Quick Fill #3: Lots to Know

Today's Quick Fill marks the beginning of a new Era. Okay, not really an Era - but things will be a little different from now on.  As the new Media Relations Manager here at GNCC, I am happy to say that I'll be taking over the Quick Fill commentating that was once brought to you by the ever-so-talented Jason Weigandt.  Let's only hope that I can live up to his witty posts and widespread knowledge of the sport.

I'll start off by sharing a little something that we received here at the office this week.  GNCC's 2010 Utility Senior (45+) champion, Forrest Whorton, got some pretty sick coverage in his hometown newspaper in Washington, VA last week.  It's really cool to see local media outlets taking interest in the sport we all love so much and recognizing the hard work and dedication that comes from the riders.

To read the article on Forrest Whorton, click HERE.

Also, we just heard this week that 18 year old Australian E1 rider Ashley Day from Victoria, Australia will be coming over to compete in the first 4 rounds of the GNCC series as a lead up to the Australian 4 Day Enduro.  We don't have the class he'll be riding here confirmed as of now but we're definitely excited to have the Aussie rider join the mix of things.

I'll pass things along to Shan Moore.

Thanks, Jen. There's big news from Fred Andrews this week, about his GNCC team for 2011. While Ty Davis will once again run Husqvarna's west-coast off-road effort in 2011, the east-coast team will be run by Fred Andrews Racing (FAR). Fred will be bringing in Finn Simo Kirssi to race the XC1 class on the new TE310. Kirssi is an established competitor in the World Enduro series and he won the 2008 European Cross Country Championship while riding for BMW Motorrad. Simo also raced for Fred back when he ran the Kawi team a few seasons ago. "He raced three or four races for us that year and he did quite well," Andrews said. "When he heard I was running the Husqvarna team this year, he called me and wanted to know if he could come race the big class for me. He's already under contract with BMW/Husqvarna, so it was a great fit. He's a really good rider and he's excited to come to America and race." FAR will also have Jason Thomas and Morgan Moss riding the XC2 class in GNCC competition. According to Andrews, the team will also race a few other high profile races, such as AMA National Enduro. "Wherever we think we can get some good expose, we'll go race," adds Andrews.

Aussie superstar Josh Strang will be back with Suzuki this year to defend his XC1 GNCC title, although FMF/Makita Suzuki Off-road team manager Mike Webb has moved on to run Suzuki's Supercross/motocross team. In the meantime, the off-road team will be managed by Shane Nalley. I spoke with Josh on Wednesday, and he told me he spent a few weeks at home in Australia, but it rained too much to get very much riding in. He's currently spending a few weeks at Rodney's house where the Smiths are putting him through his annual pre-season training ritual. Much has been made about this portion of Strang's program and there's no doubt that it's something that works for him. Josh is travelling to Oakland this weekend to watch Webb as he tends after Ryan Dungey and Brett Metcalfe at Saturday's round of the Supercross series.

As far as the KTM boys go, I spoke with Christy LaCurelle this week and Cory Buttrick, Kailub Russell and Charlie Mullins are all three slated to ride the new 350 XC-F in GNCC competition. There was some speculation at first that one or two of them might stick with the 450, but after off-season testing, all three seem content with the 350.  The trio is scheduled to do further "east-coast" testing in the coming weeks, in preparation for the GNCC and national enduro openers, which are rapidly approaching.

Finally - and this is big - there are rumors that Honda will be returning to GNCC competition in some form or another, and a press release is forthcoming, so stay tuned.

Thanks Shan, and it looks like the word is out - check out the press release HERE.

And here's what Rodney has to say on the return of Honda to GNCC.

Thanks Jen.  Only a few weeks out from the kick off to the 2011 Can Am Grand National Cross Country Championship and programs continue to come together for teams even this late in the off season or should I say this early in the new season.

I was really pumped to hear of some new changes over the last few weeks and that JG Off-Road is now representing Honda on the East Coast.  I had a chance to talk to some folks at Honda over Thanksgiving and they were pleased that they were able to beef up the contingency program and now with Jimmy Jarrett in XC1 Pro, Scott Watkins in the XC2 Pro-Lites and Ashley Crouch in the Women Class, there should be plenty of red machines up front to announce the coming of a new era of support in the Red Rider program for GNCC.

I know that right now Jimmy Jarrett is carving out some laps near Croom in Florida where he said to have a new found love in his new bikes.  Jimmy got a taste of victory again last year at Unadilla after a decade from his first win in 2000 and is ready to make it happen again.  How cool would it be to see JJ back on top of the box on a Honda?

Scotty Watkins has been home training and prepping for the new season and is said to be in the best shape he has ever been in and is way more than capable of winning races in the XC2 Pro-Lites on his new machine.   It will seem funny though seeing him on the Honda, but I think he will adapt to this machine rather quickly.

I spoke with Jimmy Woodford who will be doing some bike prep for Jimmy Jarrett and he told me that he would give JJ the best bikes possible and the rest was up to him.  He also said he wasn't worried and looked for some wins this year for all three riders on the team.

Woodford also told me that he and his brother Johnny were down south in Georgia testing Johnny's new 2011KX250F recently and on the last day that Johnny crashed and ended up in the E.R.  Everything is good now but he broke a small bone in his eye socket and suffered a concussion.  Johnny is preparing himself for some local racing in the Ohio area for 2011 focusing efforts there and obviously on his excavating company that pays all the bills to go out each weekend and play.  Good luck and we will look forward to seeing you guys at a few of the GNCC races this year.

On the ATV side of things; I spoke with Jeff "Juice" Horton from the Elka Suspension trackside support and he told me that the new Stage 5 series shocks are available and for any info contact him at Impact Solutions at 304-863-0025 or you can contact Elka Suspension for more information as well.  Jeff tells me that Jay Gobel is in Florida right now testing with a few guys for this season.

Mark Notman and Gabe Phillips are currently testing and training in Florida and again it seems that the "Croom Area" seems to be a hot spot.  I have not heard but about this year but this is the same area that Taylor Kiser, Bill Ballance and the boys frequent quite often.  I still have not heard an official word on Bill Ballance and what to expect as far as a championship effort, but knowing Lil' Bill we won't know till he is sitting there in the points lead with a his smile.

I was so stoked to read the press release from Derisi Racing.  I think that Santo has really come up with a great way to offer something special to the riders.  Santo being a rider himself fully understands the trials and tribulations of an off-road ATV racer and is offering a unique contingency program for you to take advantage of in 2011.

Speaking of Derisi Racing, "The Hurricane" Eric Hoyland was one of the first riders I spoke with that had joined Derisi racing late last fall and he was telling me of the great things Santo was working on to help a lot of the GNCC ATV racers this years.  I say Good Luck to Santo and also to his new rider Hoyland as they will contest for one of the most highly contested championships titles in the XC2 Pro Am class.

Someone brought up an interesting point to me saying, I haven't heard anything about McGill, Bithell, Borich or any of those guys. And I mentioned the near nonexistent reports of Ballance and Kiser.  I wonder though if this is not by design as I know that the mind games these guys play with each other can sometimes be as intense as the actual racing.  Let the games begin!

Hopefully I can dig something up on someone before I leave Florida.  I have been chasing these guys one step behind all week trying to get something, but they must have heard I was coming and have gone on lock down.

So till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.