Quick Fill # 31: This Week in GNCC

Welcome to Quick Fill. This is Shan Moore, holding down the fort while Weege and Rodney spend the week armpit deep in action at the 29^th Annual Loretta Lynn's Amateur Motocross Nationals. As usual, the racing is hot and heavy at the ranch so if you're interested in moto you can mosey on over to www.racerxonline.com for updates on the action (after you read Quick Fill, of course). There are also video reports at www.motorcycleUSA.com. In fact, our own Charlie Mullins is racing at LL and according to the results page he finished a respectable 12^th in the second moto of the 450 A/Pro Sport class (he DNFed the first moto). I don't know the details yet, but I'll get all the info for next week's QF.

Two weeks ago I went to the Jack Pine Enduro in northern Michigan and our GNCC guys fared well, although I'm still dragging a bit after making the 20-hour drive home. Mullins took the win after posting the fastest time in five of the six tests. Meanwhile, Cory Buttrick finished third behind defending enduro champ Russell Bobbitt, with Glenn Kearney taking a solid seventh on the little Husky. Charlie has a healthy lead in the series standings, while Cory holds down second. Anyway, I did a little nosing around at the Jack Pine and I was able to find out a lot of cool news that will ultimately affect the GNCC series. First of all, Cory and his mechanic Tony Hall are headed to Washington State this weekend so that Cory can ride the WORCS race in Olympia. The really cool part is that he'll be making his first race on the new KTM 350 SX-F, which he says is the perfect off-road bike - much lighter than the 450 he currently rides and with fuel injection. Cory has been secretly testing the new bike and this will be his first official race. If all goes well, he tells me he'll race the 350 at Unadilla.

I also heard from a reliable source that Paul Whibley will be riding the new 2010 YZ450F at Unadilla instead of his WR. Whibs recently won an OMA race on the bike and he apparently has the okay from Randy Hawkins (and Yamaha) to race it in the remaining GNCC rounds. As for Mullins, he told me he's sticking with the '09, thank you very much. He had a brand-new 2009 YZ in the back of his trailer in Michigan that he'll ride at Unadilla, courtesy of Obermeyer Yamama, and his take is, "why mess with a good thing?" Interestingly enough, Charlie is riding a 2010 YZ450F at this week's Loretta Lynn championships. So much for keeping things the same.

On an interesting side note, Mullins uses the exact same set-up for the enduros that he uses at the GNCCs, with only minor changes. Some of the enduro guys are in awe of the fact that Charlie doesn't even cut down his bars for the really tight events (and the Jack Pine was really tight). He doesn't want to have to "re-adjust" to a different bike or a different set-up as he moves between the two series. On the other hand, Buttrick rides the lighter 250 two-stroke in the enduros, and a 450F at the more wide-open GNCC races. It's always amazed me that Cory can switch back and forth between the two bikes so easily. Anyway, the 350 should be a bike that would work well in both series - GNCC and enduro.

Glenn Kearney also told me that he is hoping to get the 2011 310 Husqvarna in time for Unadilla, although he thinks it might be cutting it close getting one here in time. GK has been riding the 250cc TXC version of the Swedish marquee and there's no doubt he's been giving up lots to the bigger 450s. However, the move to the 310 should put him on a more even playing field.

I heard a funny story in Michigan about one of our own (at least it's funny now... I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time). I won't name names, but one of our GNCC dads whose son recently won the John Penton (hint, hint), decided to help a buddy out by mowing his lawn. D-Butt, ah, I mean, this GNCC dad was also using his buddy's $7000 mower to do the deed. Anyway, "dad" got too close to the pond and the bank gave way (at least that's his story) and the mower went into the drink! Big gulp! So when buddy comes home, GNCC dad has to break the news. It all turned out in the end and the mower wasn't totally destroyed. So anyway, fast forward to the Jack Pine this weekend, and some of the "in crowd" presented "GNCC dad" with a plastic mower and a pair of arm floaties, like you wear in the pool. It was totally funny, and John Penton happened to be standing by and he came over and autographed the toy mower. So there was a happy ending to this story after all. I just hope "GNCC dad" isn't mad at me for spilling the beans.

That's all for me, see ya at Unadilla in 37 days.