Welcome to Quick Fill. It’s a ghost town around here.

Racer Productions has just embarked on the annual trek to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, which is the toughest, longest, hardest stretch of the year for our staff. It’s also the most fun. We host two events down there, the Air Nautiques/AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships for bikes, and the Loretta Lynn’s Dirt Days for ATVs. Our track crew left town two weeks ago and won’t return for another three weeks, and the rest of the crew just hit the road. I have to fly to Washougal, Washington this weekend for AMA/Toyota Motocross, and then I head to Tennessee on Monday.

Many of you have experienced Loretta Lynn’s with the GNCC we hold their every April. But things are much different in August. It’s incredibly hot and humid there (even kids from Florida will tell you that Loretta’s is even hotter than home for them), and the entire industry buzzes around the events, riders, teams, sponsors and VIPs. For amateur motocross racers and for ATV motocross racers, Loretta’s race is the one you want to win the most.

Also, we want to explain that our phone system is out of service for the moment, because our office was hit by lightning last weekend. So if you’ve been trying to call, it won’t work. Stay tuned, we hope to have it fixed next week.

So with all of our focus on that event, we have just a few things to share here on Quick Fill. First, GNCC TV is about to make its return to Versus! The long wait will end next Sunday, August 3, when we air the Triton ATV GNCC at 2:30 p.m. The easy way to catch the shows is to remember Sundays at 2:30 p.m., with re-airs Thursday at 4 p.m. And because we held the shows back until August, we can air races every week without running out of episodes and having to take a break. So set your TiVo, your DVR, your VCR and your brain to Racer TV every week!

Back here, we’ve just wrapped up the Florida and Georgia shows, and they’re good. We cover Youth racing in each show, as well as some morning and amateur classes. And you just can’t believe how fast Adam McGill looks while pulling a six-minute lead in Georgia. But seeing will be believing when that show airs Sunday, August 17^th.

And if you really, really can’t wait, or you really, really like the TV shows, check out the entire series’ DVD collection at www.mototees.com The DVDs are much longer than the TV shows, with more afternoon pro coverage, and way, way more coverage of the morning race and the Youth.

Check it out! KTM is now in the car business. Kind of. Click here.

Last week we unleashed a retro photo report on Quick Fill, and people were pumped. When I get back from Loretta’s I’ll have to dig up some more shots. In the meantime, I’ll share some email we got last week:

I think more bike pictures from the 80's and 90's would be great to see in the summer Quick Fills. Pictures from that time (especially if I'm in them!) bring back a lot of great memories. Who knows they may even motivate older riders to come back and show these young guns what GNCC racing is all about!  Take care and Keep up the great work on the website. 

Jeffrey Lauth

I really enjoyed the flashback Quick Fill. I used to race the GNCCs back in the late 80's and early 90's. I won a few four-stroke A races and led a few overalls back in the day. I was one of the first ATV team riders for John Ayers and the GEAR team and the only Team Green Kawasaki man on the line (I would be surrounded by a sea of red Honda machines). Seeing those pictures of Chuck, Bob, Norm, Stevie, Roy and the others sure did bring back a lot of great memories. I would really enjoy seeing some more pictures. I live in the West now and race in the desert, but follow the series and your column religiously. Keep up the great work.
 
Best,
Eric Hogue

KEEP THE RETRO COMMING!!! It brings back a lot of memories. The color picture was from the Waterford, Ohio race put on by the Pioneer Motorcycle Club. I miss watching Sloan (Bob will always be missed, I was there at Starvation Point when the accident happened), Bish and Chuck battling. Once Barry starting winning it wasn’t the same, he had picked up a pace that nobody else could run and he was (and is) very smart about his lines. I have seen the series go from 130 quads being a great turn out to where it is today and it is unreal how much it has grown. Maybe you all should try to get a bunch of the guys from the 80's and 90's together for a fun race in the morning or just try to get them to come and sign autographs at a race like Power Line. I know that William Yokley’s brother John has raced a few again in the morning. What about Teddy Trey, Steve Holbert, Norm Bish,  Tom Tokay, Guy Longwell, Chris Gillette, Chuck DeLullo and so many others? It might be good to hear from all those guys again.

                 Henry Holshu

                 GNCC #'s 577, 42, 73, 83 ('98-'02)

I just finished checking out the newest edition of Quick Fill. I thought it was great! I love looking at the photos and hearing stories from "back in the day." I think all the kids racing now should know where their sport came from.
 
Anyway, I have a few old pics I thought I’d share also, these are some my dad took. I’m not 100% sure who the riders are in these, but I do believe they’re from the Sand Flea 100 in Sanford, NC. My dad is getting forgetful in his ripe old age. Just kidding!  Enjoy!

Jared Bolton 

In some sad news, here’s a letter we received late last week from Bryan Cook’s wife, Bonnie:

This is Bonnie Cook with the Mid East Hare Scramble Series, I just wanted to let you know one of our riders, Ashleigh Davis is in the Hospital having a brain biopsy today (Friday). Ashleigh is a youth quad racer that races in the Mid East Series as well as the GNCC (90 Modified 12-15 year old Class). She became sick just before the Somerset, PA race and was stuck in the hospital, unable to come to the race. They thought about sending her home on IV antibiotics during the summer would get her better, but she has become sick yet again. The doctors are unsure of what is causing her to be so sick so they have decided to put her in BaptistMedicalHospital in NC to do a brain biopsy.

Please put Ashleigh in your prayers. She is a sweet-heart of a girl, always smiling and so positive. She is too young for this and we hope she gets better soon.

Thanks for your time

Bonnie

We mentioned that Nathan Kanney and David Knight were going to race a World Enduro Round in Wales over the weekend. We received an email update:

Hey Jason, just a quick email to keep you posted in the summer break:

David Knight and Nate Kanney rode in round 3 of the GBXC (Great Britain Cross Country) series here in the UK last weekend. DK took the win and Nate finished a solid 3rd. Nate’s ride was even more interesting, as not only had he only arrived in the UK (for the first time) the day before, but he also didn’t even have a bike to ride! After arriving with DK and catching a glimpse of the 8 mile course, he was offered the chance to take the start aboard a bike belonging to one of the track crew. The crew member was later surprised at how quick his bike actually was!

This series in broadcast on SKYSPORTS, the UKs premier sports channel and further info can be found at gbxc.co.uk.

Both David and Nate then traveled 40 miles down the road to compete in the World Enduro Championship which took part in Wales.

See you in Snowshoe

Ryan Austin

So how did the World Enduro go? Here’s Knight’s report:

David Knight Results Service

World Enduro Championship Rnd 5, GP of Wales, Llanidloes, Mid Wales, 19-20.7.2008

Double podium result for Knight at WEC GP of Wales 

Making the most of the two month break in the US GNCC Series Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider David Knight made a wildcard appearance at the fifth round of the ’08 World Enduro Championship and promptly collected two Enduro 2 class podium finishes aboard his 450cc KTM. Choosing the GP of Wales to make his return to the WEC the former two-time Enduro World Champion and current leader of the US GNCC Series placed as runner-up to former team-mate Juha Salminen on day one and then finished third behind Frenchman Johnny Aubert and Salminen on day two.

With heavy rain falling throughout the opening day’s competition the GP of Wales proved to be a grueling event. Starting near the rear of the E2 class due to being a wildcard rider Knight found it difficult to match the pace of the riders that had started ahead of him due to the rapid deterioration of both the motocross and enduro special tests. But the start of the second lap saw Knight top the enduro test as he started to pull back the time he’d lost earlier in the day. Placing second in class on the next four tests Knight then topped the penultimate special test before finishing fourth on the ninth and final test. Having had a good day, but having felt that he could have ridden harder at times, Knight finished 46 seconds behind eventual E2 class winner Juha Salminen.

Although still tough day two proved to be a little easier for all competitors due to largely dry skies but for Knight the day didn’t go as smoothly as planned. Forced to fit a replacement rear shock to his bike on lap two David failed to perform at his best and opted simply to enjoy the occasion rather than push over his limits. Although not managing to win any special tests on day two Knight entertained the many supporters that had come to see him compete and placed third making it two podium results from the two-day event. Although a little disappointed that he hadn’t been more competitive during the second day’s competition David thoroughly enjoyed his one-off WEC outing.

David will now travel to Mexico to compete in the annual Fun Enduro event before resuming his GNCC training ahead of the re-start of the ”˜08 championship in September.

David Knight: “I’m happy with the way the first day went ”“ finishing second in my first WEC race in nearly two years was good and I really enjoyed it. Things didn’t go quite so well on day two though, but I still finished on the podium so I can’t complain too much. I was at a bit of a disadvantage starting after the top riders in the E2 class, especially early on day one but once the event got into the second lap I started to get things sorted. I knew it would take some time to get used to enduros again, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite as difficult as it was. I’ve spent a year-and-a half-riding at 90 per cent so it was hard to get my head around sprinting again. Every test I started I set off thinking I was in a three-hour race.

“Although the first day was hard I really enjoyed it ”“ I’d say it’s the most enjoyable race I’ve done in a long time. It was impossible not to make any mistakes but I managed to put in some pretty good tests. Juha was riding really well so I was a little way behind him but I was quite a way ahead of Aubert so I finished a safe second. I was pleased with things because I didn’t ride over my head.

“The second day didn’t go quite to plan - the rear of my bike didn’t feel right from the start of the day. I changed the shock for the second lap, which was a lot better. I was still struggling to get out of the ruts. I was riding as hard as I could but Aubert was much quicker than Juha and myself so I just enjoyed myself. It’s been a really good weekend.”Â

Info courtesy www.knighter.net

Kanney, meanwhile, was just inside the top ten on his two-stroke.

Looks like the Australian off-road series has a big battle coming up. Click here.

GNCC is coming to Snowshoe! Check out the main page of the Snowshoe Site, they’re building up the big race in September.

That's it for Quick Fill. We'll be on hiatus here next week due to Loretta's, but we'll be back with Tuesday Toolbox and Quick Fill again on August 5th and 7th. In the meantime, check out this week's Toolbox with Swedish fast girl Vanja Kollman. All she does is clean up bombs for the military and win races. Also, check out the TV schedule page, as the schedule has changed recently.