Welcome to Quick Fill.

As I sat down at my desk this morning to write this week’s edition of Quick Fill, I was instantly taken back to this exact time two years ago, which was actually about one month into my very first job in the professional world at the time. Anyway, the second week in February is traditionally the week of the Indianapolis Dealer Expo, which also happens to fall on or near Valentine’s Day (I’ll get to that in a minute) every year as well. So being that it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m getting ready to head to the Dealer Show tomorrow morning, I had a major flashback moment. Or should I say #throwbackthursday #tbt moment. It’s 2011, middle of winter, snow on the ground and I’m taking my very first road trip with Tim Cotter, Racer X’s Julie Kramer and A-Fred to Indianapolis in the giant green van, which also happens to have 256,000 miles on it. But the tattered van was a champ”†that is until about 40 miles into the trip when we ran the old thing out of gas! So the four of us put our heads together and figured we would call AAA to help us out but in the meantime Julie and Andrew ran on foot to the gas station that was a couple miles up the interstate. They made it back with gas like 20 minutes later, just as AAA pulled up. So we took our double dose of gas and hit the road to Indy. The reason for the flashback, I think, is that I was writing Quick Fill in the van on the way there and if you’re still following along, all the above brought me full circle to the point I’m hopefully going to make soon. It’s pretty wild to think about life in the racing world. Where one minute we’re writing an article from a broken down vehicle on the side of the interstate, or maybe the food court of a mall in the middle of southern Georgia, and the next minute we’re posted up in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia in the comfort of our very own office. It’s not always the most desirable work atmosphere but come on, where else can you say ”˜I set up shop poolside in California today, because I can’. There’s never a dull moment in the life of a person involved in this sport”†as GNCC Racers and their families see firsthand all the time”†but that’s the beauty and sometimes demise of it all.

If you follow The Pulp MX Show at all, or even if you don’t, they did a unique podcast this week in honor of V-Day where they invited not the actual racers, but their better halves, on the show to talk about the other side of racing. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty skeptical going in, but it actually turned out to be very interesting because it’s not often that the public gets to hear from the people closest to these racers. It’s funny, I’ve seen several posts on social media lately about supportive girlfriends/wives/significant others missing their men who are down south getting ready for the season. And getting back to what I was saying earlier, it takes a huge level of commitment to be a part of a racer’s life and it’s cool to see the support via social media. Think of how many girls out there are sacrificing their picture perfect Valentine’s Day in order for their significant other to work at a dream, or guys supporting their gals for that matter. Kudos to all of you!

Brandon Bolling dropped the first episode of the all-new “MotoSport.com Driven to Win” mini-series yesterday and if you haven’t checked that out, it’s definitely worth the watch. He follows Kailub Russell at his home in North Carolina, showing everything from his work out regimen, to having fun with his friends and of course, riding. You can catch it here via VurbOffroad.com. I don’t think we see enough features like that in off-road racing. It’s pretty compelling to hear a guy like KR talk about the moment he knew lost the 2012 championship for him and also seeing what these racers have to put themselves through in order to be the best. I’m excited to see the rest of the series. Good thing it’s almost time for racing because I don’t think Bolling could stretch out many weeks of KR’s daily life around the house! 

Also, the guys over at Offroadviking.com put out a video featuring a behind-the-scenes look at AmPro Yamaha’s Jordan Ashburn as he preps for the upcoming season. Good stuff from these guys as well, catching the more emotional side of the racers. Ashburn talks about simplifying things in order to move forward in 2013. You can catch that video here.

Don’t forget to grab a dose of reality with Jason Thomas’ blog The Hard Way, which usually comes out on Thursdays here on offroadviking.com. The whole reality side of things looks to be the direction of the future. Just a hint racers, people love to see exclusive behind-the-scenes action!

Before I go, I wanted to let everyone know that Dunlop will be at the season opener in Florida and will continue installing tires throughout the 2013 season, so why not wait to buy tires at the track so the professional fellas can do the work for you! Dunlop will also be redeeming contingency certificates at the GNCC store and those can actually be used to purchase tires at the track. That’s a pretty sweet deal! So that means riders no longer have to send the certificates into Dunlop to redeem, so be sure to check those guys out at River Ranch.

That’s all for me this week. I hope you all have a mighty romantic Valentine’s Day, or at least spend it doing something to make yourself happy if you’re not into the mushy stuff. If you’re going to be in Indy this weekend, drop by the Racer X booth and say hi! We’re all decked out in a tailgating theme this year so it should be a good time!

@JaredBolton:

The winter break is finally beginning to fade away as we’re now only a little over 3 weeks away from kicking things off at River Ranch. The excitement really seems to be buzzing all around and it’s now a regular occurrence that I see someone mention how ready they are to be in Florida. Don’t worry folks, we’re to the point now that it’s really going to fly by, well, until that final week seems to creep by sometimes, but regardless, we’re almost there.

One sign that we’re close is that the defending champion, Paul Whibley is officially back stateside and in typical Whibs-style, has already been racing. He took the win this past weekend at the SORCS event in Milledgeville, Georgia ahead of a couple of last year’s Open-A contenders, Hunter Williams and Teddy Mullins while SORCS champion and former GNCC regular Ben Hobbs took fourth. Judging by the lap times, it looks like Whibs may have rode a conservative race early adjusting to his 2013 ride but really turned it up the last half of the race and increased his lead to just over 3 minutes. It’s no secret that Whibley is one of the hardest training guys out there and his fitness in the final stages of the race always pays off.

On the quad side, most of the pro guys have been hanging out in Florida so they didn’t make the trip up for the race which the overall was won by a guy you’ve probably heard of for being a Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris. Although, I don’t believe that’s the “same” Chuck Norris. However, the Quad A class did have a couple of familiar names from the 4x4 ranks as Jordan Phillips and Kevin Trantham battled it out for the class win with Phillips coming out on top by just 8 seconds at the end of the day.

While some are spending their weekends racing or riding in Florida, others are just trying to get out of the north and do some riding. Last weekend my long-time friend Trevor Connell who some of you would recognize from working the CV4 trailer some in 2012 invited me to do some riding with him and some other local guys here in North Carolina at Brushy Mountain Motorsports Park. On the way there Trevor mentioned that he would also be delivering a battery there to Andy Powers of the 4-Stroke B Lites class who had made the trip down from Pennsylvania to do some riding.

Andy ended up riding with our group most of the day and from what bit I saw when I was playing sweep guy, looked to be riding really well. Andy is making the move to the 4 Stroke A Lites class this year and is looking to get in as much seat time as possible before the season starts. It sounds like he and his dad will be making the trip down south every weekend until the season starts and are always interested in more people to ride with. If you’re riding in the North Carolina/South Carolina area any time in the next few weeks and want someone extra to ride with, drop me a line at [email protected] and I’ll get you in touch with Andy as I’m sure he’d appreciate more people to ride with.

While a lot of people from the motorcycle industry might be spending this weekend at the dealer expo in Indianapolis, a lot of attention will turn to the opening round of the National Enduro Series with the Cherokee National Enduro in Greensboro, Georgia. This event isn’t very far from The General GNCC, so as you can imagine it’s a lot of red clay and pine trees. With a lot of rain earlier this week, many people are expecting the worst but temperatures are supposed to be 61 Thursday and 65 Friday before cooling back down to upper 40s for the weekend. Saturday is also supposed to be a bit on the windy side, so I’m thinking things may dry out a bit before race day.

Heading into the event, it’s tough to pick a clear favorite. Last year Steward Baylor walked away with the National Enduro title, however, it’s not even certain that he’ll be racing this weekend, as his wrist still isn’t 100% yet. Charlie Mullins is making a return to the National Enduro Series this year. Charlie won the National Enduro title in 2010 and finished 2^nd in 2011 before being struck by bad luck in 2012 and bowing out of the series to focus on GNCC. Then there’s the endure regulars, Russell Bobbitt and Mike Lafferty who are both former champions of the series and both can still easily contend for wins. There’s also Nick Fahringer who has logged quite a few National Enduro wins. You also can’t forget Jesse Groemm who came out of nowhere last season to finish in the top 5 of the final standings.

Out of those guys, and more, it’s really tough to pick a clear winner as each of them have been on top of their game in some of the pre-season races so far. It’s going to be a pretty interesting race to keep an eye on for sure as the first round of any series can prove to be anyone’s to take, and this one is definitely no different.

Well, that’s going to do it for me this week. I’ll be racing that aforementioned Cherokee National Enduro via row 55 (and I do have a bike to ride this time) and likely contending for a last place finish. If you’re there, feel free to say hi! Until next time, Bolt-On out!

@HotRodney22:

It's so hard to believe that we are a mere 3 weeks away from the kick off to the 2013 season and the GNCC Racin' Nation has been showing signs of life. Pre-season race reports are circulating, rumors are growing and the most importantly the excitement is building to a fever pitch.

Personally, I am looking forward to the Florida sunshine at River Ranch. It makes me truly envious of those that have already made the trek south. Practice tracks are hopping all over the south and from the report that I got the other day from Jimmy Woodford is that things are even ready to start hopping here in the great white north. We mentioned a few weeks ago that he was working on a new indoor facility in Ohio. It appears that the all-new Steel Valley MX facility will be opening this weekend.

According to Jimmy, he and his brother Johnny should have things ready to open on Saturday. He said all things considered the track actually has more of an outdoor feel than an indoor track so this will be good for those wanting to train leading up to the race season. The facility will be open every weeknight except Monday and every weekend all day. The cost will be $30.00 and any additional information can be found on their Facebook page. They should also have an all-new website up early next week where you can also find out more. It is located at 2415 Wilson Ave. in Campbell, Ohio 44405.

Defending XC2 Pro Am Champ Pat McGuire is working hard this off-season. This is a rider that has won many races and a championship on shoestring budget that most people would not ever considering trying it on. What he lacks in support he makes up for in heart. Using tattered equipment that he pieces together before each practice and race appears to be the way things work for this rider. I talked with him earlier this winter and he said no matter the support level and how hard he had to work on his equipment just to get to the next race, he was in it to win it again this season. The XC2 is going to be another action packed class to watch again 2013.

Speaking of action packed racing. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this may be an even better race season than 2012. I hear a number of riders are moving up to the front row on both bikes and quads and River Ranch should tell the tale. That is one thing that is so great about this time of year and that is the anticipation of what is to come. We felt like last season was going to be good and we were blessed. Do you think we can be any more blessed in 2013? Time will tell.

This week's Quick Fill comes to you on Valentine's Day and that reminds me of something that I saw the other day. Many of you may already know but Jeff and Traci (Cecco) Pickens are expecting a baby. Jeff posted that he got to hear his baby's heartbeat for the first time on his birthday earlier this week. Being a father, I know how special that is and congratulations to both on such a wonderful miracle.

Well that's it for me this week. Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.