Welcome to Quick Fill.

As usual, it’s the Thursday before a race and everyone here at the office is flying back and forth trying to get the last of everything done before setting out for the weekend. Luckily, Powerline Park is fairly close so the track crew has been able to drive back and forth all week. And best of all, they’ve been able to sleep in their own beds!

So the month of October brings quite a bit of festivity (or maybe symbolism is a better word choice) to each of our lives. The fall season is finally here and everyone generally gets a new spring in their step with the changing of seasons. October is most nationally associated with Breast Cancer Awareness, which most of us observe and recognize all month long and more specifically at the Ironman GNCC when the place is adorned in pink and fund-raising is in full-force. But an increasingly apparent issue in America right now is something that”†unlike a majority of cancers”†we can actually prevent with a little education and awareness. Which is why GNCC has taken an interest in the topic this season and we’re also recognizing another national awareness this month - Bullying Prevention Awareness.

As part of our “Keeping Students on the Right Track Program” , we’re going to be visiting two local schools tomorrow (Union Local Elementary and Martins Ferry Middle) to speak with students about bullying prevention, team building and ATV/motorcycle safety. We have a pretty solid group of racers heading up the presentation, including Kevin Yoho, Robert Smith, Kyle Chaney, Johnny Gallagher and Braden Henthorn. I am really excited to visit with the students and just from following Twitter this week it sounds like the racers are just as excited so we’re definitely going to be in for a good time. Thad DuVall and Braden Henthorn will be calling into 100.5, a country music station tomorrow morning and Kevin Yoho will talk to 107.5 the Eagle Rock station in the afternoon so if you’re local to those stations, tune in!

We’ve been throwing around the idea of organizing an auction to take place Saturday evening at Ironman this year, with all proceeds benefiting FAITH Alliance. As usual, we will be auctioning off the pink podium backdrop after all the top finishers sign it and there’s no better place to start the bidding than at the event. So we’d like to have some input from the GNCC community and if people out there would be willing to donate items to make it happen. You can send any comments or inquiries to [email protected].

As we mentioned last week, the registration process is constantly being tweaked and we’ve made changes that will be implemented this weekend to kick it off. We are still working on revising the software to make the pre-registration process work without an assigned number but unfortunately it wasn’t done in time for this weekend. But if you have an assigned number, I urge you to pre-register! It makes things much easier for you and everyone else. But you have to do so before tonight’s deadline of Midnight EST. This weekend the pre-registration check-in line will not be at the white trailer, but under the red tent next to the transponder women. It will be clearly marked so please pay attention to the signs. Also, if you’re a PM racer you WILL NOT be admitted to sign up before 10 AM on the day of your race. So ATV and bike PM racers, if you want to get a head start on registration, I suggest doing so on Friday or bike guys Saturday afternoon. The registration ladies won’t take you before 10 AM so don’t even try. Also, I just found out that a good amount of time is spent waiting for the credit card machine to process payment, so if you have the opportunity to pay with cash for registration and transponder, it’s a heck of a lot faster than credit. Those are my tips for this weekend and hopefully things will go quickly.

Looking forward to a good weekend of racing. See you all soon! Here’s Bolt-On.

@JaredBolton:

Well, I don’t think I have to explain the level of excitement I’m feeling right now. Chances are many of you are feeling the exact same way because it’s once again time to get back to GNCC Racing this weekend. After some really awesome racing at Unadilla, and a little bit of a break that was filled with racing on local levels and across the world, there’s no doubt that things are going to be pretty interesting come this weekend. Why so exciting? Well, championship battles that haven’t already been decided are really shaping up and the silly season is getting close to being underway.

Speaking of those championship battles, the ATV title was decided at Unadilla and Chris Borich once again showed exactly how good he is and put a wrap on his fourth title. However, it’s a different story on the bike side as Paul Whibley still holds the lead but Kailub Russell still remains in striking distance. Last year at Powerline Park, Kailub snagged his first-ever XC1 win, while Whibley took fourth after a last turn crash battling Thad Duvall for third.

The question on a lot of people’s minds is can Kailub repeat as a winner at Powerline Park once again. If he does, where is Whibs going to finish and how could it shake up the championship battle. Okay, maybe I extended that a little further than “a lot” of people have been thinking but surely that’s crossed a mind somewhere. It’s no secret that Whibley excels at nearly any track but Kailub has shown this year that he can do exactly the same. However, these guys aren’t alone. Charlie Mullins put in some solid results at the ISDE and maybe his bad luck is past him. If that’s the case, Charlie is the next guy that you can NEVER count out. There’s also Thad Duvall who’s fresh off a win at Unadilla and will definitely be looking for another.

You can’t leave out the XC2 class as well, as things are really beginning to get interesting there. Steward Baylor has held onto the points lead through his nagging wrist injury, but that lead is beginning to shrink as Jason Thomas has closed the lead down to 10 points, but there’s also Andrew Delong who is only 3 points behind Thomas and has won 4 of the past 5 races in XC2. That class itself is definitely worth keeping a major eye on as we wind the season down because as it sits now, things are getting very interesting there.

Last week I gave a “half-way” update on the ISDE. Well, things wrapped up on Saturday and here’s how it all broke down. France took home the World Trophy, Junior Trophy and Women’s Trophy titles. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment to take the win in all three Trophy classes and I definitely have to hand it to all those guys and girls, great job. Second place in World Trophy was Australia, so huge congrats to our GNCC Aussie mates Glenn Kearney, Josh Strang and Toby Price”†along with their teammates Chris Hollis (who gets an honorable GNCC mate mention), Daniel Milner and Matthew Phillips. Third in World Trophy went to Italy, while the USA team ended up fourth ahead of Finland in fifth.

On the Junior Trophy side, the Great Britain team was second while Team USA took third. In Women’s Trophy, Mandi Mastin remained the loan effort on the team through the final days due to injuries but still managed to take the team to a sixth place finish.

If you want to check out full results, including individual and day-by-day finishes, check out http://www.fim-isde-live.info/ for everything you need. Of course, you also can’t forget about www.digitaloffroad.com to see all of Hoop’s video coverage from all six days. Hoop ended up with some awesome footage through the entire event, so I highly recommend taking a look if you haven’t already.

As for local racing info the catch up on, Rory Mead made the trek down to North Carolina last weekend and ended up taking the overall win at the NCHSA race at Davis Mountain in Taylorsville, North Carolina. Apparently he had better luck than I did when I tried to race there a few months ago (yes, I’m still bitter and out for vengeance on that track!). At the same time, a little further south in Jonesville, South Carolina, Paul Whibley was racing to the win at the Pea Ridge Mid-East race. Takeshi Koikeda brought home a solid second ahead of Adrian Smith and a couple of names that are no strangers to the GNCCs, Corey Macdonald and Matthew Nix. On the ATV side, it was a similar story to the Mid-East race I mentioned last week as Bryan Cook snagged the overall win ahead of Eric Hoyland. I also want to make a special mention that Chuck Norris won the AA-Expert class but had that been “the” Chuck Norris, he could’ve won the overall”¦ On foot”¦ While hopping on one leg.

Well, that’s going to do it for me this week. Be sure to pack lots of warm and dry clothes for Powerline Park this weekend because it looks like we might have our first truly “cold” event of the year. However, we all know that won’t stop the mud fleas from coming out to assist at the Powerline mud hole. Until next time, Bolt-On out!

Passing things along to Mr. Rodney Tomblin.

@HotRodney22:

Last week I threw out some “Silly Season” fodder, which if you read into it, actually says nothing and has no concrete evidence that is even remotely based on any concrete evidence. That is what the silly season is all about. Has it begun a little early? Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t but truth be told it’s giving me lots of laughs. I have many more things that have been passed on to me but probably the best one is that”¦.are you ready?

Chris Borich is switching to two wheels and contesting the GNCC Bike Championship but will hang out on the ATV side of things managing Walker Fowlers ATV racing efforts. When I spoke to Walker about this he chuckled and said, if anything “I will be riding the bikes next year!” Does this mean what it sounds like? Is Walker Fowler switching back to bikes? As ridiculous as it is, that is a fun one to discuss.

Now let’s get back to reality and speaking of Walker Fowler. I spoke with one of his old foes from the XC2 Pro Am class Gabe Phillips. Gabe has been M.I.A. from the scene since Labor Day when he was racing a local motocross near his home in West Virginia. It was part of his “Summer Break” training that he was doing to stay fit for GNCC.

As many already know, Gabe had a pretty severe crash that sidelined him for the rest of the 2012 season, leaving the XC2 Pro Am championship up for grabs between Pat McGuire, Braden Henthorn and even still in the picture with a little luck are “The Hurricane” Eric Hoyland and the quietly stalking Matt Hanna.

Gabe told me today that he is not really sure what took place other than “something went wrong over a jump” and end results were that things were not pretty. A broken collarbone, 6 broken ribs and a collapsed lung were the result. Gabe had surgery last Thursday and was happy to report today the he is doing “very well” . He also said that he now has matching scars on his shoulder and that Chris Bithell was looking at taking him in for scrap soon.

Gabe also stated that he was already working on next season with the extra time on his hands. He said his main program will stay the same with Waynesburg Yamaha and Greg’s ATV but there may be a few minor changes in the works. And oh yeah, he said he was going to be moving up to the front row and make his XC1 debut at the season opener in 2013. He said that he feels he only rides as fast as he needs to win the class unlike when he and Fowler battled. He hopes the move will inspire him.

Speaking of Walker Fowler, have you looked at the points lately? He and his Ballance Racing/Yamaha teammate Taylor Kiser are in a heated battle for the 2^nd spot in the class sitting only a handful of points apart. This should be exciting to see how this all pans out.

As hot as the weekend is going to be racing wise, I feel it only fair to warn you that this weekend could be a true fall weekend. Temperatures are expected to only reach the mid-50s at best and some rain is possible. So dress warm and dry this weekend and be prepared. It is no reason not to show up but a reason to show up prepared.

The track will feature a number of the familiar obstacles and regions of the course but it seems that the last few years the “Powerline Mud Hole” will be a fan favorite. Talking with Barry Hawk yesterday who is laying out the course, he said he had to wench himself out of that area already and that line choice will be critical as the racing progresses. I think I understood him to say it was going to be run the opposite direction this year giving it an even newer twist to the action.

I spoke with Zac Zakowski the #990 4x4 Open class rider last night and he told me that he was beginning the sale of his annual “Breast Cancer Awareness” fundraiser. Zac and his family were affected directly when his mother was diagnosed a few years ago. A survivor now she and her family make it a point to make October a month that they do everything they can.

Zac said that this year a local business in his hometown named Country Side Auto Transport donated 300 shirts for the Zakowskis to raise money for the cause. Shirts are only $10.00 each and ALL proceeds go to Breast Cancer Awareness and Research. You can look him up on Facebook or at the races the coming races in the pits. You can also hear more about this with Zac by clicking here.

This weekend’s ITP Powerline Park GNCC will also be a special weekend for the morning ATV classes. Glenn “Jody” Pritchard, who was a big part of our GNCC Racing family, will be honored this weekend by friends and family in Celebration of his Life. Dave Simmons is said to be racing the #737 machine in Jody’s honor and some special words will be shared prior to the start of the race.

There is also a fundraising effort going on in his name to help his wife Ellen during these rough times. There are so many items donated for raffle, Tee shirts and stickers and more. Stop by the Brian Wolf pits on ATV Pro Row Friday 3-5 p.m. and help out. The drawings and such will be held at the Ironman GNCC later this month and you will be able to help out there as well.

Also, you may have noticed a new voice working with us last race in New York. That was Mike Brinkley who helps out with the IXCR race call. Mike will be joining us the rest of the season and lending a hand. So if you get the chance to say hey and welcome him, do so. He is a great guy and great to work with.

Don’t forget Chapel Services with Team Faith’s Chuck Lemaster both Saturday and Sunday mornings beginning at 8:30 on vendor row at the Team Faith Transporter. You will be glad you did.

That’s it for now. Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.