Welcome to Quick Fill. We’re traveling again.

First, click here for the latest on the GNCC Banquet, which has now completely filled the Sheraton in Mars/Cranberry, PA. We have another hotel ready for anyone who didn’t book yet, though.

Okay. This week GNCC Racers are all over the place. Some are headed to Las Vegas for the big AMA weekend, which includes the AMA Sports Banquet at the Rio Hotel on Friday, the Maxxis EnduroCross on Saturday and the AMA Racing Pro Banquet at the Rio on Sunday night. I’m heading there right now, posting this Quick Fill from the Pittsburgh Airport. Others are already way down in South America racing in the International Six-Days Enduro. It’s an exciting time to be a racer, because these are lower-profile, lower-pressure affairs, one more race for fun, or just a banquet to celebrate a year gone well. Right now I can only think of two GNCC Racers feeling any major pressure.

 

First, our ’07 Series Champion David Knight it gunning for his second Maxxis EnduroCross Title, but this one is tougher to get than the one he collected in 2005, since this is now part of a full three-race series. Knighter has won first two rounds, which means if he wins on Saturday at the Orleans he gets a $50,000 bonus for winning every event. Even for a night (or Knight) in Vegas, $50,000 is a lot of money.

Also on the bubble right now is Kurt Caselli, who is trying to become the first American to ever win the ISDE Overall.. Yes, Caselli is more of a West Coast off-road guy (he’s the ’07 WORCS Champ) than a GNCCer, but Kurt does race with us from time to time””remember, he won the first two rounds this year in the XC2 Lites class. Kurt’s trying to make history, and we support him all the way!

Here's Caselli at the General GNCC in Georgia.
David Scearce photo

 

We’ve also got Amanda Mastin trying to make some history, too, as part of the USA Women’s Cup Team. This is the first time the ISDE has ever run a team competition exclusively for Women, and wouldn’t you know it but our ladies are dominating! You’ll see Mandi’s daily reports on our main page, so far so good for them.

 

Jimmy Jarrett is also on board the U.S. Trophy Team, and he’s closing in on a top-ten overall finish in his 250 2-stroke class. I know Dennis Decker is down there as well but I didn’t catch his results yet.

Caselli getting into the lead early marked the first major news of the week, and he has been steady since on his ’08 KTM 300 XCW-e. Good old Juha Salminen managed to get in front of Kurt overall briefly, but Juha crashed in a special test on day three and dropped back to third overall. Ex Motocross Johnny Aubert, a Frenchman, is second behind Kurt now, about 30 seconds back. Juha, meanwhile, has to think about his team as he tries to make up time, since the Finns are leading the Trophy Team ranks (as usual).

Here's a picture (below) of Jimmy Jarrett from the official AMA site.

But the whole thing almost came to a stop when a huge earthquake erupted in Chile yesterday. Luckily, the racers seem to be okay. Here’s a report from the AMA website:

No injuries reported at ISDE from earthquake in northern Chile

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck northern Chile Wednesday, the third day of the International Six Days Enduro, but the official ISDE website reported that there were no injuries or damage in La Serena, the site of the competition.

The Chilean National Office of Emergency reported that the strong earthquake knocked out power and caused buildings to collapse near its center. But it said the strength of the quake measured only a magnitude three at La Serena, which is more than 500 miles south of the center of the quake.

"We felt it pretty good," said Chuck Weir, AMA Racing Off-Road Director, who is on site in La Serena. "It lasted about 30 to 40 seconds and the ground was heaving. The race continued and all is well."

The earthquake, centered miles beneath the surface, occurred at 12:43 p.m. local time. More than 100 injuries and two deaths were reported in the northern communities most affected by the earthquake.

Wow.

 There are tons of places to get ISDE info on the web. The official race site is here

and the official AMA site is

http://www.amadirectlink.com/amrace/2007/isde/

Also, check out the always-wild http://www.offroadchampions.com/

Do not got to http://www.isde.net/

Or http://web.umr.edu/~isde/

Or http://www.isde.vanderbilt.edu/index.htm

Seems ISDE means a lot of different things to different people.

Last week pictures of the production 2009 BMW 450 X hit the web, after the bike was shown at a big bike show in Italy. The best info I have found comes from right here:

Now the big question is, who will race this bike in the GNCCs next year? A BMW team is coming for certain, and Scott Summers is running it. I know Summers’ crew has talked to a lot of riders, and some top talent has actually ridden the machine in a test run, and rumors of racers included Paul Whibley, Garrett Edmisten and Nathan Kanney, but still no word on who will race the machine in ’09. Right now the best bet may be Irish motocrosser Gordon Crockard. The “Crockstar” is a multi-time World Motocross GP Winner, battling the likes of Stefan Everts before a series of injuries derailed him. He showed up at the Ironman and raced XC2 for Summers on a Honda and finished sixth in his first off-road race ever. He could be stateside in ’08 since it looks like most of the GNCC regulars already have deals in place.

 

Whibs is now with FMF Suzuki and Kanney is taking Robbie Jenks’ place under the Red Bull KTM tent.

Also, we know Kawasaki Team Green has Tuesday Toolbox subject Andrew Matusek racing XC2 next year alongside Scotty Watkins, which leaves Josh Weisenfels without a ride for the moment. Word is that Fred Andrews is working on a ride for Josh, in a sort of satellite factory/Andrews bike shop arrangement. No word on what brand they will ride or if this deal will happen at all.

 

Also missing from this game of musical chairs is Jesse Robinson and Glenn Kearney. Honestly, I’m shocked that GK is looking for work since he’s well proven, but unfortunately his results never quite came back after he collapsed of exhaustion at Steele Creek, and I don’t think Glenn is as adept on a 450 as some others, and you know everyone will be riding them sooner or later. I think he’s hoping for a bikes and parts ride with Suzuki next season. I hope he gets something because he’s such a good guy and he rides with such heart.

 

Robinson may end up riding blue, as Yamaha now has a hole since Charlie Mullins moved to Suzuki.

 

Charlie is now two-for-two on his RMs. After winning the JNCC in Japan, he won another race last weekend. I got this email:

Charlie showed up at a Mid South race in Lynneville, IN today and took the win in convincing fashion.  After grabbing the holeshot, Mullins looked absolutely brilliant on the new Suzuki as he ended the first lap with a HUGE gap.  It looked to be a runaway but somewhere during the race the duo of Kailub Russell and Dustin Gibson closed the gap.  Pit-daddy Jeff Russell pulled Kailub over on the last lap for a splash of fuel...causing him to slip away from the pack.  He must have put on a tremendous charge on the final lap as he rounded the last few turns right behind Charlie and just ahead of Dustin Gibson.  The guys put on a great show.

 1. Mullins

 2. Russell

 3. Gibson

 

Just thought you would like to know. 

Good update. Kailub stopped by our office this week, and he told me he has no idea how he closed the gap on Mullins each time””there’s a good chance Charlie was just cruising, perhaps. But either way it was a good ride for KR, who is dialing in his PowerSport GrafX KTM 250XC-F for an XC2 run next year. It will be good with Matusek and Kailub in there, two outstanding A class champions.

Our last three GNCC Youth Champions (L-R Kailub Russell, Cory Buttrick and Walker Fowler) are doin' alright.

 

You know who may be the most confused rider of all during this silly season? Walker Fowler. Walker is of course the only GNCC racer ever to win the Overall Youth ATV (’05 and ’06) and Overall Youth Bike (’07) Titles, and he also won the Youth Productions class on ATVs this year. Now that should be a good thing, and it is, but now that Walker is moving to the big bikes he will have to make some major decisions soon on his future. He’s ready to run a bike A class next year and could seriously be in contention for a title, while he has one more year to go on a 300 ATV before he’s finally 16 and can race a 450. Word is that the day Walker gets on a 450 in a GNCC, he will be ready to win against anyone””he’s that good. So in ’09, it’s realistic to think of Walker as a contender in both XC2 Classes, but by then you would think some brands would be hoping to lock him down to focus on one or the other. Only Barry Hawk could probably understand Walker’s situation, except back when Barry was racing ATVs, there wasn’t any factory support (which must burn him up).

 

Anyway, this year the Fowler family is headed to the AMA Banquet on Friday night. Last year Walker won the Youth ATV Rider of the Year Award, and this year he is nominated for Youth Bike Rider of the Year. Can he get both?

 

Several of our GNCC Champions will be recognized at the banquet, including Bill Ballance, David Knight, Traci Cecco and any class champions who go, as well Jason Raines (National Hare Scrambles Champion). A bunch of our riders are up for special awards from the AMA, like Ballance and Knight for ATVA and AMA Athlete of Year. Also a standout nomination goes to Michael Swift, our 4x4 Limited Rider. Swift is the first 4x4 rider to ever be nominated for one of these awards, as he’s up for Amateur ATVA Rider of the Year. See the full list here.

 

Knighter could net $50,000 if he wins the EX this weekend.
David Scearce photo

 

Also, I know Barry Hawk is headed out to Vegas to race the EnduroCross, but the real credit goes to his bud Shawn Remmington and the legendary “Joe Dirt” , who are also racing EX and made the long drive from Pennsylvania with everyone’s bikes.

 

A video from the JNCC in Japan has showed up on YouTube. Click here.

JNCC

Thanks for that, Rob “Sandflea” French. Get well soon!

Here’s a letter for clarification:

Hello:
Last month my husband (Ken Gibb) participated in the Side X Side Ironman race in Crawfordsville. He is the owner & driver of his Polaris RZR who came in first for his class ( UTV Limited 701cc+). Several on-line sources are reporting that Mike Hajec from Auburn Twp. OH came in first place when in all actuality he was Ken's passenger. Ken stated the volunteers who took his paperwork before the race stapled Mike's paper work on top of his making it look like Ken was the passenger, which is quite the opposite. Can you please make the proper corrections to the existing content on your website?

Thank you in advance!
Heather Gibb

Wow, we mixed up the names. These are some of the new problems you have to deal with when holding SideXSide races!

We have some sad news to report this week. Gus Larrison has passed away. You probably don’t know who Gus is, but he is the man who first brought the GNCC Series to television back in 2001. His shows, which aired on Fox Sports Net that first season, are still the gold standard that we are trying to match, and we owe him a huge dept of gratitude for getting our series on the air. By the way, the big mudhole at the Power Line Park GNCC is known as Gus’ Mudhole after him. Godspeed, Gus.

Who remembers the old Kawasaki Team Green ATV rep Doug Douchette? If you read Tuesday Toolbox with Matusek you know that Doug is back with Kawasaki. Here’s a letter:

Jason,

It has been some time since I spoke with anyone at Racer Productions and I recently read the Andrew Matusek Tuesday Toolbox article posted and figured what a better time then the present to catch up. As of October 1st, 2007 I have returned to Kawasaki Team Green as the East Coast Motocross Technician.  This is the same position Jeff Chambers has held for 20 some odd years and although Jeff and I both wear size 10 shoes, I certainly have some "big shoes to fill" to equal the positive impact that Chambers has had in this industry during his involvement. I actually remember meeting Chambers at an event years back and asking him how he got involved with Kawasaki, and then telling him his job was my dream job. Who would have ever though that I would be sitting here today next to Chambers doing this job!

I must first thank my GNCC family, because if it was not for the vision of Big Dave Combs and everyone else at Racer Productions years ago I would not be sitting here today. Heidi  and I pursued racing the GNCC series for some years before the opportunity came about to work with Kawasaki Team Green as the ATV race support technician back in 2003, which was put together by Team Green Manager Reid Nordin.  On my Team Green office desk  I still proudly display my 2004 "GNCC Sport Ambassador" award that I received back in ”˜04. Thanks to all of you at Racer Productions for you hospitality and generosity over the years, as well as all the racers for the many good times that I will always remember.

As far as what will be in the future, I will be attending most all the local Motocross events as well as all the Regional and high profile motocross events and certainly Loretta Lynn's MX.  My schedule will be busy, but I am looking forward to also attending a few GNCC events in the near future with planning from Dave Gowland and Jason Smigel.  As for now Jeff Chambers and myself are packing up and getting ready to head to the Unlimited Sports Winter Olympics in Gainesville, FL. during the Thanksgiving Holiday week. I hope all is well and I am looking forward to catching up with all of you soon!

Happy Holidays!!!


Regards,
Doug Douchette
Motocross Technician (East)

 

Awesome to see Doug back with Kawasaki. He and his wife, former GNCC Women’s Champion Heidi Landon, are great people.

We leave you with”¦well, something completely different. Seems a few GNCC ATV riders went on vacation over the summer, and some photos were taken. Uh, parents, you may not want your kids to see this photo!