@jenkenyon: Welcome to Quick Fill.
Our sport is inherently dangerous for reasons that are pretty obvious. Growing up in my household, riding dirtbikes was just about as natural as eating breakfast in the morning. I can remember learning how to ride a PW 50-sans training wheels-before even nailing down the bicycle gig. Racing is in my blood, as it probably is with the rest of you reading this column, otherwise why would we all be here? It wasn't an option for us to leave the house on our bikes without the proper gear, which consisted of a helmet, boots and some sort of long sleeve/pants combo. But as we've found out the harsh way, especially in the past year, some injuries at the races are just unavoidable and inevitable considering what we do.
Photo By: Jen Ken
JR has the head tilt down!
The entire GNCC crew has spent a majority of today learning the proper First Aid techniques and becoming trained in CPR. It's every bit of what you're thinking: cheesy soap opera-esque actors who reenact accident situations while the host takes you through a step-by-step process on how to respond. Believe it or not, Timmy Coombs has actually had a real-life experience with almost every type of injury we've learned about. I guess you don't win the Blackwater 100 without a couple missing fingers and occasional concussion along the way. Jeff Russell just couldn't comprehend why the First Aid kit was even necessary when duct tape could take care of a majority of injuries at the races. Sorry to tell you, Jeff, but OSHA isn't a huge fan of duct tape and wooden stakes acting as a splint for a broken arm or submerging a rider in the creek when he's overheated. It was a nice little team-building day in the office actually. Out of town guys like John Knox and Keith from the front gate came in to take part in the class as well, so it was sort of like a GNCC reunion. The point of the whole thing, though, was to train our event staff to properly respond to an emergency at the races long enough to potentially save a life until EMTs can make it to the injured person. We aren't trying to operate on anyone, but there are times where one of us happens to be near an accident and there's no choice but to respond.
Last weekend there were a few different off-road racing opportunities all over the country and our GNCC riders were all over the place getting their laps in. Out west, Kailub Russell rode the opening round of WORCS at Glen Helen, finishing the weekend with a (13-9) score for tenth overall. KR tweeted that he may have put in one of the worst rides of his off-road career, but in the larger scheme of things, any type of riding is only benefiting the factory KTM rider as he prepares for his second season in the XC1 class. Up to this point, KR has been pretty successful in GNCC (winning the XC2 title in 2010) basically off his raw talent on a dirtbike, but he learned quickly that when you reach the highest level of competition, everyone's riding ability starts to even out. The true champions rise above the rest because they want to win and they'll do whatever it takes to be a little bit better than everyone else. Kailub put his nose to the grindstone midway through the 2011 season and by Power Line Park, his work paid off and he got his first XC1 win. I chatted with him after his trip to California for testing with KTM, and I could see the fire in his eyes that I hadn't really seen before. Just the fact that he wants to go out west to race WORCS and there was even talk about some Endurocross, it shows that he's willing to try different things and push himself as a racer, which leads me to believe he's got his head on straight and about to do great things.
The other FMF/KTM riders stayed back east to compete in the FTR last weekend in Okeechobee, Florida. Buttrick took the win at that one and from what I've heard CButt looked pretty good on the bike. Mullins and Chris Douglas got together in a pretty nasty crash right off the start and fortunately they were both ok and finished out the race. Charlie made it up to second and Douglas got up to sixth by the end. Mullins finally jumped on the new "Dungey" edition of the KTM 450 as he called it on Facebook the other day and it sounds like he's diggin' the new bike. Kyle Keylon was also there mixing it up with the off-road boys and there's been some talk that Keylon might actually be racing some GNCC this year as he takes a break from moto.
Photo By: Simon Cudby
Does he have what it takes to contend the title in 2012?
Brian Koster was nice enough to send over some photos from the race as well, so thanks to Brian for those. He also told me his son ran the Mini A class trying to prepare himself for the GNCC 12-13 Supermini class. He had a great battle all the way to the finish, with the top four guys all finishing on the same minute. He wasn't too happy with the fourth place but it was a great workout and good practice for the upcoming GNCC season. Brian ran the Vet A class and got second behind Florida's "Vet ace" John McCabe. Sounds like a fun weekend for those guys!
Also, a huge thanks to Glenn Gardner from G2 Photos for sending photos from the FTR as well. Glen is actually the official photog for FTR so if you're looking to see shots from those events, head over to his website www.g2photosmx.com and check out his work!
I'm pumped to see all the buzz of race season starting up, even though it's not quite time for GNCC yet. Keep sending the great updates and we'll continue to share with the people that may not be fortunate enough to ride yet. As for me, I'm headed to Dayton, Ohio this weekend to catch some AMA Arenacross action and promote our Ricky Carmichael Daytona Amateur Supercross, the weekend before the opening round of GNCC at River Ranch. Oh, did I mention we have an amateur motorcycle race on the Daytona Supercross track Sunday and Monday? Would be a great warm-up race for all you moto-heads that will be heading to River Ranch for Tuesday's bike race! www.mxsports.com has all the details. Did I also mention Ricky Carmichael will be there hanging out? Just saying. Have a great weekend, everyone! Don't forget to tweet us @GNCCRacing!
Here's @bhawk8:
Photo By: Jen Ken
I'm not sure if Debbie is helping or hurting this child, but that's what practice is for!
They're pretty excited for newly added sponsors like Pro circuit, Troy Lee and Factory Honda. I think there's going to be an official press release in a day or so with all the details. I also talked to Erik Nijkamp from OffRoadChampions.com, which is actually a pretty cool website. I found out that Erik was instrumental in the Duvall deal, and how it all came about was actually because of all things-facebook! He said he saw a post from Thad about looking for some help for next year, so he got ahold of Thad and made a call to an old friend at Shenendoah Honda to see if they could help and it just kept snowballing to this point. There are a lot of people putting quite a bit of effort into this and I hope Thad does his homework.
On a sad note, one of the other things I talked to Erik about was the unbelievable news of the death of Mika Ahola, Erik said he doesn't know a lot of details yet but he did say that he heard it may not be from a crash which was initially said. I was fortunate enough to meet Mika and his wife a few years ago at the Vegas endurocross, we only talked for about 30 minutes or so but he seemed like a down to earth guy that loved to race. Some of you may not know much about him or what he has done. Well he kicked butt in the ISDE and the EWC which is where Juha and Knight came from. He won 5 world championships and 5 times he finished 2nd also he had 3 isde overalls. I also talked to Ian Blythe who was lucky enough to ride and spend some time with Mika, Ian said "he was the most intelligent rider he ever saw and he rode this past EWC season with only one small crash in a special test" thats equal to racing an entire gncc season with one small crash. Heck ive crashed more than once before the race even started btw he won the E-3 class this past season and if they had an overall number 1 it would have been Mika. I am grateful to have met a true offroad legend. RIP CHAMP.
Here's @JaredBolton:
Well, we're winding down yet another week. In a way, it's pretty cool that time is flying by because we're now getting back to some different types of racing and the official start of the season will be here before we know it. There's more and more riders down south and heading down south to do some riding and get in some pre-season races with the various local series that race through the winter in the southeast.
Last weekend I went to the SETRA Broxton Bridge Enduro in Ehrhardt, South Carolina. Being just a couple of weeks away from the opener for the National Enduro series, this event typically draws a decent turnout of riders looking to get in some seat time in a race scenario before the season begins. This year just might have been the best year for the event. The pro class saw a total of 14 riders, with 6 of those being some of the best riders in the country. Sticking to my yearly tradition, I raced this event so I didn't really get the chance to watch any of the pro riders but from what I was told, Mike Lafferty and Brad Bakken were on it, and their scores show it.
Photo By: G2 Photos
Taylor Kiser welcomes the rest of the crew to his home state of Florida
Bach was actually riding a brand new Beta 450 that he had just ridden for the first time the day before the race at a motocross track in South Carolina. The bike was actually equipped with full-on motocross suspension, so Bach had kind of a rough ride in some places. To top it off, he had just borrowed a set of flag-style handguards for the race, which were somewhat of a disadvantage in the tighter sections (and trust me, there were some REALLY tight sections!). All-in-all the Broxton Bridge event was a great race and I want to send a shout out to the Family Riders Motorcycle Club for doing a great job with the event, and also a thanks to Keith Bennett for loaning me his KTM 400 for the race. I had a blast on the trails even though I cooked my brakes and had them lock up on me a few times.
Coming up this weekend will be the first round of the National Hare Scramble Series, which will be in Wedgefield, South Carolina at the same place as next weekend's Sumter National Enduro. Actually, the hare scramble is a couple of miles from the start and parking area for the enduro, but in years past the enduro has incorporated the majority of the hare scramble course. From the sounds of things, this is going to be another race with a pretty big turnout. Hoop and myself are both making the trip down so hopefully we'll come back with some cool stories and video of everyone railing it in the sands of South Carolina.
This race will be a good chance to see some riders for the first time in 2012. It's also a good chance for a lot of the guys to get som e things dialed in when it comes to a race scenario. One rider we'll see on a different machine will be Jedediah Haines will be making his debut aboard his Obermeyer/Raines Racing/OffroadViking.com ride. Barry mentioned last week that he might be the fill-in for the injured Morgan Moss, and the next day the team officially announced it.
Photo By: G2 Photos
Buttrick is looking like his old self again in 2012
Chatting with LeeAnn kind of gave me the idea to catch up with more Women's riders of the series. For those who haven't paid much attention before, the Women's classes on both bikes and ATV's put in some great rides in the Morning races and the support and friendship they all have with each other is really cool as well. So, with that said, throughout the rest of the year I would like to catch up with more of the competitors of the Women's classes. If any of women are interested in doing a Tuesday Toolbox interview sometime this year, feel free to drop me a line at jbolton@jaredbolton.com and we'll set it up... And don't worry, it's not a scheme to get your number either.
I'll stop here before I go into true Bolt-On form and start rambling about anything and everything. So, that's going to do it for me this week. Until next week, Bolt-On out.
Handing it off to @HotRodney22:
The 2012 pre-season is really starting to kick into high speed. It's pretty evident with the many racer sightings at the various warm-up races down south. These reports are obviously leaving us wanting more as the time slowly passes until we head to River Ranch for the opening round.
Straight to the chase-as there are a number of things going on that may be of some interest to the GNCC Racin' Nation.
Photo By: Brian Koster
ATV start at Okeechobee FTR
I just wanted to inform you of the details on the amateur GNCC/ NHS team I put together this off-season. After a three year break from racing the GNCC's, I got the itch to race again this year while competing in our local series. I also felt the need for some support for the C, B, and A riders that are out there racing the Nationals every weekend but not getting any, or very little support. So this off-season I made a lot of phone calls and sent a lot of e-mails and started getting deals lined up for the GNCC's and the National Hare Scrambles. We then picked some local Ohio racers and offered them support for the 2012 season.
As for the team, we are going to support myself (Jimmy Woodford) in the Vet A class, John Woodford in 4 stroke A Lites, Andy France in Open B, and Jon Williams in 250C. We are looking forward to a great year of racing and hopefully some wins from all of the riders. And we are hoping to grow as a team as well.
The J.W.R. (Jimmy Woodford Racing) team is supported by Northstar Power Sports Kawasaki in Hermitage Pa, Woodford Excavating, Rekluse, Pro-Action of Northern Ohio, Ripped Vinyl, FMF, Cycra, No-Toil, Silkelone, Sunstar, Synergy Seals, Works Connection, Garane Boot and Renthal Handelbars.
Personal sponsors: Jimmy, and John Woodford - AXO, Andy France - Fly, Jon Williams - X-Brand goggles, Brooks Ames @ Kiko Auctions
We will be heading south January 21-22 for the first round of the National Hare Scramble series; we are also hoping to pick up a tire sponsor before the first round of the GNCC's. I'll get you some pictures of the bikes tonight and some more pictures from the NHS after this weekend.
Good news to hear for sure and that is a major positive to see teams like this forming. It will not surprise me if we see a number of the riders banning together to create a package to sell to sponsors. Welcome back, Jimmy, and good luck with the team.
On the ATV racing front, I spoke with a few folks over the past week and it seems business as usual. A number of questions have been asked about this guy and that guy. It was good to finally hear for sure what Chris Borich's plans are for 2012. Sticking with the Suzuki's may have been a big surprise for many but it is just another example of how committed to something Chris can be.
Photo By: G2 Photos
Borich doing what he does, #winning
So many people are into the social media thing with Twitter and Facebook and such that we sometimes forget about the wonderful opportunities we have seem to have gotten away from some and that is the old blog spots. The Hurricane has been busy and recently back from his Honeymoon he shared some (scenic) photos on his blog site as well as some pretty cool stories, check out "The Hurricane Racer", which you can find here: http://hurricanehoyland.blogspot.com/2012/01/product-review-derisi-racings-honda.html?spref=fb.
I hear that team Big Nutz Racing is securing their deals for the upcoming season and the team featuring Kevin Yoho will be back in full force. I will try to have more of an update next week from there. What I saw though looks good and I can't wait to see what they have in store for 2012.
This past weekend I attended the West Virginia Indoor Motocross Championship in Huntington, West Virginia. A huge crowd turned out and the racing was awesome. It was nice to see among the crowd down by the starting line my cousin standing beside none other than Glen 'Jody' Pritchard. Glen has had a rough few months but is looking amazing. They had gone to Captain D's to eat before and the smile Glen wore was a great site to see. Keep Glen and his family in your heart and prayers as he has a long road to travel. Keep fighting "Jody", we love you.
Although very tired, weak and fighting the side effects of chemo... Glen is holding onto to his faith, strength and determination. We are thankful for the Prayers, Love, Support of his friends, Loved ones & our GNCC Family. Please remember Glen as he continues fighting for his life "Literally." Glen recently saw a physician in Columbus. He advised us to wait for the results of his last chemo treatment before enrolling into clinical trials. These results will be seen on an upcoming PET scan scheduled for Jan 23rd. Glen is determined to continue beating the odds with prayers and continued support. God Bless all of you!!
Thank you!
Amy McConnell
While you are talking to the man upstairs, do not forget to keep Josh Kirkland and his family in your prayers as he has had some issues recently. I have not heard anything for a couple of days and sometimes that can be good.
That will do it for now. Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.
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