GNCC Quick Fill #40
Welcome to Quick Fill. It’s almost over already.
Only two races remain in the 2007 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country tour. That’s hard to believe, really. We’ve had so much fun this season, we’ve had good weather, good racing and record turnouts, and everyone seems to be having a good time. And that’s the goal—whether the championship came your way or not this year, we hope you at least had fun trying to get it.
Before we dissect this weekend’s ITP Power Line Park GNCC in St. Clairsville, Ohio, we want to jump ahead and talk about our finale in Indiana. There is a lot in store for that race, and we have to plan ahead, so here goes:
First, by popular demand, we (drum roll please) will hold a UTV/SidexSide Rhino/RZR race in Indiana. That’s right! We’ve had tons of calls and emails asking to do this, but the real catalyst was the Shaver family who owns the Ironman property asking us to do this. So, it all came together. We’re gonna’ build a separate track across the street from the front gate, and we’ll run a 45 minute race starting at 5 p.m. At least that’s the plan for now. What we don’t know is classes. Do you have suggestions as to what classes we should have in this special exhibition race? Email me jasonw@racerxill.com
 Coming to Ironman: Race 'em if you've got 'em. |
Second, we’re planning a Halloween costume contest at Ironman to get into the spirit of the season. Should be fun. We’ll have a separate bike and ATV contest, but again, we need your help on figuring out when to hold this. We were thinking of doing it on the starting line of the 10 a.m. race. Or will there be a lot of racers who want to enter, and they’ll be dressed in riding gear at that time? When can we do this? We want to have everyone line up, then we’ll judge the contest and hand out trophies. That’s the plan. If you’re into it, tell us what we should do: jasonW@racerxill.com
Just to pump everyone up more on Ironman, remember top World Enduro Riders Mika Ahola and Samuli Aro will race, BMW is bringing Simo Kirssi back to debut their 450 in the U.S., and we expect both bike and ATV XC1 titles to be on the line. Awesome.
 Thad DuVall went old school in Yadkinville, winning the race on the last lap instead of the first. |
Okay let’s take a look back at a few more things that went down in at our last race in Yadkinville. In XC2, Yamaha enjoyed the race more than anyone, as boys in blue won both the ATVs and the bikes. The bike race went to “Bad” Thad DuVall in improbably fashion, as Thad was way back early and all the way back in third as the white flag came out. Justin Williamson was out front and looked to have everything under control just like he did when he won at Unadilla. But then Thad dug down really, really, deep saying “That was the fastest I have ever gone in my whole life” on the last lap, and got around Josh Weisenfels and Williamson to get the win. All year long we’ve heard about Thad’s speed, and now we have seen it in full view. The kid has all the tools and it’s only a matter of time before he figures out how to use them every time and starts winning a whole bunch more.
Of course the rest of the XC2 class will have something to say about it, as Williamson’s superb season has put him in control of that points chase with two races left, and the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Fred Andrews Racing/Kawasaki boys are always there, too, as well as Powersports GrafX KTM’s Dustin Gibson and his teammate Kailub Russell, who is switching from a KTM 125SX to a 250SX-F this weekend. Bottom line is, that class is stacked with young talent and it’s really fun to watch. People are noticing, too. Cycle News, for example, began expanding our GNCC coverage after the summer break, as the XC class has gotten its own separate story since Mountain Ridge. Big thumbs up to Kit Palmer, Jean Turner and everyone over there at Cycle News.
As far as the XC2 bike title goes, it’s complicated since there are two throwaways for each rider. When we were planning this class in the winter time, everyone was concerned with the reliability of the machines in their first year in the pro class, so we voted to have throwaways. The 250Fs have proven super reliable, so we’ll probably just count them all next year.
 Power Line Park last year: That's Juha Salminen on a 250F going through the mud. Look at the guy on the left in the Yamaha shirt and then watch for another picture further down. |
The ATV class was much easier to figure out: Brandon Sommers dominated and now he’s the champion! Should be cool to see where he fits in this weekend racing in XC1, ATV riders seem to go much faster when they start with faster riders and can follow and learn from them. Even though Brandon hasn’t cracked the top-three overall yet this year, it’s not out of the question once he starts with those guys. Also, this puts names like Crane, Lane and Ockerman back in contention for victory in XC2 this weekend.
For all the bench-racing ammo for the pro classes in St. Clairsville, click here for our bike and here for our ATV reports.
I have to send a shout out down to one of the first families of this series, the Chadron gang. Son (Jay), daughter (Cheyanne), mom (Jessica) and dad (Dennis) all race, and they’re all top contenders in their classes. As an additional bonus, Cheyanne, the daughter, not only won her class in the Youth ATVs in North Carolina (11-15 Limited, yes, she won against the boys), but she helped work as trophy girl and hand out plaques to all of the other youth riders. Really quickly she had to grab a first place plaque and gold medal out of the box so she could jump up on the podium, thank her sponsors, pose for a photo and then go back to handing out the plaques. That included one to her brother Jay who finished third in his class. The Chadron’s are all over this deal, along with families like the Mastins and the Wrights. As my man Rodney Tomblin would say: That’s what GNCC Racing is all about!
 Kudos to KTM for putting the GNCC team on the cover of their hard parts catalog. |
Last week the EnduroCross Series rolled in to Oklahoma. This was a big event for it hosted bikes on Saturday and, for the first time, ATVs on Sunday. Our boy Knighter won the bike race again, and I’m sure he was relieved to not have to fly to a GNCC the next day. Read this interview with him from Steve Bruhn on the Racer X website.
The ATV race was apparently super crazy and tough, and Tim Farr took his factory KTM to the win in the sport class. I don’t even know who won the Utility Class because I can’t find the results on the EX page (www.endurocross.com). GNCC Open 4x4 title contender Rick Cecco raced, and he was an Ironman himself because he raced a desert race on Saturday before EX in OK on Sunday. Rick said he really wasn’t used to such aggressive smash ‘em bash ‘em racing, and he broke some parts on his machine, but he did have fun. Of course, Rick was on his Can-Am 4x4. The sport quads were apparently really struggling through the rock garden there.
On bikes, once again GEICO/TDI Racing’s JT Bennett raced the EX as well as Knight, and once again things didn’t go quite so well. JT bashed his elbow up pretty good during the night, but he dug deep and ended up winning the Open Two-Stroke main on his YZ125. That’s the good news. Here is the bad, from JT’s wife Gretchen:
Well, in my race report on Monday I had mentioned JT’s slight elbow injury and that he would be getting it looked at. Last night he was finally able to see the doctor and get x-rays. It turns out that he has a fractured elbow. The doctor called it something like an impact fracture, this means the head of the bone (in lack of words) got jammed down… kind of like if you took a straw and slammed it against a table – it kind of crunches down some. That’s what his bone did.
So what does this mean for the season? He’s definitely out for this weekend’s race in St. Clairsville. He’s a maybe for the race in 2 ½ weeks in Indiana. He goes back to the doctor in 2 weeks and he’ll let him know then. He’s in for Vegas EnduroCross, the doctor said he’ll definitely be fine by then.
This means he won the 2 stroke main event in Oklahoma with a broken elbow…
Update update! I have a few rumors I want to spread: We’re hearing that Kawasaki is restructuring their GNCC team and will no longer run under the Fred Andrews Racing banner. But they will have Scotty Watkins and Andrew Matusek racing KX250Fs in the XC2 class for the traditional team Monster Energy/Team Green squad. That leaves Josh Weisenfels and Jesse Robinson looking for work (read an interview with Weisenfels here). I would not be surprised if Weisenfels ends up riding a Suzuki next year—I know Rodney Smith thinks big things of him based on battling him this year in XC2.
 No ride yet for Garrett Edmisten. |
Still not sure where Charlie Mullins will end up next year, which has an impact on a variety of teams and riders.
A few bike riders are looking for work, like Garrett Edmisten, and Robinson, and I’m not sure where Glenn Kearney will end up (although he supposedly has an offer from Suzuki again) and it seems like everyone wants Paul Whibley due to his 450 prowess.
On ATVs, KTM is serious about racing next year, and so is Can-Am with its new DS450. I’ve heard Adam McGill linked to KTM, and Chris Bithell perhaps to Can-Am. Bithell already races for Can-Am in the Quad Terrain Challenge. Chris Borich does, too, but I’ve heard Borich is talking to Suzuki for GNCC next year. This is all going to be pretty exciting when it becomes official!
Have you been watching the GNCC videos on Racer X films? You really need to. Go to www.racerxfilms and check out bike and ATV highlights from Unadilla and Yadkinville. Big thanks to Racer X photo/video mastermind Matt Ware for coming to the GNCCs and putting these together.
Speaking of videos, check out this YouTube clip Jeremy and the gang from Racer TV put together. It’s a big moment from the Yadkinville Creek Jump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJOUDVIGxo0
Here’s a note:
At the NC race last weekend I lost my cell phone. If anyone found a Black Motorola Razor with a cracked face it is probably mine. If anyone has it please call me and let me know. It would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Jordan Anderson
304-531-2271
New Location, classes and times in store for 23 rd Team Harescramble Championship of the World
The 23rd Team Harescramble Championship of the World will take place October 20 th and 21st 2007 in Nelsonville, Ohio. The property is located 5.5 miles from the intersection of St Rt. 33 and Route 278 SW toward Lake Hope State Park.
Known as the most fun on two wheels, the Team Harescramble Championship of the World began in 1984 and has grown to be the largest event of its kind and one of Ohio’s largest harescramble events as 200 teams compete throughout the weekend.
Over the years participating riders have included former National Enduro Champions Jeff Russell and Terry Cunningham, GNCC Champions Scott Plessinger and Scott Summers, along with Rob Jenks, Charlie Mullins, D.R. Atwood and others. It is a favorite among the mini, amateur and ATV riders as well.
The race course combines primarily woods and grass track sections and is designed for fun for riders of all skill levels. There is plenty of flat parking for RV’s and campers and overnight camping Saturday night is free.
Bring your tents and campers and join in the fun Saturday night for the 1st Annual Corn Hole Championship of the World, a cookout, bench racing and more after the completion of Saturday’s race program. All riders and family members are welcome.
Weekend admission is $10.00.
Saturday’s race program will include the youth ATVs, youth cycles, and the Father-and-son mini class. Sunday’s program consists of two motorcycle sessions and for the first time ever; the ATV classes will also race on Sunday. The novice, father-and-son, Senior + 40 and the grudge-match classes will compete in the two-hour morning session.
The amateur and pro motorcycle classes will run in the two and a half hour afternoon session and the ATV classes will compete in the final session of the weekend at 3:30 PM.
For a complete list of classes, starting times, event rules, sponsors, contingency awards, directions, host hotels and other information, navigate through our website at ActionSportsRacing.com for answers to your questions.
GNCC is going international. It started back when the riders from overseas started racing here, like Shane Watts and on through Juha, Knighter, Kearney, Strang, Whibley and the rest. Now the fans from overseas are all over it. First we announced a deal with Fox Australia, today we announced a new deal with 55 over countries to show Racer TV overseas, and meanwhile, the Japanese version of our series, the JNCC tour, will once again bring over three top American GNCC racers for the last round of their series.
The riders are Charlie Mullins, Rodney Smith and Jason Raines. Should be three great representatives for us, and we also want to give a call out to last year’s riders, Paul Whibley and Robbie Jenks, who got this whole thing started with their great performances last year.
We’ll have more on this race coming soon.
And don’t forget, three top GNCCers are racing the ISDE in Chile this year, Jimmy Jarrett, Amanda Mastin and Dennis Decker, and you can help support them by buying a raffle ticket and entering the drawing to win 30 different autographed jerseys. There will be a booth set up next to rider registration.
Congrats out to AJ Stewart, who came from the second row of the bike Youth class to finish on the podium in Yadkinville. That matches Steward Baylor and Zach Nolan, who also grabbed podiums out of the 12-13 class. Unfortunately, AJ didn’t even realized what he had done and didn’t go to the overall podium! So, here’s some extra love here, and you can pick up your trophy at the Moto Tees truck this weekend in Ohio.
AJ is also putting together his annual charity ride for MS. Read through this below:
6th Memorial MX-4-MS
AJ Stewart is 13 years old and rides the #17 Yamaha in the 12-13 yr Big Wheel class in the GNCC series. He lives in Lake Lynn, Pa. AJ has a passion for racing, but he also has another passion and that is to help those battling Multiple Sclerosis. He decided to use his love of racing to help those battling MS.
For the past 5 years he has held a charity ride for MS. It is called the
MX-4-MS Ride. AJ has raised over $19,000.00 to help those with Multiple Sclerosis. This year the ride will be called the 6th Memorial MX-4- MS in memory of AJ's Uncle, who inspired AJ to create this charity ride.
On November 3, 2007, AJ is committed to riding 50 laps for a donation to the MS Society. All donations will go directly to the National MS Society. This society has many programs to help those with MS and a portion goes toward research to help find a cure. Please make checks payable to the National MS Society and they can be given to AJ. AJ can be contacted the following ways: at the address provided below, calling 724-725-5373, at stewartk@atlanticbb.net or at the Ohio and Indiana races. Colleen McGuire, from the MS society, will be at the event to receive the donations. For more information on the MS Society go to www.nationalmssociety.org or 1-800-fightms.
Thank you,
The Stewarts
A racer doing laps to raise money for charity. That, as GNCC Announcer Rodney Tomblin would say, is what GNCC Racing is all about.
Just FYI to you 13-15 Youth Production ATV Riders: We will be counting the best NINE races to crown a championship in that class, just like the rest of the 10 am classes.
The AMA National Hare Scramble Series rolled into Rhinelander, Wisconsin last weekend for another big Justin Williamson/Robbie Jenks/Jason Raines showdown, and this time Raines came out on top, with JW second and Jenks third. Jason is getting better and better each week on that 450, and he won by about 3 minutes this time. But JW is in the points lead and could win the title on a 250F! Congrats to everyone there.
 I'm not sure if this is freestyle or not, but Jason Raines did have a National Hare Scramble win to celebrate. |
Our old buddy Jeff Miller is doing something very cool this weekend. Jeff races the Vet ATV class, and was involved in a season-long championship battle with Travis Styles. But Travis crashed hard in Gravity Cavity at Unadilla, and the injuries he suffered there will end his season. The medical bills are pretty high, too (I believe Travis broke his pelvis) so Jeff wants to set up a little fund to help his guy out. Look for a donation box at sign up this weekend, and if you have some spare change, throw it in the box to help Travis out.
 That's Jeff Miller (the guy in the Juha photo) there completely covered in mud at St. Clairsville last year. |
A racer donating money to help his own competitor get better faster. That, as GNCC Announcer Rodney Tomblin would say, is what GNCC Racing is all about.
Finally, we have a big pile of plaques still left over from last year’s GNCC banquet. These are the plaques we have left. Get them soon or we’re getting rid of them. Email us info@gnccracing.com to arrange it.
ATV
Gary Davis - SR +40 10 th
Jack Ramsey - Utility Stock Class 10 th
Rob Hertz - Pro Am Class 10 th
Brent Marshall - Vet +30 10 th
Rodney Baker – Novice c +35 10 th
Dylan Kell – 90 Production Mod 11-15 10 th
Jennifer Fulkerson – Women 9 th
Jennifer Albright – Women 8 th
Thomas Brown – 4 Stroke A Class 8 th
Brian Foltz – 4 Stroke Stock A/B Class 8 th
Bruce Marshall – Vet 30+ 8 th
Daniel Frye – 4 Stroke B 8 th
Wes Stone – Junior +25 6 th
Tony Utley – Novice C +22 6 th
Bryan Buckhannon – Utility Modified Class 6th
Bike
Chris Melvin – Big Wheel 14-15 10 th
Brett Zofchak – 4 Stroke A 301cc+ 10 th
Gary Melvin – Vet C 35+ 9 th
Edward Petcheny – 4 Stroke A 301+ 9 th
James Summers – 200B 9 th
Michael Pillar – 85cc 12-13 8 th
Kory Bailey – Big Wheel 12-13 7 th
Casey Smith - 4 Stroke B 0-300cc 7 th
Jeffrey Bowman – 250 A 7 th
Edward Higgins – SR B 40+ 6 th
Troy Schlereth – SR A 40+ 6 th
Nick Flowers – 85 14-15 6 th
Tim Surich – 250B Class 6 th
Kyle Milne – 4 Stroke A 301+ 6 th
C’mon guys and gals, come get your awards. That’s it for Quick Fill. Have fun in St. Clairsville!
