Quick Fill #40: Amsoil Ironman is Here!

Welcome to Quick Fill. As you're heading out for this weekend's Ironman, don't forget to grab your pink apparel, décor and anything else you can sport for the 2^nd Annual Pink Race in Crawfordsville. It's unfortunate that most of us today have been affected by cancer somehow - be it losing a family member, helping a friend beat it or simply joining in the fight for a cure, and this weekend is a good time to reflect on the life we have and appreciate the family and friends we're lucky enough to be able to share our passion for racing with.

That being said, this weekend's Ironman is going to be filled with excitement and special events, unlike any other GNCC. We're going to have the usual Yamaha, KTM and Can-Am Demo rides in addition to the 2012 Polaris display units that will be on site. If you plan to participate in the demos, have a photo ID and be sure to bring your own riding gear i.e - helmet, gloves, boots, long pants and long sleeves. Saturday night, we're going to have the popular Parts Unlimited Dinner so come by and grab a bite to eat with the crew. Bring your kids as well, because thanks to the Welch Family we will have two GIANT pumpkins at the dinner for kids to decorate. Basically, we're going to have an assortment of colored sharpie markers and the kids can have at it with decorating. Back once again; the Shaver Family has the Pink Shuttle Bus to take spectators back and forth to the exciting viewing areas. They also said that the mechanical bull will be on site again this year, I haven't heard for sure where it will be located but definitely look for that this weekend as well. A full list of special events is included here for viewing.

Tomorrow morning I will be heading out to New Market Elementary with Traci Cecco, Johnny Gallagher, Jeff Pickens, Steven Squire and Adam McGill to hang with the 5^th and 6^th graders for a bit. The riders are going to be constructing pink ribbon pins with the students, and then the students will be able to wear their pins to the race Saturday and Sunday to get in for FREE. So if you see kids with GNCC pink ribbon pins out and about, give them a shout out!

As I pack for this weekend, I find myself feeling a little more anxious than normal. For one, I'm just so excited to experience THE Ironman - an event I've been hearing about since I started last January. To add in the excitement, though, I'm going to be racing as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a dry course, but I'm 100% prepared to delve into the mud if needed. This will be my first time on a 2-stroke motorcycle - the second time ever riding a 2-stroke in general - so it will be interesting to say the least. I want to give a HUGE thanks to Troy Lee Designs for providing me with some sick pink gear on such short notice. Ladies - if you're anything like me, you probably have a hard time finding Women's gear that fits well and looks good. Well, I suggest checking out TLD's Women's line - Tarah Gieger wears it in WMX and always looks stylish.

If you haven't caught them yet, here are my breakdown's for racing action in the pre-race PR's from Tuesday. The ATV roundup HERE and the bike roundup HERE.

That's it for me. I'm going to finish up things at the office and make my way to Indiana tonight. See you all at the races!

But first, here's a quick note from the Zakowski Motorsports crew:

Just want to let people know that Zakowski Motor Sports will have their PINK ON in support of Breast Cancer Awareness.  Last year Zakowski Motor Sports gave a contribution of $250.00 to Faith Alliance from the proceeds of their 2010 shirts sold at Ironman.  This year we hope to double our contributions with the proceeds from our 2011 Breast Cancer Edition T-shirts and pink wig sales.  Those proceeds will then be split between Indiana's Faith Alliance and the Wisconsin based Spierings Cancer Foundation.  The Wisconsin foundation provides financial assistance to low income, uninsured or underinsured individuals who are in need of services or have incurred expenses related to breast health screening, diagnostic testing, and financial assistance for those with a cancer diagnosis.   So please stop on over at our pit on Friday, Saturday & Sunday and GET YOUR PINK ON by purchasing a shirt a wig or both and help support a great cause for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Here's Shan Moore with some racing action news.

Thanks, Jen. Well, the season is starting to wind down and I can't believe we have just two races (three for bikes) remaining. I'm really looking forward to the Ironman this weekend. After Snowshoe, the Ironman is my favorite race, because of the big hills and wide-open racing in the fields. It appears the Crawfordsville area has been getting a bit of rain, so dust shouldn't be a problem this year. Josh Strang will need to make something happen this weekend if he has any hopes of retaining his number one plate. He told me after St. Clairsville that all he is thinking about now is getting wins. He had a good race going at the Ironman last year until his air filter stopped up, so maybe this year's race will go better for him.

Charlie Mullins, on the other hand, is in relatively good shape, holding a 26-point lead in the series standings. However, there are still 90 points up for grabs in the three remaining bike races, and, as Strang knows all too well, a lot can go wrong at a GNCC.

Paul Whibley won this past weekend's OMA race in Indiana, so his leg must be doing better. Whibs won last year's Ironman, and I'm sure he wants to make amends for the last turn incident at St. Clairsville, two weeks ago. He told me the Ironman is one of his favorite tracks, so it should be a good race between Whibs, Mullins, Strang, and Kailub Russell - who we are all watching to see if he can come away with back-to-back wins.

There were a lot of rumors floating around at the Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas this past weekend, mostly about where James Stewart will end up. Right now, it's pretty certain he's talking with Joe Gibbs Racing, although JGR is still trying to work out what bikes they'll be riding next year. The talk is they'll either be on Suzukis or Yamahas. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people being put on hold while these details get worked out, and one of them is Suzuki off-road. Suzuki says they want to field an off-road team for 2012, but they need for sponsors to come on board, which is a hard sell right now for off-road. Also, Suzuki may be spending a lot of money on Stewart - whether he ends on the factory Suzuki team, or goes to JGR on Suzuki.

If you missed last week's Cycle News, here's a link to the Powerline story: http://cyclenews.coverleaf.com/cyclenews/20111011#pg53

Thanks Shan. Here's a bit from Bolt-On.

Thank Jen! So we now approach the famous Ironman GNCC this weekend. This has traditionally served as our final round, but with the rescheduling of Loretta Lynn's, the Ironman becomes our penultimate round. Hopefully it matches the last part of that word too, being "ultimate" as in an ultimate spectacular. If the racing we've seen throughout the previous rounds of the season is any indication of what to expect, than there's no doubt that the Ironman will be an ultimate spectacle of racing action.

With the end of the season closing in, we're starting to see our championship battles shape up. We talked about that some last week and mentioned how close the title chase is for the bikes, and how close the battle for the third and fourth place spots are for the ATV's. With these championships and top five positions on the line, this is undoubtedly setting us up for an incredible weekend of racing in Indiana. There's no doubt that the racing action will draw the attention of the entire town of Crawfordsville as well. The fans will come out by the thousands to enjoy the off-road racing action, and they're going to be in for a treat.

On the ATV side, in the past several years, Chris Borich has been the dominating force at this track. Carrying the momentum from the win at Powerline Park just a couple of weeks ago, there's no doubt that Borich will be the man to beat. However, he's going to have to over come the list of other regular contenders - those who are also in a close points battle for their respective positions in the championship standings. To reiterate how it stacks up as of now, Chris Bithell holds down the third place position with just a four-point lead over Taylor Kiser in the fourth place spot.

Brian Wolf is 19 points behind Kiser. Wolf has showed that he has the speed and talent to take the win, and he has to be hungry for a win after finishing second at Powerline Park. On the other hand, with the points battle close for the third place spot, the duo of Bithell and Kiser will be in a battle to not only take the win, but to also just beat each other out for that third place position. Given these potential battles that could shape up, there's no doubt that you're going to want to keep an eye on these guys when the flag flies on Saturday.

Shifting gears to the bikes (no pun intended), we're looking at a similar situation. However, it's could be a three-way battle for the overall championship. Charlie Mullins holds the advantage but Josh Strang and now Paul Whibley are keeping it close. These guys have all logged impressive performances at the Ironman in years past and with the championship on the line, this battle could get even more interesting! While the top three riders may know the Ironman track well, one rider to keep an eye on will of course be the 116 of Nate Kanney. No current rider has a better record at Ironman than Kanney. This is another one of the tracks where Nate comes in more confident and ready to roll than normal. It's a definite chance that Kanney will be a threat for the win.

The other front-runner that may be a threat for the win will be Kailub Russell. KR will be carrying momentum from his dominating performance in Ohio and should be a threat for the win as well. After wrapping up the XC2 title early last year, Kailub jumped to XC1 for this race in 2010 and had a good showing early by grabbing the holeshot and leading most of the opening lap before going down in a river crossing and drowning his bike. In previous Ironman performances during his XC2 days, Kailub put in some good rides. This of course means that he's another rider with a good Ironman track record, so expect to see the 557 up front as well.

The Ironman is one of the best GNCC events of the season. With it's huge spectator turnout and popularity among, well, everybody, there's no doubt that you're in for a treat at Ironman. I'm excited to be riding this Ironman this year, thanks to Barry Hawk for offering up a bike for me to ride! So if you see a guy out there Sunday and wonder why Barry Hawk is going so slow, don't be fooled, it's not Barry, it's Bolt-On.

Another special part of this event is that, for the past two years, Ironman has also paid tribute to those who have battled breast cancer by "going pink" to raise awareness. This truly shows how giving and supportive our sport it. The Ironman is also special because it also pays tribute to one of the best racers the series has ever seen, that being "Ironman" Bob Sloan. Bob would race a quad on Saturday (often times taking the win) then turn around and race a bike on Sunday. Unfortunately Bob passed away from a heart issue, but in a fitting fashion, it was doing what he loved while battling to the finish. This race honors one of the greatest races the spot has ever seen.

There's no doubt in my mind that we're looking at a great weekend of racing in Indiana. So everyone come on out and have some fun. That's going to do it for me, until next time, Bolt-On out!

Thanks Bolt-On. We'll wrap things up with Rodney Tomblin before hitting the road to Indy!

Thanks Jen.  As we head into the Amsoil Ironman GNCC it is getting closer to the wire for the championships.  Walker Fowler wrapped his up in the XC2 Pro Am ATV and Chris Borich can possibly seal the deal this weekend on the premier XC1 Pro Class.  On the bike side of things, it is still so up in the air with three races left and a number of scenarios that could unfold.  Certainly not taking anything away from anyone but this is GNCC Racing and anything can happen.  Added to the exciting battle in the XC1 Pro Class between Charlie Mullins, Josh Strang and Paul Whibley is the XC2 Pro Lites battle that has become somewhat of a thriller itself.  Steward Baylor seemingly the heir apparent to the championship has seen his struggles this season along with Jason Thomas.  This has made things much more exciting heading into the final rounds. This is especially true since XC2 Rookie Jordan Ashburn has moved to within 9 points of Thomas. As well, Andrew DeLong who has shown consistency, too, all season and a burst of top finishes as of late has him only 3 points behind Ashburn.

In the UTV Championship it looks like this one will go down to the wire.  The father/son duo of Larry D. and Larry H. Hendershot currently lead William Yokely from Team National Guard/Polaris by only 9 points and the final round of this championship is going to be huge. A few points back in the third position is the Coastal/National Guard machine driven by Scott Kiger.  I know all three teams are having a great championship run this season and the Ironman will be where the score gets settled.

The Ironman GNCC will offer a host of activities for the weekend and Friday night is going to be an exciting event to the biggest GNCC of the year.  If you recall during the summer break a GNCC racer Jeffery Musser from the Senior A 40+ class sent us an update on some exciting stuff that he had taken part in during the Snowshoe GNCC.

Musser was contacted by ABC Producers to head a project in Pennsylvania for the highly popular Extreme Home Makeover television show while driving to the Indy 100 GNCC.  After a lot of thought and talking things over with his wife, he decided to take on this huge task.  He was given only a short time to organize things but pulled it off and when the show was complete the producers said they wanted more.  So they made it into a two hour special and are kicking off a move to Friday nights for this season with the show. In celebration of this huge accomplishment by one of our own GNCC family members, we are planning a viewing get together on Friday evening at the Parts Unlimited Tent.  Come on over and join in some other fun stuff planned for the night.   Even if you don't make it out to watch with us, be sure and catch it on your local ABC station at 8/7c this Friday night.

I would like to say congratulations to Cory Buttrick who teamed up with "The King of The Blackwater" Mark Hyde at this past weekend's 27^th Annual Team Harescramble Championship of the World and ended up walking away with top honors.  Rumors were flying early that Buttrick was actually racing later that day in the ATV side of the championship.  Buttrick who in his own words was "more than pumped!" to throw his leg over the 4 wheeled beast and go after his old two wheeled rival Walker Fowler.  Though Buttrick wanted to compete in the competition, his KTM ATV and partner never showed.

On the other hand GNCC ATV XC1 2^nd place points holder Adam McGill had no problems finding a partner in local rider Josh Davis and bike for the bike portion of the program.  McGill rode a respectable race running top 8 for a good portion of the two-hour race.  This was a questionable move considering he had to be ready to start the ATV race shortly after the bike race.

McGill teaming up with former top GNCC Youth rider Seth "Ginger" Mumford were in a heated battle with newly crowned XC2 Pro-Am ATV racer Walker Fowler.  Though the first hour was dominated by Walker and his teammate and former GNCC Youth National Champ Levi Coen, the second hour presented them with some problems that dropped them back to 3^rd.  Heading into the last lap a duo of last year's GNCC Schoolboy A/B class champ Braden Henthorn teamed up with this year's champion Brycen Neal.  Neal fresh off 3^rd place over all at Powerline Park GNCC in the 10:00am race the week before, was amped and ready to ride and ended up scoring 2^nd only a few seconds ahead of a last lap charge put on by Walker Fowler.

In the end, McGill and Mumford claimed the Team Harescrable Championship of the World with Neal and Henthorn in 2^nd and Fowler and Coen in 3^rd.  I do want to let folks know that Neal and Henthorn are both riders that need to be watched out for.  The ride they put together more than showed this especially with the heat Fowler laid down on these boys.

It was a fun event and a great way to let off some steam before the GNCC winds down for the season.  I want to thank Action Sports Promotions for putting on the event and look forward to next year.

And as we head into this weekend don't forget the UTV racing on Saturday afternoon around 4:30.  I spoke with Team Faith's founder Bryan O'Rourke at the last event and seems he won't make the final round to ride with Pastor Chuck at the Ironman.  I was offered the spot but was quickly put against the figurative ropes about it by Miss Hannah Reid the other voice at GNCC.  Hannah said to me that she should get the spot in the passenger seat because it may be her last opportunity since she has other obligations next season and won't be able to make it.  What's a person to do?  Should I let her do it or should I just go ahead take the ride.  If you see me Friday or Saturday let me know what you think.

Also don't forget Chapel Services each race morning at 8:30 am at the Team Faith display on vendor row. And on Friday evening be sure and stop by the Ockerman/Wolf pits to help Glen "Jody" Pritchard and his family.  There will lots of drawings for some great stuff donated by a lot of GNCCers and sponsors.  So stop over and check things out for yourself. Keep your hearts and prayers with Glen and Ellen and the entire family as Glen battles not only injuries but illness.

Don't forget your PINK this weekend!  Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.