Welcome to Quick Fill.

Today’s column comes to you from the comfort of our very own home, the wild and wonderful West Virginia. June is a special month for the folks in our office as we get a string of weekends where we actually get to sleep in our own beds. Kicking off this weekend with the GEICO High Point National in Mt. Morris, Pa., the racing month then continues next weekend with the Parts Unlimited Mountaineer Run GNCC and then over to Snowshoe Mountain for the AMSOIL Snowshoe GNCC at the end of the month. It’s exciting to host so much of racing’s history right here in our backyard and there’s definitely something to be said for sleeping in your own bed more than a couple days at a time.

That being said, we’ve got a busy weekend ahead with the High Point National taking place on Saturday. There’s been quite a bit of rainfall the past couple of days, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen in this area before. We had to cancel the on-track press ride this afternoon in order to save the track for Saturday, but we had an awesome day of media here in town. We paid a visit to the WVU Children’s Hospital in Morgantown, which was a pretty humbling experience. We saw kids ages 4-17 in a wide range of health conditions, even making a stop in the Pediatric ICU. Despite the not-so-ideal conditions throughout the hospital, every kid, parent and family member seemed to be so positive and optimistic about their situation. And it just got me thinking about how fortunate we are to be doing what we do and to have the freedom to travel all over the country (and some of us the world) to experience so many different things. When we first decide to arrange media opportunities for things like Hospital or Elementary School visits, it’s typically meant to spread the word about the event, but once we interact with the students, patients and families it instantly becomes so much more than that. I believe we as promoters and racers get just as much, if not more, out of our interactions with the community as these kids do in seeing their dirtbike or ATV heroes in person.

Next week’s Mountaineer Run GNCC is expected to shake things up once again as the West Virginia terrain promises to add an unfamiliar element to most riders on the circuit. If you remember that venue from last year, the course was rocky and technical, which is a big change from the first half of the season. Many riders said it was similar to Snowshoe but not as brutal as the “toughest race in America,” which is always indicative of a shake up in the championship chase.

Last year, the Axe Man Paul Whibley took the Mountaineer Run victory on the bike side, edging out Kailub Russell by only a couple seconds. However, KR557 is coming off a big victory at the last round and of course, Charlie Mullins has been solid all season long. The inaugural Mountaineer Run was actually the start to Charlie’s demise last season, if you remember. Mullins was only able to get a couple laps in this course last year before mechanical issues forced him to get a tow back to the pits where his day ended shortly. With Whibley finally recovering from a plethora of injuries and issues early on, I think we could see a pretty great battle shaping up next weekend amongst all of this year’s top runners.

The guys below will go into more detail on the racing action and next week we’ll give a little better insight as to what’s coming up for next weekend’s event. If you’re headed to High Point this weekend for the motocross national, stop over at the Media Center and say hello! I’m looking forward to getting back to GNCC Racing action next weekend here in West Virginia and good luck to anyone racing locals this weekend.

Here’s Mr. Bolton.

@JaredBolton:

It seems really strange to say it, but we’re now officially halfway through the 2013 GNCC season. Can you believe that? I know what you’re thinking, “Hey Bolton, you say this stuff every week,” and I do but it really is mind blowing to think of how fast things are moving along. I thought it was just me but through talking with some other folks, I realized that many of you feel the same way. Regardless though, that means that we’re going to be seeing the racing action really heat up now.

Actually, it really did heat up last weekend at The John Penton on both sides: bikes and ATV. Each one saw a pretty close race for almost the entire day. That’s what everyone loves to see and it doesn’t just make it exciting for the fans, but the riders themselves enjoy keeping a close battle with each other and it’s really amazing to see how close riders are after 2 or 3 hours of racing. That’s just another one of the things that makes GNCC Racing so special.

Now, every now and then I like to discuss how special GNCC Racing is and the types of things that happen in our sport that you don’t normally see in other sports. Sunday night after the race, I had a Facebook post I was told I need to go read. This is from Walt Schumacher who currently leads the points in the Junior B class…

So here’s a fun story from today. My friend Kevin Patterson (with whom I've been locked in an intense points battle since round 1) comes over WHILE ON THE LINE and asks how far a KTM can go without a rectifier, because he thinks his is going away. The answer, according to Rex Pierce who is our resident expert on such things... is about 6 miles. So long story short, we went together back to my pit area while they were introducing the pros and doing the course description, and dad and I wired up my spare rectifier to his quad so that he could compete. He ultimately had brake issues that ended his day, but where else but GNCC Racing are you going to have the number 2 guy in points putting his spare parts on the number 1 guy's machine at the last second so that you can both compete? One of the many reasons I love this sport, and the GNCC Racing nation!

That is quite possibly one of the best stories from the track I’ve ever heard. We say it quite often but this is an excellent example of what GNCC Racing is all about. Huge kudos to Walt for going out of his way to not only help his friend, but also his main competition. That’s pretty cool.

Of course, GNCC Racing is also all about the, well, racing. We saw some great racing last weekend. That was one of the best bike races we’ve seen this year as the top 5 guys all ran within a few seconds of each other for much of the race, and even made several lead changes. Of course, as the race wore on things started to get a little more spread out. Bad luck would strike Thad Duvall as he ended up blowing a shock, which you can see featured on the GNCC Live webcast. That was the spot I was filming and it was kind of funny because as he came up with the bike smoking and going slower than he should be going, I smelled that unique smell and knew right away what had happened.

In the end though, Kailub Russell ended up returning to the top step of the podium and finally snagged the Penton win, which he’s narrowly missed the past 2 years. Charlie Mullins came away with 2^nd place, which still has him in a pretty solid points lead, while Josh Strang returned to the podium with a third. While Strang may have landed on the podium he had to work for it as Paul Whibley stayed pretty close but settled for 4^th while Chris Bach came from back in the pack once again to land another top 5 finish.

Grant Baylor came away with his 2^nd XC2 win of the season and also took over the points lead from Jason Thomas who had issues with his fuel injection. Nick Davis landed his best XC2 finish with 2^nd place, which was his first podium since Unadilla last year, and Zach Nolan made his way onto the podium again as well with a 3^rd place.

The Women’s class also heated back up this weekend as Maria Forsberg, Kacy Martinez and Jessica Patterson all 3 made their return after missing the last round (Maria and Kacy were at X Games and Jessica was at Hangtown). Forsberg wants to take the points lead back, and she’s getting to work on it as she ended up with the class win but Martinez came away with 2^nd, which still gives her a 1 point lead in the championship battle. Becca Sheets put in a solid ride as well to round out the Women’s podium. I caught up with Becca for Tuesday Toolbox this week. You can check that out HERE.

Pretty crazy to think that I’m up to 900 words and there’s still a ton of action I could have discussed. However, we’ve got a summer break coming up in a few weeks and I’ll definitely be looking for things to discuss then. So, I’m going to cut myself here this week. Until next time, Bolt-On’s contribution ends here. (email me if you have a new sign off for me! [email protected].

And here’s @HotRodney22:

The Wiseco John Penton GNCC has made its way into the history books as the literal midway point of the season has come and gone. As expected the season has offered up its challenges, drama, excitement, bewilderment and joy. Looking at things from a race fan standpoint, it could not get much better than this.

Chris Borich was back to his winning ways and though he got off to another strong start, he settled in and did exactly what Chris Borich does. It was not until the last lap when the pace separated. Borich capped off his sixth win of the season bring his all time win record to now 65. That is only two away from Bill Ballance’s 67 and three wins away from the most wins ever of 68 held by the Great Barry Hawk who did his on both motorcycles and ATVs. It appears the win record may be beaten by Borich, but anyone that knows GNCC knows that Barry Hawk will forever be one of the best and amazingly one of a kind no matter how many wins Chris Borich gets when he is finally done. In my opinion, I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to beat Borich’s record when the dust settles on this one. At least it will be a long while before it happens if it does and it will take another very special rider such as Hawk, Ballance or Borich to make this happen.

Walker Fowler seemed to have himself in position to take another win when he ran out of gas on the last lap. Fowler actually pitted an entire lap later than everyone else in the race and still fell victim to poor late race fuel mileage. I asked Mark Knotman who is Fowler’s mechanic and he said there was no reason for him to have ran out of fuel. He said that normally they have a gallon or so left after the race and the late fuel stop should have made things go farther rather than shorter. The race was about two hours and nineteen minutes but it still does not explain Fowler’s running out of fuel.

I was talking during the race on Saturday and apparently Taylor Kiser is keeping up with the things that are going on through GNCC Live on RacerTV.com. He sent me a text when I made a statement that I couldn’t remember Chris Borich being beaten straight up in a race for years. It was Kiser who reminded me of Steele Creek 2012 where he and Borich had an amazing knock down, drag out battle to the finish where Kiser took the win. Touché, Taylor and I do apologize. But you have to admit; it was a while before that, even! The funny thing is that is was probably Taylor before that. I’m sure I will get a text soon with all the historical facts.

Chris Bithell rode to his 4th podium of 2013 and is battling with Walker Fowler for the second place position in points. Though, technically the championship is not out of question for them both, the likelihood is decreasing with each week as Chris Borich inches closer and closer to his 5th title. It appears the rest will be left to battle for runner up honors and right now even Adam McGill has his hat in the ring for that fight. McGill is only 5 points behind Bithell as he sits in 4th place of points. The #2 plate battle could work out to be a mini championship in itself if this fever keeps running.

Jeff Pickens a.k.a. “Big Poppa P” snagged another great start in Ohio. Pickens is starting focus on his own riding and it is paying off. Jeff, who is married to GNCC Women Class Legend Traci Cecco Pickens, spent much of his day of prepping for a race helping her out in years past. Since her retirement, it has been all about Jeff and it is starting to show that his program may have only been missing a little focus. Jeff has the early part of the race figured out and it won’t be long before the rest of it comes together as well.

Johnny Gallagher rode to an impressive 5th in Ohio. Gallagher who is the oldest rider in the XC1 Pro Class says he is feeling better than ever in his career. He says folks keep asking him when he will retire and he says that right now, it is not an option. There is way too much fun to be had and Gallagher is in a position in his career where he is enjoying the ride and don’t appear to be slowing anytime soon. Go get ‘em Johnny G!

The Youth Class battles were once again off the charts. John Glauda Jr., who has been on the podium and pushing each week to take some overall wins, finally saw it come to pass in Ohio. Glauda has been a constant thorn in the side of Hunter Hart all season. Hart was undefeated up until this point in the season and saw his first defeat of 2013. Hart’s loss kind of echoes Chris Borich’s loss a few weeks ago in Indiana and like Borich, look for Hart to back with a vengeance in West Virginia for the Mountaineer Run GNCC.

At the halfway point of the season it appears there are only two riders with a perfect season still underway. Kylie Ahart a.k.a. “The Marietta Missile” has won every round of the Women class this season. Kylie has also been inching her way into overall podium contention and took here first overall podium of 2013. Way to go Kylie and it will be exciting watching this young lady progress over the coming months of competition. The other rider that still runs the perfect season is 4x4 Open rider Bryan Buckhannon. To pull a perfect season in the 4x4 Open class is  a major feat and if Buckhannon pulls it  out, it will forever etch his name in the history books of GNCC as he is one of the new legends being born in our sport.

Well if you thought it was a fluke and then he may have gotten lucky a second time you cannot deny it now that it has happened three times now. Schoolboy 13-15 rider Westley Wolfe took his third overall win of 2013 on Saturday morning. The Schoolboy class has been a threat but Westley Wolfe is on fire. Wolfe is looking to make history if he pulls off the #201 plate for the year. There are still a lot of miles of trails to race before we can make any claims such as that but this is going to be one to keep an eye on over the last half of the season.

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