Alright, now I’ll pass it over to Bolt-On for some solid info below.

Here’s @JaredBolton:

So how was that for a weekend of racing? It’s kind of hard to believe it but for the 2^nd year in a row, both the XC1 and XC2 bike championships are going to come down to the last round. In XC1, it really is going to be a true winner-take-all event once again between Kailub Russell and Charlie Mullins. With this kind of battle, I really couldn’t think of anywhere better for it to happen than The Ironman.

Some of the guys from RidePG like to call The Ironman “the county fair” and say “all that’s missing is a Ferris wheel” and when you think about it, that’s a pretty good comparison because the amount of people, the great foods to choose from, and the overall good time at The Ironman definitely makes it like a fair. Of course, by and far the biggest thing is the racing and with this battle leading into the event, it really could make for one of the best Ironman races, ever.

Last night KTM released a PR announcing Maria Forsberg’s retirement at the end of the 2013 season. After 4 GNCC titles, 4 WORCS titles, and multiple X-Games medals, Maria has decided to, well, I don’t want to call it “hang up the boots” because there’s no way she’ll stay off a motorcycle but she will be stepping away from full-time racing.

That definitely shocked quite a few people as it came just a few days after Maria wrapped up her 4^th consecutive GNCC championship but we all know this isn’t a sport you stay in forever and I’d expect to see some “Mini-Hahn’s” running around in the next few years. It’s especially hard when you work a full-time job (a very good one at that!) on the west coast, fly to the east coast to race, then fly back home to work on Monday, like Maria has done for the past 4 seasons. Regardless, I just want to give a giant “Thank You” to Maria not only for her years of racing but also being one of the most down to Earth, friendly, awesome people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing and I know we’ll still see you for an occasional visit!

Looking through some of the other Morning race classes, it looks like some of those championships are sewed up, included that of the Masters-A class which, no surprise here, went to The Southeast Legend Vance Earl who has also been a Morning Overall contender all season. I haven’t really done the math on them all but at so I don’t want to say someone has a title wrapped up when they don’t, so we’ll save some of those until after Ironman.

One cool bit of news regarding the 2014 season this week came from that of Motocross/Supercross star, Ryan Sipes. Sipes decided to retire from the moto scene and has the hopes of putting together a deal to contest all the GNCC’s in 2014. After his success on his Club Team at the ISDE, we very well could see Sipes being a contender. And Sipes is no stranger to GNCC Racing either. He and his brother contested the Spartan GNCC back in 2007 and they ended up doing really well, unfortunately they did really well in the wrong class as they held Pro Motocross licenses and didn’t realize they were required to race a Pro class and were protested. Pretty funny looking back on it now.

This weekend, if you’re looking to do some racing in the North Carolina area, our old buddy Buren Hamrick’s Mid-East series will be hosting their next-to-last round at Outback Park in Laurenburg, NC which is pretty far in the southeast section of the state, and a lot of people may pass through or near there going to Myrtle Beach. Anyway, it’s a fun sand track and if you’re interested in more info, you can check out mideastracing.com.

As for post-season racing, last year some of you may remember the GP event I hosted at Zoo City MX in Asheboro, NC. Well, we don’t have a date 100% settled just yet but we will be doing that event again for what the folks at the Zoo have dubbed the “4^th Annual Zoo City Bolton GP” and it will be sometime in December. Last year we gave away all sorts of prizes after the race and I plan on doing the same thing this year. I’ll have some info up in the coming weeks.

Well, short of recapping what we all know already happened last weekend, that’s all I have for this week. Until next time, Bolt-On out!

Thanks, Bolton. And last, but certainly not least, here’s Rodney Tomblin.

@HotRodney22:

If you ever wondered what perfect GNCC racing conditions are like I feel if you were at the ITP Power Line Park GNCC this past weekend you may have gotten about as close as one may be able to get. A mix of mud, dust and perfect temperatures held true all weekend. There was a slight sprinkle that came through on Friday but with the way this season has gone it was so slight it was barely noticeable.

The minds highlight reel from this weekend has many things to sort through but one has to say that the Power Line Mud Hole has become the next big attraction on the GNCC tour. Though its notoriety has yet to reach the “Ironman Hill” status, it is surely becoming a rather popular attraction for the Ohio 2 crowd. It would not surprise me to see race specific shirts soon noting these famous obstacles. They both may not be the infamous “93 River Crossing” of Blackwater days but both are certainly gaining in difficulty and popularity as photos and video reports from this weekend tell the story all too well from both a spectator and racers standpoint.

The great thing about GNCC is that no matter what the conditions the racing is always as exciting. Obviously with better conditions the racing even gets better. Hunter Hart captured his 3^rd Youth Overall National Championship this season and may have struck his own page in history by doing so. Traditionally we have seen only one national championship by a youth competitor before they move on and up in the ranks. However, young Hart may show the skills to move up at any time it has been his age that has held him back and by doing so it has allowed him to achieve more as a youth that any rider before. I do understand though that he has reached a point where he can move up and from what I understand, Hunter is heavily contemplating the move up to the Schoolboy 13-15 class for 2014.

The Morning ATV race was yet another intense battle to the checkers. Class wise Cody Collier and Westley Wolfe battle their way to the front of the pack once more. Separated by only a few seconds for most of the race, the final lap was when Wolfe got around Collier for not only the class win but for the overall win. That overall win marked Wolfe’s 4^th OA win of the season but it was Collier’s undeniable consistency with a second place finish that still has him in position to capture the coveted #201 plate from the morning class ATV racing action. If I am not mistaken, Collier may be the youngest to ever to do so and that is a neat bit of history to take in. That’s the way to make things exciting for sure. Way to go Cody!

We have been talking a lot about history in the GNCC Racin’ Nation lately and since my introduction into this great series around 1995, I have never seen this much going on at one time. There is the Hunter Hart historical notes from the Youth racing as well the morning overall point race for Collier and his history and then there is the Chris Borich historical saga. “Saga” you say? Well yes, saga. The reason being is because it really seems to have turned into just that. The closer Chris gets to own the ATV all time win record, the farther it seems to get. Though Borich has had nothing less than a spectacular year, the wins have seemed to slow down with each passing round and as close as it is, it only seems to be that much farther away. Anyone knows that GNCC knows that Borich should still have several wins left in him and the record will most likely be his easily by mid-season 2014 but we must remember we also thought it would have been done by now.

I spoke with Chris Borich on Saturday before the race and it dawned on me at that time just how dominant of a rider Chris has been. The greats like Barry Hawk and Bill Ballance may share the long standing championship dominance in their careers but the one thing they don’t share with Chris Borich is the total dominance that Chris has displayed through his first four championships. Each season Chris has captured about 10 or so wins and then when he did lose it was mostly due to mechanical failure. What I am getting at is that neither Barry nor Bill through their championships was in a position to capture the most wins record after only 5 GNCC titles. It took Barry Hawk 8 championships total and two disciplines to reach the status. It took Bill Ballance 9 titles and here Chris is only one win away from tying the record after only 5 championships. If anything this could prove that Chris has been the most dominant of the three. Does it mean he is the best of all three? I couldn’t tell you to be honest. There is one thing to think about though in making this decision. All three have faced a number of talented riders during their tenures but Chris Borich has faced more highly backed competition with the factory programs that developed around the time he began his championship reign. You do the math.

The UTV racing continued in St. Clairsville for round 5 of their 6 round championship and what a show they put on for the biggest crowd I have ever seen at a GNCC UTV start. I looked around and could have sworn there were as many people there as there were for the start of the 1:00 race earlier. Ohio is truly in the heart of the GNCC Racin’ Nation as we saw over 1,400 competitors for the weekend which translated into a huge crowd of spectators as well.

The unique thing about UTV or SxS (Side by Side) racing is the fact that there are two in the machine at once and a true team aspect is afforded to this style of racing. I do question though what purpose the passenger has other than they are in for the ride of their lives but they are there to help point lines, watch for the competition and the ever important goggle change. I being in that position of passenger though offered none of that really but it certainly was the most exciting ride I had in a long time.

Congratulations to the William Yokely and his wife Tina for capturing the win and extending the points lead barely over his nephew John Yokely who drives the Big Kountry Powersports/Polaris car. John battled with Team Jack’s Excavating piloted by “Mouse” for a big part the race before Uncle William snuck by capturing the second spot and then passing into the lead for the win. John was able to get around Mouse and his teammate and bring home second which left Mouse in third. You can say that UTV racing is a family sport as much as any GNCC class could be. After the race, a very happy and excited Tina Yokely commented on the podium saying “I finally got to play my part today, I made the goggle switch and did it flawlessly!” Way to go Tina! Every lit bit counts and as tight of a race as that was, it could have been the deciding factor in the end.

Don’t forget Trick-or-Treat at the Ironman Friday and Saturday evenings on in Sponsor Village. There will be treats and a costume contest. Keep watching GNCCRacing.com for more details. I wonder how creative one can get with pink for a Halloween costume. I guess we will see.

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