by: Jared Bolton
Thursday, July 21, 2016 | 2:30 PM
Welcome to Quick Fill.
The GNCC summer break continues to tick away and while we still have a while before we go racing, the good news is we’re now already a week closer to that time coming. Of course, while I always say that time seems to fly by, others may feel as if the time is just dragging on. If you’re one of those who feel like the time is dragging on, the good news is we’re now just 51 days away from returning to racing at Unadilla.
Last week I broke those days down even further and some of you gave me a little feedback that you enjoyed that info. So once again, 51 days is also seven weeks and two days, or you can break it down to be 1,224 hours, 73,440 minutes or 4,406,400 seconds. In technical terms, it would be just a mere 13.93% of the entire year of 2016. When you think of it that way, Unadilla really isn’t too far away!
There’s a good bit of summer break happenings going on between now and Unadilla. For the majority of us here at Racer Productions, we’ll be heading to Loretta Lynn’s for the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship presented by AMSOIL. There’s several familiar GNCC names contesting Loretta’s this year and Chelsea will be telling you who they are a little later in this week’s Quick Fill.
While we currently don’t have a GNCC event at Loretta Lynn’s, the ranch still plays a big role in the history of GNCC Racing and we’ll be sharing some cool Loretta Lynn’s GNCC throwback photos over the next few weeks. We’ll keep the intro a bit on the short side this week and jump right into the fun Quick Fill info!
Weekly Updates (Chelsea Taylor)
With summer break in full swing our updates section is few and far between, but of course things in the office haven’t slowed down. Just this past weekend I made the trip up to Unadilla for the ATVMX race where I was able to visit Niagara Falls for the first time. All I can say is that the pictures simply do not do the area justice and there is so much more to do including shopping, attractions and casinos. I highly suggest you make the trip out to the falls in September when GNCC Racing starts back up and heads to New York. Plus, you can stop and check out the Dunlop headquarters located in Buffalo right on the river!
We have just one quick note to mention. If you won your class at Snowshoe and received a mug that DID NOT have “1st Place” wrote on it, please send an email to me ([email protected]) and we will make sure to get this corrected. We had a little confusion with the trophies and want to make sure that everyone has the right mug.
Championship GO (Jared Bolton)
As I’ve said for a while now, with summer break in full swing, it serves as a good time to evaluate the first part of the season and see what improvements can be made for the second half of the season in order to make a run at the championship. This is beneficial for all riders at all skill levels, but especially valuable for the top tier riders in the XC1 ranks. While it began to seem like Kailub Russell was once again running away with the GNCC National Championship, a little misfortune at Tomahawk left Kailub scoring zero points. This allowed Josh Strang to regain the championship lead by one point coming into the final round before summer break at Snowshoe.
We already know that KR1 was able to put his head down and go to work to come away with a commanding win at Snowshoe, while Strang would suffer a tough day in the saddle, only mustering a seventh place overall finish and fifth place in XC1. Keep in mind that overall points and not the XC1 class points decide the GNCC National Championship. While Strang still earned points, it wasn’t enough to hold the points lead and he now sits 15 points behind Russell. Those 15 points will ultimately serve as motivation for Strang to push extra hard after summer break. Keep in mind that last year when Kailub Russell was absent due to the knee injury he suffered at the ISDE that Strang was able to win three of the four final rounds.
However, with Russell back to 100% and hungry to collect another championship, Strang would need to put in nearly flawless rides along with a little bit of good luck on his side to earn his second national championship. Kailub Russell is not afraid to admit that he hates losing more than he enjoys winning. At this point, Kailub is like a kid playing Pokemon GO, he’s trying to “catch em all” but instead of catching weird little fighting animals, he’s catching GNCC National Championships.
We already know that Kailub Russell is looking at a minimum of four more years of racing in his career, and possibly four more beyond that for a total of eight years, all contracted by KTM. The big question is, how many more championships can KR catch and who will be next in line to be the one to beat? Josh Strang already has one championship to his credit but its obvious that he is on the hunt for another. One thing to keep in mind is that Strang is just under two years older than Kailub Russell. In what is becoming a “young man’s sport”, one has to wonder how many more years Strang will elect to race.
Of course as the years go by, Strang seems to age like fine wine, only becoming better with age and even at just 28 years old, he’s considered to be one of the “savvy veterans” of the XC1 class. Can his experience help propel him to championship number two? Nothing is impossible in the world of GNCC Racing! As I mentioned though, the question is who will be the next man to beat and many are pointing fingers at Trevor Bollinger.
Trevor has been putting together an amazing XC2 season thus far and currently sits third in the GNCC overall point standings, a feat that has never been done by an XC2 rider before. You can’t help but wonder what will come next from Bollinger. An XC2 championship is almost an assured thing at this point but the question is, what will happen when Trevor makes his XC1 transition? Will he play a Pokemon GO of his own and start catching them all? Only time will tell what happen next, but it’s going to be an interesting story to watch unfold!
The Reality of Summer Break (Rodney Tomblin)
For me, the reality of summer break may be starting to kick in as the absence of GNCC in my life has been kind of a let down. I always think the break will be nice for me, but I think it has been more taxing than any race weekend in quite some time. The struggle is real and I suppose it is also a pretty big indication that my race-announcing hobby has turned into a way of life, and I wouldn't have it any other way! Well, I have to admit, less time off between seasons and breaks would be nice.
One thing that helps fill the void and keep the fire fueled is the ProX ATV Motocross National Championship presented by CST Tires. There are a few GNCC/ATVMX crossovers that we have mentioned in the past. This weekend we saw ATV youth racers Shayne and Kelsey Crull trying their hand at motocross, and each held their own and did a great job. It was definitely good seeing them out and I know they are looking forward to going back in September for GNCC.
Other notables at the event included the normal ATVMX competitors of Luke and Megan Shepherd along with Westley Wolfe. Wolfe had rough weekend and faced two hard wrecks, but luckily he somehow managed to avoid serious injury. However, this wreck put him behind in both Pro Sport and Pro Am, so he didn't yield the results he was hoping for.
There is good and bad news on the Shepherd front. The good news is Megan wrapped up a third WMX class title, but Luke ended his race weekend almost as soon as it started during Friday’s practice. Luke had a horrible crash over the “Sky Shot” that resulted in several days spent in the hospital dealing with various injuries, but the most serious was a torn spleen. A few days ago Luke and Megan were able to make the voyage back home where Luke is healing up and already has his mind on prepping a UTV for GNCC racing when he’s released. That's good news for sure.
As far as some of the other happenings around the nation, I spoke with Adam McGill again and he is still busy as ever. Adam said he was prepping his new Honda, doing some private one-on-one schools and working on an article with Dirt Wheels Magazine. With a three-month racing break, it doesn’t seem as if Adam is slowing down at all and will come out swinging when GNCC starts back up in September.
Walker Fowler has spent a good part of the summer break tearing down an old barn for the slate roof. He said the barn was built in about 1850, which meant he was working with material crafted over 100 years ago. He has also spent the days on the lake unwinding from all the pressure of the first nine rounds and enjoying “some inexpensive entertainment.” Sounds like he is on vacation if you ask me, but who am I?
Walker’s vacation has gone hiatus this week because he is working with the FCA with Chuck Lemaster instructing at an XC camp. He said it is the first time this particular camp has offered quad schools so he is really excited to be able to be part of the program.
Brycen Neal tells me that he and the Coastal Team have been busy as well. In fact, just this past weekend Brycen, Ryan Sipes and Craig Delong raced a local event with MDRA (Mason Dickson Riders Association). Brycen said that they were able to spend some time riding with the kids, and also did some fun challenges with the kids and against each other. Brycen said the time spent between him and his teammates was just a great time, between hanging out and riding together. Eli Kiger even joined in on the fun on Sunday and they were all able to go ride with their team manager, Barry Hawk. He said they did some individual testing with all the riders and that the break for him was going great. Brycen also said Barry was on the bike riding and showing everyone some things and said that everyone saw some improvements on something.
It'll be over before we realize it and soon we will be back to the GNCC grind but for now it's time to relax, refuel and revive, as the final rounds will be grueling for everyone across the board. Hopefully you are having a good summer and the return to the series will bring lots of great stories to share. In the meantime don't forget to stop and smell the roses, enjoy the time at hand and don't let it slip away.
GNCC Racers Take on Loretta’s (Chelsea Taylor)
In exactly one week we will be in Tennessee for Loretta Lynn’s and while majority of the GNCC staff members help with this event, there is always a number of GNCC competitors who have been qualifying for this prestigious event. This year there are at least five GNCC racers who will be competing at the Loretta Lynn Ranch have found success in both GNCC and motocross.
WXC racer Shelby Rolen will be competing in the Women (16+) All-Star division, while Mackenzie Tricker was slated to be racing as well, but it looks as if an injury may be keeping her on the sidelines this year. Both Mackenzie and Shelby compete in the WMX series along with GNCC, but probably the most interesting fact about these two ladies it that they even though they both come from a motocross background, off-road racing came to them like second nature. In fact, Makenzie has WMX, GNCC WXC and Loretta Lynn’s wins on her resume just this year. With a three-moto race format anything is possible, but with the reigning Loretta’s champion missing from the start line Shelby will ultimately be a rider to keep an eye on throughout the week and she looks to take the top spot on the podium.
Korie Steede will line up in the Girls Sr. (12-16) class against some of the sport’s biggest names, but she’s used to the pressure because she starts on the front row with the Super Mini boys at the GNCC events. Korie attempted to qualify in the Super Mini 1 (12-15) class but sits in an alternate position. In 2015 Korie faced a DNS in the third moto, but she has spent the last year riding at Millsaps Training Facility and will look to use that to be crowned as a National Champion.
Logan Grounds will be making the trip to Tennessee for the first time where he qualified for the 51cc (4-6) Limited class. Logan currently leads the 50 Jr. (4-6) class in GNCC, but is ready to try his hand at motocross.
Former full-time XC1 Pro Garrett Edmiston can be found in the Junior 25+ and Vet 30+ classes. Garrett is no stranger to Loretta’s and has always been known for his consistent results in both GNCC and motocross. Garrett made a name for himself in the GNCC world landing numerous podium finishes in the late-2000s, even earning a fifth place overall points finish in 2007. They call the Florida native “The Sandman” as his numerous Florida Trail Riders championships confirm that he’s a sand specialist. While Loretta Lynn’s is far from a true sand track, the big sweeper on “the beach” is probably the best place to see Garrett in his natural habitat.
If you can’t make it to the ranch to watch in person, make sure to check out RacerTV.com who will be bringing you over 40 hours of racing coverage where you are guaranteed to be able to watch these guys at least once throughout the week. The official live streaming schedule will be posted tomorrow on www.mxsports.com.
Headlines
Obermeyer/MCS Racing Suzuki Team IXCR Race Report
Racer Productions Mourns the Loss of GNCC ATV Family Member Tom Wright
What's New on RacerTV.com?
Check out all of the archived videos on RacerTV.com. There's plenty of racing to keep you entertained over the summer break on RacerTV, so what are you waiting for? Check it out NOW!
News from GNCC, Riders and Sponsors
Want to share your news with the GNCC Racing Nation? Just shoot an email over to Bolt-On ([email protected]) or Kayla ([email protected]) and we'll be sure to include your message here!