The Countdown Begins (Chelsea Taylor)

Hopefully you all had a nice holiday weekend, whether it was spent relaxing with friends and family or maybe you spent the weekend racing. I know that personally, my weekend was jam-packed with activities. It all started on Friday when a few of us from the office loaded up the bikes after work and went riding, and then we all got back together on Saturday for the season opener WVU football game. My high school friend from Tennessee came to visit me this weekend so on Sunday we took a sporadic trip to Pittsburgh and went to the zoo. Finally, on Monday we went to the Cheat Lake with the Marketing Manager, Nick, and a couple of the Racer X guys. You could say I definitely had the full “Morgantown Experience” this past weekend! 

As usual the Parts Unlimited Unadilla GNCC will include sections of the “U1” and “U2” motocross tracks. So if you need a little extra moto practice before next weekend, head on over the High Point Raceway for the PAMX Pennsylvania State Championship this weekend. You may just see some blonde hair flying from a number #13 bike, because I’ll be there racing along with Mel and Jess that work in the office too. Click HERE for more information on the weekend. 

This time next week we’ll finally be on our way to New York. Unadilla always has high attendance numbers, so do yourself a favor and pre-register by clicking HERE and following the link to the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Fast Track. This will help you avoid the long lines at registration, and you’ll find yourself getting into the special line under the big red tent when you arrive at the track!

Polaris Industries announced the winners of the “Race an ACE with the Pros” contest earlier this week, and it looks like we will be seeing Minnesota’s Deniel Hedberg and Indiana’s James Harris at the last race at Ironman! Congratulations on winning this awesome contest, and good luck! We will see you in October!

Later in this article Bolt-On will give you all you need to know about the current ISDE news, but as far as female riders go WXC racer Rachel Gutish is currently leading the U.S. Women’s World Trophy Team. She sits in seventh place overall. Rachel has been fairly busy this year competing in the X Games, the full GNCC series, making her pro WMX debut, catching a few National Enduros and now the ISDE. All while balancing a college sized workload of classes and competing on the track & field team at DePauw University.

As a friendly reminder, we have this neat little thing called “dirty money” that you can choose to receive instead of a plaque. Maybe you didn’t finish as good as you would like, or maybe you’re an avid racer with stacks and stacks of plaques. If that sounds like you, then you may be interested in the dirty money deal, which is good for $10 off your gate fee or at registration. If you have any questions the ladies at sign up can explain how the process works!

I’m looking forward to seeing you all back in WNYOA Country next weekend! 

How Does the ISDE Work? (Jared Bolton)

So it seems like every year when the ISDE comes around, many people are left wondering, “how the heck does this work? And why is it different than an American Enduro?” Well, for a lot of folks, even after hearing it explained once, it still doesn’t quite make sense. It’s especially hard if you’ve never seen anything like it in person, but if you ever saw it and put everything together, it’s really a lot simpler than it sounds.

The biggest thing to know about the ISDE is it’s almost nothing like an American style enduro. Here in the USA, we have a lot more land and usually thick woods to work with for our enduros, so sections are longer, trails are tighter and very rarely would you ever ride the same thing twice. In Europe, usable land is a lot scarcer and a lot of it consists of open fields. So, that results in shorter test sections, with a lot of grass track and generally the trails are wider and faster.

Another big difference between the ISDE and an American enduro is that here in America, you may ride a short transfer section from test to test, but the ISDE sees longer transfers to shorter tests. For example, in day 1 at the ISDE you may ride 162 miles total but a lot of that would be transfers on roads, dirt roads, etc. The transfers don’t count for anything as long as you make it on time. So, you may have 30 minutes to ride a 10-mile transfer section to go race on a 4-mile special test.

Realistically, the main thing you have to be concerned with is your performance in the special test sections. You’re allotted plenty of time to make the transfers, so you can actually use those as a break to prepare yourself for the special tests and a transfer will only count against you if you’re late to the start of the next special test, which generally only happens due to mechanical issues. Ultimately, the races are won and lost in the special tests, which can consist of fast, flowing woods, grass track and pretty much any other terrain typical of off-road racing.

Of course, the differences don’t end there. Classes, scoring, etc are all different, however, this is what’s pretty easy to understand. E1, E2 and E3 are the 3 main classes for World and Junior Trophy riders. The E1 class consists of small-bore bikes, which are essentially just 125cc 2-stroke and 250cc 4-strokes, which is similar to our XC2 class. The E2 class is for motorcycles up to 250cc 2-strokes, or 450cc 4-strokes, and the E3 class is a big bore class, which consists of up to 500cc 2-strokes or 650cc 4-strokes. Each World Trophy team will have at least 1 rider in each class. For example, on the American team Kailub Russell had been riding the E1 class aboard a 250F, while Ryan Sipes, Thad Duvall, Taylor Robert, and Gary Sutherlin are in the E2 class, and Mike Brown is riding a Husqvarna FE501 in the E3 class.

Each rider is individually scored but all scores are combined to determine scores for the World and Junior Trophy ranks. For the World Trophy Teams, you have 6 riders but only your 5 best scores each day will count. At the end of the day, all the times are added together and of course, the team with the shortest amount of time is the winner. This means that to find success on the World Trophy level, your 5 best riders have to all put together solid, consistent performances. It’s no easy task, but finding the right match up of riders who can work well in numerous variations of terrain is key.

The US World Trophy Team has never claimed the ISDE overall win. However, even with a little misfortune so far this week, they look to have the best shot at a win in the history of the event. With 2 days of racing still remaining, it’s going to be a true test of who can keep it together, log solid test scores and stay consistent.

Tolls of Summer (Rodney Tomblin)

There is a little better than a week left now in the “2015 GNCC Summer Break” and the tales told of this summer may very well be one of tolls. As we near the approaching final leg of this year’s championship we have a lot to look forward to as well as questions we want answered. Next week we will know more on a first-hand account about the amazing ride by Johnny Gallagher, Walker Fowler and Cole “Train” Richardson had at the Heartland Challenge. We will hear tales of glory and woe of the ISDE in which our boys and girls are competing in right now in Slovakia. Some may be of joy while others may carry serious impacts good and bad in individual careers. And if you follow social media you may see there are some surprising instances that are quite shocking.

As a racing fan I must say I am in a state of amazement of the wonders that have taken place this break. There have been and will be many changes when we hit Unadilla I have a feeling. Some new found inspirations and confidences that may change the face of the final moments of this season. Each player has work for and search for that edge of confidence and it may be that many have found it. Adam McGill and Walker Fowler’s apparent final four round match up has been simmering all summer and the heat on this pot is about be turned up.

Chris Borich has made some life changing decisions in the past year and each one has been calculated. It may appear that some formulas have not worked as well as he hoped but it’s crunch time and time to prove a point. One should certainly expect Borich to be a true threat and a key player in a championship that is impossible at this point for him to win.

Another rider who has worked hard and paid his toll this summer by doing so is XC2 Pro Am champ Cole Richardson. “The Cole Train” as many fans are calling him is building up some steam and with his shared championship of the Heartland Challenge with Teammate Walker Fowler and fellow Yamaha rider Johnny Gallagher one has to think he will arrive at Unadilla with a mission of introducing himself in an even bigger way as he sets his sights on XC1 Pro racing in the future. Heck who is to say he won’t be there at a few rounds to wrap up the season.

Chris Bithell is another to factor in these final four rounds and one who has paid many tolls over his career and this summer. Chris has announced his retirement from championship competition as of the end of this season. Chris has one win this season and always a threat for another. Bithell may be an even bigger threat to mix things up for the championship contenders as he has absolutely nothing to lose if he does well. In fact there is no pressure and it is back to the old Looney Tuned days when he rode for sheer fun and enjoyment. The only thing is now he is mature and seasoned and he loves the feeling. These are the waning moments of his professional GNCC career. Don’t be surprised to see him flash out like the shooting star we were introduced to. If you get a chance and looking for a good read, check out this week’s Tuesday Toolbox.

Lastly there is one other player in the game. The “Sneaky Snake” Jarrod McClure hit the summer break with his first win of his career as a GNCC XC1 Pro. McClure is not one to ever count out. He is a figure that has been lurking for a long while now and don’t expect him to go away any time soon. It seems as good as youth is in GNCC, experience has and maturity seems to carry the most weight. And even though the game has changed and the new era rolls in, there will much resistance and the throne of this new championship will not only be harder to obtain as change is in the air but even harder to maintain.

Perhaps the tolls of this summer may be the quiet we endured for what seemed like an eternity these past few months. I say this from a fan’s standpoint. As you know it has only been the last few weeks that we have gotten any real details on what’s going on. It seems as well be it two wheel or four, GNCC Racing is going to be faced with some big changes in the closing moments of this season. History once again proves itself unpredictable in our nation. Don’t be fooled by the obvious for as we know change is always around the corner. It comes quick and there may not be any way we can prepare ourselves. So hold on tight as the tolls paid this summer may have changed it all.

ISDE in Full-Force! (Jared Bolton)

We’re now over halfway through the 2015 edition of the ISDE and up to this point, it’s been an absolute barn burner. The first day started off pretty darn impressive as Kailub Russell would be the first rider out. KR was able to put together 6 solid test scores and take the day 1 overall win. Ryan Sipes also showed that he means business as he ended the first day in second place, just 1.60 second off Kailub’s time. 

At the end of the first day, the US World Trophy Team would hold the overall lead for the first time. Kailub Russell would lead the individual overall ahead of Ryan Sipes with Australian Daniel Milner in third. However, on the second day the Aussie team would come alive with Milner taking the individual overall win over Sipes. With a little bit of bad luck striking Kailub Russell, he would end the day third. Australia took over the World Trophy lead by 8 seconds over the USA. Both teams knew that day 3 would be all business and each rider would have to be on their A-game.

Kailub Russell started the day strong claiming the win in test 1, however a pair of crashes in tests 2 and 4 would leave KR with a mangled motorcycle and tweaked knee, which will unfortunately end his ISDE bid early. It’s still too early to know the extent of the injury, but hopefully Kailub will mend up quick. The good news for the rest of the American team is that the rest of the team put together 6 solid test scores and saw Ryan Sipes claiming the day 3 overall win ahead of Daniel Milner. American Taylor Robert rebounded from a slow start to the week to claim 3^rd overall on day 3, while Thad Duvall would also put in his best ride of the week coming away with 4^th overall on the day.

It takes a while to add up the World Trophy times, so I had actually been doing my own calculations before the results were posted. While the World Trophy Teams consist of 6 riders, only the 5 best overall scores of the day count, so with the five best scores added up after 3 days of racing, my calculations had USA taking the lead with a combined 3-day time of 12:20:40.34 ahead of Australia in 2^nd with 12:20:42.33. It seemed incredible that after 3 days of racing, with the 5 riders best scores counting on each team, that the two were separated by a mere 2 seconds. To put things into perspective, that would be like taking 10 riders, releasing them onto a 30 mile course at the same time, and the 10^th rider crosses the finish line just 2 seconds after the lead. That’s impressive.

However, at the end of the day a total of 8 riders were disqualified after taking a wrong turn that they all claimed was not marked properly. Of those 8 riders was USA’s Taylor Robert along with multiple riders from France, Spain and Great Britain’s David Knight. The DQ’s were protested, then unfortunately denied, so each appealed the denial and the riders have been allowed to compete in the rest of the event while the protests are reviewed.

Day 4 would start out good for the American riders once again but unfortunately Thad Duvall’s stator would go bad and Thad would lose over 20 minutes replacing it. The bad luck didn’t end there as afterwards Thad’s bike experienced another unknown mechanical issue and his 2015 ISDE would also come to an early end. Unfortunately, with two riders out of the event, USA’s hopes for claiming the World Trophy win are officially over.

On the bright side, Ryan Sipes is still going strong and once again claimed the overall win on day 4, and leads the individual overall with 2 days to go. While USA won’t be able to claim their first ever World Trophy, Ryan Sipes has the chance to do what no other American has ever done and claim the ISDE overall win. This would be a huge honor and hopefully Ryan is able to ride mistake-free for the final two days and claim the win. Good luck Ryan!