Welcome to Quick Fill. Is this thing on?

Sorry for the delay here with our first-ever Friday edition of Quick Fill. I tried and tried to load this up yesterday and finally threw in the towel. So here we are and here's Quick Fill. 

Hard to believe it’s already here, but by next weekend the GNCC tour will have completed its early-season tour of the south, and we’ll be near the halfway point of the season. You can tell in the riding, though. People are pushing it, people are wanting it, and things have a little more serious tone at the track at this time of year. Down in Florida everyone is pumped. You’re happy to see your old buddies again, happy to be in the sunshine, and everyone is tied for the points lead so expectations are high.

These boys are ready. David Scearce photos

 

By now, though, things are either not going to way you had hoped, or things are going better, and each one of those scenarios creates extra pressure. If you’re behind, you have to catch up. If you’re in front, you need to keep it up. We applaud the loyal racers competing for GNCC Championships. Whether you’re an old guy, a new guy, a kid, a female, a pro, a novice or anything in between. You get to run for a national championship, and I bet most of the other people you see at work on Monday mornings don’t get to say the same thing.

You know who is dealing with the high expectations right now? We have one rider who has won every single overall this year, and he races in the Youth Bikes, and his name is Steward Baylor. When we talked to Steward a few weeks ago for our Tuesday Toolbox feature, he didn’t expect to do this well, and now he’s gone on to win a bunch more. There’s stiff competition, too. AJ Stewart and Zach Nolan have been nipping at his heels, and Chris Meadows has definitely shown the speed to get a win. We’re heading into Meadows territory next weekend in Ohio, and eventually we’ll wind our way through Pennsylvania (where AJ is from) and West Virginia (Zach Nolan’s state). Isn’t it cool how these championship tours work? Again, be proud of what you’re doing, because there aren’t many other hobbies that give you opportunities like this.

These kids are ready. Jason Hooper photo

Another rider happy to go back to Ohio is Adam McGill. I missed the ATV racing at Loretta’s because I had to cover a supercross out west, but as soon as I started calling people after the race, I heard the same story: “Man, you missed one heck of an ATV race.” Turns out the Loretta’s battle was one for the ages, and all those hopes we had for a deep field of ATV contenders have come true. Right now there are easily ten riders who have the speed, the talent, the determination, the equipment and the work ethic to win a race. Ten. For real.

So what happened to McGill to end his win streak? His electrical system cut short and he was left stranded. The same thing happened to his teammate Taylor Kiser, but Taylor was able to limp his machine to the finish. As one KTM official said, “You can’t say they don’t have identical equipment, because they both died at the same time!” McGill tried everything to get his machine started, borrowing a knife from a spectator and cutting giant holes in the plastic of his machine to get access to every wire. It didn’t help.

I called Adam yesterday and (of course) he gave me an earful. “Man, I was so bummed,” he repeated over and over. “You know what I wanted? I wanted to win four in a row, so when I came back home for this race in Ohio, I wanted to be able to tell everyone I’m on the drive for five. That’s what I wanted. The drive for five.”Â

Adam is all about the fans, and he said he was just as disappointed to not put on a show for them by battling Ballance at this finish line. “I just hope I didn’t let anyone down, so many people are supporting me and helping me,” said Adam. After talking with him, I think it’s clear that he loves whatever pressure comes winning these races and competing for this title. For someone new to racing at that high of a level, that’s a great weapon to have on your side.

It’s awesome to see that McGill has not only arrived as a racer, but he did it with his personality in tact. The man can cut interviews and pump up an event like no one else right now. But he better stay pumped, because now The Killer B’s have got their mojo back. I talked to Ballance and Borich yesterday, and I can tell you that they, too, think it’s their time now. I can’t wait for this ATV race next weekend. Right now all three of these boys think they are the guy to beat. All three of them have extreme confidence. Ballance is pumped because he won. I called him yesterday and of course he was in the shop, tinkering with shocks, and working on another title. I asked him if he wished he could just find some big advantage and get away from the competition again. He told me something interesting. “You know, I’ve had plenty of years where I was the guy,” said Ballance. “After winning eight championships, I think those battles are what really keep me going. I don’t think I would have the same fire if I was just winning all the time. Being in these battles, that’s what makes me get up every morning and work.”Â

 

Ballance and Borich are ready. David Scearce photo

Borich thinks the race was his since he came from behind, and he says he has barely changed a thing on his Suzuki since he won the race in Florida, so he knows the machine he is riding is a machine than can win. “I’ve read what some of the people are saying on the message boards,” said Borich. “But those were muddy races, the pace slows down and anyone can win. Once we get on a dry track I’ll be good.”Â

All three of these guys are on it right now. This is going to be a full-on explosion when we get to The John Penton. And don’t forget that, again, we have all of those other guys that can win. Watch Cook or Sommers or Kiser or Smiley or Yokley work their way in there. Johnny Gallagher told me I can put it on the record that he’s going for a podium in Ohio””and if it rains, look out for a win! Johnny was running eighth on the last lap at Loretta’s when his machine shut off, just like McGill’s. We have a lot of guys that are pumped up right now. The ATV gang is at mid-season form!

We’ve also got a real battle on our hands in the morning race. Folks, the Women’s class has proven itself as the fastest guns of the morning, no excuses. We’ve started them in a bunch of different rows this year, and every time they have won the overall, and on occasion they have even swept the podium! Right now, we’re going to try something new and start the Women in the second row every week, and rotate the 4x4 classes around that. But don’t complain, men. The Women have proven themselves so if we hear too mach yappin’ we may just move them back up front.

This is all impressive because, if you remember, there was a point last year where the Ute classes looked to have hooked on and were ready to start winning all of the overalls. Now the Women have stepped it up again. Mid-season form, people, mid-season form.

In the bike ranks, well, the plan for everyone this year was to step it up, and everyone did. The only problem is that David Knight has stepped it up, too. He and the previous GNCC Champ, Juha Salminen, won so often that it made it look easier than it was. Now it’s pretty clear that Knighter was still learning last season, and now that he has a year of GNCC racing under his belt, he’s become nearly unstoppable. You can see it in his race strategy. He knows when to pass, when to go fast, and when to be smooth. He’s doing what shouldn’t be able to be done””he’s turning the races into yawners. Yeah, I just said it. Knight’s probably not going to be back home next year, so come on out and watch and meet this guy while you can. You’re really watching a one-in-a-million talent.

What’s tough is that, just like the ATV ranks, the rest of the bike guys are strong. I mean, I have no doubts that Strang, Mullins, Kanney, Kearney, Whibley, Raines, Robinson and Edmisten are putting in the work. There were a lot of guys that came into this season ready. To sum it up best, I will take a page from Jesse Robinson’s race report that we received today.    Round 5 at Loretta Lynn's Ranch is one of the benchmark races of the year. Where you stand after this race is a good indicator of the progress you have made and if your routine is paying off. After crunching all of the data, there is a definite improvement of Jesse's performance but the end results are basically the same as last year. This means that everyone running in the top ten is working just as hard or harder than us and to assume that any one of these guys will slack up is out of the question.

Interesting.

For example, Josh Strang put in a lot of off-season work and put on some upper body muscle and lost some weight at the same time. Then he switched to a 450 and started going faster on it immediately. He has stepped it up big, and he could even be running for a win if that darned Knight guy wasn’t there. And I’m sure a lot of people are saying “What’s up with Mullins?” but I think this is just a product of how fast everyone else is going. Although with 450s all over the place, you have to wonder if we’re finally reaching the breaking point for the two-stroke in the GNCCs. At one point at Loretta’s, four of the top five bikes were 450s. A few weeks back Mullins said he hears Suzuki may still be importing the RM250 for 2009 and he expects to be on one, but by the end of the year, who knows?

Even the amateurs are ready. Cory Buttrick is working on a top-ten overall from the Four-Stroke A Lites class. David Scearce photo

Jason Raines is still looking for his first top five. He’s a prime example of how far things have come. Back a few years ago there was no doubt whatsoever that Raines was the hardest-training rider on the tour. Now he’s still in fantastic shape, but this weekend he had to deal with two other riders who are also in fantastic condition, and Nathan Kanney and Paul Whibley ended up swallowing him up. I talked to Kanney this week about his battle with Whibs: “Yeah, he passed me on the last lap at the last one, so all weekend we were going around flexing to each other so everyone would know who was strong. So then on the last lap we were hooked up again and we got to work. It was New Zealand bringing it against New York bringing it.” Whibley has garnered a new nickname for his strength late in the race’””“The Badger” (because he’s so persistent). But this time Kanney managed to hold the Badger off. Both of these boys have stepped it up.

So the bike tour is strong, these guys are serious and if Knight does falter, we will have one crazy battle for supremacy. But I think he’s going to keep it together this time.

Garrett Edmisten is still riding and working hard. The results aren't as strong as last year, but that's more a product of everyone else stepping up. David Scearce photo

Did you catch the photos from Hoop’s photo report of the ATV XC2 trophies? They were guitars. Looked good at Loretta’s, but then we got this note:

 

Hey Jason,

Guitars were used as trophies at Loretta’s 25 years ago. This trophy was won by my wife, Sue Huggins Wise. Her Dad, Don "Scud" Huggins won the overall that day. Big Dave, Rita, CJ and the boys knew them very well.  We will see you at Millfield!

Thanks, Jimmy Wise

 

25 year old Loretta Lynn's GNCC trophy.

Also some old school at The John Penton, KTM Youth Day returns to unite the latest generation of GNCC talent with John Penton, the man who launched KTM motorcycles in the U.S. KTM has a lot of cool stuff planned, including free t-shirts and finisher pins.

Hey, remember Blake Chirdon who had the newspaper article last week? He went out and won the 90 Limited (8-10) class at Loretta’s. Maybe we should put that article up here every week!

Finally, a word on the weather at Loretta’s. It rained on Friday which made my prognostications correct: we’re going to stick with the muddy ATV race and dry bike race trend all year. The rain actually helped because it would have been dusty otherwise. But then the trend changed when it finally rained again after the bike race on Sunday night. So what does this mean for Penton? That’s the ultimate test, because we’ve had lots of dusty and muddy races there. We’ll see what we get. And we’ll see you right here next week.

 

Even Shane Watts is ready! Scearce photo