And congrats out already to Charlie Mullins, who notched his first ever AMA National Enduro Title. "Charlie Mullins won the enduro title on a combination of talent and determination," said AMA Director of Racing Joe Bromley in a press release. "He never quit, and his performance against the country's top off-road racers on a variety of terrain and in a range of conditions was impressive. The AMA congratulates him, and all the class champions of the 2010 season, on an outstanding accomplishment."
Photo By: Brad Cheney
Check out the Polaris RZR you can win this weekend at Power Line. Sick!
There were 1,000 tickets sold at $25 each. There are approximately 100 tickets left to sell at St. Clairsville before the winning ticket is pulled. Anyone wanting to get in on these last available tickets can purchase them at the KTM Pro Pit area where the RZR will be on display!
Just a reminder to anyone that may want daily updates on Josh's progress, you can log onto http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshkirkland11.
Once Saturday's ATV XC1 race is complete, we'll have the overall winner pull a name from a bucket and name the winner of the RZR raffle. Good luck to all, especially Josh. We've heard quite a few people have bought raffle tickets in Josh's name, meaning he just may end up winning the RZR himself! Big thanks to Bairs for hooking this up, as well as Polaris, which donated the RZR at cost.
There will be more winners soon. For the last few months we've been hosting a demographics survery on our website, with a Can-Am Outlander up for grabs for one lucky participant. The survey was complete on Oct 1, and we'll be announcing a winner of that ATV soon.
Now onto our reporting staff, starting with GNCC writing and photographer, Shan Moore.
Photo By: Shan Moore
Thad DuVall running some helmet cam.
I checked in on Nate Kanney on Wednesday to see how he was doing. In case you didn't know, Nate took a pretty bad spill while working his way through the pack at the Titan and broke his wrist. Nate told me he suffered two broken bones in his wrist, but that he didn't require surgery. He's in a cast for the next four weeks and the plan is to wait until December or January to start riding again to give the wrist plenty of time to heal properly - although he plans on doing other forms of training as soon as next week.
According to Nate, the crash was all "rider error." "I crashed a couple of times and was back behind Whibley in fifth or sixth with about two hours to go and I knew I was running out of time," said Kanney. "So I just started pushing and I ended up pushing a little too hard." It's a shame to lose Nate for the rest of the season since he was starting to find his form again and most likely would have been mixing it up at the front of the pack at the final two rounds.
Photo By: Shan Moore
Mike Webb (Left) is taking over Suzuki's 2011 MX and SX team from Roger DeCoster. Can't argue with Mike's results in GNCC!
Also, it was pretty cool to hear that Mike Webb, FMF Makita Suzuki Off-road team manager, is being promoted to the Supercross/Motocross team, taking over for Roger DeCoster who split for KTM. It's great to see one of our own getting that kind of respect, but it makes you wonder who will run the off-road effort - maybe Rodney Smith? Mike had already told me that Josh Strang was back for 2011.
If you didn't see the press release earlier in the week, Cory Buttrick will be representing the GNCC at the final round of the JNCC in Hiroshima, Japan on November 21st. The GNCC traditionally sends a top rider or two each year for the final round of the Japanese series in exchange for the JNCC sending riders to our opening round at River Ranch. Last year's race was won by Kailub Russell, while Charlie Mullins, Nate Kanney and Paul Whibley are also former winners of the event. I'm not sure yet who will be going besides Cory, but I do know that I'm part of the entourage so for sure I'll be sending back updates and photos when I can. For the next few weeks I'll be in training - learning to use chopsticks. We'll see if I lose any weight over there.
Good stuff, Shan. Let's move to GNCC announcer Rodney Tomblin.
Thanks Jason. As I pulled into Power Line Park yesterday evening in preparation for this weekend's penultimate round of the 2010 Can Am GNCC Championships, I could not help but think "what if?" Though a number of championships are locked up in the amateur ranks, both the ATV and Bike Pro Championships are still somewhat undecided.
One "what if" question that most likely not be asked is, "what if it gets dusty?" Shouldn't be a problem. As I rolled in yesterday afternoon I was greeted with a nice steady rain that pretty much put a halt on the day's progress as far as set up. The good news though is that we needed the moisture, the track is perfect now, and the forecast is calling for a great weekend. Of course we know that can change in a minute, but right now things are looking spectacular.
Congrats to Hot Rod Charlie Mullins on the National Enduro title. The rumor mill is flying right now and it is looking like Charlie may be making another move. This could be interesting for all involved in this one. Though Josh Strang looks to have wrapped up the XC1 Pro Bike championship on his FMF/Makita Suzuki, we're going to have a lot of bench racing going on before the 2011 season opener. A lot of challengers are readying themselves to challenge him, and the challenge may come strongest from the KTM team. Kailub Russell is moving up to XC1, Cory Buttrick will be back, and there may be one more top contender making a move there. Josh Strang is going to have a huge target on his back that KTM wants to get back.At our last race, Russell showed cool under pressure was the right tactic for extending his slight points lead over FAR/Monster Energy's Jason Thomas. Thomas was fired up after the race in Unadilla and looked to be on a mission to regain lost points as we headed to Tennessee. It was not to be though and Russell took a dominating lead to the finish, nearly finishing in the Over All Top 3 as we saw him do earlier this season. As far as Kailub making history by being the first and maybe only XC2 Pro Lites rider to win the over all, time is running out. However, this weekend's race could be a place he may make it happen.
Photo By: Shan Moore
Only two races left for Paul Whibley to get back into victory lane for the first time all year. Tough season for the champ!
As it stands right now in the Women class, a "relative" underdog, Kristen Atwell, the niece of defending champion FRE/KTM's Angel Atwell is the point's leader. It has been a shoot out each and every race and I feel these last two rounds will tell the tale. Can "Lightening Atwell" keep the storm brewing or will the pressures of these last two races be more than she can handle? This could show how focused she is and how badly she wants that #1 standing. Regardless this class will keep us on the edge of our seats till the bitter end. The point standings are K. Atwell with 155; Angel Atwell with 151; Traci Cecco with 150 and Lexie Coulter with 147.
In the utility side of ATV racing, it looks as though all the championships have all been sealed for the season. Bryan Buckhannon wrapped up the 4x4 Open class, while Clifton Beasley has not only wrapped up the U2 class, but also continues a 17-race win streak dating back to his 4x4 Lites days last year. In the 4x4 Lites class this year, it is Kevin Trantham dominating. And Michael Swift has wrapped up the 4x4 Limited. In the Utility Senior 45+ class, Forrest Whorton took the win at the Titan and stopped multi-time Utility ATV champion Mike Penland. Penland sits only three points back in that hunt and unless Whorton wins again this weekend; this one goes to the Ironman. Dave Simmons has wrapped up the Super Senior 50+ in one of the most highly anticipated graduations to that class. Dave has the class wrapped up, but I know he had his heart set on the overall number 201 this year as well. In the Schoolboy 13-15 Novice class we see that former top Youth ATV talent Jay Shadron should have this one all but wrapped up. And in the Schoolboy 13-15 A/B class, Braden Henthorn has been the man to beat.
As we look at the afternoon race, Team Suzuki/Rock Star/ Yoshamura rider Chris Borich has things all but wrapped up on the XC1 Pro ATV side of things. His closest competition, Ballance Racing / Moto Xperts / Yamaha rider Taylor Kiser is some 50 points behind, but more than ready to make a statement at these last two rounds. Kiser only needs two races where Borich has problems and the championship all of a sudden is reach.
Another Ballance Racing / Moto Xperts / Yamaha rider, Walker Fowler, has also seen a tight championship battle begin to slip away. Walker has ridden well in his rookie XC2 season, but the speed and consistency of the privateer, HMF/GT Thunder supported rider Brian Wolf has been tough to overcome. However, Wolf is running on borrowed and pieced together equipment to get through the end of this season, so that's a variable that could put Walker Fowler right back in the championship hunt if Wolf has come mechanical troubles.
Photo By: Shan Moore
One more look at the Kirkland RZR. Go get it this weekend.
UTV racing returns this weekend and should prove to be another exciting battle in that realm. I know that William Yokely in the National Guard/Polaris backed RZR is going to be a mission to make a statement this weekend in hopes of reclaiming the glory of being the one top beat in the side by side racing.
And lastly, don't forget Chapel services at 8:30 each morning at the Team Faith rig on vendor row. And look for Chaplin Chuck Lemaster in the 30+ Vet B class and UTV racing. He will be easily spotted on the number 3:16.
That's it for me! Good luck to everyone this weekend and most importantly have fun. 'Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs!
GNCC TV producer Jason Hooper checks in with this update:
The Aussie invasion continues, as we'll have two more racers from Down Under joining us for the final two rounds of the season. Toby Price and Jarrod Bewley got to the States earlier this week and are staying here in Hickory, NC with Shane Watts. Wattsy got them hooked up with brand new KTM 450XCFs and is letting them use his van as transportation and stay at his house. Toby and Jarrod are two of the top Enduro racers in Australia with some serious credientials, at this years Australian Four Day Enduro, Price won the overall and Bewley finished 3rd-overall and won the E1 class outright, both riders are also reigning champs in the Austrailian Off-Road Racing Championship, price with the overall and E2 and Bewley again third outright and E1 champ.I spoke to Glenn Kearney who had the chance to ride with the boys this week and he said they're fast, really, really fast. The races they are used to doing are very sprint oriented, so look for these two to be out front early in the mix with our top riders. Will they be able to last a full 3-hours? That's always the million dollar question that we can never answer with new racers, but it'll be fun to watch and see!
Photo By: Bach
Chris Bach's 2011 ride.
At the Titan GNCC I put a helmet cam on Thad DuVall for the afternoon bike race and it miraculously made it to the finish! It's pretty cool to get to watch the race unfold from a pro rider's point of view, there's a lot of stuff that goes on out on the trail that you wouldn't expect. For instance, did you know that Thad vomits on the starting line before every race? Yep, that's right, he does (I left that part out of the video)! Or that some of the pros will pull off to let a fellow competitor around them, and not just back of the pack guys, some of the top guys do it! Pretty cool stuff. Anyway, check it out here: http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2010/10/05/thad-duvall-helmet-cam-video/
I don't need to tell you that GNCC racers and their families are a special breed, you already know that. But I just wanted to share two quick stories from the Titan that epitomize the type of people we spend our weekends with 13 times a year. On Saturday afternoon Hannah Reid brought a PocketWizard transceiver, to me and asked if it was mine. For those of you that don't know, it's a $300 piece of photography equipment. Someone had found it on the ground and turned it into rider registration. It turned out to be Ken Hill's of ATVRiders.com, and that piece is integral in taking those amazing remote flash shots he's famous for. Then on Sunday, Rob Mitchell from offroadjunkies.com put a helmet cam on Chris Bach. Well, Rob obviously wasn't as good at mounting his as I was with Thad, and Bach managed to lose the helmet cam a few miles into the first lap. Again, this was a $300 piece of electronics and would you believe that someone turned it in as well? Pretty awesome stuff that restores a bit of my faith in humanity!
Good stuff, Hoops. Yup, GNCC people are good people. That's it for Quick Fill, have fun at the races!
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