Weekly Updates (Chelsea Taylor)

It seems like just yesterday we were loaded up in the van heading to Florida, but now only one round of racing remains. This past weekend we saw multiple National Championships clinched, personal bests along with memories made, and as we head into the season finale it still remains a bittersweet time of the year. Personally, I’m looking forward to some off-time to spend snowboarding or catching up with friends and family, but like most of you I’ll miss my racing family during the winter. But before we get too focused on the offseason we’ve still got Ironman, and as usual we are in for an awesome season finale. 

Trick-or-treating will be returning on Saturday night from 5-6 p.m. and then you will be treated to dinner and a show! The Parts Unlimited dinner is set to begin at 6 p.m., and then we will have a costume contest at the same time! As more information becomes available we will post it on social media and of course Quick Fill!

Don’t forget to register for the banquet where we will honor the top ten in each championship class. ATV and UTV’s will be recognized on Friday, November 25, and bike competitors will take to the final podium of the 2016 season on Saturday, November 26. Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for children ages 6-11, and five and under are free. We hope to see everyone at the Waterfront Place Hotel in Morgantown, West Virginia as we celebrate the prestigious accomplishments made by all of our racers from youth to pro.

Pressure Cooker (Rodney Tomblin)

The Polaris Ace Powerline Park GNCC lived up to all the hype it was given, and then some. It was a weekend thrills, chills, excitement and unfortunately some disappointment. Championships were locked up, while others saw hopes still left in the future. There were some amazing battles and big surprises. Likely the biggest surprise came on Sunday while heading to the starting line when Ryan Sipes was involved in an accident that left him with a broken arm and having to sit out this years ISDE. Crazy, I know, but yes it happened.

There were many happenings over the course of the weekend. The Youth ATV racing produced another exciting battle with Mickey Nickels and Colton Stoneking. These two finished a little less than a second apart in West Virginia only a week before and left us wanting more. There were big changes this week as Nickels finished fourth with some struggles on the wet, slick course and Stoneking came in tenth. This week was a four-way shootout with Devin Corohters coming out on top by nearly twenty seconds. In the end it would be the battle for second that was wheel to wheel. Haden Nicholson and Payton Dalton were only a mere three seconds apart. It was another nail biter and it set the stage for what could be considered a rather epic weekend of racing.

The return of the UTV and Single Seat races were highly anticipated by many. Coming into the weekend, defending national champion Sam Yokely was a little against the wall with a tight championship on his hands. He left Ohio with even more pressure. Sam had a three race win streak underway and was looking for four this weekend in order to gain control of the points heading into the final round. He finished third and left with only a one point lead over second place Robert Boynton, who took the season opening win and has driven a consistent season landing on the podium multiple times since then. Less than ten points back is a great battle in the third place with Torrey Rush and Jesi Stracham. The final round should get interesting.

The 4x4 Pro stole the show at 10am again this past weekend as the battle for the title in this one was on. Kevin Cunningham was able to lock things up this weekend over Bryan Buckahannon. This makes Cunningham only the second champion in this class as Buckhannon claimed the title in the first two season of the class.

Then in the afternoon race Walker Fowler had to basically just finish the race to lock his second title up this past weekend. He did just that with a second place finish behind Adam McGill. Chris Borich also showed some signs of new life once again as he had one of his strongest rides in quite some time. It leads one to wonder if the upcoming anniversary of Chris Borich’s 73^rd win in 2014 will be celebrated by his return to the center of the podium. This race leaves a lot on the table being the final round, so it's truly a race where anything is possible since the championship is locked up and no one has anything to lose and a lot to gain with a win at Ironman.

Of course you cannot talk about Saturday without mentioning the ever-popular UTV battle. The number of contestants this week was nearly staggering and made for a great race. Defending champ Kyle Chaney has been in a dogfight with newcomer Cody Miller throughout the 2016 season. Miller had a thirty-one point lead coming in and basically has to run a smooth season the rest of the way. Chaney took the win and chipped five points off the lead, but ultimately this one goes down to the Ironman. As every GNCC fan knows, this is where anything is possible and what seems to be, may not be. Chaney now has three wins, which is one more that Miller, but finishing second twice and one third is what keeps Miller in control. Chaney had a sixth and eleventh finish, which has him hoping for a lot of luck to fall in his favor. Miller, on the other hand, has a little easier job. But even knowing that, the pressure is still starting to mount. Stay tuned!

2016 ISDE Is Set To Begin! (Jared Bolton)

This year marks the 91^st edition of the International Six Days Enduro, which is regarded by many as the Olympics of off-road racing. GNCC Racing has always accommodated to work around the ISDE as a number of racers selected to the American teams are GNCC racers themselves and this year sees one of the biggest numbers of GNCC racers ever taking part in the event.

This year’s World Trophy team was slated to consist of Ryan Sipes, Kailub Russell, Thad Duvall, and Taylor Robert with Steward Baylor, Grant Baylor and Trevor Bollinger making up the Junior Team. However, Sipes was involved in a pre-race accident before Powerline Park that left him with a concussion and broken arm, thus taking him out of this year’s ISDE. Layne Michael was picked to be the replacement but Layne’s exact role is still up in the air. There’s been a number of social media and website posts this week that mention Steward Baylor taking Sipes’ spot on the Trophy Team, while Layne will take Steward’s spot on the Junior Team.

This seems like a good scenario as Steward has a little bit more ISDE experience and also holds the reputation as someone who will continue to ride if they’re injured or have a battered motorcycle. This becomes key in 2016 as the World Trophy team was reduced from six riders to four. Previously each team’s worst score of the day would be dropped but now with the reduced team size, that rule has been eliminated as well. While moving the elder Baylor Brother up seems like a great idea, it may not be possible as it will ultimately be up to the FIM if that is acceptable or not.

You can absolutely replace an injured rider on your team prior to the event, but it’s up in the air if you’re able to shift your Junior Team around to accommodate an absence on the Trophy Team. So, Layne’s exact role in this year’s ISDE is yet to be determined but regardless he’s definitely riding the bike that was slated to be used for Sipes and he may very well end up on the Trophy Team in Sipes place. This will be pretty interesting to watch!

Many believe that this year’s American ISDE team has the best shot ever to claim the World Trophy win. That’s a feat that has yet to be accomplished by any American team in the history of the event. The American Junior team holds three victories to their credit, and with another solid team they have a chance to claim win number four this year. Regardless of what happens, this year’s ISDE will ultimately be one to watch unfold and we’ll be bringing you as much info as possible throughout the race week.

Our friends at Racer X will be covering the event as well, and they kicked it off with an excellent story entitled “The Game Changers” which highlights how the world of GNCC Racing has evolved from the top Pros riding early, learning the track and then making an all-out sprint in the final laps, to that all-out sprint happening from the beginning. It also dives into what this means for the American team’s chances at the ISDE. It’s a great read by our old buddy Jason Weigandt, so check it out HERE! 

Ty Kesten Memorial Golf Outing This Weekend! (Nick Koester)

Many folks from the GNCC Racing family will be traveling to Moon Township, Pennsylanvia for the 2016 Ty Kesten Memorial Golf Outing this weekend at the Moon Golf Club. The event will be celebrating Ty’s life and fundraising for the charity dedicated in his memory, the 1SIX Foundation. There has been tremendous support from the off-road and motocross racing communities already organized, as all of the hole and specialty sponsorships have sold out.

Registration begins at 8am and teams will tee off at 10am with dinner and an awards ceremony following in the afternoon. There will be a team of Racer X staff “competing” but probably won’t be in contention for any awards! We are guessing their photos will be straighter than their drives throughout the day. 

If you have not already registered, only nine player spots remain open at the time of Quick Fill being posted and registration closes tonight, Thursday Oct. 9 at 9pm ET. If you are not able to attend but would like to learn how to support the 1SIX foundation, please contact [email protected]. 

The New Ironmen (Chelsea Taylor)

Twenty-two years ago GNCC Racing Trail Boss, Jeff Russell, paid a visit to the Shaver Family Farm in Indiana and decided it would be a good place to hold a GNCC. They ended up naming the race the “Ironman GNCC” in honor of the late Bob Sloan, who was nicknamed the Ironman after competing in both ATV and bike races at the GNCCs. Of course, there have been multiple people compete the same task in previous years, whether it be for the whole season or just a single race weekend. This year we have two talented individuals representing the new generation of Ironmen. 

New York native Hunter Hart competes in the College A (16-21) ATV division, and then turns around to compete in the 4-Stroke C Lites bike class. Majority of the time when people race both bike and ATVs, they typically excel in one more than the other. However, Hunter is equally good at both and actually leads both the points championships as we head into the season finale. Not only does Hunter stay busy racing GNCC’s, but he also competes in the WNYOA series and is ranked second in the AA division, all while balancing his high school studies online.

Casey Simmons also pulls a double header on GNCC race weekends. Casey scored his first overall podium finish at Unadilla, but has had a handful of top-ten finishes to his credit this year between both bike and ATV Super Mini classes.

As the season comes to a close it’s not unusual to see some of the ATV pro guys try their hand at dirt bikes Ironman. With the title already in hand, will we see Walker Fowler on two wheels in Indiana? There’s a good possibility that his teammate, Cole Richardson, will be out there dicing it out with the Sportsman riders and possibly Landon Wolfe and Josh Merritt, too. Walker claimed the 2007 Youth Bike National Championship as well as the ATV one, so he’s no stranger to the two-wheeled side.

Both Hunter and Casey are great examples of what makes GNCC Racing so special, and as we head into the final round make sure to keep an eye out on not just them, but also the 10 a.m. race for some of the ATV XC1 and XC2 guys.

#ThrowbackThursday (Jared Bolton)

It’s been far too long since we’ve included some classic GNCC photos, and with a few weeks off until Ironman, then the winter break just around the corner, I think this is a great time to bring it back! This week we’ll take a step back to the 2007 Powerline Park GNCC with a few cool images. It’s hard to believe that this was nearly ten years ago, as many things remain the same, while others have seen a good bit of change.

On the ATV side, it was a sweep of the podium by the “Killer B’s” of that era with Bill Ballance taking the overall win ahead of Chris Bithell and Chris Borich. In the XC2 Pro Am class, Anthony Hill came away with the win ahead of Mark Notman who we now see spinning wrenches on Walker Fowlers machine, while Kyle Martin rounded out the podium in third.

As for the bikes, David Knight would claim a pretty solid win but the battle was for second place where Jimmy Jarrett would edge out Barry Hawk by a mere one-second! The XC2 class win would go to eventual class champion, Justin Williamson with Scott Watkins and Josh Weisenfels making up the rest of the XC2 podium.