Quick Fill #25: This Week in GNCC

Welcome to Quick Fill. It's hard to believe that we're already halfway through the 2011 season; Summer Break is just around the corner. Now when we say Summer Break, clearly there's no break involved. I know most of the serious competitors will be running other series, or doing locals to stay sharp over the summer. When September comes around, it will definitely show who's been putting in the work and who's been watching re-runs of ABDC and drinking Mountain Dew all summer. I know for us here at Racer, Summer Break is a bit of an ironic term considering the month of August is without a doubt the most hectic and work filled month of the year with Loretta Lynn's Amateur Motocross and ATVMX two weeks in a row. But really, there's no other place we'd rather be - besides GNCC of course!

This weekend's Wiseco John Penton appears to have a clear forecast ahead, although we won't get our hopes up just yet. I was at Sunday Creek Raceway last weekend for the AMA ATVMX and I was really impressed with the facility. JR, Howard and the crew made a few changes to the moto track, which by the way will be heavily incorporated into this weekend's Penton, and it's looking like we're in for a great weekend in Ohio.

Funny story, last weekend I left the hotel in Athens to go to the track and I decided to stop over to this body shop next to my hotel and drop off a few tickets to the ATVMX race. I figured car people, 4-wheeler races - these guys would be pumped! So I see a guy, introduce myself and so on, and he's like "oh we're more of bike people, no thanks", and I got to talking and realized I was at Cory Buttrick's family's body shop! Small world, learn something new every day. CB121 took the win here last year so let's see if the Ohio boy can chalk his first win this season at his home track.

I'm excited to hear that GEICO American Honda JG Off Road's Rory Mead is hanging around for the remainder of the GNCC season. It's going to be interesting to get the Kiwi away from the unusual courses like Rock Run and Snowshoe and see if he can hang at a more traditional GNCC course this weekend in Ohio.

FMF Makita Suzuki's Josh Strang, FMF KTM's Charlie Mullins and AmPro Yamaha's Paul Whibley are undoubtedly going to continue their season-long battle this weekend. The veteran trio has swept all six wins among themselves this year and with two each, the playing field is pretty even so far.

It sounds like Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Chris Borich has been working hard over the week training and riding. Borich caught some bad luck last round and with the smallest point margin yet this year, the defending champ knows what he has to do to stay out front. Inside sources say that he's been practicing up on his RC car skills, I guess a guy's gotta let loose sometimes, right?

Warnert Racing Can-Am's Adam McGill is coming off a stellar ride at Snowshoe so you can bet he's going to be feeling good heading into the weekend. Teammate Chris Bithell is also sitting high coming into this race so we'll be looking for the Can-Am boys back on the podium on Saturday.

Brian Wolf has been turning heads since his win at the Indy 100 this year. Brian was a front-runner once again at Snowshoe but fell victim to bike issues causing him to drop out. Wolf is currently sitting sixth in points and I don't think that was the last we'll see of the Wolf man on the podium this year. Speaking of turning heads, Ballance Racing's Walker Fowler is gunning for his eighth consecutive XC2 win this weekend and there's a good chance the youngin' will head into the Summer Break undefeated in his class. Fowler is always in contention for the overall win as well, so keep your eyes peeled for him this weekend.

We will be holding a 50cc Bike race this weekend at the John Penton so if you have kids that normally wouldn't be able to ride the GNCC Youth race, bring them out and take part in the NEHS co-sanctioned event. The 50cc Bikes will start at 4:30 p.m., following the ATV afternoon race. The race will last about 45 minutes and the cost is $25 to sign up. Transponders will not be required. PLEASE NOTE: this is a BIKE only race.

If you happened to notice that there was no Tuesday Toolbox this week....well then you need to find better things to do with your time. Just kidding, I messed up and lost all the audio from an interview with Mandi Mastin, so I will be working on getting that up tonight or tomorrow. But speaking of Mandi, she has helped to organize a spaghetti dinner this weekend at the John Penton in conjunction with the Parts Unlimited crew as an ISDE fundraiser. The dinner is open to anyone and everyone and a $5 donation is encouraged so come out and support these guys and gals as they work on their journey to Finland this year.

I was talking with former PR extraordinaire/GNCC announcer and all the above, Jason Weigandt, about racing my first GNCC this weekend and he told me all about his first-ever GNCC experience. It sounds like he spent a lot of time on the ground, got beat by the entire Women's class (who started like 4 minutes behind him) but he actually finished 288/349 - pretty impressive for a guy who just purchased his first bike 2 months prior, though! My goal this weekend at the John Penton is two-fold: first, I would like to start my bike around the same time as everyone else (dead engine start?) and second, I HAVE to finish higher than Weege did back in 2003. With those two things I will have successfully conquered my first GNCC. Wish me luck.

Here's Shan "Red Buuuuuuud" Moore. I wonder if he has green hair, a Mohawk or any new tattoos after spending the weekend at RedBud? Hmmm.

Thanks, Jen. I was in Buchanan, Michigan this past weekend for the RedBud Pro Motocross, and I got to see GNCCers Shelby Rolen and Mandi Mastin race the WMX class. Both ladies looked fast on the rough and deeply rutted track, and Shelby ended up going 18-14 for 16^th overall on her Joe Gibbs Racing-backed Yamaha, while Mandi was 25^th overall with 26-22 moto scores on her Husky, despite still feeling the effects of the severely bruised forearm and elbow. Last year it was Kailub Russell and Josh Strang representing GNCC in national motocross at RedBud, and this year it was exciting to see Shelby and Mandi doing the same. Great job, ladies.

It was extremely hot and humid during the race, which affected everyone's performance. It's amazing to see the conditioning of guys like Chad Reed, Ryan Dungey and Ryan Villopoto. These guys were barely breathing hard after the race and that track is one of the most difficult challenging of the series. It goes to show just how professional motorcycle racing has become and how far these guys take it, GNCC Pros included.

It's looking like it will be a dry John Penton this year. Last year's race was a complete mudder, so I'm looking forward to seeing a dry race there, since this is only my second trip to the facility. Don't forget to check in with www.cyclenews.com to read the digital issue after each GNCC race, those guys are giving us lots of space to report on our races, which is a good way to tell people about our sport.

Here's HotRodney22. Hit him up on Twitter if you haven't already people!

Thanks Jen.  The Wiseco John Penton GNCC will mark the second straight weekend I get to spend at what I consider my "home track" at Sunday Creek Raceway in Millfield Ohio.  This past weekend Sunday Creek played host to Round 8 of the AMA ATV National Motocross Championship by DWT.  Sunday Creek Raceway never looked better than it did for the Independence Day weekend American Suzuki ATV Summer Nationals.  The Russell's and Jeff Cernic put on a spectacular event that even included a daytime fireworks display to kick off moto 1 of the AMA Pro ATV racing in Ohio.

As this weekend approaches the stage has been reset and the GNCC Racin' Nation rolls into Sunday Creek for round 9 of the Can Am Grand National Cross Country Championship.  This will be the final stop before the "Summer Break" begins and it seems like we are just getting things rolling again.  However GNCC as it seems in nearly every discipline of motorcycle and ATV racing right now is in some of the greatest point battles the series has seen in quite some time.

The most interesting to me right now has to be the ATV point charts.  I made mention last week of how Warnert Racing/Foremost Ins. Group/Can Am rider Adam McGill sits only 7 points behind Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura/Suzuki's Chris Borich in the XC1 Class but what I did not mention is the how things are shaping up in the over-all championship battle.

If you noticed at The Snowshoe GNCC that Ballance Racing/Yamaha's Walker Fowler who is an XC2 Pro Am rider started on the very front row in a seeded start field.  Generally GNCC starts XC1 on the front row of the start and XC2 will start on row 2 but for the Snowshoe start positions were determined by over-all standings.  Fowler was ranked 5th overall so he was placed on the front row for the start of that race.

The way the scoring system works is that when racers are competing they are scored against their class peers and during the same race their times are adjusted to match for exact starting time on the course and in the end the times are compared against every individual rider for an over-all score.  So in reality the fastest rider may not cross the finish line first and can still be determined the "over-all" winner well after the physical leader finishes the race as we saw at the Rock Run GNCC with Walker Fowler.

Now back to the Overall ATV point race:  The "McGill Mafia" is feeling pretty proud right now as McGill leads the over-all standings by 4 points heading into Ohio this weekend.  McGill being a West Virginia native and considered the local boy in West Virginia also holds some rights as a local boy in Ohio at the John Penton GNCC as he lives only a little more than an hour away.  And as McGill mentioned he will have number of fans ready to cheer him there as well.  McGill spoke of confidence earlier this year and with two wins this season, the consistent finishes, tightening championship point race and now the over-all point lead he has to be riding on a wave that may be tough to stop heading into the break.

Chris Borich is not necessarily shaken at this point but has to be wondering what is going on.  I guess this is what makes a true champion.  It's easy to win a championship when things are going your way but now is the truest test since capturing it from 9-Time Champ Bill Ballance a few years ago that Chris Borich may be facing.  It's not from lack of heart or talent it's just the way things are.  Borich has done nothing different at any event this season but circumstance and incidence has caught up to him and he has just got to dig a little deeper to right the ship.

As we head into this weekend's event the entire field may all be sensing a "disruption in the force" which could mean an even more exciting race than we may be expecting.  Brian Wolf being an Ohio boy and always an unknown variable could be ready to explode this weekend and try to pull off a runaway like he had started at Snowshoe two weeks ago before demolishing his rear shock and snapping his chain in the rough West Virginia Mountains.   

Of course names like Wolf, Fowler, Kiser, Bithell, Cook and Bill Ballance pop into our minds of possible contenders to try and "seize the day" as Borich reels from a couple of recent blows that may be enough to have the defending champ seeing red right now.  But do not count out riders like Donnie Ockerman, Kevin Yoho, Johnny Gallagher and even Jarrod McClure who has been seen on and near the podium a couple times this year.  One other I would like to throw in for food for thought is AMA Pro ATV MX'er Derek Swartfager who has now run two GNCC's and they were two of the toughest on the schedule.  Swartfager was not necessarily impressed with riding at The Snowshoe but could be a little more adapted to the Ohio style course and could be an early player if things go well for him. If he can find the speed, endurance will then be the next question.

This is one stop on the tour you may not want miss if you are anywhere near south eastern Ohio this weekend.  I spoke with Dean Van Leeuween yesterday and he stated that Barry Hawk said the woods are perfect right now and should not be dusty and if it does dry out some should not be too bad.  A check of the forecast is calling for a few possible thunderstorms that may be at most annoying heading into a perfectly forecasted Saturday and Sunday of GNCC racing.  However it is Sunday Creek so bring your rain gear just in case.

As we head into the weekend there are a couple of things to know to help make it a more enjoyable weekend:

Help support the ISDE fund raising efforts if you are coming to the John Penton GNCC this weekend. Parts Unlimited/Moose is sponsoring a spaghetti dinner on Saturday Evening starting around 5:30. The donation is $5.00 a dinner and ALL proceeds go to the Ohio ISDE riders, Cory Buttrick, Jimmy Jarrett, and Mandi Mastin. Please come Saturday and help support your local ISDE riders!!

This weekend will mark the 7th annual KTM Youth Recognition Day which means all the KTM members and even John Penton himself will be on hand to show the kids a little extra attention this weekend.  You can read more in the GNCCRacing.com Industry News section of the website.

Another interesting twist to the weekend is that there will be a 50cc motorcycle race held on Saturday afternoon that should be exciting as District-11 AMA will bring some its future stars to battle it out on a shortened micro course of the GNCC.

Chapel Services will be conducted at the Team Faith rig on vendor row with Chuck Lemaster.  Services begin each race morning at 8:30 and everyone is invited to attend.  Stop any time for a good bench racing session.

That's it for now.  See you this weekend and God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.