Quick Fill #35: Back to Racing

Welcome to Quick Fill. First off, I want to say thank you to all the fans, racers and families that came out to the Unadilla GNCC despite the unfavorable road conditions in some parts of the East. I think as most people found out though, if you did your research before making the trip, there were safe travel routes available. It's always a sensitive subject when it comes to weather conditions and please know that Racer Productions will always put safety in front of anything else. This weekend happened to be situational, meaning that for some people it was out of the question to travel, but for others the roads were perfectly okay. And not to mention, the track was "one of the driest Unadilla courses we've ever had," according to Paul Whibley and several others. So we thank you all for making it a great event and it's good to finally get the ball rolling to the second half of the season.

I want to give a big shout out to Johnny Gallagher for his A+ tweeting efforts on Sunday during the PM race. Since I wasn't able to be there, Johnny took over the tweet game and was killin' it until his iPhone mysteriously lost service. So if you were following and you noticed a drop off in updates - that's why. But it was a valiant effort by Johnny G. I swear, if that guy doesn't pick up a PR job somewhere in the industry once he stops racing full-time, I might as well give up mine because he is the man.

While I'm on the subject of blue ATV racers, I want to congratulate Walker Fowler on his SECOND overall win of the year!  Walker is vying for a perfect season in the XC2 class and he just happens to keep putting a dent in the XC1 group as well. It's going to be interesting to see what happens next year when the young lad turns up in the premiere class and starts racing head-to-head with guys like Borich, McGill, Bithell, Kiser and Wolf.

I thought we were going to see a Borich-sweep this year after he won the first three of four rounds, but as the season progresses, the racing only gets better. Taking nothing against Borich, because he's obviously getting the job done as far as winning races, but we're seeing a bigger push from the Warnert Racing Can-Am guys (McGill and Bithell) and Brian Wolf continues to impress week after week. Taylor Kiser is such a steady finisher up front, but I'm looking to see him bust out a win before the year is over. Between Kiser and Wolf, I'm not sure which fast-guy gets caught up in race disasters more often, but one thing is for sure - they never give up. That's one of the most impressive things about cross-country racing to me - these riders run into some of the gnarliest things throughout the long races, but rarely ever do you see a rider give up unless their bike is just plain out of commission. Heck, I've heard everything from riders stopping to unwrap barbed wire from a competitor's ATV to another rider rigging up an electrical piece just to make his quad start. I've heard of guys getting off their bikes to push a friend up a hill and I actually think Johnny Gallagher carried his ATV all the way back to the finish after he broke down at Snowshoe.

Which brings me to my next subject, the Strang/Buttrick debacle. Now I wasn't there, so I obviously didn't see what happened but it sounds like an unfortunate situation for both riders involved. JR talked to daddy Buttrick yesterday and it sounds like Cory is doing better, but still feeling the effects of a blow to the head. Head injuries are a tough one because for the most part you feel like you're okay, but the littlest things tend to tweak you out a little and you definitely can't hop back on the motorcycle after a concussion. We wish Cory the best and I know he'll take the proper steps to recover the head. But back to never giving up, the other half of that crash was Strang, who was pretty banged up but kept on riding, it was his bike that wasn't able to go on. After Bones and Nalley got the bike going again, Strang put in his best efforts to finish the race strong, despite the fact that he was down a few laps and clearly out of championship points. It's that never-give-up mentality that makes GNCC Racers some of the toughest out there.

Mullins grabbed an eight point lead over Strang after last weekend and Whibley is coming on strong, only twenty points away from that first position now. Whibs has a good track record this year in the rocky terrain so a win at Somerset could put the Kiwi in a desirable position for the championship title. These guys compliment one another with their strengths and weaknesses at all the different tracks, so there's no doubt in my mind that the XC1 championship is going to come down to the Loretta's double header in November.

It's hard to believe that we will actually have one week off and then get back to racing. It feels good to be back in the groove of things and I'm excited to see what Somerset brings. Being my first year on the GNCC circuit, I get the excitement of "firsts" as we head to each facility on the schedule and I'm able to compare the course with what people told me it was going to be. Next weekend's forecast: rocky rocks surrounded by rocks, from what I hear. We'll take a look at the best rocky riders next week, as we get closer to Somerset.

Veering off the racing path for a second, our very own Trail Boss Jeff Russell is going to take the weekend off of dirtbikes, ATVs and dozers to compete in the State Bass competition in Ravenswood. If you know JR, you probably know he likes to fish. But I'm not sure people realize (I know I didn't) just how good he is! He qualified for the State tourney about a month ago, he said he didn't really know what to expect and all of the sudden people were telling him how great he was doing. So if you're friends with JR on Facebook, send him a little good luck wish as he goes for the...State Bass Title....? And don't forget to check out Rachel's great interview with him on JG Off Road's Wednesday Wrench.

Quick note, I got a phone call from a gentleman named Robert Juckett, who shoots photos for things like Nascar and he happend to attend the Unadilla GNCC and was blown away by the racing, the surroundings and the people of GNCC. Robert sent over a few photos, two of which are included here in QF. Thanks a lot Robert, glad you had a great time and we welcome you to the GNCC Racing world!

Hoop just uploaded the latest Video Report from Unadilla on the website. Check it HERE!

That's all for me. I'll pass it along to Shan "Birthday Boy" Moore.

Thanks, Jen. The Unadilla weekend was a pretty eventful one, with all the flooding in the area and road closures. The major north/south highway, Interstate 81, was closed down north of Binghamton due to high water, meaning anyone coming to the race from the south needed to find an alternate route. If you got caught on the 81 like I did, then you were looking at spending two hours or so just to go about 10 miles to a cut-off. I think everyone managed to find a way to get to the track, and except for a few raindrops on Sunday afternoon it was a perfect weekend for racing at the 'Dilla.

There was a lot to talk about when it came to the racing at Unadilla, as well, with Walker Fowler winning the overall in the ATV XC1 race for the second time this year. There was also a big shakeup at the top of the standings in the XC1 bike race, with Charlie Mullins taking over the lead in the title chase with an impressive win in the class, combined with the fact that Josh Strang could only manage a 13^th after crashing on the opening lap.

A few miles after the start, on the motocross portion of the course, Josh attempted a big step-up double jump and Cory was in front of him. Josh told me afterwards that he thought the jump would be a safe one to take because Cory was far enough ahead of him that it shouldn't be an issue. But Josh said that Cory ended up checking up and rolling the down-side of the jump and at the same time Cory moved over into Josh's path, so Josh ended up landing on top of Cory.

From what I've heard, Cory was out of it for a while and they ended up taking him to a hospital in Utica to get an MRI and a good once-over. I spoke with D-Butt late Sunday night and he said Cory was fine, but that he had a mild concussion... just another incident in a long line of bad luck for C-Butt this year. Hopefully he'll have the year in 2012 that he deserves to have.

Josh was a little sore after the occurrence and he said he was spitting up blood for a while. I know Josh felt really bad about it, but there was nothing he could do, and that's just racing. I saw Josh over at the Buttrick pits after the race checking up on Cory, and that reinforced the respect I have for Josh. In the meantime, Mullins picked up a 22-point swing in the series standings and now leads Strang by an eight-point margin with five rounds to go.

Kailub Russell had a great race too, leading Mullins at the start before losing ground when he pumped up. This is the second runner-up finish in a row for Kailub and it's only a matter of time before he gets that first win.

Chris Bach told me after the race that he'll be undergoing surgery this week to repair an ACL in his knee that's been bothering him all year. Chris told me that he reinjured the knee a couple of weeks ago, which just made matters worse, and after a lot of consideration he decided to go ahead and get it taken care of so he can be ready for the 2012 season. Chris ran a strong third for most of the race at Unadilla but backed off the pace when he caught his foot in a rut and wrenched the knee again. Look out for C-Bach to have a breakout year in 2012, the kid is really hungry to make things happen.

With his ninth-straight win in the XC2 class, Walker Fowler wrapped up the Pro Am title with four races left on the schedule, which prompted Rodney Tomlin to speculate out loud if Walker would finish out the year in the XC1 class. Walker told Rodney that he was eyeing a perfect season because no one had ever done that before, but he was leaving all his options open. Meanwhile Chris Borich says he's looking forward to Walker moving up so they can race head-to-head. That will be interesting, for sure, when it finally happens.

Be sure to check out this week's digital issue of Cycle News for an eight-page story on the Unadilla GNCC: http://cyclenews.coverleaf.com/cyclenews/20110913#pg61

Cycle News also has a cool photo gallery with captions from the Unadilla GNCC. To view it go to: http://cyclenews.com/articles/off-road/2011/09/13/photo-gallery-unadilla-gncc/

And last, but certainly not least, here's Rodney "almost floated away in the flood" Tomblin.

Thanks Jen.  It seems kind of strange really finally actually being able to talk about a race instead of wondering what is going to happen.  Even though this has been a shorter off-season than normal, it almost seemed longer with the way the championships have been breaking down.  Both the ATV and the motorcycle XC1 and XC2 classes have afforded race fans a most interesting race for the championship.

As we headed into the break, the XC1 Pro ATV class had gotten about as tight as one has seen in sometime between 2-time defending champion Chris Borich and the #3 of Adam McGill.  Then some misfortunate mechanical issues for McGill in Ohio heading into the break once again opened things up for Borich and gave him some comfort heading into the Can-Am Unadilla GNCC.

One thing for certain, this year's Unadilla GNCC is one that will not soon be forgotten.  Heading into the weekend, the word "epic" echoed through the pits as everyone was shocked at how great the racetrack turned out.  It was shocking because of the amount of rain that had fallen in the area just before.  Record amounts of rainfall and major flooding had most roads coming from the south literally washed or flooded out and alternate routes were the norm for nearly everyone in attendance.  Unadilla Valley Sports Center had seen a little more than 11 inches of rain itself but missed the brunt of storm, which gave the track the perfect conditions everyone experienced.  Other than a little greasy slick mud in a few spots, the track was in the best shape it had ever been and anyone who opted out thinking it would be a mud bash has got to be kicking themselves now.

I mentioned the word "epic" was being used quite a bit and if you want to know the technical definition of "epic" it is according to the Encarta Dictionary:  4. a long series of events characterized by adventures or struggle. And did it live up to its hype?  I for one would have to say that it did and it was exactly what folks thought it would be, "Epic".

In the pre-race interviews everyone was confident and happy to be back to GNCC Racing.  XC2 Pro-Am top dog Walker Fowler stated that he thought it was time to see a blue bike in the center of the podium at the end of the race.  He was hoping for a strong ride for his teammate Taylor Kiser but then I asked him if Taylor couldn't get it done was he going to try to make it happen from the second row?  Fowler just smiled real big and said "It's been done before."  Then he turned and walked away.  If you watched the race or checked the results then you know there was a blue Ballance Racing/Moto Xperts/Yamaha machine in the center of the podium.  You also know that Kiser didn't have his best day and you know that the young phenom known as Walker Fowler was able to win the overall from the second row for a second time this season.  A quick check of overall points has Fowler in 5^th overall only 6 points behind his teammate Taylor Kiser and only 16 points behind 2^nd place Adam McGill. That is interesting if nothing else.

After the race, I was told that it looked like Fowler had wrapped up the XC2 Pro Am Championship and the question on many folks' minds was, would he move up to XC1 now that he had it sealed in the XC2.  Fowler simply stated, "no one has gone undefeated yet in this class, so until someone beats me this year I am staying where I am."  I know several were disappointed to hear this but he had a good point.  I am sure that Chris Borich may have been disappointed to hear this especially after stating on the podium only moments before that he can't wait to have Walker move up so he can race him head-to-head instead of on time adjustment.

This statement brought a few grumbles from the crowd of those that did not realize what Chris meant.  Chris was not trying to seem arrogant by any stretch of the imagination or even take anything away from Fowler.  He only meant it was hard to race someone when you really have no idea what they are doing.  You have the guys you are racing with to key off of but never really are sure what is going on behind you and you don't know what you have to do.  Basically he said it was just a mind game that was hard to play when you are racing so intensely already and then have to try and beat someone you can't even see.  I understand what he is saying, but that is the nature of the beast in GNCC Racing and Chris Borich knows it all too well, as it's a beast he has faced on more than one occasion.

One thing I am sure we can all count on as far as the ATV championship race this season is that it is not over yet and even with a point cushion beginning to build for Chris Borich, he has a few races to go before he can claim his title and it is going to be the hardest fought battle thus far for defending his championship.  And if you think about next year you know it is only going to get worse for him as the talent field deepens in GNCC ATV racing.

A quick thought on the bikes before I go.  "Epic" can also be a great word to explain the way the battles shaped up there.  And even though it was one of the more boring races to spectate because of the way the riders separated late in the race, it was certainly not without its struggles for the riders as they began to face some of their own challenges as the race wore on.

In the end, Charlie Mullins turned a 14-point deficit into an 8-point lead.  It came from an outstanding performance and a whole lot of luck.  On the first lap, former points leader Josh Strang got together with Corey Buttrick on a jump section of the Unadilla MX track.  The incident left Strang battered and bruised and sent Buttrick to the hospital.  In the end everyone is going to be okay but it made for a most interesting sway in the championship hunt that could put Charlie Mullins in a position to take the GNCC championship.  This could be a stellar year for Charlie if he is able to wrap up the AMA National Enduro title and the GNCC title.

Jordan Ashburn took his 2^nd win of the year in the highly competitive XC2 Pro-Lites class.  Ashburn was able to chase down and pass Jason Thomas late in the race.  Thomas was disappointed at not taking the win but was more than complementary to Ashburn.  He congratulated him and stated that he was happy for him.  He also said he was happy because he beat the guy he needed to for the championship.  Jason was referring to class point leader Steward Baylor who was suffering from the start of the race with an ankle injury from the John Penton.  Baylor did muster up a 4^th place in the class for the day but lost some valuable championship points to Thomas with 24 points separating them now.

That will do it for now.  There is plenty to talk about next week with amateur racing. So until then, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.