Should be fun, we've even got bon vivant world traveler Jeff Cernic and Team USA body guard Mo heading over to get our boy's backs.
As for Russell, he announced he will race the XC2 class next year and defend his number-one plate. Cory Buttrick is moving up to XC1, joining Nate Kanney on the orange team's big bikes. Kurt Caselli will stay with KTM, but he hasn't announced what series he will run in, yet. Josh Strang appears to be set for a return with Suzuki and Glenn Kearny and Husqvarna are ready for another run. Everyone else is close but not totally locked in with deals yet, but I would be shocked if we didn't see Charlie Mullins back on Suzuki or Thad DuVall back on Yamaha's, for example. Thad needs another shot, he broke a clutch cable at the Ironman, basically now having broken every single part that can break on a bike in one year. That's an amazing record.
Thad's teammate Barry Hawk didn't have it much better, he was battling with Strang early in the race and bent his brake pedal right under the frame. Barry said he will be back next year, but if he has a second bad luck season like this, he may just have to do something different in 2011. Is it too late to go back to ATVs? Barry said he was actually thinking of busting one out at the Ironman, but he had a bad knee from a crash at St. Clairsville. It would be awesome to see Hawk, Ballance and Borich line up together.
Here's an open house hosted by one of the most famous names in GNCC racing:
LOJAKS YAMAHA--OPEN HOUSE SALE
1 day only don't miss this one.
Huge discounts, best prices ever!
"Everything must go"
Example
(all in stock Yamaha apparel buy 1 get 1 of equal value free.)
THURSDAY
NOVEMBER 12TH
5pm.-?
Special Prices on all ATV,UTV and Motorcycles
Lojakcycle.com
724-226-3727
Okay, there's so much to cover from this race that we will have to take it in two parts. Look for more from the Ironman next week right here in Quick Fill!
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