Welcome to Quick Fill. Let’s move on.

Okay our promise that we wouldn’t have muddy races this year went a little overboard this time, as the ITP Power Line Park GNCC, known usually as one of the muddier races on the tour, was one of the dustiest ever. Gus’ mud hole survived the drought and served up a nice helping of water, but that was about it. Even the previous race at Yadkinville offered up some dust but stayed relatively clear in the woods. In Ohio, there was just no relief.

A guy from Dust Magazine shot this photo of Mullins. Dust? I'd say so. Don Thurber photo

 

Starts were key, and when Charlie Mullins jetted out to the Racer X Holeshot and put time on the field (Brian Garrahan fell down early and slowed up a few XC1 riders, and then Jimmy Jarrett got stuck on a tree stump and David Knight went down in that big mud hole) it looked like another easy win for Charlie. Knighter thinks he would have caught him, but I have heard many who were there say he would not have, especially since the dust made it especially hard to charge. But Mullins never got there. He ran out of gas on his way into the pits and had to start pushing (big props to Dennis Robertson of Team Thumpertalk.com for giving Mullins a splash of gas while he was in the auxillary pro pits). Charlie made it into his pits and got gas, but by then Knight had closed in the entire 40-second gap Mullins had built and got around. Then Mullins’ started having bike problems and eventually his bike let go altogether—the victim of all that dust inside the engine. Here’s what Hot Rod had to say to the Versus TV crew:

“I got the holeshot and was feeling good all day. I ran out of gas, and that allowed Knight to catch up to me. It just went downhill from there, by bike started missing and it locked up and my day is over, it’s really disappointing.”

It was a huge relief for Knight to get that win, because Barry Hawk came in breathing down his neck in the points. Knighter has had plenty of speed all year, but with the type of up and down luck he has had, he couldn’t take any chances. He still needs to finish 12 th in Indiana to win the title, so it’s not over yet considering the troubles he has had this year, but it sure looks like the big guy is going to lock it in. To prove how serious this is, we hear Knight has dropped out of the Weston Beach Race this weekend, where he was scheduled to take on Stefan Everts in a rematch of last year’s event (which Knight won).

Click the story here. Knight’s main focus is on getting that GNCC title, let there be no doubt.

I talked to Hawk, who had his boot slip off the kicker on the start. “I was dead last. I had studied the first few turns just in case I didn’t get a good start, and I knew I could go outside and make a few passes. Then all I saw was everyone stopped, and Garrahan had fallen, so I went around four guys right there. Then in the open section, I knew there were just two trees and the rest was wide open, so I just made sure I missed those trees and passed a bunch of riders. I think they thought we were already in the woods. I think I was ninth by the time we got to the woods.” Hawk was left to battle Jarrett down the stretch for second. “I got next to him on time but he had the inside of the corner. His bike was definitely not running right, but once he got ahead of me in the dust, I could only key off of his helmet, and once I made a mistake I lost sight of his helmet and I couldn’t do anything. When you can’t see at all, all you can do is use the force, like Star Wars.”

Everything's coming up J-Dub Scearce photo .

Jarrett was ahead in second because he missed his pit, Suzuki wanted him to come in but he missed them and kept on going. It actually paid off, since Glenn Kearney stopped in the Suzuki pits for a filter change and lost more positions then he could make up once he was running again. Hey, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, right?

In XC2, it’s Justin Williamson’s title to win now, and by the way he has landed eight-straight podiums! He’s also leading the AMA National Hare Scramble Series and will attempt to wrap that up next weekend in Arizona (no taking the weekend off like Knighter, J-Dub has a title on the line there, too).

Scott Watkins has ended the season strong but just hasn’t come up with the stuff for JW/ Josh Weisenfels looks to be settling in with the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Fred Andrews Racing Kawasaki squad, but it’s too late—that team isn’t coming back next year so Josh is looking for a ride. He even went on the popular DMXSRadio.com internet radio show last night to sell himself for a ride—give it a listen because your’s truly was on there as well. Anyway, Josh might be in luck, because a Honda shop called Storm Lake Honda called me today and said they want to start a Honda team next year and they’re talking to Josh and Paul Whibley. We’ll see what happens.

Also in XC2, the winner of the last race, Thad DuVall, lost his brakes which held him back, and Kailub Russell switched from a 125 SX to a 250 XC-F but found the suspension was way out of sorts to him and struggled. Someday these kids will figure it out, though.

There was a new contender out there in XC2, Australian Chris Hollis. Riding with help from the Am-Pro squad, he ran up front early and finished fourth. Get to know this kid. Here is his web site. http://www.chrishollisracing.com/

This is Chris Hollis. He is Australian. Scearce photo

 

This weekend Kailub Russell will team up with Cory Buttrick at the buddy race we mentioned last week. Here’s a note from the Cory B. camp.

I just thought I’d drop you a quick note and update you on the 250 A class.  You knew that it was a close battle for the championship between Joe Dirt and Cory B.  Well Cory ended up 3 rd and Joe got 9 th, which ended the battle--Cory B. wrapped it up.  It wasn’t a good race for Cory due to losing over six minutes because of a radiator shroud getting pulled off and damaging the radiator hose.  This caused Cory to have to stop for repairs.  Cory never got excited and managed to keep his leg up against the radiator and nurse the bike back to Dennis for him to fix the problem.  Although, Cory said on the way back to the pits, he kept telling himself that in seven years of doing GNCCs he had never had a DNF and hoped it wouldn’t be today because of the close points race. 

Have a good day and we will see you in Crawfordsville.  We have plans for costumes and are still working on getting Dennis to race pitbikes!   Cory and Kaillub are teaming up for the Team Harescramble this weekend and the weather is looking good!  It has rained almost every day.

-- Valorie Buttrick

Congrats, Cory. Looks like the only A class titles left in a battle is Four-Stroke A, with Andrew Matusek and Scott McClure battling, and I think Vet A is still up for grabs with Kevin Korn and Jeff Staples battling. And remember that big 200 B battle we talked about last time? This time around Walker Fowler, our Youth Bike Overall Champion, hung on to win. Not bad for his third big-bike race (and congrats to Hayden O’Kelley who looks to have the championship in 200 B).

Somebody give this Seinfeld Weisenfels a ride! Scearce photo

 

The AAGP JNCC series has once again invited three top GNCC racers to Japan for the final round of their series. Check out the great poster below!!!

Yup, Charlie Mullins, Rodney Smith and Jason Raines are going to Japan! GNCCRacing.com will be there covering it all, it should be an awesome weekend of lost in translation fun!

Hey ATV fans, William Yokley finally got a good start! Unfortunately it didn’t work out once again and he’s still searching for his first (and what would be only) podium of the season. But he does have a new website! All-new http://www.yokleyracing.com/

We got this photo too late to run last week: Tim Farr winning the ATV EnduroCross on the KTM. Courtesy KTM

Here’s a note for some help:

Hi.
At Power Line Park for the quad race a friend of mine lost a set of keys. They have a black keypad for an alarm, a colts house key and some misc. tags on them with a GM car key.  If you have found anything like this please let me know ASAP!

Thanks,
Craig Bowman

(email info@gnccracing.com and we’ll hook you up with him)

Okay, last thing, we’re working hard to nail down this UTV/Side by Side race next weekend. What we have so far is:

Four classes

0-700 cc Limited (Stock, allows for changes to tires, wheels, bumpers and skid plates, air box and exhaust. No suspension or internal motor mods allowed—no motor mods besides airbox/filter and exhaust)

0-700cc Modified (Run what you brung, just keep it under 700cc)

701-850cc Limited (Stock, allows for changes to tires, wheels, bumpers and skid plates, air box and exhaust. No suspension or internal motor mods allowed—no motor mods besides airbox/filter and exhaust)

701-850cc Modified (Run what you brung, just keep it between 700 and 850cc)

I know ignition mods are big on the Rhinos to get more speed. I don't know if they belong in the Limited or Mod class or not. Help us out and let us know what you think.

All classes require a driver and passenger. We’re considering requiring a driver change so that each person has to drive, in fact. We also need to figure out if there is an age minimum for these machines (might have to hold it to 16 and over or 18 and over.)

That’s the word for now. We’ll find a way to fit even these crazy wide machines out there, but we want to build a real woods course so if you’re building something up this weekend, remember, narrower is better.

That’s it. Enjoy your weekend folks!

 

Ignore the trophies and study the faces. Who do you think finished first, second and third? Scearce photo