Photo By: Jason Hooper
Ashburn is going to be a tough contender in the XC2 class for the remainder of the year
Welcome to Quick Fill. I'm usually not much of a 'countdown' person, but the closer we get to the Unadilla GNCC, the more I find myself counting those tiny little boxes on the calendar. So here it is.... TEN days until we go GNCC Racing again! Now when I say we, I really mean you all. Unfortunately I won't be attending Unadilla, as I will be in California for the final round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Following the race at Pala, we are holding the Season Celebration for MX as well as ATVMX, so it'll be almost be like a GNCC with all those dirt bikes and ATVs in one place! Furthermore, we will be lacking a 'Social Media Butterfly' at the GNCC event and are currently accepting applications for that one-race position. To be considered, you must be willing to work for no pay, have an average of 1.2 tweets per day on your personal twitter, preferably witty, own a Smart Phone and enjoy trotting through the woods for hours at a time - all at once. Shoot me an email if you're feeling up to it - jen@gnccracing.com.
I talked to Zac Zakowski this week and he told me about some exciting stuff they've got going on. They're going to have a guest rider from overseas coming in to ride Unadilla as a third teammate for the weekend. His name is Marko Jager from Prebold, Slovenia and he's said to be "THE" Utility racer overseas to beat. Having completed so many accomplishments overseas, he and his teammates have decided to come to the US to try their hand in GNCC. Marko will be racing as a fully backed Zakowski Motorsports rider in 4x4 Open aboard a #15 Ron Woods Powered Can-am Outlander 800 XT next weekend. Marko and his entourage will be flying into Wisconsin on Monday to practice with the team until 'Dilla. Zac said, "We would like to thank Rath Racing for really making this partnership happen for Unadilla." So if you see the #15 Slovenian walking around in NY, go ahead and give him the GNCC Racing hospitality and make him feel welcome in the states!
Here's a note I received from the BMC Racing crew about their time in Iowa a couple weekends ago:
Photo By: Shan Moore
Read about McGill's funniest travel story in this week's TT
Mike Chirdon, Team Manager of BMC Racing, was very happy with their two teams at this year's Heartland Challenge 10-hour race in Des Moines, Iowa on August 20. In the youth division, Tom Ulrich (PA) teamed up with two riders from Iowa and Ohio to place third in the 90 Mod class. In the 10-hour portion, Blake Chirdon (OH), Mike Shelly (MD) and Todd Moskala (PA) placed third in the B class. They also finished nineteenth overall out of fifty-two teams. It was a great time, both teams did well and now it's time to get ready for the rest of our GNCC season. We would like to thank all our sponsors for their support. -Mike Chirdon BMC Racing
If you haven't gotten the chance, head over to the GNCC website and check out this week's Tuesday Toolbox with Nate Kanney and Adam McGill. After talking with Nate Kanney, apparently riders want to talk about more than just their race-finishes. Hmm...who would have thought? So we're going to be throwing some fun-loving features your way in the near future.
All right, that's all for me this week. Next week's Quick Fill will be solely dedicated to bench racing. So if anyone dares to bench race with Shan, Rodney or myself, send your material our way and we'd be glad to bounce speculations and definitely not make wagers on the second half of the GNCC season. We're talking any class, ATVs or bikes - it's going down next Thursday.
Thanks, Jen. Well, Unadilla is just about here and I can't wait to get back to business. I'm sure I'm not the only one, though. It's been a pretty fun summer and I've been able to keep up with a lot of our GNCC guys over the break, some of them who ride the enduro series and some who don't. As a matter of fact, I saw Chris Bithell this past weekend in Ohio at the Big Muskie National Enduro! He was riding the 250A class and finished 12th in class, which was pretty dang good! He told me he's been riding dirt bikes a little this summer but his main focus has been on his quad, which he's been hitting pretty hard until a couple of weeks ago when he blew up his practice bike. Chris says he'll be ready for Unadilla, though. He was fourth last year in New York, right behind Can-Am teammate Adam McGill, and both of those guys are on a roll right now, so they'll be looking to improve on those performances next week.
I'm heading up to Steel City this weekend to cover the Pro motocross for Cycle News. Tanner Harding, Kailub Russell's mechanic, told me that Kailub is racing, so that will be fun to be able to pull for another GNCC guy at a motocross. Kailub had a rough time at Red Bud last year because he had problems in the first practice and didn't really have any time to get up to speed on the track, so I'm sure he will make sure he gets off to a good practice session this time. Anyone who can't make that race can watch it live on the Fuel and SPEED channels, so look up the times in your area and cheer Kailub on.
Strang captured October's cover in Dirt Rider
BTW, Josh Strang landed on the cover of the October issue of Dirt Rider magazine, which is now on newsstands. It was a photo from the Big Buck, and he and Charlie Mullins are also part of a feature inside the mag, so be sure to check that out, too.
Speaking of Mullins, Charlie has been riding the new 2012 250 XC two-stroke in the enduro series, but he told me he spent a lot of time back on his four-stroke last week, getting ready for Unadilla. This week, I'm sure, will be ALL four-stroke, as the KTM rider gets ready to do battle with Strang for the GNCC title. Charlie and Cory Buttrick battled back and forth for the lead at the Big Muskie and it looked like one of those two would take the win, but but then Nick Fahringer and Thad DuVall wicked it up in the final section and passed Cory and Charlie to take first and second, while Cory ended up third and Charlie fourth.
After riding a YZ250F and a YZ450F this year in enduro competition, Thad showed up at the Ohio enduro on a 250 two-stroke that he borrowed from a friend. Thad had less than a week on the bike and turned in his best ride of the year. He told me Randy Hawkins is talking to him about riding a two-stroke in next year's enduro series, so we'll see what happens. Thad sounded pretty pumped about finishing second, so we'll see if he brings some of that momentum into Unadilla. I really think Thad has got in some good experience over the summer and I look for big things out of the West Virginia rider this fall.
I also got a chance to cover the Indy Endurocross this past Friday and Hoop was there along with Rob Mitchell and Bolt-On were there, too. Wow, Taddy Blazusiak is amazing on two wheels! That is some pretty incredible stuff that those guys ride over, but I'm wondering how he would do in a GNCC... hmmm.
Photo By: Jason Hooper
Rory Mead has been getting a lot of seat time in the states, he'll be back for Dilla
Thanks Shan. I'll pass it over to Jason Hooper, with a little fresh insight this week!
Hey everyone, remember me? It's been a while since I contributed anything to Quick Fill but, honestly there hasn't been much going on! As Shan mentioned earlier I was up in Indianapolis last Friday with the digitaloffroad.com crew of Rob Mitchell and Jared Bolton. We weren't the only folks there repping GNCC as 4 Stroke A Lites contender and Indiana native Derek Allen was trying his hand at Endurocross as well as Rory Mead as part of the JG Off-road Geico Honda team. Chris Bach was in attendance, but only as a spectator. If you remember correctly, Bach raced last year in Indy and looked pretty good in his first Endurocross experience before injuring his ankle. With the luck Bach has had so far this year I don't think he was wanting to test it at the EX.
Check out this sweet video that Rob put together from the Endurocross: http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2011/08/30/2011-indianapolis-endurocross-race-video/
Oh, and real quick, Shan mentioned how amazing Taddy Blazusiak is on two wheels and I totally have to agree! But, he did try his hand at GNCC racing back in 2009 at the Power Line Park GNCC finishing a respectable 6th in the XC1 Pro class and 9th overall. It'd be nice if the Endurocross series would come to the East Coast more often and maybe piggyback off a GNCC again like they did in 2009 so that those guys could come and race with us.
Photo By: Jason Hooper
Whibs hopped on the 2 stroke bandwagon at the TKO
After the Endurocross we headed South down to the Trials Training Center near Chattanooga, TN for the first-ever Kenda Tennessee Knockout extreme enduro. Endurocross founder and Bercy Supercross promoter Eric Peronnard put on this event and had a stacked filed of riders, including Taddy, Mike Brown, and other Endurocross stars as well as our own GNCC faithful in Paul Whibley, Jordan Ashburn, Scotty Watkins, and Rory Mead. The event was similar to the Last Man Standing a few years ago, where riders had to keep racing different events to advance to the main, hence the "knockout" title. They had amateur racing on Saturday, and former GNCC XC2 Pro Lites contender Dustin Gibson won that event to put himself into the pro race on Sunday.
Whibs and Jordan were both able to put themselves in the 10-man main event which was no easy task given the strong field of contenders. Whibley, on a borrowed YZ 250 2 stroke was running in third early in the main event before a derailed chain put him off the box. He ended the day 5th, one spot behind Rory Mead who made an impressive showing. Jordan Ashburn, after qualifying 5th fastest for the main event finished 6th in the main. Taddy Blazusiak encountered bike problems and was knocked out of the first round, but I'm not sure he would've been able to beat Mike Brown who took the win in his homestate over Cody Webb and Bobby Prochnau.
Well, that's pretty much it for me for this week. I hope everyone is getting pumped to go GNCC racing at Unadilla. The little taste of racing action last weekend has left me wanting the real thing, the heck with Endurocross and one-off extreme races, I'm ready for the real deal, GNCC Racing!
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