Welcome to Quick Fill. Time for the 'thrilla at Unadilla.

Unadilla has taken on a life of its own since we started racing there in 2005. The facility is already legendary from decades of international motocross races, but the GNCC race has become a pretty big deal of its own. Top riders circle this one on their calendar as a race to win, a ton of locals come out to compete (we draw more riders there than any other on the schedule), and overall, the event has developed a tough, rugged vibe that only a few others on the tour can claim (like Snowshoe).

Chris Borich wins Unadilla last year...and note the awesome weather on the horizon. Hooper photo

The Unadilla track isn't exceptionally tough, but the weather makes it gnarly. We've had a few decent races there, but we've also had all out mudders. It's hard to guess what we'll be in for this weekend. Our track crew has been there all week telling us it's super, duper dry there right now. A few days ago, the weather report didn't indicate any rain for the weekend. But then, I looked at the weather again today, and lo and behold now they're calling for rain. So will it be muddy? Dry? Dusty? Perfect? That's anyone's guess, but I can tell you I've gone to a lot of races at Unadilla, and it almost always rains at some point.

At the top of the pro bike list, we're looking at the perfect storm between David Knight and Nathan Kanney. Knight won the race last year, Kanney won the year before. Kanney is ready to peak for his home race, but Knight says Unadilla is one of his favorites. Knight told me after Snowshoe that he really hopes to beat Kanney in his home race, and as you can guess, Kanney is just as anxious to show Knight who is boss here. And if you're thinking “Hey, aren't they teammates on the Red Bull KTM team?” You're right, but that doesn't mean they don't want to beat each other really, really badly right now.

Then throw in Whibs and Strang, who had been strong at nearly every race this year, and we should have a showdown. Barry Hawk said he indeed suffered another punctured lung after his hard crash at Snowshoe, but he's still going to race this weekend and doesn't think it will affect him too much. Also, Charlie Mullins told me he will be back 100 percent for this race after missing Snowshoe with an injury. Jesse Robinson is coming off of his best GNCC ride ever. Glenn Kearney just won a National Hare Scramble over Jason Raines last weekend. Kurt Caselli will be racing out of the rig with Knight and Kanney as part of his education for next season. All of these guys are ready for the 'Dilla.

Nate Kanney made his whole family proud when he won Unadilla in 2006. Ray Gundy photo

Yes, it's official that Caselli is racing GNCC next year. I know he and Kanney are pumped about working together as teammates, and Kanney doesn't think Caselli will need much help adjusting to the Eastern tracks. And where is David Knight going? Well, the Knight and Juha Salminen have signed with BMW rumors won't go away. Both will probably race the World Enduro Championships, but Knight says he hopes to still race some GNCCs next year. May we see Knighter running the #1 on a Bimmer in Florida next year? It's very likely.

Don't forget that Josh Strang collected his first ever GNCC podium at Unadilla last year. Hooper photo

If Knight or Juha do ride the Bimmer next year, they won't run the full GNCC schedule. At the moment, I haven't heard of that team fielding a GNCC effort for 2009, but expect it in 2010. The current BMW team is actually racing under the Husky brand (BMW owns Husqvarna) with Glenn Kearney. I've heard that MX GP star Gordon Crockard is out, and this week the team is giving MX privateer hero Willy Browning a shot

If it's really muddy at Unadilla, I wouldn't count out Thad DuVall from making another overall run. Thad mentioned to us this week that he nearly won the overall at Snowshoe from the third row, but that's still short of what his dad did once on ATVs. Back in 2003, Thad's dad Chad won the ATV overall starting from the second row, beating back Bill Ballance and the boys while racing the Pro Production class. Those DuVall boys know how to pass people!

This should be Thad's last race on a 250F. I know Cory Buttrick is fired up about getting to race Thad starting from the same row (that wasn't the case as Snowshoe) but if he wants to see how he matches up, he'll have to do it this weekend because Thad should be XC1 bound at Power Line Park. And of course the rest of the XC2 class is stacked, look for Gibson, Russell, Thomas, Matusek, Watkins, Williamson and about five others to be right there.

Did you read this week's Tuesday Toolbox with Walker Fowler? Fowler is the only rider ever to win both bike and ATV GNCC Youth Championships, but has had a tough season due to an ankle injury, but he's still in the hunt for the Schoolboy ATV title along with Cod Parmerter and Hunter Dalrymple. Walker said that one will be knock-down drag out, and it's not the only one. In the Women's ATV class, Traci Cecco and Angel Atwell are just about dead-locked. That one should go down to the Ironman in classic GNCC Women's ATV Title fashion.

And hey, congrats out to Traci's nephew Tyler Lenig for notching his first-ever XC2 Pro Am win at Snowshoe. Tyler's come a long way from being the “kid whos quad burned down” while he was racing in the old four-stroke stock class. Combined with Traci winning the ATVRiders.com morning race overall at Snowshoe, it was a good day for the family.

Thanks to the hard work of Angel Atwell, Traci Cecco may be pushed to the final round to win this year's Women's ATV title. Hooper photo

Can-Am has free demo rides planned for the weekend. It's free, so go out there and have some fun. Check it out here.

Attention in the pits: Klotz will not have their truck at the race this weekend.

Contingency contingency contingency! The info for 2009 is flowing it and it's good. First, Kawasaki announced this 2009 program for bikes, and it's way bigger than the 2008 program. Check it out here.

Then Yamaha just announced their 2009 contingency for bikes, too. Click here to see.

Will Yamaha or Kawasaki offer ATV contingency next year? Not sure yet.

Also, GBC tires is stepping up with a huge new ATV tire contingency program for 2009 totally over $200,000. CLICK HERE for the GBC contingency program. (Excel file)

Note that GBC isn't even posting money in the ATV XC1 class. They're putting the money into the classes where the riders really need the dough. “I am trying to take care of the little guys, so to speak,” said Kevin Johnston of GBC.

If you're not going to the race this weekend, you can still get your fill of GNCC Racing with our TV shows on Versus. This weekend the Pirelli Big Buck ATV GNCC will air, first on Sunday, September 28 at 2:30 p.m. It will re-air on Thursday, October 2nd, at 4 p.m. Also, the folks at Gear Media have just cranked out a few new DVDs that will be available at the track this weekend. Bike racers can now purchase DVDs through Sparta, and ATV racers can get all the races through Yadkinville. Remember, these DVDs have way more coverage than just the TV show stuff-including a lot of Youth and Morning Race coverage.

It hasn't rained at Unadilla in weeks, so even if it does rain this weekend we should be able to avoid this. Hooper photo

Here's a note from Shane Watts:

G'day Weege,

Can you please place the following in today's Quickfill;

The Dirt Wise Academy of off-road Riding schools are stoked to announce that we will soon be conducting the following schools for our northern friends in New York and Connecticut:

Oct 3/4 - Meriden, CT
Oct 5 - Meriden, CT (Condensed to one day)
Oct 9/10 - Lansing, NY (near Ithaca)

Then following our SOLD OUT schools in New York (Oct 11/12) and Kansas City (Oct 24/25) we will be then conducting more schools on the following dates and locations:

Nov 1/2 - Denver, NC (near Charlotte)
Nov 15/16 - Bybee, TN (near Knoxville)
Dec 13/14 - Denton, TX (near Dallas)

Recognized as the leading off-road riding school in the US, with a comprehensive and progressive learning curriculum of fundamentals skills right through to conquering advanced situations, all achieved in a short two day period, the Dirt Wise Academy of off-road Riding schools are a “must attend” event on any rider's calendar. Don't miss out on this exceptional learning experience that huge numbers of previous students are raving about all across the nation. Plus you can subscribe to our Watts Happening Newsletter for all of the current updates. The latest issue, released on Sept. 26 contains info on a heap of new KTM parts that we are selling off at a discounted price. More info can be gained at www.shanewatts.com or by emailing [email protected]

Thanks mate,

Shane Watts

Another note

 Just an update to let you know that we're back racing now & the guys' websites are up.  You can check out their videos & interviews & more at  www.grantbaylor.com and www.stewardbaylor.com

-jeanette baylor

Maybe we'll see Wattsy at a race one of these days”¦.

Hopefully we'll see you at one very shortly. Such as this weekend. It's time to load the rigs and get out of here. See you at the races!

A day that will live in infamy. Ray Gundy photo