Photo By: Matt Ware
Could one of the longest championship runs in motorsports history come to an end this weekend?
Bill Ballance has won the GNCC ATV Championship every single time we've raced this decade. We bring this up every year, but think about how crazy that is. Last time Bill didn't win the crown, Bill Clinton was president, Y2K was still scary, and we were about to enter a recession, the one that was the recession before the boom that eventually led to the bust we're in now.
That's some history, folks. But if Chris Borich outscores Taylor Kiser by seven points this weekend, the ATV title is his. As far as we can tell, it will also be Suzuki's first GNCC ATV Title.
But let's not take anything away from Kiser's superb season. Jumping from #6 to a potential #2 is pretty tough, and he did it against what has to be the deepest, most well-supported ATV field ever. And Taylor has been consistent. This isn't luck in one or two good races, he has consistently been up there week in and week out.
Adam McGill has been fast and nearly won a bunch of races this year. Ballance has come back valiantly from having ribs removed right before the season. Brandon Sommers is hitting his stride. You can never, ever count out Bryan Cook, the privateer who doesn't back down from anyone. Chris Bithell and Brent Sturdivant have shown flashes of brilliance. Jarrod McClure and Ryan Lane have run up front. Veteran Matt Smiley showed up to chase the big money at Snowshoe. And Bryan Wolf, from the XC2 class, won the overall at that race. There's lots of comp, but Borich has elevated himself to the head of the class. If anyone deserves it, he does.
Other titles are close. Angel Atwell needs a third place or better finish this weekend to win her first Women's crown. She just needs one more solid score so she can drop the seventh she took at The Titan GNCC, and it's over. Like Borich, Angel has been focused on this goal for a long time, so this is well deserved.
Can-Am's 4x4 boys already have a few titles sewn up, with Cliff Beasley and Michael Swift locking up the Lites and Limited crowns after 'Dilla. Swift is still undefeated this year. Unreal.
Photo By: David Scearce
Kurt Caselli visited Yadkinville last year to prepare for racing GNCC full-on this year. Has he finally figured it out?
Then you have Thad DuVall, who is still blazing fast but just can't get to the finish. He will one of these days and when he does, he will probably be up front. Barry Hawk is always solid, especially at our next track in St. Clairsville. And Glenn Kearney has been fast all year on his Husky, but his luck hasn't been much better than Thad's. Last time out Glenn broke his throttle. We'll see what happens this time.
The point here is, there are a lot of guys who can get between Whibley, Strang and Mullins and change the title chase. About the only guy who won't be giving Whibs fits is his teammate, Jimmy Jarrett. That's a good guy to have on your side.
Kailub Russell nearly has the XC2 crown wrapped up, he needs to gain one more point on his teammate Cory B and he'll have an insurmountable 60-point lead. Monster Energy/FAR Yamaha's Jason Thomas is right behind Buttrick. So if Kailub wins this weekend, he's champ, but now I've heard he will probably stay in XC2 for the rest of the year. That's what I heard before summer break, then at Unadilla he and Buttrick were talking about riding 450s soon, but hey, this is the silliest silly season ever so all bets are off.
James Dean! Apparently this rider finished 14th in XC2.
The Yadkinville track is often described as "tight and turny" and the woods next to the track are too thick in areas to bust open new lines. Everyone says a good start is critical here, but we've seen crazy come-from-behind charges on this track before. These are long races.
For the first time, dust won't be an issue at this race. And mud could be. Talked to GNCC Trail Boss Jeff Russell today and he said the place is damp due to rain earlier in the week, but it's not really muddy yet. That could change if it rains on Saturday, which appears to be possible. Right now the place is just about perfect, but to give you an idea of how much rain has come down, the big "culvert pipe" water crossing won't be used, because the water is too deep right now. A little more rain and we could have a muddy Stomp for the first time-bring your roll offs.
Rodney Tomblin and Digital Dave Smith will once again roll up Track Smack Live from the track on Friday and Saturday night. Rodney will have Bryan Cook as a guest on Friday, and Steward Baylor and Jake Korn on Saturday. Also, we might have some more ISDE give-aways on Saturday night, so tune in for that. Steward is racing XC2 for the first time on Sunday, and he's always good for a hilarious interview.
Digital Dave is also helping put together the Vendor's Row Challenge 3, which will race on Sunday morning on the back row. Stick around and watch those boys do battle-I know Bart Hayes from RIdePG.com is riding, and Jason "Digital OffRoad.com" Hooper is, too.
And Hayes is hosting a ride day at a motocross track a few miles from Yadkinville on Friday. CLICK HERE.
Ohlins hosted a ride day at Randy Hawkins ranch earlier in the week, and it was a who's who of riding talent. Strang, Mullins, Kearney, Whibley, DuVall, Jason Thomas and ATV big guns Bill Ballance and Adam McGill were all riding. That's an impressive lineup.
Now time for some letters:
Hey Jason;
Thought you might be interested in a little Unadilla amateur racer story. My good buddy Darrin Klitnick borrowed a friends Can-Am 4x4 quad & entered the first year racer class on Saturday. His first ATV race ever he finished third! Then he went out Sunday in the first year motorcycle class. Darrin grabbed the hole shot & never looked back, taking 1st place.
Regards,
John Schreiner
P.S. Just for the record, our whole family had an excellent weekend at Unadilla. The boys both had a good race, the weather was good, spent time with some good friends/family. Doesn't get much better then that! Thanks!
That's awesome! John's boys also race the series, and they used our "get press" releases to generate a story in their local pape. Use THIS LINK to access those.
Photo By: David Scearce
"The House." This famous obstacle will be back in action this weekend.
Hey, I finally got time to read last week's Quick Fill about the lappers. No hard feelings on my part it was just an accident, that's racing and just how my luck has been going this year. Haha. I know I heard some of the fans were pretty mad about it, and they wanted to do some throwing of elbows, but no need for that its just racing. I'm not sure who the course marshall was that was there helping me at first but just wanted to say thanks.
- Thad
Another letter, this time from our very experienced racing friend, Tom Carter:
Jason,
Attached please find the announcement for our ISDE club team for this year. In addition, I am giving Mandi a small amount of support as well since she is one of the most deserving riders around in my opinion.
I have some good riders again this year - they need all the support we can give them.
You may not recall but 2009 was to be my 49th season of racing - well that changed a bit - I had shoulder surgery in Dec 2008 hoping that I would be ready in time for the 09 season - the work was a bit more extensive than expected so I was not back to riding until April - I raced a couple of local events and quickly determined I had some training to do before re-entering the GNCC. I set my goal to re-enter at Unadilla. By the end of July I was feeling good and ready again, then...the second week of August I hit a tree and broke my arm. So here I sit, back to square one! I am still hopeful I can make the Ironman - but will come and watch even if I can't ride. On to the 2010 season!
-- Tom
I'll post up Tom's Press Release once I figure out how to make a link to a PDF work here. I tried for an hour.
Up and coming Women's ATV class contender Jesi Stracham continues to put some great stories together for ATV Rider magazine. Click here for her latest.
And our friend Henry Turner, who owns the Big Buck GNCC track, has some photos up on his website. The Pirelli Big Buck GNCC 2009 photo gallery is posted on www.bigbuckracing.com "Hundreds of images" says Henry.
We have more photos. Our in-house photo man Matt Ware loaded up some wallpapers so you can drape your desktop background with. We have a selection of bike and ATV stuff right here at GNCC Racing,
http://www.gnccracing.com/wallpapers and there's also more bike stuff at digital off-road.com
http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2009/09/22/unadilla-gncc-wallpaper/
We've partnered up with the folks from the GEICO EnduroCross Series to create a special ticket and rider entry discount for their race in Columbus next weekend. We're racing GNCC not too far away in St. Clairsville, and EnduroCross races on Saturday while our bike race takes place on Sunday. So take advantage if you want to check out both. LINK
Okay, time to go. Enjoy the last GNCC trip down south for the year, and we'll see you at the races.
Photo By: David Scearce
Home-state ATV boy Bryan Cook wants to make it an NC sweep this year.
Photo By: Jason Hooper
Jarrod McClure skies over the famous Stomp creek jump.
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