Welcome to Quick Fill. We’re back on the road again. To Loretta’s!

Okay so the trend may continue. A look at the weather this weekend indicates””shocker””a little bit of rain this weekend and mild temps. Normally it’s hot and humid down in Tennessee, but are you amazed to hear it’s not going to be as hot as usual? Hmmm, do we detect a trend this season? If it’s cold in Somerset in July, we’ll know we’re on to something.

The barns... ...the moto track. You have to love racing at the Ranch!  Scearce photos

This just in: The Elka Suspension Truck has run into some troubles and had to make a pit stop at a Ford dealership for repairs. Looks like the truck won’t make it to Loretta’s, so make sure your suspension is ready before you head down there.

We love going to Loretta's. Our crew practically considers that place a second home, because after the GNCC here in April, they head down there and nearly two full months during the summer to get the Air Nautiques/AMA Amateur Nationals for bikes and the ATVA Dirt Days ATV MX ready to roll. The GNCC is big, but it's a whole different world down there during the summer-you have to experience it for yourself really. If you've never been to the bike or ATV motocross races down there, you owe it to yourself to check it out one time. I remember saying, "Amateurs? Why would I go to a race to watch a bunch of amateurs?" Then I went and now I'll never stop going.

Loretta’s looks cool and it's a real campground with real stuff, like electric and water hookups, a country store, some paved roads, and such. But as a campground, they charge to camp, so be prepared to pay $25 per vehicle. As for the track, it is always whooped out and rough, and as long as it doesn’t rain really, really hard, we’ll run some motocross track. It’s one of the better places to deal with if it rains, because the trails are hilly so there’s good runoff, and the sandy soil takes on water better than those heavy, sticky, clay tracks. My bet is some rain on Saturday and some sun on Sunday. It’s the trend this year.

 

Also a trend: KTM’s out front. David Knight and Adam McGill are threatening to run away with this series. Who will be able to step up and stop this? Maybe each other! Knight seriously wants to race the KTM ATV before the year is through, and if he wraps the title up early, expect him to do it. Knight has raced an ATV before at some of those wild beach races in Europe. He looks way too big for an ATV to me, but I guess he goes pretty darn fast on one. At the start of the Maxxis General GNCC down in Georgia, Knight told me that the standard was set pretty high since his teammate McGill won the ATV race the day before by six minutes. Then I asked him if he would get out there and battle those guys, and he said he wanted to really, really badly.

Our current rules prohibit a pro motorcycle rider from racing an ATV on Saturday and then pro bikes on Sunday. This is to prevent a bike pro from cruising for a lap or two on Saturday just to learn the track. If he raced an ATV, I guarantee you Knighter won’t be out there cruising.

Maybe we can change the rule up? I’ve heard rumors about one rider who is doing “the double” this season and racing two hours on an ATV on Saturday and three on a bike on Sunday, and he thinks using all of that energy more than overshadows any advantage you would have in knowing the track. This rider is one who is wrestling with the “which machine should you race” question all the time, so some serious thought has gone into this. Personally, I think it would be awesome to have Knight give this a try so I hope it can happen.

Knighter hooked up at Loretta's last year. Hooper photo

By the way, it wouldn’t be a first. Back in 2003, Randy Hawkins made a bet with Barry Hawk, and said if Hawk could win a bike title, Randy would race an ATV. Hawk won the bike crown in 2003, so Randy lined up with a Chad DuVall replica ATV in Florida for 2004. To make sure he didn’t get DQed for the bike race, he just started the ATV race and pulled off. Randy was bummed””he wanted to race the ATV bad.

 

You know who else might be strong at Loretta’s? Shane Watts. Watts rode pretty darned well for a few laps at the Big Buck, and he will be in better shape for this one. Watts is even going riding and mountain biking today. He wants to be at least somewhat ready. Just one year ago at Loretta’s, Watts was on a Yamaha chasing Knighter around for the lead, still thinking of scoring points for the championship. A lot has changed since then.

The '07 Yamaha version of Shane Watts. Scearce photo

Also, Charlie Mullins is now back up to speed after nursing his wrist injury at the Big Buck. It seems like last year, everything that could have gone badly for Knight did, and that gave guys like Barry Hawk and Mullins golden opportunities for the title. This year, it’s the exact opposite. Mullins has been fast but unlucky, and Hawk even more so.

 

How’s Barry doing? Last Saturday he sent a text: “I’m out of jail and headed to Randy’s house.” So he was out of the hospital then, and then yesterday he called from back home in Pennsylvania. Barry doesn’t need shoulder surgery after all, but doctors estimate he needs to take three months off to get his shoulder blade all healed up. So right now he’s planning on racing in Somerset in July. It’s his home race and he thinks that’s a realistic amount of time to get healed up. If he comes back by then, he’s even more of a hero than ever!

 

For now, Barry still has his posse of riders riding his practice track, guys like ATV Vet A Champ Jeff Miller, bike Vet A contender Shawn Remington, and Youth contender AJ Stewart. Barry isn’t thinking about getting into the riding school bit yet, but I think he’s finding out right now that he would be pretty good at it.

 

Anyway, thanks to everyone who emailed some support to Barry. He read every letter and appreciates it very much. Cheer him when he comes back!

An untold story from Barry’s crash was that another rider, 250 A class contender Seth Derryberry, had broken his ankle and took a ride over to the hospital in the ambulance with Barry. We checked in with Seth.

 

I am doing well. I actually just had the second of the two screws placed into my ankle, which was a minor set back. I also wanted to thank Jeff Russell, Big John and all the other GNCC crew members for getting me safely out of the woods. Those guys get an A+ from me. Thanks & I hope to recover and be racing again soon.

Seth Derryberry 

And along those lines, here’s another injury update, this one from an ATV racer.

 

I just wanted to thank you for all you did for me at Steele Creek. I am a Team Cardio Stack racer that was injured on the first lap during the afternoon quad race. I got bucked pretty hard on a downhill section and hit a tree with my body then the quad hit me. No fun I suffered a broken Tibia and Fibula on my right leg and underwent surgery on April first. After a four day hospital stay I went home and am recovering well.

 

I was blown away at the level of urgency I was shown. You guys were right on top of it and I had help from track officials in no time flat. I was assisted by RP staff all the way to the ambulance. It was amazing how much care was taken by RP to make certain I was transported safely. You were doing this while putting on the largest off road series in the world.

 

I also wanted to thank all of my fellow racers. Not one racer went by (right after the accident) that didn’t stop and ask if we needed help. What other race series would have “class act” people like that?

 

See you at the races soon!

 

Thank you,
Scott Wilson #588

 

Thanks for the kind words, Scott. We’re glad you’re on the road to recovery.

Hey, we found a wallet at the Big Buck, belonging to a guy named Austin. We won’t give anymore info than that. If it’s your wallet, call us at 304-284-0084 and if you can ID the wallet, we’ll give it back. If not, free lunch for us!

Kidding.

Don't forget about the new Aussie, Josh Strang. He took second at the Big Buck, is in awesome shape and says he loves the RM-Z450. He could be in victory lane soon. Scearce photo

Racers are racing all over during our off-weekends. William Yokley ran a mid-south race near his place in Kentucky last weekend and won it. Technically, that means Yoke has won two in a row after taking the UTV win at Big Buck.

And “Hot Rod” Mullins showed up at High Point Raceway for some motocross last Saturday. He went fast but had some bad luck, plus, the rest of the field was there to qualify for Loretta Lynn’s and Charlie was just racing for fun, which is a tough situation to be in. Still, he looked good, and it was cool to see him running the RM250 against the 450s out there.

 

Jason Hooper, our ace website photog, has got a new project going. Hoop’s is an amazing website designer (that’s his job here with Racer X and Racer Productions) and now he’s offering sites to riders. His first project is http://www.kailubrussell.com/, which just launched and looks good. Hoops is looking to build some more sites so look him up this weekend at Loretta’s if you think it will be a career boost.

 

Which brings up Justin Williamson. There’s no denying his www.williamsonracing.com site helped launch his career, so there’s the power of the web. Hopefully, J-Dub is jumping into the rejuvenation machine right now, as he’s had a rough few months early in the season but could be ready to mount a comeback. He won a muddy AMA Eastern Hare Scramble over the weekend in front of Jason Raines, so maybe this victory is the shot of confidence he needs. Plus, I’ve heard Justin has gone back to his 2007 suspension, so he’s more comfortable.

J-Dub said he didn't really start rolling until Loretta's last year. Can he get going again? Scearce photo

 

And on a final XC2 note, the July issue of Racer X Illustrated packs a cool feature on that class, with quotes from the behind-the-scenes people who made it happen, like Team Managers Fred Andrews, Randy Hawkins and Antti Kallonen. It’s a good read (in my personal, humble opinion.)

Hey, here's a reminder about all the cool stuff we have on this website you might not have checked lately. Under the riders tab at the top of the site, you'll find the link to our Get Press press releases. Use these to get yourself some coverage in your local paper. They're handy, ready made press releases, all you have to do is fill in the blanks with your info and send it to your local paper. They may just make you a star.

Check out what Youth ATV Racer Blake Chirdon accomplished:

Also, we're uploading new rider profiles all the time. Under the series info tab, be sure to check out our latest Pro Profiles.

And our GNCC Hitchhiker's Guide is posted as well. This is a way for you to share rides to the track!

So that will do it for this week’s Quick Fill. Get on down the road to Loretta’s, and have some fun down there!  

 

He's still having fun. www.racedaypix.com photo