Welcome to Quick Fill.

It’s funny, every week I talk about a random location I’m writing this column from because usually Thursdays are a travel day for us. But this weekend we are lucky enough to have a race right in our backyard as the ATV Motocross National Championship series heads to High Point Raceway here in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. If you’re a fan of any type of racing you should definitely come out to witness some exciting race action.

And if you can’t make it out, Rodney Tomblin and the crew will be broadcasting live on RacerTV.com beginning at 2 p.m. EST. They will cover both AMA Pro ATV motos, as well as select amateur racing throughout the afternoon.

Another exciting thing going on this weekend is the premiere of the 2014 GNCC on NBC Sports Network! Highlight coverage from the Mud Mucker GNCC will air on NBCSN this Sunday, May 18 at 4:30 p.m. If you’re going to be at the races, don’t forget to set those DVR’s so you can catch the action! This show will feature the best of the best highlighted-action from round one, which is a compilation of ATVs and motorcycles.

As if we didn’t have enough awesome video coverage coming your way, Hooper and the RacerTV guys also put out the Round 6 highlight video from Saturday’s Pro ATV race from Loretta Lynn’s. I think it’s safe to save we’ve all fallen in love with the sick slo-mo shots that he’s been throwing into the highlight videos this year. Keep an eye out for the bike highlights to drop this week as well.

We’re getting excited to have yet another hometown race the following weekend with the Mountaineer Run GNCC in Masontown, West Virginia. I am extremely bummed, though, since I’ll be missing out on the ONE RACE I get to sleep in my own bed all season. But we’ll talk more about that next week as we’re knee deep in the preparation for the 2014 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship season opener, which begins next Saturday in southern California.

Let’s pass things over to Mr. Bolton.

@JaredBolton:

I want to know how many people were expecting Loretta's to be a mudder! At one point the forecast showed a 100% chance of rain on Friday and 70% chance on Saturday. Well, that 100% chance happened Friday morning for about 20 minutes, and in actuality, that's EXACTLY what the track needed. At one point Thursday afternoon, while marking the course, I got behind Buren Hamrick and we weren't going more than 10 or so mph and I was choking down a good bit of dust.  

The rain never came again until just before the start of the 1 p.m. bike race and guess what? It needed that too, and once the guys broke the top layer of mud off the trail and the track got broken back in, it was perfect! That's the thing about a weather forecast, it may say one thing, and that may happen, but it's hard to know exactly how much rain you'll get until the front is right on top of you. Yes, we were pretty fortunate that it was a small piece of the storm to hit Loretta's, but hey, I'll take a little good luck any day! 

Personally, I thought this was one of the best Loretta's courses of all time. I know there were some people who were a little bummed to not run much of the motocross track but I think the woods more than made up for it. There were a few pieces of fresh trail, which is always hard to accomplish at a place that's hosted many, many events, but it's still doable and the overall fun factor of the course was pretty high in my book.

As expected, the KTM duo of Charlie Mullins and Kailub Russell jumped out front and controlled the race but Jordan Ashburn kept them honest early before fading back a bit. Josh Strang landed another podium, and he really seems to be "Mr. third place" so far this year but he stayed close to Mullins and Russell at Loretta's. There's definitely a possibility that Strang could work his way between those guys soon and he could even snag his first GNCC win since 2011.

Last week I mentioned Chris Bach and Andrew Delong as two guys who weren't completely satisfied with how their seasons have been going. Well, Bach landed his best finish of the season with a hard fought fourth place, while Delong ended up sixth. While Delong has finished as high as fourth this season, the sixth at Loretta's still had to be a welcome relief after having a tough day at the Limestone. Both of these guys have had good rides at the Mountaineer before with Bach taking fourth in XC1 last season and Delong snagging the XC2 win and third overall in 2012, so next weekend could be their time to shine in 2014.

The XC2 class is really starting to heat up with Grant Baylor and Ricky Russell battling back and forth, exchanging wins and second place finishes in the past few races. Grant won at Big Buck with Ricky finishing second, at Limestone Ricky won with Grant finishing second, and last weekend at Loretta's Grant one again with, yes, Ricky finishing second. These guys will definitely be ones to keep an eye on but you also can't forget the slew of other XC2 competitors. Trevor Bollinger sits third in points but has had a couple of off-races at the Limestone and Loretta's. 

Knowing Trevor, he's definitely not satisfied and he'll be looking to not just return to the podium at The Mountaineer, but he wants to be in middle of the podium. Layne Michael landed his first podium of the year and you definitely can't count him out at The Mountaineer. He landed his first XC2 podium there last year in front of a hometown crowd, and there's no doubt he'll be looking to do that again.

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

@RodneyTomblin:

The Parts Unlimited Loretta Lynn’s GNCC was without a doubt everything it was expected to be and more. The absence of a year away seemed to make things a little sweeter this time around and from talking to several folks this past weekend I know I am not the only one that feels this way. You have heard the old saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” and I would say that this would be a classic case of that.

The racing was without a doubt everything it was expected to be from the flying of the green flag on Saturday morning’s youth race to the final checkers of the bike afternoon race on Sunday. And also as expected there were a few twists and surprises that have made looking ahead to Masontown for the Mountaineer GNCC even more exciting of things to possibly come.

When the weekend racing started early on Saturday morning it seemed like a mostly normal race day. There were a couple of exceptions though. The young hole shot queen Sadie Welch wasn’t lined up on the start line due to her bike not being ready to go. She said her mechanic wasn’t able to get the bike ready and try as she may, she could not come up with an alternative. Also, Carter Kerens didn’t make the trip as he was home with a fever and feeling really sick. This is a tough break for both considering the strong rides they have both put in as of late.

The absence of Kerens and Welch left many to think that the day would not hold the excitement we have seen in the battles for the hole shots and overalls. The great thing is that once the race went off the line there was more than enough to move past all questions. It wasn’t long before a great race was underway and when the checkers flew for this one, there were a lot of big smiles and surprises on the podium for the overall.

The big news is that the 125 Sr. (12-15) class topped the overall podium in all three positions. Rhett Cox who finished third overall at Loretta’s saw his second time on the overall podium this season. Cox had finished second at the Mud Mucker and has ridden to top three positions in class each race so far. Ahead of Cox finishing second was Jordan Digby snagged the second place overall and was able to finally put a race together start to finish. Jordan will be a force to reckon with as he has come a long way since crossing over from the ATVMX side of things.

The overall winner was “Little” Ronnie Rusch. Ronnie is one of those kids you could say that “dynamite comes in small packages” about and you probably know what I mean. Very strong, explosive and unpredictable would be one way to describe him. But like dynamite is unpredictable and could go at any time, so is Ronnie. He has put in strong and consistent rides all season and to see him on the podium was not a surprise at all.

What was a surprise though was Brandon Frazier who came into this weekend with a 5-win streak. You have to wonder if the pressure got to him or if it was “Just one of those days”. Frazier’s day looked to be the icing on the cake at the midway point of the season that any rider in his position looks forward to. However, did the absence of Welch for hole shots and Kerens for the win throw his pace off that day? One does have to wonder as Frazier went into the first turn strong and the second turn left him spinning donuts in the middle of the track and heading into the woods nearly last. Brandon made the climb to the front of the class but without being pushed he may have relaxed a little too much and found himself out of the overall lead on time adjustment. I am not really sure what happened yet but plan to know soon. I don’t count this as anything to worry about for Frazier regardless the circumstances that lead to the conclusion but I do expect Frazier to be a man on a mission next race and with Kerens sitting this one out and seeing his 3/11 Performance teammate of Rusch steal his thunder he will be on a mission too.

The morning race once again had some major high lights and excitement. If nothing else the finish of the 4x4 Pro class was exciting enough. You may have caught the final turn’s battle between Jordan Smith and Michael Swift. I saw the tail end of it and what I saw was not pretty. I watched over and over on a video I saw of it and questioned what happened and whose fault was that for them to crash like that. Honestly after I watched a few times I said that was a big accident and as aggressive as things looked, one could not get out of the others way quick enough. I asked Michael Swift afterwards what happened and he laughed saying “That was fun. It was a good battle and that crash was more my fault than anything. He said I couldn’t help it and we both got tangled up but I had fun and it was a good race.” And he was right. It was a good race and in my opinion we have yet to see the full potential of what 4x4 Pro ATV GNCC Racing actually will be. I for one am excited to watch it all build.

I have a lot more insights from this past weekend but like any racer knows after the checker flies it is time to look toward the next race and my next race is this weekend at High Point Raceway for the Maxxis ATV Stampede. It will be the first time in history that the Mtn. Dew ATV Motocross National Championship will be aired live on RacerTV.com and it is expected to be a big one. Big racing all weekend with top amateurs from around the globe as well as the world’s top AMA Pro ATV riders will take to the track. Catch both AMA Pro ATV motos Live with coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. eastern on RacerTV.com and Livestream. Tune in and watch history!

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