And to help do that, we've got our ace group of GNCC reporters, photographer and journalist Shan Moore, TV producer Jason Hooper, and GNCC announcer Rodney Tomblin.
Before we send it to them, though, the GNCC Racing Family wishes a Happy Veteran's Day to all of those who have served our great country, and protected the rest of us so we can live the lives we live today. Thanks to all the men and woman who have served, and are currently serving. Let's not forget we've had troops battling for nearly a decade over in Afghanistan.
Photo By: David Scearce
Mullins in his new garb.
Now let's turn this over to Shan Moore.
Thanks, Jason. Most of you know that Cory Buttrick suffered a nasty crash at the ISDE in Morelia, Mexico, this past weekend. At first he thought he might have dislocated his hip, but I spoke with him on Tuesday and it turns out that his hip is fine and he's just mainly banged up and sore. Cory's crash happened on the first day and he said he was passing a slower rider on a transfer section and as soon as he pulled out of the guy's dust to make the pass there was a stump in his line that he couldn't avoid. Cory said it all happened so fast and when he hit the stump he cart-wheeled over the bike and landed pretty hard.
If you haven't heard, the final day of the Six Days was canceled due to security concerns. That was the politically correct explanation. The scoop is that two members of the drug cartel "La Familia" were arrested by local police and members of the cartel were retaliating by fire bombing cars and trucks headed into the town of Morelia - were the event was being held. According to Cory, that last day was a little sketchy. "The cartel was down close to the motocross test and they were throwing grenades and stuff like that. After that, there were cops all over the place about every 30 yards around the paddock," said CoryB.
Of course, Cory is headed to Japan next week for the JNCC race near Hiroshima. KTM is providing a new 300 for him to race and he'll be taking his factory suspension and a few other parts for Tony Hall to put on the bike to make it race-ready. Cory told me he was really looking forward to the race, and I'm sure he'll represent us well. I'm going to the race, as well, along with Cory's girlfriend MacKenzie and Tony Hall, so I'll keep everyone up to date on the happenings.
For the quad guys, there's a new magazine that has been giving the GNCC series a lot of space lately. It's called Mud Life Magazine and it is all about anything with four wheels that runs on dirt. Lots of trucks and stuff, but the past 3 or 4 issues have dedicated 4-5 pages each to this year's XC1 and XC2 championships. You might want to check it out at www.mudlifemagazine.com.
Thanks, Shan. Here's Jason Hooper.
For a lot of you the season has been over since Ironman, but mine and Weege's finally ended yesterday as we put the finishing touches on the Ironman bike TV show, the last episode of RacerTV for 2010. Be sure to check it out on Versus this Sunday at 3:00PM EST or Tuesday the 15th at 5:00PM. It's a pretty good episode (aren't the all?) and we've used some helmet cam footage with Josh Strang which is always cool. If you want to check out more of the helmet cam of Josh's race check out: http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2010/11/05/josh-strang-ironman-gncc-helmet-cam-video/
As I'm sure you all know by now, Charlie Mullins has had a busy couple of weeks since the Ironman. Not only did Charlie sign a new deal to race for FMF/KTM in 2011, he and longtime girlfriend Rachel Ayers tied the knot this past weekend. Charlie was allowed to get one ride in on the KTM before the wedding, and our buddy Dave Scearce was on hand to snap a few photos of Mullins sporting his new #2 on the 350SX-F. Here is a complete gallery from the day at Carolina Powersports Promotions in Morganton, NC: http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2010/11/10/charlie-mullins-ktm-first-ride-photos/
Photo By: David Scearce
Mullins takes his first ride.
Thanks Jason. I just heard the coolest news since Barry Hawk told me he was considering riding a GNCC ATV race last summer, and even since he was considering the racing the Ironman a few weeks ago. The news is....Barry raced the ATV at Round 10 of the AWRCS this past Saturday November 6, 2010 in Natrona Heights, PA.
If you click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7gYVJ2fGkI you can see this historic start. Barry had an electric start on his quad but the battery was dead. If you watch the video you will see that Hawk had to be pushed to get started and took off like a lightening bolt. He then moved his way up through the pack and soon caught the leaders. Riders like Corbin Knox, Johnny Gallagher, Jeff Pickens, Mark Notman, Corbin Knox and Walker Fowler diced it out with Barry. The only rider of the pack to ever race Barry like that before was Johnny G. and Johnny said "Mr. Hawk" was rollin'! And if not for a few small issues he would have been right up in the thick of the battle till the end." The report that I got was that Barry's quad stalled a couple of times and he lost a lot of time trying to get it restarted. Barry finished 4th on the day, and considering the issues he had, it looks like he showed he may just still have a little "Quad God" left in there. Barry said he had a blast and reports are that on every lap, Barry had a huge smile on his face and was giving thumbs up. That was definitely a day for the history books if you are Barry Hawk fan.
I hear Ballance Racing/Moto Xperts' Taylor Kiser is really fired up after finishing second in this series for the second year in a row. Taylor was back home in Florida where raced this past weekend in an FTR at the Bartow Hare Scramble and finished nearly four minutes ahead of the rest of the field. I also heard that Kiser and AMA ATV MX Pro Thomas Brown will be training together this winter down south. That could be good for both. Brown can learn the endurance aspects of racing and Taylor can maybe pick up some open section speed that could end up being the key to stopping two-time GNCC Champ Chris Borich.
On the two-wheeled side of things I caught a face book status quote from Chris Bach's status yesterday that I thought was pretty cool. It read "Just your typical Wednesday, busy building an empire." You can also check out a new Chris Bach fan page that is going to be exciting to watch grow over the winter heading into the new season. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chris-Bach/151781821532917
Thad Duvall is keeping busy lately. Thad has spent several days in the woods hunting and sounds like maybe spending some alone time putting things into perspective. Thad did blow the dust off the seat of his YZ, as he puts it, busting out some motos. This kid has a lot to think about heading into next season. He matured a lot this year, but also had some bad luck that kind of held him back from his full potential. Not as bad as the unbelievably awful luck of 2009, but still, not so good. The big question is, can Bad Thad bag the "Mo Jo" this off season and get to the heights where many thought he would already be?
I know things are slowing down for a lot of folks as it has some for me on the racing front, however I do have a couple of races that I will be heading to before the end of the season. One is the 39th Annual running of the Winter National Olympics at Gatorback. This should be loads of fun and I am certainly curious how things will go for cross over racers Cody Gragg and Aaron Plessinger. I hear that Florida's Garrett Edmisten has been hitting and winning some FTR races and wonder if he may be there, as he has been top dog at the Mini O's in the past.
The other race I will be attending is coming up this weekend, with the Team Harescramble in Athens, Ohio. I mentioned it here the last couple of weeks, and I have attended several times over the course of its 25-year history. The mini quad class, the 50, 65, 85, and Supermini, classes, the Father and son mini class, and the father and son ATV mini class will all take place on Saturday with all motorcycle and adult ATV classes on Sunday.
Check out the website:
http://actionsportsracing.com/team_harescramble.html for more details. Don't forget Saturday will be a father son race and hot dog roast and corn hole tournament. Admission is only $10.00 for the weekend.
I know that I have been reminding folks of the Caring Bridge site where you can keep updated on Josh Kirkland in his recovery.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshkirkland11 Josh is still fighting and prayers for he and the family are still appreciated.
For anyone wondering about the progress of Glen "Jody" Pritchard, the Super Senior phenomenon who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year here is a link http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/profile.php?id=1007050769 to keep informed on the status of Jody's fight. Jody raced a couple races at the end of the season and even pulled a hole shot at the Titan. His wife Ellen set up a face book page to keep family ands friends up to date.
That will do it for me this week. Maybe I will see you at the Team Harescramble Championship of the World this weekend.
Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs!
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