May 31, 2007
Welcome to Quick Fill. Careful what you wish for.
Last week we threw out a suggestion for a 100 mile GNCC at Snowshoe next month. I expected a few emails, some good, some bad, but instead, I found myself flooded with an overwhelming level of positive responses. Quite strange, really. Here we are with only a month to prepare for this race, and everyone is pumped on having a 100 mile event thrown their way. Doesn’t anyone need extra time to prepare themselves mentally, physically and mechanically? Maybe not. Apparently, everyone is pumped on this (except one of my friends from the ATV ranks, who wonders if the proper preparations can be made so close to the race date).
Does this mean we’re doing it? Not sure yet. Honestly a week ago this was a pipe dream, and now it’s zooming toward reality. But that means we have to figure out a lot of logistics, like how the start would work (GP style would be cool, for sure, but would we end up with a scoring problem? Would riders be able to adapt to racing against part of their class on the clock instead of on the track?) Also, 100 miles on an ATV is unprecedented. Even the Blackwater 100 never ran ATVs on the full 100 miles. Can this even be done? And what about pitting? These are long loops.
 The Blackwater GP start. We could do it again. Photo: Racer X Archives |
So there’s a lot to think about and figure out, but at least we know it’s something people really seem to want, and that’s a start. Of course, this is a season-long points paying series, and we have to make sure this is a fair and safe race for everyone. An error here could have major championship ramifications for everyone, so we need to be sure the event could go off without a hitch.
In the meantime, Snowshoe themselves have posted an excellent guide to the weekend on their site. Check out the link here. A few officials from the resort came to check out the Loretta Lynn’s GNCC a month ago so they would have an idea of what they’re getting into, so they’re ready. And Showshoe has already hosted plenty of events of this type, including major mountain bike races and Jeep Jamborees. We can’t wait to get there.
But first, we’ve got a weekend off and then Kentucky. This time of year the Racer Productions staff gets pretty busy with some other stuff. We had High Point last weekend, and this weekend Sunday Creek MX (which hosted the Wiseco John Penton GNCC) holds a Mid-East Region Youth Regional for the Air Nautiques/AMA Amateur National Championships at Loretta Lynn’s. That means Jeff Russell and his crew are busy building up that motocross track.
 Unrelated to anything else here, I have been wondering why Jimmy Jarrett runs a fanny pack? Anyone know what he's got in that thing? Hooper photo |
For off-road racers, there’s an event this weekend that is turning into a pretty big deal: The 6 th Annual KTM/Perry Mountain 24-Hour Challenge. From what I’ve heard, this is a great event, and many top GNCC bike racers will be challenging it, riding with several racers per team. The team element alone makes it a cool event, much like the 6 and 12 hours of ATV America races do for the four-wheeled boys. I’ve got a journalist down there reporting, so look for info on what went down at the 24 hour next week. Or check this: http://www.24hourchallenge.com/ Go to the pre-entries are in! link and you'll see some of the riders who have already signed up to race, like Garrett Edmisten, Robbie Jenks and others.
Word is even the KTM mechanics are racing the 24 hour, with a team consisting of truck driver Big Donnie Macan, Brandon Larson, Shaun Mundy and Mark and Dave Lewis. They're calling them the KTM factory junior junior team.
Last week we held the Moto-X-Country event at High Point, and a couple of favorites showed up to romp home as winners. On ATVs, Bryan Cook engaged Johnny Gallagher in a fight to the finish that ended with Cook out front by a tire length. It was good racing! Johnny G has ridden the event before, but it was good to see Cook make the trek up from North Carolina to race.
 Kailub Russell served some notice at Moto-X-Country. Hooper photo |
On bikes, Kailub Russell was the one on fire, as he took it to pros Barry Hawk, Charlie Mullins and Justin Williamson early on in the MXC pro race. Russell, undefeated so far this year in the 200 A class, held point until the last lap, when Hawk tracked him down to continue his undefeated streak in Moto-X-Country overalls (when he has been there). Russell came up just a few seconds short of Hawk at the finish.
Of course, by Saturday night I heard people saying KR had an advantage because it’s High Point, and his dad Jeff Russell surely had a hand in the action over there, and Kailub probably practices on that track all the time. Well, I can tell you first hand that’s not the case. That track was untouched until about a week before the event, and KR never went out there. Right now Kailub is hanging out in the Racer X office like he does quite a bit throughout the week, and he’s playing ping pong with his younger brother Trevor, not learning our tracks. Kailub rides maybe twice a week, but it’s never on that MXC track. I think he prefers motocross for practice anyway. And I’ve been out with him when he rides a few times, and we’ve never gone to that MXC track to do it.
But it may not matter. I’m sure the better Kailub does the more accusations of favorable treatment there will be. I’ll do my best to cool this right now: the Coombs and Russell family have a lot of experience with these accusations, and it’s never been proven to be true, from Timmy Coombs winning the Blackwater in 1988, to Kailub going strong in MXC in 2007, and all points before and after. KR’s got some major skills, and that’s why he’s six-for-six this year in the 200 A class.
As for Moto-X-Country results, they will be posted on the www.racerproductions.com site soon.
Maxxis General GNCC winner Paul Whibley is feeling pretty darned under the weather right now. I got an email from his girlfriend Katherine, who actually had to take Paul to the emergency room yesterday! He has a major headache, stomach problems and and spiking temperatures. At first, doctors suspected viral meningitis ,but after a lumbar puncture was cleared of this (whew). A chest X-ray revealed a small patch on his lung so they think he has pneumonia! The only thought to how he got this is from the dusty race and the dust maybe got into the lung, and started to grow nasty bugs?
He is so miserable.
Fingers crossed for Sparta.
Thanks
Katherine
 Whibley is not so good right now. Jason Hooper photo |
Have you checked the latest on the Can-Am DS450? http://www.can-amds450.com has the third episode of the series, which focuses on the rear suspension. Again, it sure looks like Can-Am did their homework. We’ll have an even better idea this Saturday when they reveal the full machine. So go to that site on June 2nd!
The Maxxis World Enduro Championship continued over the weekend, and our man Juha Salminen continued his relentless assault by winning on both Saturday and Sunday, and keeping his perfect season alive. By the way, if you want to see your favorite Finn in action, don’t forget the WECs come to New York on July 21 and 22. Visit http://www.abc-wec.com/ for series info.
After the race, I received a press release from the CH Racing Husqvarna team, which New York’s own Nathan Kanney rides for. It said Nathan didn’t compete in the latest WEC event in Italy because he was at home “preparing for US GNCC.” Huh? Luckily, Nate called the office here about three minutes after I read that and cleared it all up. Apparently, Husky has decided to show off their bikes in a wider range of environments than just the WECs, so they have sent him back to New York with the possibility of racing some GNCCs in June. Nate’s back on a program here, riding in the trails of New York and training like mad on his mountain bike and road bike, but he admits his program isn’t quite dialed back in for GNCC yet, so he’s not sure if he’ll race Kentucky. Snowshoe looks like a pretty safe bet, but you never know, since this is all sort of make shift. But Nate is still on with that CH Racing team, and he is not in any way shape or form fired or in trouble. And he’ll be back to race the rest of the WECs after the summer break. Anyway, should be cool to see Natedawg at some races this year.
 Strang is headed back home .... for four days. Hooper photo |
Meanwhile, Husky also plans on sending some racers to the Australian Four-Day Enduro over the summer as part of this diversification program. They’ll face some stiff comp from the Suzuki gang, though, with both Glenn Kearney and Josh Strang scheduled to compete. Click here to read about that
Less than a year after breaking his leg yet again, Jason Raines is back on a bike. Jason, who recently launched a website called .jasonrainesfullcircletraining.com , which is the source for off-road training and fitness tips, came back East last week and started riding at the Randy Hawkins ranch. Jason broke his leg on July 10th last year, and he was supposed to stay off a bike until this July, but he was way ahead of schedule on healing, so he’s giving this racing thing another shot. Good news is, just before he came back to South Carolina, Jason was riding in Washington and twisted his leg badly, the same exact motion that caused him to break it the year before, only even harder. For a moment, his heart sank, because he knew he had broken his leg yet again, and that meant, basically, that his comeback was over once and for all.
“There was a jump up ahead, and usually it takes a few seconds for the pain to kick in. So I figured I might as well just jump this, because it was going to be the last jump of my career,” said Jason.
Well, it turned out the twist didn’t break Jason’s leg, and now he believes he might be sound enough to try some racing. He has a few local hare scrambles planned and some local motocross, but no GNCCs until after the summer break. Still, it’s good to hear he’s on the way back
That’s it for Quick Fill this week, all is quiet on the GNCC front besides what we’ve touched on here. Should be plenty to report next week, though, with Sparta coming up, that new Can-Am DS450 ATV, info from the Perry Mountain 24 Hour, and we hope even more news regarding the Snowshoe event.
Thanks for reading!
