Big Rodney Smith News!  (Chelsea Taylor)

Well I’m happy to announce that all the Racer Productions staff has found our way back to the office in Morgantown, and while I’m sad to leave my home state of Tennessee I have to admit it feels great to be back in my new city! Now that the Loretta’s craze is behind us, we can start focusing on GNCC again.

Speaking of GNCC, the big news recently is that 5-time GNCC champion, Rodney Smith, will be inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame this year. That’s 2 years in a row that we’ve seen a familiar GNCC name inducted, as another 5-time champion, Scott Summers, was inducted last year.

This is great news following up with Rodney’s great ride at Loretta Lynn’s a couple of weeks ago where he finished 2^nd place in the Masters 50+ class behind the super-fast Earl May, who has his fair share of Loretta Lynn’s titles. We’re all super happy for Rodney as this is a great honor for a great champion. For more info, check out the PR here.

Fast Mothers (Rodney Tomblin)

One thing is for certain, you have to give credit to all the moms in the GNCC Racin’ Nation that put so much effort into racing, that it wouldn’t be possible without them. I have always been impressed of how hard they work, cheer and push their racers to new limits. Maybe more impressive is the fact that there are a handful of moms that actually race, and race very well. Actually they are all, or have been championship contenders.

We all know that 9-Time WXC Champ Traci Pickens is a mother, we all know she has recently dabbled back in the racing world and we know how fast she is. Though she has only competed “for fun” a total of five times so far this season, we can see by her results that each time it has gotten a little more serious. She even finished 2nd in the class at the Tomahawk, which is only minutes away from her home stomping grounds. As far as rumors or reports go, I have not heard whether she is training for a comeback or not, but one has to think it’s in her blood and how cool would it be to be a 10-Time Champion? I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t lurking in the back of her mind but the competition is tougher and Traci thrives on a challenge.

Another “Fast Mother” is Angel Knox. Angel captured her first title in 2009 as the WXC champion and has been a contender since the mid-2000s. It’s almost unbelievable that our current WXC champ only has two titles to date, and if you look at this seasons points, she should have things locked up with one more win. That will make her a 3-Time WXC GNCC ATV Champion. Angel, like Traci, is fortunate to be married to someone as passionate about the sport and her career as she is. She married fellow GNCC racer Corbin Knox and they started a family. However, neither could stay away and it wasn’t long before she was back with a vengeance and won last season’s championship, which was her second and with number three around the corner, she may just be getting started.

Then there is the latecomer of Alicia McCormick. A racing husband, a racing child and owning a racing shop makes it hard to steer away from racing. Since it consumes her life so much she became absorbed into the culture. Her personality and drive attracted her to the competition and her will, determination and hard work has made her a true competitor even after getting started later in the game. She has gone from being a possible podium contender to a true threat for wins and titles. It’s hard to believe she is so new to the game but has already established herself as one to beat in an already fiercely competitive class. Her son Layne currently leads the points in the 125 Jr. youth class and she leads the points in the WXC. Unfortunately for her it doesn’t look like Alicia will win the championship unless she wins the final four rounds. It would then tie her with Angel and a tiebreaker would be the decider. Of course, it’s going to be hard not to hope for this to come down to the final round with a winner take all shoot out. It’s a light at the end of the tunnel and she is a fighter but so is Angel and this may be the tightest contested battle since the 2003 tie between Pickens and Stephanie Parton.

 

Stories From the Road (Jared Bolton)

Earlier I mentioned the process of leaving Loretta Lynn’s to begin the trek home. However, that doesn’t happen when the racing is over. A lot of people don’t realize what goes into some of these events, including the clean up process afterwards. While currently the Amateur National and ATV Motocross races are the only 2 events that use the motocross track at Loretta Lynn’s, that doesn’t mean it can just sit there as-is after we’re finished with it.

That entire motocross track plus all the water truck roads, surrounding campground areas and more all have to be seeded and have straw on them so grass can grow back before we use it again next year. That process, plus removing all the signage, race week fences and more takes a few days. Monday I actually drew grass seed duty, which is actually nice when you have a quad and a seeder on it.

However, I forget that it’s fairly time consuming and I actually spent over 5 hours riding around Loretta Lynn’s Ranch slinging grass seed. The motocross track itself ends up requiring several passes, plus the water truck roads and more. From there, it was on to the campground areas including Area 3, which is the big field out back where we’ve started the past few GNCCs there. I even seeded Area 4, which is the field along the creek by Loretta’s house. Yes, so many people show up for the Amateur National that some have to park all the way out there!

Luckily the clean up process went really quick and we were able to leave Tuesday. The water trucks and dozers all needed to go to Ironman, and 2 drivers needed a ride home so I actually had to send our Kayla Olliver and Chelsea Taylor home in my vehicle on Monday so I could drive the famed Racer Productions white van to Ironman so Barry Hawk and Tommy Harris could have a ride back to Morgantown.

I got a head start on those guys Tuesday because I knew I’d have to make a couple of gas stops and that they would be able to knock it out all at once. Well, turns out I estimated a little wrong and I actually beat them by almost 2 hours. That wasn’t too bad because it gave me a while to hangout and enjoy how great the weather was in Crawfordsville. Oh, and the Shaver Family also invited me in for dinner while we waited on everyone else to show up. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, those folks are great people!

Eventually the truck convoy pulled in with Jeff Russell leading the way with Barry Hawk, Tommy Harris and Terry Beck rounding out the top 5 (I won!). Once they got pulled in and parked, it was after 9:30PM and Barry, Tommy and I might have well been the band, The Clash, as we were trying to decide “should I stay or should I go”. Eventually we settled on the “go” option and around 9:45PM, Barry Hawk jumped in the driver seat of the white van and off we went. I ended up finishing out the drive and pulled into Morgantown around 4:45AM yesterday morning.

All racers have these type of long road trip stories and those of us who work at the races have the same types of stories. That’s yet another one of the things that makes our sport unique. We all will do whatever it takes to make the race, but we’ll also do whatever it takes to make it back home. While it makes for long, countless hours, in the end we all know its worth it and we can’t wait to do it again.

Historic Possibilities (Rodney Tomblin)

Recently there has been a bit of discussion about Westley Wolfe and his incredible performances in both the ATV Motocross and the GNCC ranks. It has been stated that no known riders have ever won a championship in both disciplines in the same season. But that may be about to change. This past weekend Westley wrapped up two Mtn. Dew ATV Motocross National Championship titles. The 450A class and Production A classes, which are both springboards the to the new Pro Sport and Pro-Am classes.

Westley is also a top contender for the College 16-24 class title in GNCC and currently ranked 18th overall in the point standings amongst all the XC1 Pro and XC2 Pro Am. He has captured the Top Amateur Award a few times this season as well, and is the only non XC1 or XC2 rider ranked in the top 20 overall. It is likely he will continue his successes after the break, and if he does he will not only achieve a College-A title but a top 20 ranking for 2016, which is an honor all by itself.

The historic part of this equation is that this has never happened where a rider wins a title in both championships, and even more impressive is that he is doing it in the most competitive classes in both series. Even if he ends up falling short of his goal, it has still be a remarkable season. However, I watch this kid ride a lot and with the speed and skills he has gained over the last season alone tells me he will not slow down any time soon and he may likely be in the GNCC and ATVMX history books.

Championship Battles on the Line (Jared Bolton)

While we’ve still got a way to go before championships are finally decided, the battles are ultimately still in the minds of those who are set to challenge for them. Obviously the big one comes in the ATV ranks, as Adam McGill continues to hold onto the overall points lead. However, Walker Fowler was on a roll heading into the summer break and has dropped McGill’s lead down to just 9 points with 4 rounds to go.

This means both of these guys will be on top of their game when we return from summer break, but they’ll have a number of challengers as well. Jarrod McClure sits 3^rd in overall point standings and after claiming his first-ever win at Snowshoe, he will undoubtedly be looking to claim another win. The one to keep an eye on is Chris Borich. So far in the 2015 season, Borich has remained winless, which is a first in a very long time for the 6-time champion. With 4 rounds to go and a good amount of past success at each of these, Borich will ultimately be hungry to grab a win before the season ends.

In the bike ranks, Kailub Russell is on-track to claim his 3^rd consecutive title. However, it’s not wrapped up just yet. While KR holds a commanding 104-point lead, it’s still not completely over just yet. Grant Baylor has already made history as he’s put together the best XC1 rookie season performance of any XC2 class champion. While previous XC2 champions have eventually found success, Grant is the only one thus far who has been able to land himself in the top 3 overall points in their rookie XC1 season.

In the XC2 ranks, Jason Thomas holds onto a 55-point lead over Ricky Russell. Of course, one has to wonder how tight that points battle would be if Ricky had not missed rounds 2 and 3 with an injury. It’s good news for Thomas though, as he’s keeping a fairly good lead on the class as he looks for XC2 championship number 2, and also to establish himself as the only non-consecutive XC2 class champion as well. There’s also Craig Delong who holds a very quiet third place in the XC2 class points. While Delong has only been on the podium 1-time this season, he’s definitely been Mr. Consistent, finishing out of the top 5 only twice and still finishing in the top 10 at every round so far. Craig could very well step up and challenge for more podiums as the final rounds wear on, but even more importantly, could be a title contender in seasons to come. 

#ThrowbackThursday (Jared Bolton)