Amazing History (Rodney Tomblin)

This week while compiling some notes for the weekend I realized something. I realized that the John Penton GNCC holds a lot of history and is realistically one of the few true links we have to the roots of our beginnings. This year we celebrate 25 years of racing with the 26th running of the event, which was originally named The Burr Oaks because of local state forest and a lake nearby. However, in the early 2000s it was named after a true pioneer in our sport the great John Penton.

Now that Loretta Lynn's has been temporarily removed from the schedule the Wiseco John Penton GNCC is the oldest and now only race on the schedule that was part of the old 100-Miler and National Harescrambles championships. It's hard to believe this quiet little farm in Southeastern Ohio holds such a history, but it is truly hallowed ground from our sports standpoint. It holds stories of grandeur and of agony. 

The Penton has given the most perfect conditions and it has given the worst of conditions. Weather can be so unpredictable here and even changing it around in the schedule has given no guarantee of what to expect. The Penton has afforded some of the most extreme mud as well as dust. It has also given perfect conditions that never seem last in our memories, but we have seen them.

History tells us that if you are a bike rider and you are from Ohio, you stand a good chance of winning here. Ohio has produced 13 different overall winners in its 25 years running and has even produced at least 3 first time winners doing it in their home state. Jimmy Jarrett, Chuck Woodford and Cory Buttrick all got their first wins here and are all from Ohio. It appears that being from the Buckeye State on these race weekends has some sort of advantage. Whether it is the extreme Ohio mud that lends itself to this or not is debatable but history shows that being from here sure doesn't hurt if you are a motorcycle racer.

History also tells us that if you are from Pennsylvania you may have the advantage here. 12 different occasions have produced riders from Pennsylvania. Barry Hawk even got his first win ever here in 1991, which began his bid to be one the greatest GNCC racers of all time. Chris Borich has won here a total of 5 times and he too is from PA. As well the first ever ATV winner was the great Chuck DeLullo was the first winner here and he too was a Keystoner. The most wins of a single rider here has to go to Bill Ballance. Bill won here on 6 different occasions over the course of becoming one of GNCCs greatest of all time. 

A few other bits of interesting information that became apparent in my research is that Barry Hawk is the only rider to have won the John Penton GNCC on a motorcycle and an ATV. As well there have been 2 different nations other than the U.S. that can claim victory at Millfield and that is Finland with Juha Salminen and New Zealand with Paul Whibley. Paul has actually won the event more times on a motorcycle than anyone in history. Paul has won 4 different times while at least three others have won it 3 times. Scott Plessinger, Scott Summers and Fred Andrews each have won 3 times while Chuck Woodford and Kailub Russell have each won twice.

What does all this mean in the grand scheme of things? It means to me that this weekend is even more special than I realized. The event has been in my backyard all this time and I never knew what was actually going on. I never realized that through these southern Ohio hills off-road motorsports history was being written before my very eyes. What seemed like the local Ohio off-road national now seems like so much more and the eyes of the world are watching.

X-Games Endurocross Friday! (Jared Bolton)

X-Games kicks off in Austin, Texas tonight with Flat Track and Moto-X Step Up, but the one to keep an eye on will be tomorrow night with the ever-popular Endurocross, and expect to see a couple of familiar faces bid for their chance at X-Games gold.

Current WXC points leader Kacy Martinez will be searching for another X-Games gold medal, but another piece of big news is 4-time GNCC WXC class champion Maria Forsberg is making her return to racing and will also be hoping for another gold medal.

Maria claimed the first-ever Women’s Endurocross win in the X-Games a few years ago, and backed it up with a few others in addition to 4-straight GNCC titles from 2010-2013. Just a few days after wrapping up her 2013 GNCC title at Powerline Park, Maria would announce her retirement from racing after the 2013 season. Last year, Maria and her husband Ted would have their first child and time off the bike motivated Maria to make a return to racing.

While Maria proved to be the one to beat, one has to wonder what it will be like for a return after spending time away from the racing world. The one thing that’s for sure is that Maria is full of talent, and if anyone can make an impressive return, it’s her. However, she will have her work cut out for her as Kacy Martinez has made great strides in both the GNCC and Endurocross worlds over the past two seasons. It very well could shape up to be the best story from X-Games!

Of course, with the race happening on Friday, that means we’ll still see her contesting the John Penton GNCC this weekend, which will make for a full, grueling weekend of racing for Kacy. This isn’t her first rodeo as she’s pulled double duty in the same weekend before and it will be pretty interesting to see her do it once again!

Jesi Stracham Returns to GNCC (Kayla Olliver)

Former WXC class competitor Jesi Stracham's unexpected love story and her return to racing at the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Mountaineer Run gained national attention with her appearance the Today Show. Stracham was involved in a motorcycle accident back in January, which would leave her paralyzed from the waist down. Her parents authorized an experimental surgery, that at the time only one other person had received. That other person, named Jordan Fallis, and had been paralyzed last October when trying to backflip a dirt bike. Stracham and Fallis received a device called Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, which was inserted into a wound found on their spinal cord. For the first time since her accident, Stracham lined up at the Mountaineer Run GNCC to compete in the Polaris Single Seat race aboard a specially prepared Polaris ACE. Stracham finished the race in 5th place, and looks to improve on that this weekend at the Wiseco John Penton GNCC in Millfield, OH.

Jesi Stracham was a racer from a young age. Starting with go-carts built by her dad, and then in 2005 she raced in her first GNCC. From 2005 through 2007 Stracham raced throughout the youth ATV ranks, mostly in the 90cc Limited and 90cc Production Modified. She earned 4th place in her class in 2005, and then a 7th in 2006 followed by a 11th in 2007. In 2009, Stracham lined up at the GNCC in the ATV Women’s class, she would complete all but one race and finish 6th in the class. After some time off, Jesi returned to racing at Big Buck GNCC in 2012, finishing 8th place. Then Stracham came back to race the series in 2013. She raced 9 of the 13 rounds, finishing inside the top 10 in each race and even claiming a win at the Mountaineer Run that year!

While Stracham has a long road to recovery ahead of her, she seems to be making strides of improvement. She goes on in the interview to say that she can move her hips, and that she has muscle feeling in her legs, even getting Charlie horses in her calves sometimes. All of the GNCC Racing Nation is wishing her the best of luck with her recovery and upcoming races in her Polaris ACE!

RacerTV caught up with Jesi after her race and you can see that video HERE.

The Today Show interview can be found HERE. 

Speaking of Double Duty (Jared Bolton)

Kacy Martinez won’t be the only one pulling double duty this weekend. With the fourth round of the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship happening just a few hours south of the Penton, former Pro Motocrosser Ryan Sipes will make it a full weekend of racing as he’ll contest Saturday’s Tennessee National at Muddy Creek, then head up north for the John Penton GNCC on Sunday.

Sipes made several appearances in Pro Motocross events last summer, and even landed on the podium in moto 2 at the inaugural Pro Motocross event at Ironman Raceway. However, he never pulled double duty in the same weekend. In fact, I’m not aware of a rider that’s ever contested a Pro Motocross and GNCC event in the same weekend. So unless I’m forgetting somebody, Ryan Sipes has the chance to make history this weekend.

So far in the 2015 season Sipes has been showing that he’s beginning to adjust very well to the GNCC Racing world. With back-to-back podium finishes at the previous two rounds, Sipes is on the fast track to challenging for his first ever GNCC overall win. With this type of endurance built up, one has to wonder what that means for Sipes’ chances in the Pro Motocross world.

As the motos wear on, the track gets rough and riders begin to fatigue, this could play into Sipes’ new skills he’s picked up in GNCC Racing. There’s also a chance for rain, and while it’s not a very large chance, it could still happen. Last year’s Ironman Motocross showed what Sipes is capable of when conditions turn bad, and there’s no doubt that a true GNCC mud-race ultimately helped give him an edge. If that happens again, watch out Dungey, Sipes might be on rails! 

Imminent War on Four Wheels (Rodney Tomblin)

As I watch the 2015 championship season unfold, I am in total amazement as to how this championship has played out. Coming into the season there is always the unexpected, and we had plenty of that. The unexpected though just keep coming and now it is the expected. It has quite possibly produced the greatest championship fight we have seen, and we have seen a lot in the last year.

Adam McGill sits poised confidently atop the leaderboard and is without a doubt on a level that many are finding tough to match. It is not only speed that is in his favor, but calculated decisions and working with everything you have to make the best out of it. Plus, you have to throw in luck. Luck isn't an insult, but actually a true indicator that you have put your work in. Not that those having bad luck haven't, but as they say "you make your own luck" and that may be all I need to say about that.

Now I am not saying that anyone is doing anything wrong, but I think that folks heads are spinning right now with either doing better than they thought or worse than they had hoped. There have been a number of surprises and the one person dealing those out has been McGill. The most impressive thing though is the seriousness at which he is doing it. Especially for such a lighthearted, carefree individual, but something has clicked. Adam is a different person on and off the track. He is still nutty as ever, but more serious than he has ever been. And why not, he is looking at finally realizing his dreams that started with a 2nd overall in May 2005 at the John Penton GNCC. 

A lot has changed since that day when Adam McGill took that spot on the podium from the Pro Am class. There was a look in his eyes that day that has yet to dissipate. He got a taste of what it was like to be one of the best and has strived for just that since then. He has had one of the most storied tales of any racer and with his colorful personality you know it has been a good one. The question though is now as we head toward the last half of the championship, can he keep it going and will he be able to rise to the occasion as the pressure will surely intensify. Time will tell the tale and good times await us all. I know when this story ends it will be one of the greatest told in our sport. Like all good war stories there are winners and losers and this war will see several casualties as a new power strives to take control. War is imminent in the GNCC Racin' Nation, who will our new leader be? Or will the old regime regain control?

Don’t Forget About Golf! (Jared Bolton)

With Snowshoe just around the corner, don’t forget about the ISDE Team Fundraiser Golf Tournament that will be taking place on Friday June 19^th at Snowshoe’s Raven Golf Club located at the base of the mountain. Last year’s event was a great success raising nearly $30,000 to pay for travel, shipping and container fees for America’s ISDE team.

Sign up fee is $100 which includes green fees, cart rental, lunch and clubhouse amenities, which is a pretty darn good deal for everything together and when you throw in the fact that you’re helping the American ISDE team make their way to Slovakia for this year’s ISDE, it makes for an even more fun day of golf.

If you’re not much of a golfer, don’t even worry about it! It’s all about fun and helping the team. I played last year and I think it had been about 5 years since I even swung a golf club. I signed up again this year, and honestly, I haven’t even touched a golf club since last year. Of course, as long as we’re all having fun, that’s what the event is all about… Plus a few bragging rights!

Sign up now at https://fs22.formsite.com/MarketingKTM/form1/index.html?1430518113874

And speaking of ISDE fundraisers, you can support Thad Duvall’s ISDE efforts by donating to his Go Fund Me page that’s been set up. All proceeds go directly to support Thad’s travel expenses to represent the USA at this year’s ISDE.

#ThrowbackThursday (Jared Bolton)

This weekend we head to the John Penton GNCC in Millfield, Ohio for the 26^th time. Originally known as the “Burr Oaks GNCC”, the event joined the series for it’s inaugural event in 1990. Since then it’s seen it’s fair share of incredible racing, and the weather always seems to be interesting as well.

Generally, you come to expect either a downpour of rain and a true Ohio-mudfest, or a total lack of any sort of rain to make for a total dustbowl, and sometimes both in the same weekend. Of course, there has been a few occasions where conditions have been just bout right as well. Fingers crossed it happens again!

Of course, one can’t forget the legendary man this event is named for, John Penton. Starting from humble beginnings, John began his racing career aboard the big, heavy Triumph and BMW machines that ruled the racing world in the 1950s and 60s. John would see that a smaller, lightweight machine would be the ultimate weapon in off-road racing. After partnering with a scooter company called KTM, Penton Motorcycles were born.

For a number of years, Penton would be the go-to machines for many racers and eventually merging into KTM as we know it today. By this time, John had also saw a need for motorcycle-specific boots, oils and more. First from John’s company would come Hi-Point boots after partnering with an Italian ski boot maker, Alpinestars. These are just a few contributions Mr. Penton has made to the motorcycle industry as we know it now, and there’s no doubt that John laid the groundwork for many products we use today. So when you see John at the race this weekend, just remember that many of today’s simple and commonly used racing products originated from ideas born in that creative head of his.