Weekly Updates (Chelsea Taylor)

I guess this is an official goodbye to those 60 degree November and December days. The snow started in Morgantown during the banquet and it just won’t go away. Now we’re facing our first major blizzard of the year coming up this weekend. On the bright side, now that it’s colder a few of us from the office have been hitting the slopes and going snowboarding. But I’m not going to lie, I still get pretty jealous of everyone down in Florida training in the warmer temps.

Speaking of Florida, we will be sending a Racer TV videographer down the week of February 8-12 to get some pre-season footage. Send an email to [email protected] with your contact information if you’ll be down there and we’ll get you connected with Gloop.

If you’re stuck at work or have other obligations that won’t allow you to head down south you may be interested in this long-sleeve hoodie shirt offered by Racer X. It’s a shirt modeled after the Blackwater 100! You can view and purchase it HERE.

The GNCC Racing Nation comes together in good and bad times, just like family, and with that being said we have a special request for you this week. ATV WXC racer Kara Frederick’s dad, Mike, has recently been diagnosed with Squamous Cell Oral Cancer. For those of you who don’t know this type of cancer affects his tongue, gland, lymph nodes and jaw. This coming Monday, January 25, he will be having surgery. In order to help fund the costs that insurance does not cover they have created a Go Fund Me account. If you don’t have any extra money to donate, please keep the Frederick family in your thoughts and prayers.

It’s not too late to request your trophy and contingency if you weren’t able to make it to the banquet. Just click HERE to submit your information. You’ll be responsible for covering the shipping which has been running around $15-20. The deadline to submit your request is February 1.

Also, Racer TV has made an ATV and bike playlist on YouTube of the specialty awards that were presented at the banquet. So if you missed it, or just want to watch again, click the link associated with what night you’re interested in.

With all that being said, if you have any announcements regarding your plans for the 2016 season send them to [email protected]. We’ll get them posted on the website and include in Quick Fill.

2016 Changes (Jared Bolton)

The 2016 GNCC Racing season already promises to be one for the record books. Coming off the heels of an incredible 2015 season, we’re looking ahead at a season that will ultimately be chocked full of close racing action, some new venues, new faces and much more.

While the majority of the rules, classes, racers and more will remain the same; we do have a few pretty big changes in store for 2015. At the end of last season, rumors started to circulate of a new Coastal Racing team with a combined bike and ATV effort and the natural choice for Team Manager was Barry Hawk. Most everyone knows that Barry is one of the greatest GNCC racers of all time, still standing out as the only person to ever claim the GNCC National Championship on both an ATV and a bike.

After hanging up his racing boots in 2010, Barry picked up some work boots and began working in the woods as part of the GNCC Track Crew, originally working alongside former Lieutenant Trail Boss, Buren Hamrick. When Buren left to focus solely on managing his Mid-East Hare Scramble Series, Barry would step into the Lieutenant Trail Boss role and spend the 2012-2015 seasons laying out each racecourse. Barry did a great job and we’ll definitely miss him in the woods, but he’ll still be at the races managing the Coastal Racing team.

That creates some pretty big changes on our side as well. Laying out a proper racecourse is a lot bigger challenge than anyone thinks. Luckily, I’ve been right alongside Barry for as long as he was working the events, and I’ve had a good bit of experience laying out the course for the Zoo City GP and did some other local races in North Carolina. However, we also have a new addition! Long-time GNCC racer Ryan Echols has joined our team, and Ryan brings a great amount of racing experience to the table as a former XC2 bike racer.

Ryan and myself will be working in the woods making sure the GNCC courses are up to the same standards as they’ve always been. We’re both eager to get into the woods and set up courses that everyone is going to enjoy. We’ve actually spent the past couple of days out in the garage putting together a couple of fresh KTM 300XC’s to scout trail on and have tossed around some ideas to make for a fun 2016 season.

Out of the woods, we’ve got some changes in the pits as well. Many of you were familiar with Dean VanLeeuwen who has managed parking, sponsor and vendor set up, and more. Dean also accepted another job position in the construction industry, not that Dean didn’t want to be at the races, but the small amount of travel time and returning to be closer to his family was a change Dean was looking for.

In Dean’s absence, we’ve hired ATV Motocross and GNCC ATV racer, Justin Perkins. Justin also brings some great racing experience and will be a huge help in making sure everyone enjoys themselves at the races. Overall, some fresh faces at the races will be another big change for 2016, but you can still expect to have the same kind of fun, quality experience each and every weekend you go GNCC Racing!

Even More Randomness With Rodney! (Rodney Tomblin)

The 2016 season seems to be approaching at lightening speed. Often times for me it seems like this time of year moves at a snails pace, then quickens, but this year it's just the opposite. So much news and information came out early this year. Teams and and sponsorships were decided early and folks have begun their missions of building, training and focusing on the challenges that lie ahead.

In all my years of announcing I don't know if I have ever seen competition as deep as what we are now. At times we refer to this but honestly only barely touch the surface of the pool and this season should prove my point. This year there is more intensity, training, support, focus, determination and talent than we have seen in some time. The excitement level is raising and championships should be hard to come by this year. However if you are watching social media there have been a lot of pictures of the beach and sunshine and it's enough to make those of us less fortunate just a little bit jealous.

This weekend I am scheduled to host the WNYOA banquet if the forecasted storm doesn't follow early moles and dump a boat load of snow on us here.otherwise I plan on  pulling out and heading north to celebrate a great organization and season. This series is one of the nations top local/regional series of its kind and many of the nations top runners in GNCC hail from this series and have seen many in the past. You may recognize names like Marty Christopherson, Hunter Hart, Big Jim, Little Jim, Little Timmy and Little Sammy Steiner and so many more we know and recognize. It is a hotbed of talent and I expect to see a champion come from here soon.

There have been a few top names that have come and gone over the years from that region. Names like Steve Hatch and Nate Kanney are a couple of the more notables you may recognize but there are even more on the way as mentioned previously. Time will tell the story as I always say and the story brewing up there could turn into a saga. In a nutshell the best is yet to come.

All in all that's about all I have for this week. Between preparing for the forecasted snow storm and the trip north there is plenty to keep me busy. The trip will also give me a chance to check in personally on some of next years players and where they are on their program and I will try to get you more on that. Till next time, God

Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.

AMA Championship Banquet (Chelsea Taylor)

January isn’t exactly in the heat of race season, and it’s almost a weird time of year, because everything is in the middle of transitioning between race seasons. This makes for a great time to hold the AMA Championship Banquet. This banquet serves as the last celebration of the past season, before everyone starts fully focusing on the upcoming year.

GNCC Racing had a total of seven nominees. This number is just overwhelming and is pretty neat because in some of the categories there are multiple GNCC racers competing against each other. Ryan Sipes and Kailub Russell are going head-to-head in the AMA Athlete of the Year. In addition to Ryan and Kailub, Billy Janniro, Gage McAllister, Ivan Ramierz, Kyle Regal, Pat Smage and Cody Webb.

Kailub and Ryan are both extremely qualified for this award, but there’s one unique twist on it. Ryan is known for his motocross background, and has recently came on the scene of off-road racing. To win the AMA Athlete of the Year in this situation would be unheard of, but an awesome accomplishment.

The AMA ATV Athlete of the Year has an interesting spin on it. Both the National ATV Champion, Walker Fowler, and College A Champion, Westley Wolfe, are nominated.  Westley is nominated due to his two ATVMX championships in addition to his GNCC championship. Both men have dedicated themselves to the sport and pushed themselves to be the best at this sport. Hopefully the voters feel the same way and have voted to take our GNCC Racing Nation to the top!

Also, both the WXC champions Angel Knox and Kacy Martinez have been nominated for the AMA Female Racer of the Year. In addition to ATV Youth National Champion Ronnie Rusch. Stay tuned for the results. We will post them on our website and social media and good luck to all the nominees!