Welcome to Quick Fill.
@jenkenyon: Time rolls on. We're back to the exciting part of the year where a majority of the riders have secured their deals for the upcoming season and now it's all about training, riding and preparing for round one. For some that means riding or racing and for others it means hitting the gym and putting their head on straight. We're only 58 days away from the opening round in Florida, but who's counting?
So last week Bolt-On sent us a few old school GNCC photos to post here in QF and it prompted me to dig up old racing photos around the office. It's incredible to see how much has changed over the years, everything from the evolution of equipment to the courses and general atmosphere at the races. Tommy Harris brought in a few Blackwater 100 photos and even a program from 1980, which I later found out was actually designed by Rita Coombs. Apparently Rita used to work at a print shop growing up and she learned the ropes of graphic design before it was even considered a trade (they literally had to stick on each letter by hand back then). Anyway, as I opened the program to the "Blackwater 100 Events Schedule" I was impressed with what was inside. The day before the race began with a Blue Grass radio broadcast, followed by a Pre-Race Parade, Cake Walk, Bingo and a Street Dance. Could you imagine if we held a parade through the town of Crawfordsville, Indiana the Friday before Ironman? I think it could work, but the Cake Walk, I'd suggest keeping that in the 80's.
1980 Blackwater 100 Program
The other two photos were also taken at the Blackwater by someone in the Tommy Harris crew. If you head over to the GNCC Facebook, we put one up for a photo caption contest. If you can come up with the best caption, we'll give away (4) gate tickets to any GNCC event in 2012. Even if you can't think of a good caption, the photo captions are always good for a chuckle because people usually get pretty creative.
Jeff Russell mentioned that we're going to be looking for people to work GNCC events once again this year so if you're interested shoot me an email at Jen@gnccracing.com. There are a variety of things available and it usually works best to have people who are already coming to all or most of the events anyway.
If you finished in the top 10 in your class and didn't pick up your plaque at the banquet, here's your chance. All you need to do is contact the office with your address and provide payment info for shipping (depends on the award). We're only going to hold onto them for another week or so and then they're being recycled, so this is last call.
I'll pass it over to Barry Hawk, who finally shaved his beard and instantly dropped 12 years off his appearance. I almost forgot what he looks like without that thing!
@bhawk8: I know I said last week that riding in Pennsylvania in January is about as much fun as cleaning air filters, but this January has been like none that I can remember. It's been South Carolina type of weather-ie: warm days and cool nights. But rather than pay attention to temperatures as a rider, I would know how cold it got by how much frozen ground I was riding on. Riding a bike on frozen dirt can be as painful as watching my Steelers lose to Tim Tebow in the first round of the playoffs. On the other hand, riding a quad on frozen dirt can be a lot of fun, except for when you catch an edge and hit the ground. That's equal to the Tebow thingy. Anyhow, I know the riding here in PA is good right now because I went riding Saturday with AJ Stewart and Shawn Remington, who was nice enough to let me ride his bikes, thanks Shawn. That was the first time I've done some serious riding in a long time and I forgot how much fun it can be. Which brings me to my next point. Isn't that why we do all this, because it's fun?
Caption this photo on Facebook to win (4) gate passes for any GNCC in 2012!
Sometimes I think we forget to have fun at what we're doing. You can say the suspension needs work or it's too muddy or dusty, or the ground is too frozen or whatever, but it's important to stop for a second and remember why you starting doing this in the first place, because it can be a lot of fun. After saying all that I feel like doing some racing! Tommy Harris and I were looking at our schedule during lunch today trying to figure out if we can squeeze a race in before we have to set up the Georgia and Florida tracks, now whether that happens or not remains to be seen.
I wanted to bring up a slight change in the pro rulebook because I'm not sure if you guys actually read the fine print when it comes to those things. In the past, the bike guys have struggled with the responsibility of walking the course one day prior to racing so RP made the rule that bike pros couldn't walk the track until Sunday morning. Well, it sounds like they're bringing back the old ways, with a few stipulations. So for next year, bike pro riders are now allowed to check out the track on Saturday afternoon. I'm sure all of them will appreciate that. For exact times and details, read the rules HERE. But I'm sure you're wondering what the stipulations are and one of them is a mandatory autograph session at 11 AM on Sunday for all pro riders, which will probably be in one location around pro row instead of at each pit area. ATV guys will do the same thing on Saturday morning, by the way. And the other stipulation for the track walk is riders have to wear their riding boots so they get a bunch of blisters. That's all I got to say about that.
P.S. Just kidding about boots.
P.S.S. I hope Tebow wins it all because style doesn't mean a thing; it's how bad you want it.
P.S.S.S. BREAKING NEWS! This just in, Jed Haines is taking over the spot on the FLYOBERAINES Team for the injured Morgan Moss. Back to you, Jen.
Barry Hawk, the guy who does it all. I'll pass it right along to Jason Hooper.
@jahoop: We're only a couple weeks into January but the 2012 racing season is already kicking off with a lot of our GNCC faithful, both bike and ATV, hitting up last weekend's FTR down in Brooksville, FL. FMF/KTM's Kailub Russell is headed West this weekend to race in the first round of the WORCS at Glen Helen. It's been a couple of years since Kailub did a WORCS race so it'll be interesting to see how he fares on one of the fastest courses that series offers.
Some of the Racer Crew: Chase, Andrew (Scorpio), Jen, Jordan and Mel
2010 GNCC Champ, Josh Strang, has been stuck in his homeland of Australia waiting on his Visa renewal. Strang tweeted earlier this week that he'd definitely miss the first race this weekend since he is Visa had taken longer than expected to come in. I was able to talk to Josh yesterday (which I think is actually today?) and he said his Visa and Passport arrived so he was in the process of changing his flight so he can get back to California and get to riding and testing. The whole incident kind of reminded me of when Dean Wilson got stuck in Canada during Supercross a couple of years ago. Strang is still planning on racing as many GNCC rounds as possible, so look for him aboard his KTM down in Florida in March.
I saw some Facebook photos of Adam McGill at the FTR in Florida sporting his new JT Racing gear. I'll be completely honest here and say I'm not a huge fan of the throwback look that JT has going on, but somehow Adam is able to pull it off. If you saw the red mohawk he was sporting at the GNCC banquet, you know that McGill isn't afraid to go outside the norms so wearing a new and different gear brand definitely seems right up his alley.
Many of you may have seen the ads all over the Internet lately of the Champion Spark Plugs "Search for a Champion" sponsorship promotion. Basically, they are giving away five $10,000 sponsorships and one $50,000 sponsorship to motorsport athletes that have submitted videos explaining why they deserve it. GNCC's very own Josh Weisenfels submitted a very compelling entry and I encourage everyone to give him a vote, there's not a more deserving guy out there: http://contest.alwaysachampion.com/contests/showentry/1011941
For those of you who don't know Josh, the Arkansas native burst onto the GNCC scene back in 2007 as a privateer and came within a few seconds of beating Rodney Smith at the Sparta, KY race in the XC2 Class. Weisenfels has battled injuries nearly every season, and his big break came last year when he was picked up by the FMF/Makita/Suzuki factory team to race XC2. He unfortunately pretty much destroyed his ankle the week before Florida and was never able to even race for the team. After multiple surgeries he's ready to give GNCC Racing another shot and could definitely use the help.
Photo By: Simon Cudby
Here's a first glance at Charlie Mullins with the #1 plate
Here's Bolt-On:
@JaredBolton: Is it just me, or did the past week fly by? It seems like it was yesterday that I was typing up my Quick Fill contribution and here it is again. That could actually be a good sign because that means the off-season will just end quicker and we can get back into the swing of things when it comes to racing. Some are already getting a head start by finding some various local races to do. We mentioned the FTR hare scramble event in Brooksville, Florida last week. Jim Douglas sent me a little info about the race and apparently it was a pretty good one! He told me that it was actually pretty hot and dusty already, so that alone was a bit of good training for the guys. Charlie Mullins had some trouble getting his bike started on the line but worked his way into the lead by the end of the second lap.
Charlie ended up with the win while pro moto guy Kyle Keylon took second. Rumor is that Keylon is taking a year off from the moto scene to give some off-road races a try, so hopefully we'll see him at some GNCC's in 2012. Chris Douglas took third place followed by Florida local Clay Lyons in fourth and Steven Squire in fifth. There's another FTR hare scramble event coming up this weekend and chances are we're going to see a similar story come from that one. Big thanks to Jim Douglas for giving me the low-down on the race and I can't wait to hear all the details from the one coming up this weekend.
These three are working hard to chase after that #1 plate this season
Speaking of races happening this weekend, I'm heading to the SETRA Broxton Bridge Enduro in South Carolina. I've ridden this event for several years and will be making my not-so-triumphant return to the track for the first time since the Ironman. In years past, this race has drawn a pretty decent group of riders battling for the overall win. Russell Bobbitt, Mike Lafferty, Nick Fahringer, Jason Raines, Jesse Robinson and more have all raced this one over the past few years. Being just a couple of weeks before the National Enduro opener, there's probably going to be yet again pretty good turnout.
I scanned through the pre-entered riders earlier and saw Brad Bakken's name on row 30. Brad just posted some photos on Facebook this week of a brand new YZ250 he just got. There's still a few pro rows with the A spot unclaimed, so I expect to see those filled come race day. It could definitely shape up to be a good battle for the overall win, and once I finish I plan on trying to get the scoop from some of the guys, so be sure to check back next week to see how it all played out.
I bet you wouldn't have guessed that #37 is actually Buren Hamrick and #47 is Tommy Harris
The bad news to develop over the past week comes from XC2 rider Morgan Moss. Apparently Morgan suffered a knee injury and will be out for a few months while recovering from surgery. This means the new Oberymeyer/Raines Racing/OffroadViking.com Yamaha team has an open spot to fill. They haven't made any announcements yet on fill in riders, so there's a fair bit of speculation going around at the moment. It's a real bummer for Morgan but you have to give him some respect for going ahead and getting the surgery to fix it instead of trying to ride all season on it like many of us would (myself included).
One last thing before I end this, last week I included a photo of a mystery Husqvarna rider at Sand Flea GNCC in the late 80's. First speculation I had came from Bill Allen who mentioned it could be Mike Melton. I thought it could be a possibility as well. Then Kailub Russell's mom, Tina brought up that it's probably Terry Cunningham because by the late 80's, Mike Melton had stepped away from the racing scene. So, there you have it. It could very well be Cunningham.
That's going to do it for me this week. Hope everyone has an awesome weekend full of some sort of riding or racing. Remember, we're only about 8 weeks out from the start of the season! Until next time, Bolt-On out!
And here's Rodney Tomblin:
@HotRodney22: Here we are at about the two-month mark for the "Winter Break" and the GNCC Racing Nation is coming to life. I say "Winter Break" because when I talked to Johnny G the other day he said the way it seems now with the series running later in the year and so close to the banquet, it seems more like a break than an off-season. It does sort of feel like an extended summer break without Loretta Lynn's, Steel City MX National and ATVMX to keep us busy. I've decided that even if we were in an off-season for GNCC, technically we should be calling it the pre-season.
Tommy Harris celebrated his 25th birthday in style
As the GNCC pre-season kicks off for 2012, the riders are starting come out of the woodworks. We're getting plenty of inside information on training, new programs, new teams and pre-season injuries and we plan to keep you all up-to-date with that information as we get it.
I've become known as the ATV guy, so to speak, which works out well because it seems that a lot of others here focus on the two-wheeled efforts a little more. Am I more partial to ATVs, no not really-or at least I don't think I am. Regardless, I love racing and ATV racing has been some of the best racing lately. It's a little difficult to say that after last season's exciting championships in nearly every form of two-wheeled and four-wheeled off-road/MX racing but I am going to say it anyway. Next season does look to be a little different that last though as in my opinion the talent field is even deeper this coming season than last. More and more riders are pushing themselves to the next level to compete and we as race fans can do nothing but sit back and enjoy the ride.
Quickly on the bike side, I heard that Jesse Robinson may come back this season riding Husaberg. The last couple seasons Jesse has brought the fun-factor back to racing and he's been trying to enjoy what he does rather than let it tear him down. Results have shown it to work and even better is the welcoming smile of the southern gentleman we see at the races.
The biggest question on the ATV side is "what is Chris Borich going to be riding this year?" There was a lot of speculation at the end of the season with reports of Borich being on everything from Yamaha to Can-Am. What did he choose? I spoke with him from the Borich Training Compound near Daytona yesterday and he told me what he had planned. I was a little shocked but not really surprised and after a lengthy conversation, I totally understand and even have a little more respect for Chris. He said that he'll be riding yellow next season, and not a new yellow either. Chris said he was sticking with the Suzuki's and that even though he wasn't getting paid a salary, he had all the bikes and parts he would ever need for the season. Coupled with his other returning sponsors, Borich's program is solid as ever and he said, "it's not about the money to me, it's about winning." And as far as the increasing competition next season, he welcomes the challenge with open arms.
It's been confirmed: Borich on Suzuki for 2012
There's more news and tidbits coming in everyday and I can't wait to see what we will all know by next week. Right now, I'm off to the dentist....hopefully the 70 pounds I've gained from all the sweet stuff hasn't destroyed the pearlies too bad.
Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.
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