Jason Weigandt
by: Jason Weigandt
Thursday March 4th, 2010
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Welcome to Quick Fill, Where do we go from here? We go racing.


Photo By: Shan Moore
Lot's of riders and plenty of sunshine. Welcome to Florida!
Economics have been at the forefront of the racing world for the past few years, and the GNCC Series is not isolated from those fears. In 2008, gas prices were shooting up to nearly five bucks a gallon. Everyone assumed that was the worst of times, until the economy completely tanked in 2009, which made things seem worse yet. But we found out the GNCC people are tougher than most, and don't give up easily. But there's only so much stretching before something breaks, and we saw yet another fallout this year when manufacturers and sponsors started feeling the squeeze from a few tough years. Factory support scaled back, contingency shrunk with it, and surely dealers, gear, gas, oil, goggle, boot, tire and helmet companies are feeling it, too.

We've been hearing about such trouble on the horizon since late in 2007, and ever since, times have been tough. So we begin 2010 with more uncertainty-how will reduced support hurt our GNCC family? Past experience indicates that somehow, someway, people are still going to go racing, they're still going to race hard, and they're still going to have fun doing it.

That's what I saw this weekend, and that's what I heard from a lot of people. Unfortunately, I think we lost a few competitors due to all the snow up north, I know it was really rough getting out of West Virginia on the way down, and I wasn't driving a big rig and towing a big trailer. So by this weekend in Georgia, we will probably have a bigger crowd. Either way, we know people will  go racing, race hard, and have fun doing it.

As for Florida, there is so darned much to cover. Fears of runaway overall wins were unfounded, as Chris Borich had to fight hard to grab the River Ranch Overall against Adam McGill, who looked awesome on his new Warnert Can-Am ride, and Yamaha's Taylor Kiser, who you knew would fly in the sand.  McGill's teammate Chris Bithell was in the hunt, too. I think everyone else is just waiting to get into the woods to show their real game-guys like Bill Ballance and Bryan Cook. Soon, we'll know where everyone stacks up, but at the moment, they're still chasing Chris.


Photo By: Shan Moore
Big thanks to Parts Unlimited for Monday night dinner.
Brian Wolfe started in his usual strong fashion by winning XC2, after another challenge from Defending XC2 Champ Josh Kirkland. Are we in for another wild season between those two? The Women's class saw a new winner, with Texan Lexie Coulter emerging with a win (is this the year the DS450 finally fulfills it's cross country promise?), a bunch of familiar names won the Ute classes (Beasley, Buckhannon, Swift) against new competitors, and a familiar name in the youth class, Levi Coen, won that Youth race.

On the bike side, Aaron Plessinger decided to stay a youth rider despite getting really tall really quickly, and he won the overall over another rider who decided to stay on minis, Layne Michael. Then another old favorite jumped into the fray for the morning race on a new bike-five-time GNCC Champion Rodney Smith on Suzuki's new RMX450 (and this bike was truly inspired by Rodney, with subtle chassis, suspension and engine changes suggested by him. This isn't an RM-Z450 with electric start, it's a carefully honed off-road weapon). Good to see Rodney out there, but former Youth standout Tyler MacDonald won the race over former Arenacross standout Shawn Clark and former Amateur motocross standout (and current Yamaha street bike PR guy Kevin Foley).

Also, congrats out to new KTM recruit in the Women's Class, Maria Forsberg, who won in her first shot. Was also cool to see MXer Sarah Whitmore out there, and Tarah Geiger told me she was going to race with fiancé David "2007 and 2008 GNCC Champion" Knight starring as her unbelievably overqualified mechanic, but I never saw them.

Then came the big show, three hours in the sand for Pro, A and B riders. Good racing there, started by Charlie Mullins, who checked out in his old form and appeared destined for victory. He was hitting one water section so fast, he was hydroplaning across, and he made once mistake and sucked up a bunch of water, killing his engine and costing him the lead. Charlie, last year's Florida winner, ended up third, but looked just as capable on his Yamaha as he did on his Suzuki.


Photo By: Krista Shaw
Welcome back to the podium, Jesse Robinson.
Another new Yamaha recruit, new GNCC Champion Paul Whibley, had trouble all day, from broken roll offs to a damaged fuel vent hose, the latter which led him to run out of gas. Paul is already down in points, but he was faster than you might think. Same for his teammate Thad DuVall, who was way, way back early but rode steady to finish fifth-yes, he finally finished a darn race. Expect them to be on the podium soon.

But this race was left for Josh Strang to win. It should have been easy after Mullins watered out. But enter a complete upstart, Chris Bach. Last year's top amateur had been telling us for months that he would not be intimidated by the XC1 class, but honestly, I've heard that from way too many ex-am champions: Cole Calkins, Andy Shea, Jesse Robinson, the list of top amateurs who stumbled searching for pro podiums is long. Bach is already on it, and about halfway through the last lap, he was battling Strang and looked ready to pull off the all-time upset win. He didn't, but now we're all starting to believe that this kid is for real.

Might have a bike XC2 battle on our hands, too, as Jason Thomas looked awesome all day on that YZ250 two-stroke. Kailub Russell may have a real title battle on his hands this year. And Jesse Robinson himself found a new lease on life with his KTM two-stroke, taking second and basically putting himself in title contention for the first time since 2006.

What I discoved this weekend was that support may change, shrink or go away, but just like high gas prices and major economic fears, that factor alone won't stop the racers. The Parts Unlimited River Ranch GNCC was fun to watch and surely fun to compete in. And that's all that matters, so here's to a great season, no matter how much support you have.

Now onto some contributors, starting with our new GNCC writer and photographer, Shan Moore.


Photo By: Krista Shaw
US Highland bikes made it to the finish in Florida.
Well, I got the full initiation in the GNCC lifestyle during over the four-day River Ranch event, and I have to tell you I was pretty impressed - every bit as professional as the Supercross series. Working with the staff (GNCC family is a more correct term) was truly inspiring. An unbelievably hard working group! The racing was impressive, as well. Riders from eight countries traveled to Florida to compete in the opening round and I was able to meet up with a few of them. On Monday evening in the media center of the River Ranch Lodge, Rachel F. and I met Jacob and Jacob of Sweden. The two "Jacobs" were rider Jacob Moreland and mechanic Jacob Loef, representing the Highland factory. The two are in the states, along with Swedish Supermoto Champion Martin Lind, for the Florida GNCC round, and according to one of the Jacobs (I don't remember which one), this was sort of a testing trip for Highland. They also told us that Highland, which is made in Sweden, just setup a manufacturing facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which some of you already know is near my hometown of Sapulpa. Yeeeeeha! I'll get you more info on that when I finally get back home and have a chance to visit the Tulsa facility.

Two of the top female racers in the country, Sarah Whitmore and Maria Forsberg, were paired up as teammates under the KTM tent at River Ranch and the two ladies hit it off right from the get-go. As a matter of fact, they kind of look like sisters and they were even starting to act a little like sisters by the time the weekend was over.

Sarah was riding her first-ever GNCC at River Ranch, as a part of a promotion she is doing with KTM, which has her riding one of each of the different disciplines that KTM participates in. After River Ranch, Sarah was making the one-hour drive to Daytona to ride the Alligator National Enduro. Being from Michigan, Sarah is no stranger to sand, and it showed in her performance on Tuesday, although being a Moto-Girl she's not used to the longer races.


Photo By: Shan Moore
Sarah and Maria equal double trouble in the KTM pits!
Maria, on the other hand, is from the state of Washington and is not that accustomed to riding sand, however she likes the longer off-road races. For 2010, Maria is an official member of the KTM off-road team, the first women to ever have that honor. "I'm really excited to be part of the team," Forsberg told me. "I wanted to wash my bike but they wouldn't let me do anything - they do it all for me. That's the coolest thing I've ever been a part of." As far as riding with Sarah, Maria added, "I'm so excited to be riding with Sarah, she is the nicest girl to be around."

KTM suspension guru Darrin "Rookie" Sorenson, who at one time was Chad Reed's mechanic, was in the KTM pits at River Ranch working with the off-road team. Darrin normally works with the KTM supercross and motocross teams, but because of budget concerns he will be doing double duty this year, building suspension for the motocross program, as well as for the off-road teams and even road race. Officially, he is the suspension technition for the entire KTM racing program at the factory level. Darren just returned from France where he worked with Mike Alessi on the new 350 fuel-injected moto bike, but for most of the winter he's been working with his "off-season roommate" Nate Kanney.

"With all the cutbacks, the staff around here is kind of at a minimum," said Sorensen. "I just got a helper, Mark Johnson, and he's going to be helping me split things up. So this year I will get to dabble in supercross and motocross, as well as off-road, which I totally love. It's fun working with all the different riders and all the different personalities. Nate is cool to room with, he's a hard worker and my other roommate is from New York so they get along pretty well."


Photo By: Shan Moore
KTM's off-road suspension tuner was once Chad Reed's championship wrench in Supercross.
Glenn Kearney told me that for the first time in three years he was starting the GNCC series in a healthy state, and he was quite happy about that. For 2010, Glenn and his brother, Ben, are running the Husqvarna GNCC and Enduro team effort themselves. Kearney had an unusual-looking device mounted just below the seat of his TXC250 Husqvarna, which he told us was at Steg Peg - sort of a foot peg for your calves. According to Kearney, the Steg Peg gives you something to lean back against in long sections to give your legs a rest. "You lean the back of the boot against the Steg Peg and it takes some weight off the arms and really saves your arms," said Kearney. "A guy from Australia developed them and you can find them at www.stegpegzz.com."

Homero Diaz also attended the River Ranch round, the Mexican Enduro Champion finishing in ninth. According to Diaz, his plan is to do the first three races for KTM and then go back to Mexico. "KTM's point of view is if I do good I go back to Mexico, if I do bad I go back to Mexico," Diaz said. "So it's pretty much certain I will go back to Mexico after North Carolina. This is pretty much a fun trip for me, and that is all. My main focus this year is to win the Mexican Enduro Championship again. Here in the United States, everyone takes the racing very seriously and in Mexico there are about two or three guys who take it serious." In Mexico, the Enduro series runs FIM rules, so there was an adjustment period for Homero because of the differences in formats.

Thanks, Shan. Some news links to include here:

Suzuki announces their Strang/Smith team and factory RM-Z450 and RMX450. CLICK HERE.

Glenn Kearney got his Husky PR to run in Australi. CLICK HERE.

Here's an awesome Florida photo report on DigitalOffRoad.com via Krista Shaw, who is also now doing pit reporting for our GNCC TV shows on Versus. Girl does it all! (With some help from Hooper).

http://www.digitaloffroad.com/2010/03/03/gncc-round-1-photo-gallery/

Here's Paul Whibley's FL race report. CLICK HERE.

And The GEICO/JG Off-Road Report. CLICK HERE.

Now let's turn it over to Rachel "Face Is Numb After Hanging with the Rekluse Guys" Fluharty. Rachel, along with Hannah Reid, pitched in to work with Rodney Tomblin on our announcing crew.


Photo By: Shan Moore
Glenn Kearney's secret trick for the whoops isn't secret anymore.
It seemed like a weekend for initiations at the River Ranch GNCC, with Shan doing race reports, and Hannah Reid and I moving towards Pit Reporting. The opening round was the first time I've held a mic in my hand since I was in first grade choir but I was really excited to be a part of the announcing crew along with Rodney Tombline. Right now, my main concern is to recover my hearing after heading to Downtown Daytona Bike Week last night to check it out for the first time. But thanks to everyone in the pits that was so supportive of our foray into something new.

I don't know who we didn't talk to, because Hannah and I roamed the pits on Saturday and Monday nights before the races. It seems like everyone thinks this is their year, and even Brandon Sommers, who is still getting over mono, looked strong. And based on a weekend of some incredible racing, it looks like it could be hard for anyone to walk away with the championship without a battle on their hands on both the bike and ATV sides. Hannah and I stopped by to talk to Traci Cecco who is ready to take back the championship. Traci has more Women's championships than anyone, with 7, and said it would be hard for anyone to break that record. Traci and Defending Champion Angel Atwell are some of the nicest girls in the racing industry, but do not mess with them on the track.

We didn't have Tuesday Toolbox this week because of the race, but I've told Chris Borich that he isn't allowed to leave the track unless he gives me an interview. He's been busy getting ready for the season, so he hasn't had too much time to talk to us since winning his championship.

Honda has expanded their Contingency program to ATVs, and you can check that out here.http://www.gnccracing.com/pages/2010-gncc-contingency-programs It looks like we are going to see some sunny skies and warmish temperatures. It'll be hard heading back to the snow of West Virginia after a beautiful week down south. If you want to check out the weather report for this week, here you go. http://www.weather.com/weather/narrative/USGA0606

Alright, time to pack up and head to the Alligator Enduro. This time last year I had never gone to a race in my life, and now I'm catching races between GNCCs and going to downtown bike week to destroy my hearing while rocking out. See you in Georgia!

Thanks, and good job this weekend, Rachel (and Hannah).

Whoa, we just posted this and then Rodney Tomblin sent over a post. Let's throw it in here, raw and unedited:

WOW!!!! That is what I am left with after the Parts Unlimited River Ranch GNCC. This first round may have set the stage for what I and I am sure many others may be feeling about the 2010 season. The feeling is that it that this could be the most exciting year of racing ever for ATVs and bikes.

I am quite late on getting my report to Quick Fill this week and I hope that it can make the deadline....looks like it may be later tonight than usual. The reason I am late is because of the long road trip the team had to make to Aonia Pass for the Maxxis General GNCC. It was a nice day for clean up on Wednesday at River Ranch. The weather was sunny and quite windy actually. We tore everything down and loaded up for the approximate 10 hour drive. Mine was much longer thanks to long lines at the diesel pumps and a VERY SLOW fast food restaurant. (40 minute wait). Anyway we made it finally and look like everything is good to go. The track here in Georgia looks good. It has a lot of moisture, but not to the point of mud. Traction should not be a problem. It will make for another great race.

I must say while in Florida that I gained a whole new respect for the ATV riders after riding about five miles of the track after the race on Sunday. Dan the Scoring Man and I jumped on my double up Outlander that I use for the starts and took off on an adventure to put it all into perspective. Dan had never been out after a race and he was nothing short of amazed. And the last time I made it out in Florida after the arace was the year it flooded at the Hurricane GNCC, and I got stuck about 3 miles from the pits.

The track at River Ranch was nothing short of brutal. I cannot imagine how any of those guys rode that pace for two hours and finished the race in one piece, man or machine. Some of the deepest sand whoops I have seen since 2002 opener at Okeechobee. But that was not the worst of it. Palmettos were plentiful and so were some of the most bone jarring acceleration bumps or more simply put, holes, I have ever ridden across. I tried but I was definitely not a Taylor Kiser, Adam McGill or Chris Borich and poor Dan had to hold on for the whole experience. He awoke the next morning so sore from the bumps that he was moving mighty slow as to not to use too many muscles in his efforts.

As far as the racing I am still of the mindset that the whole shake up with riders losing rides and rides simply disappearing may have done for the racing just what I expected. Riders are feeling like they are riding with their hearts more now than ever. And the guys that were already riding that way are feeling better about their chances because they feel like they are more evenly matched when they head to the starting line.

The ATV race was exciting right from the drop of the flag. Any wonders we had about McGill and the new Warnert Can Am ride was quickly answered as he shot to the front quickly. Chris Bithell had gotten off to a good start as well and was passing to the front fast. As the race wore on the top five of McGill, Bithell, Kiser, Borich and Ballance gapped the rest of the field by nearly a minute about half way through. Borich lit it up, but could not pull away. The last ditch effort by Kiser was a valiant try, but came just a hair short through final turn and checkers. Kiser fans were gathered round and cheering as if he had won. That has to be great to have that kind of support from the fans. The XC2 class was not the battle many had anticipated. But look out in Georgia because I feel number riders just wanted to leave that race with some points to start the season.

The bikes were equally as exciting. Mullins appeared to be adapting to the new Yamaha quite well. Everyone knows he's good in the sand, but I say look out because we saw for sure what he can do in the mud and clay last year at the Ironman. And don't forget he actually he had really good year last year but he could just not clinch enough wins to seal the deal on a championship. And of course Josh Strang looked like he was strong as ever and may be the next to add his name to the champions list.

The shocker and exciting part of the Pro race on Tuesday had to be the eye opening ride that last years Top Overall Amateur, Chris Bach put together. Chris actually skipped the XC2 Pro Lites class because was too big for the 250 four stroke. It looks like he may have made the right decision. Some folks asked me if he was a local rider from Florida. I told them "no, he is from Indiana." and then they were like "this kid may be the real deal." We will see, the next test comes up Sunday at the General. Can he recover from the 3 hour long battle in the sand and only 4 days of rest to have another unbelievable ride? We will find out SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! when the world's greatest off road racers battle at the Maxxis General GNCC.

Till next time, God Bless your Hearts and all Your Vital Organs!

Nice, Rodney. With that, Georgia is calling, so pack up the circus and head north with us. It's going to be as good year, like always.


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