Thursday, October 3, 2013 | 4:35 PM
Welcome to Quick Fill.
As we head into our second consecutive weekend off from GNCC, it’s the perfect opportunity to talk about what’s to come in the final two rounds of the 2013 season. Although we’re coming off a brand new event that we can all agree was an awesome venue, there’s a certain sense of ease and excitement that comes with knowing the final two rounds are familiar territory and we know almost exactly what to expect. The one thing that isn’t for certain at Powerline Park and Ironman is the weather, which Ironically is one of the main things we can always count on not being for certain. With that being said, it’s never a bad idea to pack rain boots, heavy jackets and rain coats for both of these events, but don’t forget to include your short sleeves just in case.
We’ve got some extra curricular activities planned for the evening time but we’ll wait until everything is solidified before announcing the details. We are hoping to get karaoke going, but don’t worry it will end at a decent hour so there aren’t any late night disturbances in the pits!
Don’t forget the final two rounds are UTV rounds, which will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday evening. It’s been quite a while since those folks have had a race so it’ll definitely be interesting to see how those class championships unfold. I’ll never forget my UTV experience last year at Ironman. I rode along with Rich Travalena and we had a great time. Speaking of outta’ shape people on the race course, we’re hoping to get some sort of industry class or Vendor’s Challenge class started for the last row in the morning bike division at Ironman. Details will follow on that if we’re able to make it possible.
Some of you may remember the special parking area that was available at Ironman last year, or maybe not since the pre-sale reservations literally sold out in the matter of hours. Well, it’s basically an area on the other side of Tom’s Marine that has a little more sophisticated base with gravel. There are only 30 spots available but due to popular demand we’re going to use a lottery system to choose the lucky winners. The cost will be $20 per day and beginning Monday, October 14, we will open online registration for the 30 available parking spots. If you’re interested in entering the lottery, please fill out all the necessary information on the pre-registration page and submit no later than October 17. We will draw the lucky winners at random and post them on the GNCC website that week.
This year’s Ironman GNCC will once again go PINK for breast cancer awareness so don’t be shy and show up decked out in pink attire. There are several different ways to donate to the cause at the event, as well as your local community so please take a moment to do so when that opportunity arises. For more information on the pink race, please click HERE.
The Zakowski family is always very involved in this cause and this year will be once again selling shirts to raise money. This is what Zac told me this week:
“Zakowski Motorsports will once again be selling breast cancer edition shirts at Powerline Park and Ironman this year for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Shirts will still be priced affordable at $10 for sizes Youth L-Adult XL and $15 for 2XL-4XL, with 100% of sales (not just the profit) being donated to Breast Cancer foundations, including the Spiering Cancer Foundation, Wisconsin; Pink Ribbon Riders, Michigan; Susan Koman, Iowa; Faith Alliance, Indiana and Breast Cancer Fund of Ohio. Last year we were able to raise $7,500 and our goal this year is to hit the $10,000 mark.
While our famous "Boobie Inspector" and "Save the Knockers" shirts will be back this year, we will be debuting a few new designs that we think everyone will like. New for this year will be "Don't Slack, Check Your Rack", "Stomp Out breast Cancer", and "Support the Fighters, Admiring the Survivors, Honoring the Taken." We will also have our team shirts available for the same pricing. Support Breast Cancer :)”
Those are quite catchy; I may just have to get one for myself! That’s going to be it for me this week. I’ll pass things along to Mr. Bolt-On.
@JaredBolton:
Obviously the big news of the week is coming from the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE), which is happening this week in Sardinia, Italy. There are a number of GNCC regulars - past and present - competing so let’s get a quick rundown of what’s been going on up to this point.
Monday was the first day of racing and in the “World Trophy” category; Australian Daniel Milner took the overall individual for the day, with Taylor Robert finishing 6th as the Top American. Josh Strang finished out the day 8th ahead of Charlie Mullins in 9th. Other notables were Mike Brown taking 11th, Kurt Caselli 15th, Zach Osborne 17th, Glenn Kearney 22nd, Thad Duvall 27th and Jason Thomas 40th.
On the Junior Trophy side, Kailub Russell put in an excellent performance to take the individual overall on day one. Jesse Groemm took 10th, Andrew Delong 16th, and Grant Baylor 22nd. At the end of day 1, it was defending champs France holding the overall lead ahead of USA in 2nd and Australia third in the World Trophy classification. For the Junior Trophy, it was France, Italy and USA.
At the end of day 2, French rider Antoine Meo took the individual overall with Taylor Robert once again finishing as top American in 4th. Charlie Mullins came away 6th, Josh Strang 7th, Mike Brown 11th, Kurt Caselli 15th, Glenn Kearney 24th, Zach Osborne 28th, Jason Thomas 39th and Thad Duvall 41st.
As for the Junior Trophy, Kailub Russell was late arriving to a check, which resulted in a 2-minute penalty but was able to salvage a 16th on the day. Jesse Groemm ended up 18th, Andrew Delong 19th and Grant Baylor 26th. The end of day 2 saw France still holding the World Trophy lead with Australia 2nd and USA 3rd. France also held the Junior Trophy lead ahead of Italy and Great Britain while USA dropped to third.
Day 3 saw Daniel Milner take the World Trophy overall once again with Charlie Mullins finishing as top American in 7th ahead of Taylor Robert in 8th. Mike Brown ended the day in 13th with Kurt Caselli 15th. Josh Strang ended up 21st, Zach Osborne 25th, Thad Duvall 30th, Glenn Kearney 32nd and Jason Thomas 45th. Kailub Russell ended up 7th in the Junior Trophy category with Andrew Delong 15th, Jesse Groemm 17th, and Grant Baylor 19th.
After 3 days of racing, it’s still France holding the World Trophy lead ahead of USA in 2nd and Australia in third. On the Junior Trophy side, France also holds the lead ahead of Italy, Great Britain and USA in fourth. As for the Women’s Trophy, USA holds 6th place after day 3.
I know that’s a lot to dissect at once and by the time you read this, there will probably be results finalized for day 4 but I’ll give an overall recap next week and include the Club Teams with guys like Jimmy Jarrett, Nick Fahringer, Justin Sode, Ryan Sipes and others. The thing about the ISDE is, it’s 6 days of racing, and a lot of things can happen. It will definitely be interesting to see how the rest of the race unfolds.
As for racing closer to home, Trevor Bollinger took an impressive win at this past weekend’s Mid-East Hare Scramble race in South Carolina. Steward Baylor rode to a 2nd place finish with Paul Whibley in 3rd. Pretty impressive ride by one of this year’s Top Amateur riders to beat previous XC1 and XC2 champions. Although, they are both recovering from injuries, it’s still pretty good bragging rights on Bollinger’s part. (Trevor is a pretty humble guy and wouldn’t brag about that!)
Since I’ve overloaded you with results breakdowns from 3 days of racing at the ISDE, I’ll cut myself short this week, but as a reminder, if you ever have any cool stories to share or any ideas for a Tuesday Toolbox, I’m always open to them. Drop me a line at [email protected] and let me know what you’ve got.
Until next time, Bolt-On out!
@HotRodney22:
It blew my mind when I looked at the date yesterday and realized that we were officially into October. Fall is here obviously and with only two rounds to go in 2013, our racing year in the off road world is about to come to a close. I know I say it all the time, but it seems like things are so far away at one point and when we reach the end it seems like it was only yesterday it all began. It’s funny how that works. However, here we are in that situation once again with one of the most epic seasons in the history of GNCC playing out before our very eyes.
On the bike side of things, which is being analyzed to death by some of the GNCC Racin’ Nation, there is a major wonder how this is all going to work out. No matter how it ends, it will be good for one and not as good for the other. Both want the championship so badly and both Charlie Mullins and Kailub Russell are digging as deep within themselves as they ever have in their lives. This without a doubt is an epic championship battle.
As for the ATV side of the GNCC championship, there is so much going on there it is really hard to know where to begin. The obvious starting point is with the XC1 Pro Class and of course Chris Borich. Chris clinched his 5th consecutive championship at the inaugural Gusher GNCC. However, Chris did not win the overall and it slowed his progress to achieving the overall most wins record. One thing seems certain and that is that Chris Borich is destined to eventually hold that title. If he wins in Ohio at the ITP Powerline Park GNCC, he will tie Bill Ballance’s All Time ATV Wins Record of 67. If he wins Ohio and the Amsoil Ironman GNCC in Indiana he will tie Barry Hawk with the All Time Overall Win Record at 68. And even if he doesn’t win either round anyone knows that he should still have several more wins left in him before he hangs up the boots and the record should easily be his by this time next year if nothing else.
The XC2 Pro Am Class has certainly been an exciting and action packed season. There have been so many different faces on the podium but Brycen Neal has been the most consistent of them all. Brycen has amassed 8 wins in his bid for the championship as an XC2 Pro Am Rookie and to say the least this kid has things dialed in. Brycen has even mentioned lining up in the XC1 Pro Class this season if things go well.
The biggest surprise of this class has to be the #25 of Fred Marley. Marley has shown speed and consistency on such a regular basis that he has positioned himself for what looks like a two-way shoot out for 2nd in the class with defending champion Pat McGuire. As said before, McGuire has found his struggles in 2013 on and off the track, but he has seemed to put some focus into his program and the final two rounds will be exciting to watch to see how it all works out as only 1 point separate them in the point standings. Marley will be tough to stop though as we head close to his home territory the fans are sure to pour out in droves to help him to try and achieve the runner up spot in the class. Everybody knows those Indiana folk get a little excited about this off road racing stuff. And I for one love their passion.
I spoke of this being another one of GNCC’s most epic season’s in history and the one thing that may make this even more of an epic year is that the fact that there is history brewing in the morning ATV Class as well. And like many heading into this season I was wondering not if so much, but how badly would the multi-time morning overall ATV champ Dave Simmons demolish the competition this season. The thing is that there were some unknown variables coming from the Schoolboy 13-15 class that most of us never saw coming.
Anyone who has followed youth ATV racing the last few seasons knows of the graduation of so many of the top contenders through the ranks. The addition of the Schoolboy class had given riders in that transition state from the small youth models to the big 450cc machines a place to hone their skills and now it appears it has also become a new platform for riders to shine brightly on their way through the ranks to the pros.
Former Youth ATV National Champion Cody Collier leads his Schoolboy 13-15 class with 6 wins over Westley Wolfe, who has 5 wins of his own. There is only 1 point separating the two in the class but as great as that is, there has become an even bigger for the overall #201 plate. It seems in the wake of racing so intensely for the top class honors they have both put themselves on the podium and taken the overall race wins on several occasions this season. As tight as it is in the class, it appears at the moment the overall has a totally different look.
According to point calculations made by Mike “Super” Trapp of QuadZone.com Collier is leading the morning overall standings over 4x4 Open class competitors Bryan Buckhannon, Kevin Trantham, Sam Williams and Robert Smith. As well in the mix is Westley Wolfe but the overall right now seems more like a long shot, but who knows what can happen.
That to me is pretty exciting. And from what I understand 11 races count toward the overall numbers so there have been no throw away races calculated in and things could get more interesting in theses final two rounds. Talk about pressure! Each one of these riders know where they stand and are fighting tooth and nail to make these final rounds the best they can be. Good luck to all!
That’s it for now. Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.