Dog Days of Summer (Rodney Tomblin)

The annual tradition of Loretta Lynn’s is not over for me yet. Though the bikes have left the ranch and the amateur national motorcycle titles have been decided the Mountain Dew ATV Motocross National Championships are set to wind down this weekend. It is the 30^th year for “The World’s Greatest ATV Racing Vacation” and will mark the 31^st running of Dirt Days at Loretta Lynn’s. Chad Wienen is poised to capture his 4^th AMA Pro ATV Championship but the deal is not done as Joel Hetrick sits only 15 points behind so there could be an upset in the making.

The big picture is that Chad has not suffered the first mechanical or technical problems thus far. Joel has more overall and moto wins but Chad has consistency and it has paid huge this year so far. Can Chad ride virtually mistake free and capture another title? That question will be answered this Saturday at the season finale. You can catch all the action of moto 1 and moto 2 live on RacerTV.com beginning at 2:30 central time.

Summer has finally arrived for the entire GNCC Racin’ Nation and the rain that fell may be a welcome relief with temperatures on the rise. Summer in Tennessee is certainly normal. Loretta Lynn’s has been hot and humid as normal. We have seen some relief with a few showers and humidity levels actually dropping to a comfortable level. Well comfortable levels for Loretta’s. 

As August sneaks in and schools begin to resume the true feeling of “Dog Days” is starting to set in. Though it has seemed like a short summer it has been an eventful one and soon life will settle down a bit and the focus on the final four rounds of racing. It’s still hard to think that we are over a month away but as far away as it seems it will be here before we know it. There are many unanswered questions still on the table. Questions that will take a few months to answer and these crazy lazy days of summer are a good time to reflect but they are also a good time to plot your future and regain focus for the fight.

Loretta Lynn’s ATVMX Style (Chelsea Taylor)

Well I’ve officially survived my first National Loretta Lynn’s experience, but we’re still here patiently waiting for the last round of the Mtn. Dew ATV Motocross series to get underway! We had a couple days off between races and of course we enjoyed them in the typical “Loretta’s” fashion. We loaded up the golf cart with tubes headed straight to the beach to float down the river, but now it’s back to work as we put the final preparations together for the ATVs.

Earlier this week I sent out a release congratulating our GNCC members on their finishes at the 2015 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship, click HERE if you haven’t read it yet!  All four racers dominated on the track including WXC rider Jessica Patterson who placed eighth in the Women (16+) All-Star division, Korie Steede who went 26th in Girls Jr. (9-13), Garrett Edmisten took home fifth overall in Junior 25+ and Rodney Smith who claimed second in the Masters 50+.  I was blown away by how well all our racers did!

The GNCC staff is ever present here at the Ranch from the Ken Hill taking photos, Jared Bolton towing bikes and the track crew hanging banners and pounding stakes. Barry Hawk just arrived last night and is busy prepping the track for practice tomorrow. Everyone that works at Racer Productions loves all types of racing, but I don’t think I’m the only one who is counting down the days until we hear Rodney announce “tennnnnnn seccoonnnndddss” for the first ATV Youth Race at Unadilla.

If you’ve started school back this week or are about to start back, good luck in your new grade level and make sure to pay attention to your teacher! We are extremely proud of your smart moto-brains!

Summer Racing is Hot! (Jared Bolton)

While GNCC Racing may still be on summer break, there’s still been plenty of racing action going on. A couple of weekends back saw the Rattlesnake National Enduro in Pennsylvania where Steward Baylor emerged to grab his 2^nd National Enduro win of the year after having a few up and down races. The bad luck bug would actually strike Kailub Russell this time as he would struggle throughout the day and only salvage a 6^th place finish.

However, KR still maintains a 24-point lead over Baylor in the National Enduro point standings while Russell Bobbitt sits just 1 point behind Baylor in third. With just 3 National Enduro events in the 2015 season, things are really beginning to heat up for the title chase as KR looks to claim his first ever National Enduro title, while Baylor hopes for his second, and Bobbitt looks for enduro title number 5.

Meanwhile, the Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series has been seeing some excellent action as well with an event in Indiana a few weeks ago, and another coming up this weekend in Georgia. These events have seen a good group of Pro riders trying their hand at the events as it’s an excellent way to prepare for the ISDE, which will be coming up in a few weeks.

I’ve mentioned a few times recently that the American teams look to have an excellent shot at this year’s ISDE but it’s definitely not going to come easy as the European teams are scary fast in short test sections. Regardless, this year could very well produce one of the best ISDE’s we’ve ever seen. Stay tuned!

Still Looking for a Leader (Rodney Tomblin)

As the 2015 Amsoil GNCC Championship by Maxxis approached this past winter there was a lot of talk of possible challenges that would lie ahead for the 6-Time GNCC ATV Champ Chris Borich. It was rumored a possible brand change that was not announced until just days before the start of the season. And as the rumors became truths things got real in a hurry.

It has been real for Adam McGill and Walker Fowler for a while though. If you remember Adam was in the thick of the championship battle at this point last season until a problem at Unadilla took him out of contention. It was then that I noticed the biggest change in Adam McGill I have ever seen since I watched him clawing his way through the ranks to become one best ATV racers in the world. And no one will soon forget the fever at which Walker rode trying to pull off the impossible and dethrone an opponent that until recently appeared unbeatable.

It is odd how much things can change in a short amount of time. This time last season it seemed like a fantasy for someone other than Borich to be GNCC ATV Champ. Now it is likely a reality that Chris Borich will be passing his number 1 plate to someone else. The great thing is that there is still a great fight that lies ahead. Unless something monumental happens this championship will likely go down to the wire and Walker Fowler will find himself in an all-out winner take all duel to the checkers similar to last year at the Ironman finale.

Will last season’s experience be the advantage to not only take that race but also control these final four rounds? Something tells me that it will be a slight edge but something also tells me that Adam McGill will not lay down and there will be a fight to the bitter end. Adam has been around and watched the game played for several years. Watching Adam’s demeanor this year tells me he has been paying attention the whole time. Even when we thought he was just being a goofy kid having fun he was learning. And he has learned a lot that has got him to where he is now. But has he paid close enough attention in the closing moments to know exactly what it will take to be victorious? My favorite response to that is “Time will tell the tale” and like it or not we have entered the new era in GNCC but who will be our new leader?

#ThrowbackThursday (Jared Bolton)