Welcome to Quick Fill. We’re distracted again.

The Racer Productions crew has one more big event to put together before we return our 100 percent focus onto the GNCC Series, and it comes this weekend with the American Motocross Festival at Steel City Raceway. This Monster Energy/Kawasaki Pro Motocross National presented by NEXT Financial is always a big deal, but it’s even bigger this year since the main pro racing has moved to Saturday instead of the traditional Sunday date. This is a big experiment for the AMA/Toyota Motocross Championship, and one that teams and racers have been asking for. Just like our ATV crowd getting a Sunday to travel, clean up and rest before returning to work on Monday, the top motocross teams would like to do the same thing, so we’re going to try it this weekend and see if it works.

We have to deal with this Stewart guy this weekend. Carl Stone photo

This Saturday will be jammed with pro racing, including James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto in the Motocross and Motocross Lites classes, as well as the fastest ATV MX pilots in the world with the ATV Open, and the final round of the Women’s Motocross Association Championship. All four of those classes, 450, 250, ATVs and Womens, will be crammed in on Saturday, and we’ll round that out with a band and fireworks at night. If you want to check all that out, just remember that it happens on Saturday and not Sunday!

On Sunday, we’ll run a full amateur day schedule. So if you’ve got a jones for some motocross, Sunday at Steel City on the same track Bubba and the boys tore up the day before would be pretty sweet. Maybe we’ll see you folks out there.

But that’s motocross, and we know you off-roader types have other interests, and right now they’re international in scope. The ATV set wrapped up the Pont du Vaux 12 hour race last weekend, and the KTM ATV team finished second overall with Adam McGill, Taylor Kiser and Tim Farr at the controls of a 525XC. Check out KTM’s report here

Taylor Kiser just got back from France. We'll check in with him next week to see how the trip went. Hooper photo

Kind of a bummer though, as the McGill/Kiser/Farr squad had the lead for a long time before a few mechanical issues took them into the pits, which ultimately cost them the win. Next year, they’re going for the gold.

Nate Dawg is in Greece. David Scearce photo

Now attention turns to the bike side and the oldest, and most prestigious, off-road race in the world, the International Six Days Enduro. This year Team USA is sending one heck of a trophy team, featuring GNCCers Nathan Kanney and Jimmy Jarrett, Team Captain Kurt Caselli, Destry Abbott, Ricky Dietrich and Nathan Woods to Greece. This is an all-star team, and there hasn’t been this kind of effort put into the U.S. Trophy Team since we tried to run the whole thing back in 2003.

Unfortunately, what we learned back then might come into play this year. When we organized the Project GNCC ISDE 2003 squad, a lot of insiders said it would take a three-year effort to really go for the win. The European teams are just too experienced in the ISDE format to expect to beat them the first time out. And since the ISDE is not an event that pays the bills for any American, it’s hard to get riders, teams and sponsors to get on board for a three-year commitment. We got beat pretty bad in 2003, but we learned a lot, too. Unfortunately, we spent a ton of money on the effort that year, and after the results didn’t pan out, it seemed like everyone lost interest.

Except for one guy. Kurt Caselli wasn’t on the trophy team that year, because he was just a young, unproven prospect. But he went really, really fast, and put himself on the map. Since then, Kurt started circling the ISDE on his personal best map, and he went there every year focused and determined. In 2006, he arranged a Junior Trophy Team (for young riders) that went on to win the World Junior Trophy. Last year in Chili, he almost won the whole darned event overall. So this year Kurt and his dad helped put together this big Trophy Team effort. Sadly, we lost Kurt’s father a few months ago, and he won’t be able to see his dream come to fruition in person. But surely, Rich Caselli will be looking down at his troops, proud of the effort they put in, regardless of the results.

Speaking of results, Jason Hooper just reported a cool scoop from Greece. The six men on the Trophy Team decided to hold a East versus West Rental Car Battle to see just which of the boys really are the baddest. You want your GNCC versus WORCS? We got it right here! Caselli was put on the team with Kanney and Jarrett since he'll be a GNCC next year, with Dietrich, Abbott and Woody in the other rental car. And after much bashing, Team East Coast won! Good job, boys!

And yes, last Friday teh Red Bull KTM team announced their official U.S. lineup, which includes Caselli on the GNCC Team (and David Knight is, apparently, going back home to Europe). Kurt is an amazing rider but the learning curve for the Eastern trails will be steep, so you know a lot of top riders will have some confidence heading into 2009 with Juha and the Knighter out of the series for the first time since 2004. Bring on the competition!

Check out the site http://www.isde.tv/site/ The site is put together by the Lague brothers, and everything they do is top notch. The main interview covers the Rich Caselli Memorial Ride from a few weeks ago, and there’s also a great Kurt Caselli interview as a preview.

Finally, keep tabs on the race via the official site, http://www.isde2008.gr/ Racing starts this weekend. I tried to dial in Nate Kanney for an interview this week, but he texted me with “It would be a really expensive interview if I have to call you from Greece.”Â

So I’ll dial him when he gets back. Also, good luck to Glenn Kearney, who will be racing his Husky for Team Australia.

Hey, just a smidge late for the Olympics comes news of a GNCC-style race in China. Click here.

Johnny G is ready for his close up. Hooper photo

If you’re looking for your GNCC fix this weekend, check out the Steele Creek ATV GNCC this weekend on Versus at 2:30 p.m. Adam McGill tries to keep it going in the mud, and the action is good.

Show everybody’s good friend Johnny Gallagher some love by reading Tuesday Toolbox with him. I used to say we could call Barry Hawk Mr. GNCC, but you know, Johnny would wear that title pretty proudly, too.

Hey, the racingest guy in the world, Paul Whibley, has managed to find something to win every weekend. Check out his website here to check out his performances in Kentucky and Ohio.

Okay, we’re keeping Quick Fill quick here because we’ve got to get to Steel City. We’ll be back next week with a whole lot more, because by then we’re back to 100 percent GNCC.

Nice driving, Jimmy Jarrett. David Scearce photo