Welcome to Quick Fill.

It seems like the beginning of December is all about business in this industry. It’s the pivotal point for riders, teams, sponsors and everyone else to lock things in for next season. Most people try to get these things done before the holidays so they can enjoy a little time with the family and then it’s go time after the New Year.

The same goes for this end of production here in Morgantown. We’re getting the details in line for January’s awards banquet, analyzing the rulebook and class structure, laying out our marketing plans and sealing up sponsorship for 2013. Our team had a nearly 4-hour meeting yesterday (lots of coffee) going over all the emails regarding GNCC rules for next year. The plan is to gather all the proposed information and have a tentative set of rules to go over in the post-banquet rules meeting in January.

By the way, if you haven’t reserved your room at the Waterfront Place, be sure to get that taken care of before things get hectic this holiday season. Click HERE for details. Also, if you’re a class winner, please fill out your reservation form ASAP so we can get your gear sizes.

We’ve been hearing lots of talk about teams wanting to join forces between ATV and bikes to create a double-threat on Pro Row. Well, rumor has it Randy Hawkins and the AmPro Yamaha crew will be housing an XC1 ATV rider next season, in addition to the already-standing bike effort. Official details will be released soon, but it sounds like Walker Fowler will be back under the AmPro tent, but this time on 4-wheels instead of two! Walker said he’s excited to have his personal sponsors like MotoXperts, Lonestar Racing and Maxxis on board for next season as well.

In other news, Thad DuVall confirmed this week that he will be back with Shenandoah Honda, the Virginia-based motorcycle shop that sort of took Thad under their wing last season. The team also picked up the hydration company USWE as an additional title sponsor, making it Team Shenandoah Honda/USWE-sports.com for 2013. Also, I talked with John Ross, owner of Shenandoah Honda, for a while the other day it sounds like he’s just as excited for next season as Thad himself. John is a veteran of the sport, he has kids who race and in his own words, “he knows how to relate to a kid from West Virginia” when it comes to the lifestyle that goes along with racing. If you follow Thad on Facebook or Twitter, you might see that he enjoys hunting, so John’s theory is that if Thad wants to hunt, let him hunt. But as soon as hunting season is over, you better believe it’s time to ride dirtbikes! Thad has been riding the CRF250 and 450 to practice and it sounds like they’re planning to throw a 125 in the mix for a little fun.

The FMF/KTM crew is out in California right now for their season kick-off extravaganza, where they meet for 2013, ride the new bikes and do all their team photo/promo shoots. Christy the KTM marketing gal must be doing her job well because the social media is always buzzing a little higher when the KTM off-road riders get together for things like that. In fact, Maria Forsberg even joined the Twitter world while she’s been out there so be sure to give her a follow @mforsberg411.

On that note, three-time WORCS Women’s class champ Kacy Martinez posted this week that she will be racing GNCC with her FMF/RPM/KTM team in 2013. I’m not sure if that means she’s contesting the whole series or if she’ll be bouncing back and forth with the WORCS series. Either way, it’s a sure sign that the GNCC Women’s class is becoming the premiere place for off-roaders to show their skills. And actually, not even just off-roaders. Multi-time WMX champ Jessica Patterson got ahold of us this week to let us know she’ll be racing the first two rounds of GNCC in the Women’s class aboard her new Yamaha team so we’re expecting to have an even more exciting AM battle in the Women’s division next season.

Last Monday our very own Traci Cecco-Pickens was honored by the city of Shamokin, Pa. for her successful racing career and impact as a positive role model in the community. The Mayor proclaimed December 10, 2012 as Traci Cecco-Pickens Day in Shamokin and presented her with a key to the city. After 9 championships, Traci made the decision to retire from racing after this season and it’s neat to see the overwhelming support from everyone around her.

This weekend I’m heading back to the good old Midwest to visit with family and friends for the holidays. Technically, I’m taking a week’s “vacation” from the office, which will inevitably turn into me still working and answering emails, but here’s a forewarning that there’s a chance I won’t respond. Cheers!

Here’s Mr. @JaredBolton:

We’re not even close to the halfway point of the winter break yet and it already seems like it’s been a long time since we went GNCC racing at Loretta’s. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way as daily I see all sorts of posts on Facebook and Twitter about people wishing it was time to race again. The funny thing about racers is, while we come from all walks of life, different parts of the country and many, many more differences, we’re all alike in that we have a true passion for this sport. I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription, is more racing”¦ Okay, obviously winter is getting to me if I’m rewriting the old SNL “cowbell” joke.

There were quite a few people who did get their prescription filled last weekend though. Here in North Carolina, where you can just about ride year around, there was a two-day team race event at Rattlesnake Ridge in Taylorsville. I mentioned it last week, basically you could pair up with 1 other rider for 4 hours, or do the entire event solo in one of the Ironman classes. They’ve done this event yearly for quite a while, and while most people are more familiar with 6 or 8 hour events for team races, the 4 hour format not only provides time for youth races but it can also make the racing even more interesting by keeping the battles just a little tighter.

On Saturday, the ATVs took to the track. Unfortunately, I had some commitments related to the local event I’m putting on in a few weeks and couldn’t make it out on Saturday but it sounds like I missed a really good race as the team of Eric Hoyland/Kenny Hemmings had an amazing battle with the husband and wife team of Jeff Pickens-Traci Pickens-Cecco. According to the results, they were only separated by 5 seconds after 4 hours of racing! To top it off, they both had the same average miles per hour for the entire event. That’s definitely some great racing. There were a few other GNCC regulars I saw in the results including Kevin Trantham who won the Ironman 40+ class ahead of Forest Whorton. Hats off to those guys for doing the race solo. I’ve raced the Ironman class at this event on a bike in the past and know how tough it was, so I can’t imagine how tough it is to race a quad for 4 hours.

Then of course on Sunday, it was time for the bike race. I made the drive up and did some sweep riding throughout the day so I was lucky enough to see some of the action first hand and it also gave me a chance to chat with some people, which is always nice. The end result wasn’t quite as close as it was for the quads but at the end of 4 hours, the first place and second place teams were still only separated by 1 minute and 32 seconds! The team that took the win was that of Jesse Robinson and Trevor Bollinger. Interesting to note that Jesse was riding a Honda CRF450 and looked pretty good on it. Trevor Bollinger competed in the Open-A class some this past season until he was due for some knee surgery. Bollinger grabbed a couple of Sportsman A wins before calling it quits on the 2012 season just after The Mountaineer Run. He’s back on the bike, and a new ride at that aboard a Husqvarna apparently with some support from Upstate Cycle in South Carolina.

The Robinson and Bollinger duo didn’t take the win with a lot of ease as another Sportsman A winner, Casey Leatherman teamed up with Jason Gilleland who you may remember riding for the Powersport Grafx KTM satellite team back in 2007. Leatherman and Gilleland took second place ahead of Trevor Barrett and Mack Jones in third. Fourth place went to Chris Bach and Logan Cooke who actually shared Logan’s bike for the race, which was a bit of a different set up than what Bach usually likes. Local rider Dylan Bean won the Ironman class ahead of Trevor Connell who works the CV4 trailer at select GNCC’s while Matt White from the 4-Stroke B Lites class finished third.

Word from the promoters is that they would like to try to do another event sometime before the season starts, which would be a great chance to get some seat time if you’re in the area. And of course, I’m doing the GP event at Zoo City MX in Asheboro, NC on December 30^th, so there’s still a chance to do some racing before 2013 officially begins. Then once January rolls around, a lot of racers head south for various National Enduro, SETRA and FTR races, and I know a lot of you are probably already jonesing to do so. Hey, I signed up for the Cherokee National Enduro, so I’m right there with you.

Well, that’s going to do it for me this week. If you have any info on any good off-season races, any good stories to share, rumors, some suggestions for an upcoming Tuesday Toolbox, or just want to bench race, please give me a shout at [email protected] I’d definitely like to hear from you. Until next time, Bolt-On out!

@HotRodney22:

The 2012-2013 "Silly Season" is actually starting to produce some concrete information and with Christmas around the corner, I expect we should soon start to receive some gifts of information from some of the teams as plans are starting to be discussed openly.

I know Bolt-On covers most of the two wheel angles so I will leave most of that up to him. However, I do have a little that I can pass along. As many of you know I started my own site covering mainly the ATV world, but with many request coming in from the GNCC motorcycle riders we decided to start a feature called "Two Wheel Tuesday". Steward Baylor and Andrew Delong, Jason Thomas, Kailub Russell and most recently Jimmy Jarrett have all been guests.

This past Tuesday I spoke with Jimmy Jarrett about his announced retirement. Jimmy had some interesting news to share about working with Josh Strang next year. It appears that Josh is determined to be back in 2013 and is in the process of finalizing the major part of his deals. Jimmy says that he will be working with Josh once he makes the move east and is really excited about what the future holds. You can listen here.

One of Jarrett's old friends Jimmy Woodford is also working on some pretty cool things it appears as well. Although I know what is in the works, I am have been asked to keep things under my hat. The announcements will come soon but it looks like they may be sponsoring an XC2 Lites rider. Wonder who that might be? I can't wait to see what the team has in store for 2013. Hurry up Jimmy and get this stuff finalized before I start making stuff up.

The ATV racing is starting to see some shreds of truth. I spoke with 4-Time and defending GNCC ATV Champ Chris Borich this week and the big question everyone has been wondering has finally been answered. 

What will Chris Borich be riding in 2013? Rumors of previous talks with Yamaha and a Honda support ride were confirmed by him even before the season's end, but according to Chris this week, things never came to fruition and his plans as of right now are to be back on Suzuki's.

One has to wonder what, if any support Chris will get from them. Recent reports speak of the Suzuki sport quad being allowed back in the US market and one must also wonder if his past loyalty to the brand will pay off. The one positive for Chris staying with program even if he doesn't get the support is that he has that programed dialed in and he won't have to spend the money, time and effort of rebuilding a new program.

Adam McGill has been busy as well. You have to really respect what McGill achieved last season. He took a non-existent program and turned it into one of the most competitive rides of the season. A look at the results shows several podium finishes, a win and a fourth. The black mark would be anything past that one fourth-place finish. Adam actually finished on the podium in all but that one race that he did not have some mechanical issues. That says a lot about a rider who went from being (for a lack of better terms) spoiled with the factory salaries and parts and mechanics to a full on family effort. And oh yeah, Adam broke his shoulder, broke several ribs, collapsed a lung and spent some time in the hospital all in the middle of the season. Pretty amazing he was able to still come out with those results.

McGill says his program will remain the same with exception of his motor program. Adam has elected to run Baldwin motors this year. It should be a good union considering that they have worked well to gather in the past with KTMs and with his privateer program before. He did say he was working on some things and hoped to be announcing a relationship with All Balls Bearings and Renthal Handlerbars soon. Other than that, the program will still feature his great sponsor lineup from last season including Precision Stabilizers remaining the title sponsor. ITP will be back as well along with Lonestar, Custom Axis, Dragon Racing Fuels and RG Honda.

It seems some changes are happening in the 4x4 side of ATV racing as well. As reported their have been a few riders that it looks like will be stepping away for one reason or another and this is starting some bustle itself.

According to my sources, Michael Swift plans on being back again next year, but it is said he is considering switching classes from the 4x4 Open to the U2 Class. This should be very interesting to say the least and should make for a rather interesting overall at times in the morning ATV race.

Bryan Buckhannon is reported to be coming back on the Can-Am next season but it is said only to race 4x4s. There seems to be no plans of continuing his Side x Side efforts in 2013. However, Bryan leaves the door open for that possibility. I suppose it is just one of those things you have to think about before making that kind of commitment.

I have also been told that Kevin Trantham will be back on the big yellow beasts again next year as well. Kevin had strong showings the last few season and is actually becoming a pretty big star in the 4x4 ATV world.

The great Mike Penland is said to be looking forward to racing the new Can-Am Maverick in the 2013 Side by Side season for sure. However, I have not heard either way what his plans are as far as racing the ATV. All I know is that I am not ready to see this man even think about stepping away from that. So, Mike, if you are thinking about stepping away, please don't!

At this point I had hoped to continue my thoughts from last week and look at some more highlights from 2012, but the excitement of what is to come seemed to be more on my mind today. So maybe next week, or the week after.

Don't forget to make your plans for the banquet as that is approaching soon. I know it will be hard to remember possibly with all the Christmas excitement going on, but do it right now before you forget.

Speaking of Christmas, be sure and take a moment or a few moments (whatever it takes) to slow down and remember what this time of year is truly all about. Visit your old friends and relatives, smile on purpose a little more, enjoy the times you spend trying to make someone's day special and most importantly, appreciate what you have. Sometimes it's not much, but it is yours. And honestly "not much" is better than nothing at all!

Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.