For the past two weeks we have all been in the racing mindset, and while most of you will probably be racing or riding somewhere again this weekend, I think we’re all relieved to have a moment to regroup as far as GNCC Racing is concerned. It’s that time to wash, repair and prep everything for another journey next weekend. Our RacerTV crew is doing just that this week as they are cleaning and prepping the GNCC Live equipment for next weekend’s live shows from the FMF Steele Creek GNCC, which will be broadcast at 1 p.m. EST both Saturday and Sunday. If you missed the action from the first two rounds, head over to RacerTV.com now and get caught up on all the past live shows and highlight videos.

Round 1 – The Mud Mucker GNCC

GNCC Live – Pro ATV / Highlight Show

GNCC Live – Pro Bikes / Highlight Show

Round 2 – The General GNCC

GNCC Live – Pro ATV / Highlight Show

GNCC Live – Pro Bikes / Highlight Show

GNCC Live – SxS

You can also catch all 13 rounds of GNCC on NBC Sports Network this year, with the first round airing May 10. Click HERE to see a full TV schedule.

Our good friend David Scearce stopped by The General and shot a few photos of the bike racing. If you want to check out some of David’s shots, click HERE.

Bolt-On and Rodney cover the racing bit pretty well below, so I’m going to pass things along to them. Take it away, boys!

@JaredBolton:

Just like that the opening rounds have come and gone. Yeah, I know what you’re all thinking; hopefully the mud has come and gone too. I’m right there with you! While I may be out there slopping around in it, pushing, pulling, towing, standing knee-deep in it, I actually hate the mud. Debby Hawk thought I was lying when I said that on Sunday evening in Georgia, but it’s true. I hate being muddy. But, the mud is all part of the sport, and that’s another thing that makes GNCC Racing so special and unpredictable. Unless there are extreme circumstances, you can always count on racing no matter what Mother Nature decides to do.

What’s always interesting to me is when there’s a GNCC event that sees polar-opposite conditions each day of racing. There have been more than a few occasions where Saturday’s quad race has seen excellent conditions, then the rain dumps overnight and it becomes a mudder for the bikes. Or, it’s muddy early for the quads and by the time the bikes take the track Sunday, things have had the chance to dry out a bit. The General was one of those scenarios with great conditions on Saturday, turning into rain overnight and throughout the day on Sunday.

From what I saw, it’s a really good thing that the rain didn’t come Friday evening because had we seen a Mammoth 2013 scenario with rain, and then more rain, things would’ve been way worse for the bikes on Sunday. Luckily that didn’t happen, but it was still really nasty on Sunday. It was actually really deceiving out there from what I saw. There were spots that looked like they would be knee-deep sink holes, but they were actually only a few inches deep. Then on the other end of the spectrum, there were places that looked like they were only a few inches deep, and they would actually bury a bike up over the wheels.

Regardless, it provided for some pretty interesting racing on Sunday. For a little while, it looked as if history would finally be made and an XC2 rider would win the overall. First it was Rory Mead in a physical third on the track, which put him in the overall lead with adjusted time. Then, it was Grant Baylor taking the physical overall lead! However, on the final lap, Kailub Russell put his head down and put on a charge to take the lead back, and edge out Grant Baylor by just four seconds for the overall win. We’ve had some really close finishes before, but off the top of my head, that’s probably the closest an XC2 rider has come to the overall.

The conditions definitely made for a lot of position swapping between the top five guys. KR, Mullins, Whibley, Ashburn, and Strang all seemed to swap positions around about, oh, 10 million times. Or at least that’s how it felt to me. That makes the racing even more exciting, and the adverse conditions may have been a big player in making that happen. No matter what though, it was a heck of a race, and a heck of a way to follow up the opening round in Florida. Speaking of Florida, and I wanted to mention this last week but I was knee deep in the Georgia woods, on the Monday following the opening round, Mud Muckers was paid a visit by one of Iron Horse Billy’s good friends, country music star, David Allan Coe. Maybe next time we can get him to come a little sooner and check out some GNCC Racing!

Now that we’ve passed the opening rounds, we’re off to round three in North Carolina. Steele Creek is always an interesting round, and I talk about this every year, but you never really know what to expect. You never know what to expect from the racing, or the weather. It’s been sunny and nearly 80 degrees at Steele Creek, and it’s also been 30 and snowing. It’s seen a few mud races, including the infamous 2010 mudder featuring the “race stopper hill” for the bikes, which got so bad the afternoon bike race was called mid-race and results were based off the previous lap. It’s also seen some crazy finishes such as the Mullins vs Strang battle in 2011 where the duo battled back and forth through the final grass track section before Mullins ended up going down in the final turn, and Strang snuck by for the win. Or, the even wilder Hawk vs. Kearney battle in 2007. Same scenario, with the duo exchanging the lead several times through the final grass track section before Barry Hawk was able to make a little bit of a jump over a ditch and pass Glenn Kearney in the final turn.

Take a look at those epic videos here: 
Hawk vs. Kearney 2007 and Strang vs. Mullins 2011. If those don’t get you fired up to get back to some GNCC Racing, I don’t know what will!

Some folks will be making the trip down to Texas this weekend for round two of the National Enduro Series. After a win at round one in South Carolina, Charlie Mullins will be hungry for another win to extend his points lead but he’s got a slew of challengers in the form of guys such as Jesse Groemm who took second in the opening round, Steward Baylor, Nick Fahringer, Andrew Delong, and you can never count out Mike Lafferty either!

A little closer to GNCC soil, the Mid-East Hare Scramble Series will be in action at Outback ATV Park in Laurinburg, NC. If you didn’t get a taste of sand down in Florida, here’s a chance to do so. I raced this one at the end of last year and really enjoyed it, and plan on heading that way again. So, if you’re there, feel free to say hi.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. Until next time, Bolt-On out!

@HotRodney22:

And finally a moment to pause. Wow! The first two rounds of the new season have come and gone and only a few days ago the anticipation was at an all-time high for what was to come. Now that so many questions have been answered, there are so many more things left to find out.

Two races in and it’s still dead even for Chris Borich and Walker Fowler as each took a third and a win to kick the season off. Both riders have a slim eight-point margin ahead of Chris Bithell who is another threat for the championship in 2014. Then sitting in fourth place in points to start the season is “Sneaky Snake” Jarrod McClure who may actually live up to his name this season. McClure is looking about as fit as I have ever seen him and he seems to really be pulling his own program together nicely which should continue to result in stronger and stronger results in the future.

Chris Borich did take the season opening win and achieved the recognition of earning the most XC1 GNCC ATV wins of anyone in GNCC Racing history, surpassing his rival Bill Ballance. In Georgia, however, it was all about Walker Fowler. Fowler set the pace that day as Adam McGill latched on and both were able to pull enough of a lead on Borich to take the top two spots away and at least stop Borich’s next record of surpassing Barry Hawk’s 68 combined ATV and Bike GNCC wins. The funny thing is once Chris does beat Barry’s record each race win thereafter will be a new record so Chris Borich could be literally setting records for quite some time.

XC2 Pro Am action cannot go unmentioned here as XC2 rookie and Walker Fowler’s teammate Cole Richardson is seeming to set the class on fire as he rode very close to the overall for most of the day. Richards now sits fifth in the overall standings actually only 20 points from the leaders and only one point behind Jarrod McClure. One can’t help but wonder what this young Ohio rider has in store for the GNCC Racin’ Nation.

As far as thoughts from the rest of the weekend, there are too many to even begin to translate in one sitting at the computer. But I will try to nutshell the ATV racing if nothing else.

In the youth classes it has been nothing less than exciting. Who would have expected anything less though? As the questions burned for many right up till the final days leading into the Mud Mucker GNCC, 3-Time Youth National Champion Hunter Hart had never made the official announcement of whether he would move up to the Schoolboy A/B 13-15 class but come race day he had. Hart’s debut produced a class second place and seventh overall. In Georgia, Hunter posted a class third and eighth overall. However, if you throw out the Sportsman A/B which do not technically count then he scored sixth overall in Georgia.

After the first two rounds Westley Wolfe leads the Schoolboy A/B class by only one point over defending class and 2013 overall morning champion Cody Collier. Wolfe also took the overall in Florida and established early dominance in class and the morning race division. Collier may have finished third in Florida but Georgia was a whole different story. He was able to take the class win and overall from Wolfe and everyone else tightening up that class championship and setting the stage for what looks like a *marathon championship battle for the morning GNCC title. (*I opted for this rather than the overused “Epic” but honestly nothing says it better)

The Youth Division with Hart’s absence as mentioned left many possibilities open an one of those is that if one young lady can get it together for the entire race like she has done on the starts, we could see our first female Youth Overall National Champion in GNCC. The young and quick Sadie Welch moved up from the Girls 9-15 class to wage battle on row one in the 90 Open 12-15 class. Welch has grabbed both holeshots and could soon be challenging for wins with the boys. Sadie is the younger sister of Charlie Welch and each seems to be dedicated as much as the other and each have push the other to all new levels for the 2014 season. She currently sits third in class with third and fifth place finishes to open the New Year. Sadie was 18^th overall after round one but finished fifth overall in Georgia and all of a sudden, this girl is in the hunt.

Sadie’s biggest threats will come by way of class leaders Brandon Frazier and Tim Sroka. Frazier has won both outings and is looking to be the one to beat this season in this division. Tim Sroka is also on fire as he finished second in class and overall in the first two rounds and anyone who has watched these battles know that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg and don’t be surprise when Tim and Sadie score the early morning race wins this season.

Another couple of riders to watch so far this season will be Rhett Cox and Cameron Abee. Cox opened up the season with a class win in the 125 Sr. (12-15) and second overall. Cox took second in class in Georgia and seventh overall. Abee started out in Florida with second place finish in the 125 Sr. (12-15) class and third overall. He moved to the 90 Open class in Georgia and finished a class third and third overall. These two seem to be more than capable of throwing a hat in the battle for the overalls this season and each race looks like it could be a nail biter right down to the checkers round after round.