Quick Fill #24: This Week in GNCC

Welcome to Quick Fill. What a nice little break we have here.

Most of our Racer Productions team is still recovering from a massive weekend of work at last week's Rockstar Energy Drink High Point National. So they'll enjoy a few days back at the office rebuilding equipment and restocking our trucks before heading down to next week's Motorcycleusa.com Snowshoe GNCC. As for me, my wife and I are expecting our first baby, so I have to run! I'll turn this over to our contributors, and big thanks to Hooper for posting this for me. Thanks Uncle Hoops!

To get us started here's Shan Moore.

Thanks, Jason. And good luck with the baby. I have just a few tid bits for this week. We are nearing the summer break and the top guys will be doing different things to stay in racing condition during those weeks. I spoke with Josh Strang at the John Penton and he told me he was going to be racing a few of the outdoor national motocross rounds, maybe starting at Red Bud over the Fourth of July weekend. A lot of guys are riding moto in order to keep their speed up, and as a matter of fact, I ran into Barry Hawk at the High Point motocross national and told me that he's raced a lot of motocross in the past at the High Point facility and he even qualified for a couple of the nationals there.

"I've raced numerous times here at the High Point track and I qualified for nationals here in 2000 and 2002," said Hawk. "In 2003 was the year I was leading the GNCC championship and I decided it wasn't worth the risk trying to ride the motocross, and ever since 2003 I haven't tried to qualify for an outdoor national. But when I did ride them it was something totally fun and different and I still practice moto. It's interesting to me because when I do go to a local motocross track to practice they kind of laugh at me because I've got hand guards on my bike. And I'm not saying I'm faster than those guys, but I'm faster than the majority of them, so then they start having a different outlook. Another interesting thing, those guys will ride for 10 minutes and then they sit there, and I just keep riding and riding, since I'm used to 3-hour races."

Charlie Mullins and Cory Buttrick will stay in racing shape by racing the national enduro rounds that fall during the break. Both guys are also heavy into moto, and Mullins told me he also races a mountain bike league on Tuesday nights - and he is winning those races!

I spoke with Buttrick this week and he's still in California riding and testing at the KTM facility along with Kailub Russell. Cory rode the WORCS race this past weekend and finished ninth, despite suffering a big crash. According to Cory, the track was just a big motocross, and what trail they used was knocked down with a bulldozer.

The KTM guys also had to go through physical testing this week and the doctor that tested Cory told him that his lung capacity was better than any athlete he had seen with the exception of Lance Armstrong. It seems our top GNCC guys are at an endurance and stamina level higher than most other top athletes, including soccer, football, etc.

On a downer note, Cory dropped his wallet when he was waiting outside the doctor's office and it was returned to him later, but minus all the money he had won at the John Penton - about $1400. I'm thinking he will be trying to win all that back at Snowshoe. See ya' at the races.

Thanks, Shan. I've also heard that Kailub Russell will be racing the Red Bud AMA MX National in July, along with Strang. Good luck, guys, and I will see you there. Now let's turn this over to Hoops.

Congrats Weege and Mommy Alisa! So stoked for you guys! I'm heading down to Muddy Creek in Tennessee this weekend for some ATV Motocross (yeah, I shoot video at those, too!) so I don't have too much to add. There isn't any RacerTV this weekend as an IRL race has the Versus network tied up for the weekend. Be sure to set your DVRs for Snowshoe weekend as the Big Buck ATV race airs Sunday the 27th at 3:00pm and the following Tuesday at 5:00pm.

RacerTV pit reporter Krista Shaw wants to know if you have any specific questions you'd like her to ask both the ATV and Bike pros before we go on Summer break. If there's anything your dying to know about the starts of our sport, shoot Krista an email at krista@digitaloffroad.com

Thanks, Hoops. Now onto Rodney Tomblin.

Thanks Jason! Good luck my friend with the new baby!

I am not sure about anyone else, but this extra week break has some how turned into an extra busy time for me. Last week I had the opportunity to work with the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at High Point. What a race! It started to have some semblance of a GNCC at one point when it started to rain, but it was thankfully short lived and the track was perfect for racing.

While there at High Point I strolled around some of the outskirts of facility and was greeted with some old GNCC trails from a few years ago. It got me to thinking about how far this GNCC thing has come. It made me think of the old "Blackwater 100" days and the stories I have heard. It made me think about how big the series has become and it made me think of Snowshoe coming up. The walk coupled with hearing Barry Hawk greeting the race fans over the enormous P.A. and then hearing folks saying "That's Barry Hawk from the GNCC!" made me realize just how big our little woods racing series has become.

As example, we prepare ourselves as racers and race crew for one of the, if not the most challenging race on the GNCC schedule. Snowshoe is special and different in so many ways. Snowshoe is located near the heart of the Blackwater 100. The terrain, though not as rugged, is very similar to what would face the masses as they would tackle the West Virginia Mountains. The start of the race is done on the streets of town right and if your hotel room is facing the road you can watch it from your room, or if you are facing the Village square you can watch podium celebrations from your room.

Those are some really cool things about Snowshoe, but this year add a few more elements to the mix and this all of a sudden becomes even cooler. The Governor of W.Va, Joe Manchin, will be on hand Friday and Saturday to watch and enjoy the beauties of Wild Wonderful West Virginia. Motorcycle USA has karaoke planned. I heard something about a mechanical bull, a live band, and more. So all I can say is get there early as you can and stay as long as you can because it will definitely be worth it.

Also don't forget GNCC University. If you are one of the lucky few to make the 40 person cut per discipline, then you should have an extra advantage heading into this one. You should be full of confidence of knowing what you just learned will help you make it around this challenging race track.

That is it for me now. Till next time, God Bless Your Hearts and All Your vital organs.

That's it for Quick Fill this week. Having a baby. This is going to be crazy!

This just in! Baby Lily Weigandt was just born weighing in at 8lbs 1oz! Mommy and baby are both doing fine! Congrats, Weeges!