Welcome to Quick Fill. No foolin, Spring is here.
Photo By: Shan Moore
The series looked good in North Carolina.
And just to prove this is an April Fool's deal, you can bet on at least one more cold front rolling through your area before it's finally all finished.
By the way, if you've experience any technical troubles with www.gnccracing.com lately, we have made a server upgrade, so those problems should be behind us. Okay, on to our gang of roving reporters, starting with Shan Moore.
Thanks, Jason. The week after the Steele Creek round I attended the national enduro in Kalgary, Texas - a very fast event that was won by Charlie Mullins, with Cory Buttrick in second. Charlie told me that he spent the week after Steele Creek with his Am Pro Yamaha teammates testing tires with some Kenda technicians from Taiwan. "We tested at Randy Hawkins' place, and it was pretty intense," Mullins said. "Frank Stacy and his crew was there and the people from Kenda. It was fun and I learned a lot about tires. I didn't know there was much to it but there actually is. For me, the sidewall stiffness seemed to make the biggest difference. When I lean it over I want it to grip and the sidewall determines that. I pretty much learned what each tire - where they're going to work and I think I'm a little better off on tire choices from here on out."
Photo By: Shan Moore
The Kenda guys are working hard for team Am Pro Yamaha.
Buttrick rides a KTM 250 two-stroke at the national enduros and his 450 four-banger at the GNCC rounds, and I asked his if it was difficult switching back and forth for different races. "I think it's harder to go from the four-stroke to the two-stroke, but for sure, the 450 is definitely easier to ride," he said. "For enduros, the 250 is better because I can stop it better and it's easier to wiggle between the trees."
Buttrick also told me that he is looking forward to the Big Buck, since he had such a good race at Steele Creek. "After getting a good ride in North Carolina, I can't wait for the Big Buck," Buttrick said. "The biggest thing is getting a good start and putting yourself in good position to win. That's what I need to be doing."
That's all from me, I hope everyone has a good Easter and makes it to the Big Buck.
Okay, Shan. Now let's pass this to Rodney Tomblin.
Thanks Jason! It feels nice to write Quick Fill this morning in the warm sunshine from my own front porch. The birds are singing, the squirrels are playing and here comes that bee giving me yet another good morning fly by....anyway. It looks like the entire eastern half U.S. is enjoying pretty much the same weather that I am. I hope you're all taking advantage of this day. That bee sure is! Speaking of bees, I have a bee story for you a little later.
But first let me tell you about last weekend. I took headed to the season opener of the ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross Championship in Pell City, AL at Mill Creek Motocross Park. It was a very good race all around from the amateurs to the Pros. I didn't have to announce so I got to talk to a lot of folks I have not had a chance to for quite a while, including two-time ATV MX National Champ, Jeremiah Jones. GNCC racers may also recognize Jeremiah as the Hinson Racing Rep. that came to several GNCC events the last few seasons. Along with Hinson Racing, Jeremiah has now taken on a whole new role in the racing industry and I talked to him about it as well as the upcoming season for ATV MX. You can listen to the audio cast at www.atvmotocross.com.
Over the years we have seen a number of ATV motocross racers pay a visit to the GNCC, but very few GNCC racers have crossed over to ATM MX. Warnert Can Am rider Chris Bithell a few years ago at Unadilla and he did not do too badly. And though we have seen several MX'ers make the cross and do well like 2005 Champ, John Natalie, and 2007 AMA ATV Open Champion Pat Brown and even current champ Dustin Wimmer, we have not had anyone in recent years commit to do both series professionally in the same year. But this year we have one that has.
Photo By: Shan Moore
Rodney nearly got stung.
Harold wears the number 708 and is racing AMA ATV Pro Motocross and GNCC XC1 Pro on his Houser Racing Products backed privateer Honda. The Bee is from Romulus, Michigan and has raced about every form of ATV racing there is. He has won several national and international championships throughout his career and is one of few privateer riders still left not only making a living while racing in these tough economic times, but having fun all at the same time.
Harold is a two-time champion of The Extreme Dirt Track ATV Nationals and has been a top AMA ATV Motocross National contender for many years, finishing as high as fourth in the championship against guys like Tim Farr, Shane Hitt, Doug Gust, John Natalie, Joe Byrd and all the ATV Pro Racers you could probably ever name that raced motocross in the last 15 years. He is a former Montreal Supercross Champion, Ponte De Vu Pro ATV Champion and Baja 1000 Pro ATV Champion. He has raced about every form of ATV racing and excelled in each one.
Harold has not been real happy with the results he has seen to start the season in GNCC, but is optimistic for what the rest of the season holds. He is having fun and has seen steady improvement through the first three rounds. So as you make your way down ATV Pro Row at the GNCC this season, and you see the 708 down near the end, stop in and say "Hi!", and catch up on all the BUZZ of ATV racing with the Bumble Bee himself.
I hope everyone has a great Easter and that you take advantage of the traditions of what the weekend holds for you and your family. It is only a couple weeks and we return to Union South Carolina for the Big Buck GNCC. Henry Turner and all of Union County are cleaning the red carpet to roll out to welcome the fresh new season of GNCC back to Cross Anchor where we all know anything can happen. I have some good memories from there!
Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs!
Thanks, Rodney. Here's Jason Hooper with a really cool deal for privateer racers to get more exposure-right on our Racer TV show!
Attention all privateer A-class ATV and bike racers! Rocky Mountain ATV/MC just signed on to sponsor RacerTV for 2010, and they want to hook YOU up with product, for free, in return for you agreeing to go on camera and talk about the product for the show's Rocky Mountain Spotlight! If you're in need of some support, and aren't scared to be in front of the camera send me an email to hoop@racerxonline.com and introduce yourself, tell me why you'd be a good candidate, and be sure to include your phone number so one of the Rocky Mountain reps can get a hold of you.
I'm not sure how many of you are on Twitter, but FMF/Makita Suzuki racer Josh Strang just created an account, and as far as I know he's the first GNCC XC1 Bike pro to have a Twitter account. If you want to know what Strang is up to (he's heading to Glen Helen today for some practice!) follow him at http://www.twitter.com/joshstrang - Oh, and if you want to follow me check out http://www.twitter.com/jahoop!
If you're looking to kill some time on your Thursday afternoon at work, check out this video of the British Sprint Enduro Championships on the Powersport Grafx blog: http://blog.ridepg.com/2010/04/01/british-enduro-sprint-championship-video/ Many of you may know Jonty Edmunds as the British photographer who tagged along with David Knight to GNCCs over the years, he's also Knighter and Taddy Blazusiak's PR guy, and on top of that the founder of this series in England. Looks pretty sweet!
If you're boss hasn't come and yelled at you yet, here's another afternoon time killer. This could be the gnarliest single-track trail I've ever seen. I literally got sweaty palms just watching it! http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2010/03/31/big-balls-trail-ride-video/
Photo By: Shan Moore
Everyone's friend, Big John.
It's not often we get to check in with industry members in Tuesday Toolbox, so this week we got a hold of GNCC ATV photographer Amy McConnell to get a little bit of her history. Amy got hooked on GNCC races 22 years ago, and started out taking photos of her buddies who raced just for fun. Then she turned her hobby into a really fun job with XCountry Photos. Amy cracks me up, and her little digs about checking out guys at motocross tracks, or talking about the old days of GNCC racing had me laughing and also wishing I had been around back in the day. Check out some cool memories here. LINK
I'm getting really excited for Big Buck. Henry Turner pulls out all of the stops for us and always has a lot of fun things on tap. Plus, the Big Buck farm is beautiful.
If you haven't checked out OffroadJunkies.com, courtesy of Charkie Huegel and Co., do it. It'll give you lots of laughs. AND, digitaloffroad.com has some awesome GNCC Wallpapers posted right now, and you can check them out here!
http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2010/03/31/wednesday-wallpaper/
http://www.atvriders.com/atv-sxs-wallpapers/atv-riders-2010-03-31-sxs-quad-wall-papers.html
Okay, that's it from our staff. Have a great holiday weekend and we'll see you back here next week for a big Big Buck preview.
Photo By: Shan Moore
Another week to ask "Who is going to stop Borich?"
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