Welcome to Quick Fill.

This week has felt more like a cruel joke than the end of January as far as bone chilling temperatures are concerned, but the good news is that we’re only 44 days away from the opening round in sunny Florida. I can say from a series standpoint that things are really beginning to shape up for the 2013 season. Hopefully by next week we’ll have some big news to announce and really get some hype generated around the upcoming race season.

As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, many GNCC Racers are already training, riding and racing in the warmer temps down south. Unfortunately we hear about pre-season injuries from time to time, and most recently we got news that XC1 ATV rider Kevin Yoho ruptured his spleen last weekend riding in North Carolina. Kevin ended up having emergency surgery to remove his spleen this week but from the sounds of it he’s doing all right, just a bit sore. I’m sure Kevin will take the recovery day by day and it’s probably too early to tell how and if this will affect him lining up in Florida. But knowing Kevin, there’s a good chance he will do whatever it takes to be ready for the opening round in March. We’re all sending thoughts and prayers to ya, buddy!

Well everyone, the apocalypse is here. Australia’s Shane Watts, 2000 GNCC champ, and UK7 Jason Thomas, current XC2 Pro Lites champ, have teamed up for the 2013 season to present the DirtWise Schools/KTM-Parts.com/Maxxis Race Team. Thomas will be defending his title aboard a KTM once again while picking up support from team sponsors such as KLiM Technical Riding gear, DirtTricks sprockets and brake rotors, Fasst Flexx handlebars, IMS fuel tanks and footpegs, Motorex lubricants, POC goggles, TCX boots, TM Designworks, Domino grips/OffroadChampions.com, and KTMTalk.com. All kidding aside, I think the DirtWise Schools/KTM-Parts.com/Maxxis Race Team will be a nice touch to Pro Row this season and there’s no doubt that the Watts/Thomas duo will make things a bit more interesting this season. Thomas showed us last season that he was capable of winning a championship with just the right formula behind him so it’ll be exciting to see what he can do in 2013. Although, if UK7 earns a Top 10 number this year, he will be required to move up to XC1 as a result of the new GNCC rule, “For 2014, riders who earn a top 10 overall ranking the two previous consecutive years will be required to compete in XC1.” More info on the DirtWise team, click HERE.

We got official word from Chris Bach today regarding his 2013 plans to ride the KTM 350 this season, backed by Carolina KTM. Bolton mentioned a bit about this before but Bach is ready to announce the whole sponsor lineup and he’s really excited about the season. “I’ve ridden KTM’s my whole life with the exception of a couple years here and there, so I feel right at home on these bikes,” said Bach. “This program doesn’t have any factory support, so we had the option to ride any bike. With all the refinements for 2013 and some test time with WP Racing USA, I felt the 350sxf would be the best tool for the job in front of us.  With a shoe string budget, this really is a team effort for everyone involved and I look forward to reaching Carolina KTM’s goals as well as my own.”  Full info can be found HERE.

There are still rooms available at Westgate River Ranch so if you haven’t booked your stay yet, give those folks a call asap! Once again, tell them you’re calling for the GNCC Racing block and use the code 24-577 to get the special rate. To make reservations, call 1-877-502-7058 (which is a different number than last year so jot this one down!). For more information on lodging and rates, you can check out the River Ranch event page on the GNCC website HERE.

I’ll pass things over to Bolton now. Give us a shout via email and/or social media and let us know what you’re doing to stay occupied in the off-season. Or alert us of upcoming plans for 2013. Email: [email protected], Facebook.com/gnccracing, @GNCCRacing, or @jenkenyon on Twitter. Have a great weekend!

@JaredBolton:

Another week is in the books and while the winter break has seemed to drag on at times, the good news is we’re just about to that point where it’s going to fly by and we’ll be in Florida before we know it. There’s been a pretty good number of riders already spending some time down in Florida, and it sounds like there’s a pretty big group of quad guys like Borich, Bithell, Fowler, Gallagher, Phillips and more, along with ATV Motocross guys Chad Wienen and Thomas Brown tearing up Florida together this week. You know those guys are having a pretty good time!

Last week I mentioned the SORCS race in Wrens, Georgia and from the sounds of things, it was a pretty big event. On the bike side, the AA (pro) class had whopping 21 riders, which had to make it one of the biggest pro turnouts for a local series in a long time. The Husaberg boys of Nick Fahringer and Russell Bobbitt traded the lead for the opening portion of the race and had Grant Baylor in the mix as well. However, Charlie Mullins turned it up on the second lap and had made his way into second before heading into lap three.

Bobbitt managed to hold the lead for most of the race though while Charlie Mullins apparently stayed right on his rear wheel the whole time. The results show those two separated by ONE second for the laps 2, 3 and 4. Fahringer, Chris Bach and Grant Baylor stayed close for the beginning of the race but Bobbitt and Mullins started to check out near the halfway point of the race.

When it was all said and done, Mullins ended up with the win by 30 seconds over Russell Bobbitt. Nick Fahringer held on for third beating Chris Bach out by just two seconds, and Grant Baylor rounded out the top five. Judging by the times on the official results and what I heard from a few first hand spectators, it definitely sounds like those guys all kept the race pretty interesting.

The SORCS Series also hosts a quad race after the bikes. I guess a lot of the quad guys were focused on their Florida training as there wasn’t the huge turnout like there was for the bikes, but it was still a familiar name taking the win. Jeff Pickens led wire-to-wire to take the Quad Pro class and overall win. Another familiar name was that of Kevin Trantham, who took the win in the Quad A class and climbed up to take a solid third place overall.

It seemed to be a pretty eventful day of racing last weekend and this weekend is looking promising as well. The big event for a lot of bike riders will be the opening round of the National Hare Scramble Series that will be held in Sumter, South Carolina this weekend. Every year this draws a pretty big turnout of pro riders.  Last year the field was more than stacked, and this year it sounds like we’re going to see that kind of turnout again.

This event is also the precursor to next weekend’s Sumter Enduro, which while it may not be a National Enduro this weekend, is still going to draw a big turnout of riders as well. The Sumter events are some of the most popular events all winter and the SERMA club does a great job with both events. This weekend’s hare scramble will apparently incorporate a lot of new trail, so if you’re planning on racing this one, it sounds like you’re in for a treat!

While that is going on, there will be another group of riders taking to the track with another FTR event this weekend in Florida. I’ve talked about the GNCC rider turnout of the past few FTR events and while there may be a lot of guys heading to the National Hare Scramble in South Carolina, the FTR race is still going to draw some familiar names as well. You can always count on Garrett Edmisten to be a threat at an FTR race, and I also saw Steven Squire tweet that he’s racing FTR this weekend. So that will be another race to keep an eye on!

So now the winter is officially winding down and we’re going to continue to hear buzz about all these different local races. These can always serve as a good preview of what we might be able to expect when it comes time to head to Florida and Georgia. I’ll be at the National Hare Scramble this weekend and plan on shooting some video and also tweeting some race updates. So if you’re interested in the race, and some other random stuff, give me a follow on Twitter @JaredBolton and I’ll keep you up to date.

I’m going to cut myself here this week. Hope to see some of you in South Carolina this weekend. As always, if you see me, feel free to say hi! Until next time, Bolt-On out!