Our GNCC rules were posted as official at the beginning of the month, but we continue to wrestle with our 4x4 and Utility Classes. The goal, as always, is to try to open the classes up to the average rider who has a 4x4 machine sitting in his garage, but, we find that harder and harder to do each year. With each season, the Utility classes become more serious, the pace gets faster and the machines work better.
Basically, the idea of some guy taking his quad off the farm and winning his class are over. But seriously, this used to happen back in the day. Polaris once made an advertising campaign about it in Dirt Wheels, "The Farmer Who Won the Blackwater 100, and Didn't Even Know It." Apparently a guy heard about the race, competed, won the Utility class and went home without even knowing it. When Polaris found out, they hooked him up with a brand-new quad, and he won Blackwater again the next year!
Photo By: Matt Ware
Less limits on the 4x4 Limited class in 2010.
Things have come a long way, and surely the average rider is a little intimidated by it all. We tried launching a 4x4 Lites class a few years back, hoping to see a small part of the thousands of mid-size 4x4s out there come and race. That class hasn't grown that much, though. We toyed with the Stock class, first proposing to drop it altogether because no one could agree on rules, and then changing it over to a Limited class. Then this year we decided to run a 45+ class, hoping that age group will want to come out and race.
Meanwhile, we're hearing about the limits of the Limited class. A few weeks ago we said we would be enforcing the rules harder in that class. There aren't many riders following the full series in that division, but a few of them said life would be a lot easier if we would make a few additional modifications legal in that class. The idea is to keep the budget down, and with some parts, such as aftermarket shocks, you can actually decrease costs because one set of aftermarket shocks can get you through a whole season, while a set of stockers will be blown out in each race.
Before we made this change, we consulted with the two different manufacturers who compete in the 4x4 classes (Can-Am and Polaris) and a few privateers in the Limited class. All agree on these changes.
Basically, we're racing stock style 4x4 machines, and none of them were made to race in stock condition. So we are working on some changes to the rules in that class. Look for an announcement next week.
Speaking of 4x4 classes, Open 4x4 Champion Bryan Buckhannon won a desert race, the Parker 250! Check out the race story here.
And while looking at the ATVRideronline.com site, we found this cool story, too. Check out the part about Barry Hawk and Bill Ballance. Click here.
Meanwhile, the longest-rumored rumor ever, that Paul Whibley would be switching to Yamahas, has finally come true. Paul is full-on Am-Pro Yamaha in 2010, Yamaha finally making it official in a press release this week. This is a big switch, I can't recall the GNCC Champion ever switching brands and taking the #1 plate with him. But I also can't recall the racing economy ever being in this bad of shape. And Paul is just doing what he has to do, as the JG Racing team he rode for last year was unable to get any kind of factory support. They will be back in 2010, but I'm not sure if they will get a replacement for Paul, or if they will move forward with Jimmy Jarrett and Scott Watkins still on board.
Now on to Rachel "20 races" Fluharty.
Photo By: Krista Shaw
Read Tuesday Toolbox for more of Josh Kirkland's amazing story.
I've always thought Josh was a pretty quiet guy and even admits to not saying a whole lot on the podium. So when Josh opened up about the tragic death of his friend, I was amazed. Josh and his friend had planned to race the 2003 season together. But tragically, his friend passed away in 2002. For a few years, racing left Kirkland's mind. But in 2009, he engaged in a fight to the end with Brian Wolf for the XC2 Championship-and won by a single point! It's obvious that Josh has a true passion for racing, and it's clear that his relationship with the FRE/KTM team is a fantastic one.
Click here to read my interview with Josh and hear about what he wants to accomplish in 2010, how he gets along with new teammate Bryan Cook and how Angel Atwell bosses him to go to the gym.
http://www.gnccracing.com/articles/1886_tuesday-toolbox-josh-kirkland
Coming up we have interviews with Santo Derisi, Justin Williamson and even our legendary trail builder Buren Hamrick!
Buren called me this week to tell me about a series he runs, the Mid East Hare Scramble Series. Buren's series runs every weekend that isn't a GNCC race weekend, and the very first round is right before our opening round, the Parts Unlimited River Ranch GNCC in Florida. The first round of the Mid-East series is in Bishopville, S.C., on February 21. So a month from today, you can participate in an event that will prep you for the sand of Florida. Buren said this will be a great way to gauge how well you've prepared for the GNCC opener.
For rules and the race calendar, click over to www.MidEastRacing.com.
http://mideastracing.com/
And once again, confirm your numbers! If you've earned a number, e-mail or fax the form to Scoring Manager Dan Reinhart. http://www.gnccracing.com/pages/2010-gncc-national-numbers.
Racer Productions is looking for ATV and bike riders to help work the checkpoint areas during race day. Workers will be compensated with two gate passes and one waived entry fee. If interested, please email Rachel at RachelF@gnccracing.com.
OK- I better get back to working on more contingency charts.
Thanks, Rachel. Here's Rodney Tomblin.
Another week goes by and we are that much closer to making history with the beginning of a new decade of GNCC Racing. This will be our first glimpse of the GNCC championship contenders across the board and what excites me most is that everyone is tied as far as the race for points is concerned. I mean, I haven't decided if and what class I am running, but if I lean for the XC1, that means that I am tied with Paul Whibley and/or Chris Borich and the rest of the field for the world's most prestigious off-road racing title. Anyway, we can all say we're tied with the champs for another 5 or 6 weeks. This can also be said for any class that lines up on the starting line. It is a fresh new year and a whole new decade of racing that lies ahead and what you make of it is up to you.
Photo By: Matt Ware
AP (right) will start the year coming off of an injury.
I heard some unfortunate news out of GNCC Youth racer Aaron Plessinger's camp. It seems he has broken his collarbone and is out for 4 - 6 weeks. Good news is that 6 weeks falls right around the Tuesday of The River Ranch GNCC. The report I got was that Aaron was riding at MTF, he cased a double and he went over the bars and landed on his shoulder. Tough luck there, but I am sure he will be ready.
UK7 (Jason Thomas) is now riding in Sunny F-L-A. He made the trip down from the F.A.R. training compound this past week and is on it. The XC2 Pro Lites class is going to be another barn burner this year.
I spoke with ATV XC2 racer Mark Notman not too long ago and it looks like he is itching to get back to racing. He is running his own program this year and is hoping to be back into the groove of things. It is unfortunate for Mark that he could not figure the Polaris out. I know he worked side by side with William Yokely, but just seemed to have no luck. So back to the simple life, starting from scratch and moving ahead. Mark, though, unfortunately has not been able to put as much time on the machine as he would like, but he is training and mentally preparing and could be a whole new Mark Notman in 2010. He works at Andrews Yamaha so you know he will have a lot of moral support too.
Brandon Sommers is still in Florida training and proposed what I thought was an amusing question about his self on Facebook this morning: "Why do I always have to wake up at 5 or 6 to pee?! I must be getting old..." Now of course this prompted several quick responses. The one that amused me most was the one word of advice from none other than Barry Hawk. Barry simply wrote "Depends."... I wondered since it was such a quick and simple response if he may have been speaking from experience or maybe making a statement! My personal reasoning for a situation such as this may be over-hydrating...which is what I am leaning on personally to stave off the thoughts of old age.
Photo By: Jason Weigandt
Santo DeRisi heading to a podium at the Wisp in 2003.
Whatever decision Santo makes I wish him luck. The cool thing is that he will still be at most if not all of the GNCCs racing in some class and having fun. That is what GNCC Racing is all about!
It seems things have been a little quiet on my end. I am hoping to hear some official news on a few more riders still and looking forward to the start of a new decade of GNCC. And remember the tight battle for the championship will heat up over the next few weeks as the unofficial 2010 bench racing season begins.
Till next time, God Bless Your Hearts and all Your Vital Organs!
Let's turn this over to Jason Hooper.
I don't have a whole lot to add to this week's Quick Fill, which hopefully helps keep it quick! It seems like there really isn't a whole lot happening right now, but I have a feeling that after the Sumter National Enduro in 2 weeks things will start to pick up.
As I'm sure many of you know, it is now official that Paul Whibley will be racing for the AmPro Yamaha team alongside Barry Hawk and Thad DuVall. It's kind of crazy that it was just now made official, as I actually did an interview with Whibley over Skype back before Christmas and he had already signed his contract and started riding a Yamaha down in New Zealand. It was a bittersweet move for Whibs--he had developed a really close relationship with JT and Gretchen at the JG Offroad/Geico team and was bummed to have to switch brands yet again. That brings up a GNCC history question I've been pondering. Has anyone won GNCCs on more brands than Whibley? He's won on a Honda, Suzuki, and Kawasaki, and odds are pretty good he'll rack up a win or five this year on the Yamaha. Check out the entire Whibley interview here:
http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2010/01/19/racechat-with-paul-whibley/
I headed to Boonville, NC yesterday with Racer TV's new GNCC pit reporter (and my girlfriend) Krista Shaw in hopes of shooting a GNCC pre-season video with Kailub and Cory Buttrick. But, unfortunately the rains came, Cory B had headed home, and we ended up with zero footage. I did get to see Kailub ride a bit, and he doesn't seemed, well, as fast as ever. We're hoping to catch up with a few guys before the season gets underway, and hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate better in our next attempts. Stay tuned to gnccracing.com for those videos.
That's it this week. See you right here next Thursday for more Quick Fill!
Photo By: Krista Shaw
Wil Brandon Sommers get into victory lane in 2010? Depends.
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