Jason Weigandt
by: Jason Weigandt
Thursday June 10th, 2010
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Welcome to Quick Fill. We were a little off on our weather predictions.


Photo By: Shan Moore
It started raining....
See, uh, we thought there would maybe be some rain over the weekend, but nothing like what the Wiseco John Penton GNCC turned out to be. It was gnarly! I'm just going to let other's take the heat, starting with GNCC announcer Rodney Tomblin, who said last week that the weather wouldn't be that bad. Go ahead, Rodney!

Thanks Jason!  I guess I should go on record and say "Yeah, I know my reputation as a weather forecaster has been marred, but all in all, the die hard racers and race fans have some great memories to share in their future bench racing sessions."  As I said last week, "It is what it is!" And boy what an "IS "it was!

I realize that we as GNCC racers have seen lots of rain before, so that I guess was nothing special.  It was more the way it all came down that will make this John Penton another one of those, "Remember that time at The Penton......."

My story goes something like this:

Heading into the weekend we had received a few showers and already the track was soft but not real muddy.  It was going to present a challenge as Ohio always does.  On Friday Trail Boss Jeff Russell told me that as long as the Mini Quads had a dry race that everything should be fine.  Good news is they did and so did the 10:00 a.m. race.  But then during opening ceremonies for the afternoon race, it started to pour down.  It was only a matter of a few minutes someone said, "Look at turn two!  There's five feet of water down there!"  Then another said, "Look where you leave the motocross track to head into the woods, it is over your head!" Needless to say it was decided to delay the race for a bit.  After a little more than an hour delay, the race was on.  Two hours and several lead changes later, Chris Borich did it again, pulling off the victory.


Photo By: Shan Moore
John Penton himself!
On Sunday morning the GNCC Trail Crew finished rerouting the course and laying out some fresh trails in order to give the bikes the best track as possible.  The Youth Bike race started without much incident. However, the same could not be said for the finish.  As the race wound down, the rain returned and began to pour down on an already saturated race course. It amazed me how many of the youth riders stuck around in the driving rain for post race interviews with Hannah Reid.  I guess these kids know nothing else. They are the "Mud, Guts and Glory" of the GNCC.

As always the FMF KTM Team was on hand placing finisher medallions on each rider that finished the race and John Penton himself watched. I am sure of one thing about the 2010 John Penton GNCC Youth Bike Race: each rider who got their KTM Youth Day Finisher Medallion will cherish it for a lifetime.

It was decided to delay the morning race so we could put the best game plan together to give as fair and good of a race as possible considering the conditions.  Several ideas were tossed around in a short amount of time.  The Trail Boss decided to get with the Pro teams and brainstorm.  The main idea was to hold the morning race till '1:00 and run all big bikes together.  The idea was that the track should hold up better for one 2 hour race rather than two races that would inflict 4 to 5 hours of abuse. But there were some concerns with bottlenecks and the possibilities of another Steel Creek type situation with the number of riders, so JR said, "Let's just run two races and shorten them both!"

Once the water receded the morning bike race took off for a 1 hour battle through the heaviest, thickest, slickest mud they will face this season.  After the race I was interviewing over all winner Gary Fridley and he said when we announced the morning race was only an hour he was a little upset saying that it would only give everyone time to get warmed up.  In the end he said it was more than enough time and that it was one of the longest hours of his life, but he "had a good time!"


Photo By: Shan Moore
Atta boy, Cory B!
Under beautiful clear blue skies, the Sunday afternoon race offered yet another thrilling race and exciting finish as XC1 Pro Class Rookie, FMF KTM's Corey Buttrick took his first over all in front a hometown crowd. In my eyes, the win could not have happened in a more dramatic way.  As race leaders headed into the last lap Buttrick was 1.6 seconds behind points leader FMF Suzuki's Josh Strang.  The Ohio race fans let out a wave of cheers as the two headed through the finish into the last lap.  Early lap times had started out at just under 30 minutes, but as the race wore on. Lap times dropped to well over 36 minutes indicating that the track was becoming more and more challenging.  Radio reports were becoming less frequent and the last thing we heard at about the 20 minute mark of the last lap was that Corey B. had taken the lead.  Then just before the end of the lap, the reports were coming in, "Buttrick out front at the road crossing, no sign of second place!"

Then as if straight from the pages of a novel, Corey Buttrick emerged into the Auxiliary Pro Pits to the roar of the crowd.  Waving towels and pumping fists greeted him at every turn and standing just past the finish line patiently waiting with tear filled eyes was his family.  At that moment I got Goosebumps and thought to myself, "That's what GNCC racing is all about!"

I must say that the win for Buttrick was a little more special for me than even I realized.  As we went to Victory Lane for celebrations, I remembered seeing Corey B. for the first time when he was barely 5 racing a KTM at The Ohio County Fairs MX Championship.  He certainly has come along way in his career and I feel there will be many more years and many more wins before this boy hangs up his boots.

One other cool note about Corey's first win is that it came on his dad  "D-Butt's" birthday.

That's my take!  Don't forget if you would like to share some stories of your experiences with me, just drop me an email at Rodney@gnccracing.com.

Other quick notes:


Can-Am announced their long-awaited Sibe-by-Side this week. Look for it at the races soon!
Don't forget GNCC University at Snowshoe.  It is a unique opportunity to learn from the best of the best.  You can find the information right here on the GNCC Racing website

I got this message from LP at Tire Balls.:

Just a reminder about the Tireballs giveaway at the Motorcycle USA Snowshoe event. We will choose one rider from the youth ATV and youth bike ranks to receive free Tireballs for their efforts.

Don't forget to get your tickets for the Josh Strang Suzuki Bike Giveaway to help Riderdown.org.  If you cannot make it to the event to purchase tickets, go to www.riderdown.org website and you have as good a chance as anyone and you help out a good cause.

One other note about Snowshoe is that Motorcycle USA will have some great nighttime activities with karaoke, a mechanical bull and more.  Stay tuned for details.

I think that is all.  I am headed to High Point Raceway for the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship race this weekend. Maybe I will see you there.

Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs!

Thanks, Rodney. I couldn't agree more on Buttrick's win. For years we've been watching some amazing talent come out of the GNCC Youth Ranks-we witnessed championships for riders like Thad DuVall, Kailub Russell, Cory Buttrick and Walker Fowler and knew they were destined for greatness. Well, one of them got to overall victory lane, against the big bikes, first, and it was Cory B! And Thad and KR will get their anyday, while Walker will be contending for them on the ATV side soon. I remember Cory lighting it up on a 65 when I first started coming to these races. One year at the High Point GNCC, he was nailing the double behind the starting gate with ease-he won every race in his class that year. You knew he would be good, and now it's official! So congrats to the whole Buttrick crew. We're glad you choose to dedicate your time to our series.

Now onto Shan Moore, who, if you remember a few weeks back, predicted Cory would win at the Penton!

Thanks, Jason. Here's a few tid bits from the John Penton. I'm still amazed at the sportsmanship you find at the top level of our sport. I know sportsmanship is the norm in the amateur ranks - riders helping riders, but at the top level? A guy stopping to help a competitor stuck in the mud when he might very well have won the event if he hadn't? Josh Strang did just that, helping Cory Buttrick out of a deep and muddy rut on the final lap of the race. On the podium, Buttrick thanked Strang and said that was the best thing anyone had ever done for him during a race. When I asked Strang about it he just shrugged it off and said he was raised that way.


Photo By: Shan Moore
Buttrick and Strang give their side of the stories.
Here's how it went down: "On the last lap Cory was behind me and then he passed me," Strang told me. "I had heard that Charlie had DNFed and a second was looking pretty good, plus, Cory was riding really well. Anyway, I finally caught back up to Cory a couple of miles from the finish and he was stuck with a bunch of other riders. No one was helping him, so I jumped off my bike and helped him. I pulled him out and then he got to the top of the hill and waited until I got set up to get out. We weren't going anywhere, and I'm not sure how many people would do that for me, but that's something I would do. That's just the person I am - it's the way I was raised."

As far as for Buttrick, the rookie turned in a veteran-like performance in Ohio en route to his first XC1 win. Cory has had the speed all year.  He's turned the fastest lap on a couple of occasions this year, and at the John Penton he was fastest on the second and fourth (final) laps.  It seems he now has the intangibles to go along with that speed.  He was able to handle the pressure of leading on the final lap (although he did said he was pretty nervous), and he managed to keep himself and the bike out of harms way on one of the most treacherous courses of the year.  My favorite part was after the finish when his mom was at the finish line, waiting to give him a hug. I know our sport is full of intelligent, talented, hard working, and devoted young men and women and it's gratifying to see it play out when all the hard work pays off.  Congratulations, Cory. And congratulations, Josh.

Thanks, Shan. Yes it was a tough day for Charlie Mullins, who lost a chain and a whole bunch of points. We're seeing right now how tough this series can be-one moment you're the man, he next, you can't buy a break. Charlie has had some tough races at Snowshoe before, let's hope he gets through that one okay and keeps the championship race close heading into the Fall. One letter to share:


Photo By: Jim Douglas
GNCC racing trains you for this.
Jason,

Hope all is well. We miss seeing you at the Gncc's!! MX Nationals isn't bad duty though!!

I have to give a shout out to my son Chris Douglas. He's been training hard for the GNCC's and in is quest for fitness he did his first triathlon last week and finished 53rd out of 417!! A big thanks to his trainer Troy Ross!!

All this while making the Deans list at University of Cincinnati in Mechanical Engineering every quarter!

His results would be better if he didn't have to have Jeff Russell pull him out with a winch! Burying the bike doesn't help!

Thanks,
Jim

P.S. Andy Shea and his wife Jamie had a baby about 6 months ago. Shea says hello!!

Thanks, Jim. Andy Shea, for our newer fans, was a dominant champion in the 250 A class back in the day, but had a few injuries knock him out of the ranks when he transferred to the pro class. It's for riders like him that we eventually decided to start the XC2 class, bridging the gap between fast kids and experienced pros. The system works, as evidenced on Sunday.

One rider who didn't get to experience that XC2 transfer was Jesse Robinson, who went straight from 250 A to XC1, as well. But now that we've allowed two-strokes to compete in XC2, Robinson has dropped in, and now he's delivered a win. Been a long time coming for Jesse, and its great to see.

Hey, we have a new GNCC Survey for you to fill out--it will help us learn more about the series. And if you fill it out and enter your name and email at the end, we'll throw you into the drawing to win a 2010 Can-Am Outlander 800XT! Click HERE

That's it for this week, we've got a lot going on around our office this week getting ready for High Point motocross. We'll be back for Snowshoe sooner than you think, though!

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