Jason Weigandt
by: Jason Weigandt
Thursday August 12th, 2010
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Welcome to Quick Fill. We all need to have Josh Kirkland in our thoughts.


GNCC XC Champion Josh Kirland
Josh is the 2009 ATV XC2 Champion and a KTM factory rider. We first heard rumors of bad news about three weeks ago. We were attending AMA Motocross in Washougal, Washington when Carrie Russell Coombs caught word that Josh had crashed and might be paralyzed. It was late on the East Coast, and we couldn't get anything official, but we knew in time we could get some solid answers.

It's been a busy few weeks for the Racer Productions crew, running two massive events at Loretta Lynn Ranch-the AMA Amateur National for bikes last week, and this weekend's ATV Dirt Days National. But while our small part of the GNCC family has been down working in Tennessee, Josh's friends and family have been working just as hard to put together fund raisers and benefit races for him, and there have been three events over the last two weekends, and surely more to come.

Anyway, KTM produced a press release last week with updated info on Josh's status. But there are still a lot of rumors out there, which is always the case with injuries this severe. So Josh's family sent us a letter for us to post here, with the most up to date information:

The GNCC family is saddened to report that our own, ATV XC2 racer Josh Kirkland was injured Friday July 23rd while practicing for an upcoming competition in France.  Josh was taken to Akron City Hospital and is a listed in serious condition in the critical care unit.

Josh suffered a fracture to his C5 vertebrae, and we are pleased to report that although the  injury is serious his spinal cord was not severed.  Also, there was no head trauma or internal injuries.  He is expected to have an additional surgery sometime this week to stabilize the ligaments in his neck.  Although Josh is heavily medicated he is responsive when his family, friends and medical staff speak to him.

The Kirkland family would like to thank everyone for their outpouring concern for Josh and is setting up a website to keep everyone updated with his status because it is nearly impossible to answer every text and phone call.  The family also asks that everyone continue to keep Josh in your thoughts and prayers as he recovers.

Cards and flowers can be sent to:

Josh Kirkland
c/o Akron City Hospital-CCU Rm 224
525 E Market St
Akron, OH  44304

There you go. Get well soon, Josh. As always, racers are tougher than everyone else.

As we receive more updates on Josh's condition, we'll relay them to you here.

Now I'll pass this on to Shan Moore.

Thanks, Jason. I certainly hope is cooler where you're at than it is here in Oklahoma. Yesterday the heat index was 115 degrees with 70% humidity. Talk about toastin' yer buns.

Anyway, according to my calculations it's just 30 days until the second half of the season kicks off at Unadilla, and I can't wait. I've been to the track many times covering the National Motocross series, but this will be my first time there for a GNCC. That course has a lot of history to it and I always enjoy going there.


Photo By: Amy McConnell/XCountry Photos
The Wolfs are going XC1 next year.
I talked to Brian Wolf this week to see if his second ATV Snowshoe win in a row has sunk in and to see what he's been doing to get ready for the rest of the year. Brian was on his way home from work when I called him - he's a supervisor for a railroad contractor - and he told me he hasn't been able to ride much since Snowshoe, because he got an infection in one of his fingers and it's taken about six weeks to heal. He cut his finger while trying to fix a windshield wiper on his truck and it swelled up and got infected - talk about a freak accident!

When I asked him about his big win he said he never expected anything like that, especially for the second year in a row, and he gave the prize money to his sponsor for all the help he's been giving him.

As far as the rest of the year goes, Brian says "the second half will probably be as crazy as the first. I was wanting to bump up to the Pro class for the last part of the year, but with Walker [Fowler] only 10 points behind me I think it's gonna be a battle all the way to Ironman."

Brian says his plan for 2011 is to move to the Pro class. "My wife and I talked about it and there's been no offers for help yet, but we're going to try it for one year, no matter if it's by ourselves or with factory support," Brian told me.

As far as getting ready for Unadilla, Brian said he has to work the rest of this week and then he'll be leaving next Wednesday with his wife, Brandon Sommers and Donny Ockerman, to go to the Heartland Challenge in Iowa. After that, it will be a matter of riding and testing until September.

"Going into Unadilla, I'm not looking for a win - I'm so busy during the summer," Wolf said. "But the following races we'll be looking for a win."

Speaking of Unadilla, the outdoor motocross is this weekend at Unadilla and James Stewart is making his return to the series, so I'm headed that way tomorrow morning. Should be an interesting race.

On the GNCC motorcycle front, Charlie Mullins, Cory Buttrick and Glenn Kearney will be racing the national enduro in Maine on the 22nd and I'll be there covering the action for Cycle News, so I will get an update on how these guys are doing. I'll also put in a call to Paul Whibley to see what he's been up to. That's all from me, see ya at the races.

Thanks, Shan. Rodney Tomblin is down there in the heat of Tennessee, still, helping rebuild the place after a week of bike racing so the ATV gang can have a good show this weekend. Best of luck to Suzuki's Josh Creamer, who is looking to clinch his first-ever ATV Pro MX title and end the two-year championship win streak of his teammate Dustin Wimmer. By Sunday, that series will be over for the season and we'll know who has won-check out www.atvmotocross.com for updates.

That's it for this week. Keep praying for Josh.

 


Photo By: Shan Moore
Racers are tougher than everyone else.

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