Quick Fill #24: Motosport.com Snowshoe

Welcome to Quick Fill. Another epic year of racing at Snowshoe Mountain has come and gone and I'm still trying to figure out why in the world they let us ride dirtbikes and ATVs around that beautiful place, but hey - no complaints here. In all seriousness, I think Tim Cotter has a lot to do with the fact that a place like Snowshoe even allows us to bring something like GNCC to the mountain. Tim works really hard year-round to jump through all the necessary hoops to hold "America's Toughest Race" at arguably one of America's most beautiful places.  So if you see Tim around, be sure to show him a little appreciation for all he does to make that happen.  Also, the Snowshoe staff puts up with a rowdy bunch of GNCCers all week (well, let's be honest it's mostly the ATV guys), and for that we are thankful.

I was pretty pumped to have the luxury of setting up a mini office at Starbucks, which was located perfectly in the middle of the Village, within eyesight of the podium. A lot of people came by to hang out and even do a little bench racing on the weekend, which was really cool. Although we didn't have karaoke this year I think the Village stayed pretty busy all weekend long (I'll leave it at that).

Whether you came to Snowshoe as a fan, racer, employee or innocent bystander - it's inevitable that you left bruised, scarred, wet, cold, tired or just plain exhausted and my bet is that you loved every minute of it. Snowshoe is a first-class facility and we hope to keep coming back there for years to come.

GNCC University was a huge success this year; we SOLD OUT the ATV classes and came only spots away from selling out the bike side as well. The Yamaha crew did an awesome job of facilitating the school and the instructors on both sides did a great job teaching. It's neat to see the Pro riders out of their element a little bit and I think it's a nice change of pace for them to slow down and get back to the basics of riding. As I said before, I had a wonderful time attending GNCC U; I learned a ton of useful tips from not only the instructors but the participants too. The #1 tip I came away with from GNCC U, which was clearly from the chick racer, was how to pick up my heavy 250F after crashing, ladylike. This sounds silly but Jordon Milbauer taught me to face away from my bike and use my legs to lift the bike with my back resting on the seat. GENIUS! That was only one of many useful things I learned throughout the week, of course.

As far as racing goes, what's there to say? The track was gnarly and it seemed like survival of the fittest out there; or better yet, survival of the smartest and luckiest. Huge props to Josh Strang for taking the win on the bike side, especially being under the weather like he was. I was talking to Suzuki's Chris Wheeler yesterday about the race and he said it best, "slow down to go fast." When you're riding unpredictable terrain like Snowshoe it's not about the guy going the fastest through the woods, it's about composure and patience and that's definitely something that Strang uses to his advantage, especially in tougher conditions. WMR's Nate Kanney always shines at Snowshoe and with a New York background it sounds like he gets plenty of gnarly riding in to prepare. It was good to see Nate's hard work pay off at Snowshoe, even if it wasn't another overall, he's got to be stoked on the weekend.

I can't go without mentioning the new kid on the block, New Zealand's Rory Mead, a fill in for GEICO American Honda JG Off Road. I mean, coming over here on a whim and being thrown onto a different bike with different terrain, I think the guy is killing it! Now, he's only raced two GNCCs so far, both admittedly atypical of the rest of the series, but 8-4 is pretty good nonetheless. It sounds like the kiwi may be here to stay for the remainder of the season so we'll give him a few rounds to settle in and see if he can put something together here in the states. You can find Rory in this week's Tuesday Toolbox and Wednesday Wrench, what a superstar!

And then there's Steward Baylor, XC2 points leader and third place overall at Snowshoe. Listening to some of the guys talk, it sounds like the youngin' blitzed through some of the tougher sections that everyone else was having trouble with. Steward is still young and has a lot to learn and look forward to if he keeps at it. What an awesome way to spend his birthday weekend at Snowshoe!

Warnert Racing Can-Am's Adam McGill chalked up his second win of the season over the weekend and I don't think I've ever seen anyone so excited to cash a giant check in my life. With the unfortunate breakdown of Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Chris Borich, McGill was able to close the gap to 7 points, giving him a good confidence booster heading into the Penton. Huge bummer for Brian Wolf, Johnny Gallagher and Borich, who were all killing it at one point during that race only to experience bike problems before the race was over. Gallagher was up there for maybe one of his best rides of the year until something went south on his bike and he was stuck in the woods. After a couple mirages and a suntan session, Gallagher finally made it out of the woods by 6:15 p.m., poor guy.

It was brought our attention that someone may be missing a video camera from Snowshoe as there was one found on the course near mile 12. It sounds like the owner was on a KTM 300 2-stroke. If you think it's your camera, shoot me an email and we'll work on getting that back to you.

Speaking of cameras, I'll send it over to Shan "the photo man" Moore.

Thanks, Jen. One thing we know for sure about Snowshoe is that it's hard on chains! Thad DuVall and Brian Wolf both dropped out of the race with broken chains, while Paul Whibley threw his chain no less than three times, the first time while he was leading the race. I'm sure there was a lot of time spent putting chains back on sprockets during that weekend.

The bike race was truly thrilling. Because of the poor cell and radio reception and the issue of time adjustment, no one knew who was leading the race on the final lap until we saw Josh Strang pop up over the hill. I don't think the riders truly knew who was leading either. It went back and forth over the entire distance of the race, and I believe Strang, Nate Kanney, Paul Whibley, Charlie Mullins, Rory Mead, and XC2 rider Steward Baylor Jr. were all leading at one time or another, either physically or on adjusted time. On the final lap, Baylor, Mead, Kanney and Strang all had a legit shot at the win. It was totally exciting because of the sketchy information from the backside of the track.

I was blown away when Strang told me after the race that he had been sick all week and didn't even get on the bike until Sunday. He said during the race he took all the safe lines he could to avoid getting stuck in any mud holes or nasty spots so he wouldn't have to spend more energy than necessary, which might have been the strategy everyone should have taken.

On the ATV side, Brian Wolf told me that he built a brand new bike from the ground up for Snowshoe. Brian jumped out into the lead and was looking good when it all went down the drain when his chain broke. That had to be a HUGE disappointment. Chris Borich had a rough day as well. The defending champ was patented final lap charge like he's been known to do when his bike blew up. I guess you can chalk it all up to the toughest off-road race in America.

In retrospect, I have to say that Snowshoe is one of the most awesome races I've ever been to. Where else can you walk a few yards from a Starbucks and an off-road race? Really good restaurants, nice lodging and all the little shops make it a cool destination, and a great race to bring a family member who normally doesn't attend the races.

Here's Rodney Tomblin.

Thanks Jen.  Like many, I continue to revel in the memories of the MotoSport.com Snowshoe GNCC.  It for sure was one that left you with a sense of accomplishment whether you finished this one or not.  Just to know you tried "America's Toughest Race" was good enough for many.  Some excelled and said it wasn't "that bad" while others struggled and found some the most challenging moments of their riding experiences since the first time they threw their leg over a bike or ATV.

As the sounds of "Almost Heaven West Virginia" filled the air on Saturday morning I once again got goose bumps as I looked around at the mountains located to the west of the starting line.  It was a magnificent sight and an awesome feeling as the start of another GNCC was only moments away.  Nearly 100 Youth ATV GNCC riders took off into the "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia" mountains to stake their claims in the pages of the books of this historical event.

As far as the racing it was again an opportunity for some of the recent GNCC University students to put to the test the skills they learned over the final days leading into the race.  Hunter Hart who is tough to beat may have used his new found knowledge to work through the tougher than normal Youth course.  It was an exciting battle all the way through the race though and even Hart found struggles in the final laps of the race on Saturday morning.  Hart has won every over-all except for one this season if memory serves me correct and has done it from several rows back.  I know he idolizes Chris Borich with the CB Mini Clone Quad look alike he rides, but he is surely showing signs of former Youth racer and now XC2 Pro Am point's leader Walker Fowler with his youth division dominance.  Regardless, Hunter Hart is hard to beat in any conditions.

Double National ATV series contender Westley Wolfe finished up in 2nd over-all and took the win in the highly competitive 90 Mod 12-15 class.  Wolfe contests both the AMA ATV MX championship as well as a GNCC Championship and has been extremely busy since late February this year when his seasons began.  The only problem is he has a number of early season break downs in both series so the next few races in both series are going to be critical.  Wolfe will race in Athens Ohio 2 weeks in a row as he heads to Sunday Creek Raceway this weekend for The American Suzuki Sunday Creek ATV Motocross Nationals.  The Wiseco John Penton GNCC will be held there the following week.  So you know Wolfe is looking to leave a couple of big marks in Ohio.

Amazingly three different classes were represented on the Youth Podium this past weekend at The Snowshoe.  Blaine Martin from the 90 Open 12-15 Class took the final spot in Victory Lane on Saturday.  Martin who hails from Weirton West Virginia took his second over-all podium of the season.  The first podium came in Georgia at the Maxxis General GNCC.  Blaine is currently 2nd in points in his class and with the momentum of the class win and top 3 over-all spot at in West Virginia you can expect him to be on the gas in Ohio. Ohio is similar to the Georgia trails and will hopefully be drier this year being in the middle of summer (Let's hope not too dry) and should be great place for the series to really start to heat up with the more familiar GNCC type terrain ahead in the schedule.

As the 10:00 o'clock race dawned there was a major gasp as Lt. Trail Boss Buren Hamrick stated to the riders to be ready for a 16 mile loop on lap number 1.  Buren said, "If you want America's Toughest Race?" "Here it is and you are in for some big surprises!"  It definitely made for an interesting waiting game wondering how long it would take and who would be in the lead at the end lap 1.

It was not until over 46 minutes into the race that we caught glimpse of our leader.  It was 4x4 Open class rider Michael Swift.  Swift seemed to be riding a race all by himself out there as it was nearly a minute before a second place was spotted. Zack Zakowski, who has had his share of demons at The Snowshoe in past attempts but was able to overcome those and make it through with a 2nd place over-all.

It looked like the possibility of a 4x4 Open podium sweep but U2 Class winner and last year's over all race champ Clifton Beasley finished 3rd over-all and was more than pleased with the outcome considering he captured another class win.  This keeps Beasley undefeated in his class and one step closer to 50 GNCC class wins.

Even though the Women Class did not finish on the podium this week the battle continued to heat up as 7-Time GNCC Women Class Champion Traci Cecco snagged another win on her way to what she hopes in championship number 8.  Cecco ran strong all day even running one of the top spots early in the race.  Cecco battled hard to stay ahead of the competition leading the class by nearly 9 minutes and 15 seconds heading into the last lap.  Cecco lost a few minutes on the grueling last lap taking her out of contention for the over-all but was able to stay a little more than 6 minutes ahead of her class at the checker.

Defending champ Kristen Atwell held onto 2nd in the class for most of the race but struggled herself on the last lap allowing former champ Angel Atwell around to take the spot.  As the series heads into the final rounds of 2011 every race is critical in this point battle as one mistake may mean the championship for these three ladies.  The Atwell's sit tied for second in points at 124 only 11 points behind Cecco with 135.

Lexie Coulter who is another Women Class championship contender didn't make the race this weekend and with the series drops could still be in the hunt to win.

The afternoon race started out at a fever pitch soon into the race.  In the first 3 miles things were normal but at the 3.9 mile marker when chaos erupted and the Snowshoe GNCC defending champ #341 Brian Wolf busted into the lead physically and began to amass a near 40 second lead over 2nd place Chris Bithell.  Bithell began to break away from the rest of the field in effort to track down Wolfe in the West Virginia Mountains pulling a 30 second gap on the rest of the field.   Wolfe though pushed things a little too hard as near the end of lap 1 the Motosport.com Update given said that Wolfe had broken a shock and had slowed way down.

It was not long that you could see former GNCC XC1 Pro turned GT Thunder team wrench Brandon Sommers scrambling from the woods headed to the pits in an effort to get his rider back in the battle.  It was a moot point however as Wolfe tried to limp the machine in he broke his chain ending his day.  It was stated on the podium that when the other riders went by Wolfe he was standing trackside beside his quad holding the broken chain above his head like he had a snake.  Wolfe cannot be too disappointed in not finishing the Snowshoe this year.  Remember he has walked away the winner twice and is $20,000.00 to the good for it.

In the closing lap as things was once again heating up between Chris Bithell, Adam McGill and Chris Borich everyone waiting to see if he could stop McGill who had taken the lead with a little more than a lap to go.  McGill won the Snowshoe a few years ago and was more than confident heading into the race with what he felt was a home track advantage.  It may have even been the case as the mountain at Snowshoe once again lead its native West Virginian brother  to the top of the box for a second time in his career.  I never really heard what happened to Borich but it was reported that his bike just spitted, sputtered and stopped.  Borich's day came to an abrupt last lap end for the second time this season.

Chris Borich's problems happened far enough into the race that he was able to score a 12th place class finish.  The win for McGill brought him to within just 7 points of the championship.  The championship just got interesting and now McGill is a real threat for Borich as we head into the final rounds of 2011.  I am sure November seems a long ways off for both these guys at this time.

Before I go I should really mention the amazing 3rd place over-all Walker Fowler pulled off.  Fowler from the XC2 Pro Am class and ranked 5th over-all in points snagged a second straight over-all appearance this season and it is going to fun to watch as Walker now has a taste of the "Big Win" and is going to be tough to keep out of  that spot now that he has figured out the winning strategy.  Remember Fowler finished in the top 3 over-all last year at Snowshoe and is destined to claim rights to this mountain someday.

That is it for now.  I am headed to Athens for AMA ATVMX this weekend.  If you are anywhere near in Southern Ohio come out and check out the fastest ATV Motocross racers in the nation for the first time ever at Sunday Creek Raceway. Check out  www.ATVmotocross.com for more details.  The AMA Pro ATV race will be take place on Saturday with the first moto

Till next time. God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.