The Ironwoman Joy “Duck” Shaver (Chelsea Taylor) 

It is with great sadness that Racer Productions reports the passing of Joy Adele “Duck” Shaver of Crawfordsville, Indiana. Duck lost her battle to cancer last Tuesday, October 25, at the age of 74. 

Duck, a pharmacist and farmer, loved all things outdoors and drove her ATV to work every day, even in the bitter cold winters of Indiana.  Co-owner of Tom’s Marine Sales and the home of Ironman Raceway, Duck always looked forward to welcoming racers and fans to her property. She and her husband Tom hosted their first GNCC in 1995 and their first Pro Motocross in 2014.  Ironman Raceway is considered one of the premiere race facilities on both circuits. 

“The first time we met Duck she instantly made us feel like family,” said Racer Productions Director Tim Cotter. “For over twenty years we have had the honor of partnering with Duck for the Ironman GNCC, and this weekend we remembered her with the ‘Ironwoman’ GNCC. We ask that you keep Duck, her family and friends in your prayers during this difficult time.” 

Duck was surrounded by her family as she was laid to rest on Friday a few miles from her beloved farm. The 2016 Ironman GNCC ranks as the all-time largest GNCC ever, with 2,440 unique race entries and thousands of hearty race fans. Duck would have been proud. 

For more information on the GNCC tribute to Duck, visit:
http://www.journalreview.com/sports/article_08e6d782-9f16-11e6-8259-07f8238a3f74.html 

To view Duck’s obituary, visit:
http://www.huntandson.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=3993725&fh_id=10681

Important GNCC Banquet Information (Kayla Olliver) 

GNCC Racing Nation, don’t forget to book your room TODAY for the banquets that will be held on Friday, November 25 (ATV Night) and Saturday, November 26 (Bike Night). Room reservations must be made by 5PM Friday, November 4, 2016 to receive GROUP DISCOUNT of $120 per room ($159 King Suite). After tomorrow GNCC’s block of rooms will be released and the prices will increase. As of right now the regular retail rate is set at $134. That could stay the same or that could be adjusted based on overall availability.

If you would like you can also go to the hotel website (waterfrontplacehotel.com) and use the GROUP ID# 32558. You may also make reservations by phone; just call their main line at (304) 296-1700. Be sure to let them know you are making a reservation for the 2016 GNCC Night of Champions. 

But please, make sure you book TODAY or TOMORROW for our GNCC group rate.

We can’t wait to celebrate with you!

Great Times at Ironman! (Jared Bolton)

As I mentioned earlier, this year’s Ironman GNCC was one for the record books. With a staggering total number of 2,443 racers for the weekend and amazing weather on top of that, the 2016 Ironman GNCC will be one that many will never forget. Not just because of the race itself, but it also marked the first official unveiling of the ISDE World Trophy on US soil. This would be the first-time the World Trophy has ever made its way to the US with US being the winning team… Yes, the trophy itself has been here before for the 1973 and 1994 ISDE events that were hosted here in the US, but this still marks it’s first trip as the US being the World Trophy winners.

Saturday night’s presentation ceremony featuring the US ISDE World Trophy team was a blast and everyone there thoroughly enjoyed it. Many even got the opportunity on Sunday to see the trophy up close, get their photos taken with it and take in exactly how amazing this trophy is. While it’s not the original ISDE trophy, dating back to the event’s inception 91 years ago, it’s still very old, dating back to the 1940s and the only updates it has seen is the addition of new winners names. For those who may not know, the ISDE was originally known as the ISDT (International Six Days Trial) but was changed to International Six Days Enduro in 1981. The trophy itself still says International Six Days Trial. That’s pretty cool!

The 2016 US World Trophy Team of Kailub Russell, Thad Duvall, Layne Michael and Taylor Robert were all recognized throughout the weekend for their ISDE victory. We’re extremely proud of these guys and I even got in the spirit of the ISDE by wearing an actual vintage US ISDE Team helmet from the early 90s. Unfortunately, I didn’t earn it myself because I’ve never been, nor will I ever be fast enough to make it to the ISDE. I have to say, I did feel a little bit like a “poser” wearing it and having not earned it, but I felt like it was fitting for the weekend. Plus, I found it on eBay and wanted to make sure it went to a good home… Mine! 

What else is really cool about Ironman is it brings out all sorts of racers, spectators and people who just want to enjoy a weekend outdoors. The 10AM bike race was slammed full of nearly 900 bikes and among those I saw several pitbikes, a couple of bikes unlike anything you’ve likely ever seen before, and a few good costumes. My personal favorite was the guy in the American flag helmet with a big yellow smiley face cape! It also brings a good number of racers in who you may not see at many GNCCs. Looking through results, it’s easy to pick out a few names. Andrew Matusek claimed the Sportsman A Senior class win (he also got it at Powerline Park) and many will remember Andrew from his XC2 days several years ago. Second place in Sportsman A Senior would go to Brian Johnson. No, that’s not Brian Johnson from AC/DC. That’s actually Brian Johnson from TJ’s KTM down in Austin, Texas. Brian travelled around 17 hours just to race the Ironman and even got his son back to school on time Monday morning!

I ended up spinning a few laps on my bike in the 1PM bike race because, well, I’ve had that bike since January and it just now has a little over 30 hours on it. I had made my way back to watch the finish and was catching up with a few people when I ended up striking up a conversation with a gentleman named Frank who’s son was racing and this came off as one of those times where you realize just exactly how special GNCC Racing really is. We had started talking about some of the youngest riders to compete in the 1PM bike race, and guys like Steward and Grant Baylor always come to mind. The Baylor Boys were big kids and ended up on big bikes when they were still fairly young.

The more I spoke with Frank, we got to talking about his son, Kristian, who was competing in the 200 B class in his first-ever 1PM race. They’re from Oklahoma, so much like Brian from Texas, they also travelled pretty far just to race Ironman. It was pretty cool to think about it, that these folks had travelled twice or three times as far as some of the usual GNCC competitors, just to take part in an event as great as the Ironman. While Kristian’s finish may not have been what he had hoped for, I spoke with him after the race and he still had a blast. Obviously it’s a tall order to compete in your first-ever 3-hour race and it’s especially tough when you’re “on the bubble” of getting lapped. Kristian’s final finish time was 3 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds.  At just 14 years old, Kristian accomplished something that an average person would look at and wonder how someone can race for that long.

This is just yet another one of those things that makes GNCC Racing so special. Racers will travel further than many average people ever care to go, just to spend a weekend racing. We all salute anyone who takes part in a GNCC. Whether you travel 17 hours, or 17 minutes, we know that racing a GNCC is no easy task, even for some of the best riders to ever throw a leg over a motorcycle or ATV, but we’re glad to have you as part of our family! 

All-Time UTV High (Kayla Olliver)

By now many of you already know that all kinds of records were broken at the AMSOIL Ironman GNCC over this past weekend.  One of those records were how many UTVs we had racing on Saturday! All together we had a total of 122 UTV entries including the Single Seat ACE’s, which run at 9 am, and our afternoon UTV race involving our XC1 Pro class that run at 4 pm. Saturday morning’s Single Seat ACE race had 10 entries, while the afternoon race had 112 UTV machines lining up for the start.

Keep in mind the average amount of entries this year for the afternoon UTV races have been around 85 machines… That means about 27 more machines came out to the AMSOIL Ironman GNCC to race against some of the best UTV racers in the country. The XC1 Pro UTV National Championship was also on the line, Cody Miller and Kyle Chaney were going to battle to earn that No. 1 plate. Cody Miller would come out on top winning the overall and the National Championship, Chaney would run into some mechanical issues and finish 10^th overall. Miller and Chaney were the only two racers to earn overall wins in 2016, but with the XC2 Pro Sport guys like Dave Plavi and Hunter Miller (Cody’s little brother) coming up to race the Pro class full-time next year it seems that things should get interesting! Especially since Hunter Miller just earned a second overall finish at Ironman…

The 2016 season was one of the most competitive seasons to date, and the UTV scene has been steadily growing each year in the GNCC series. This year we never saw less than 78 machines line up for the afternoon start, so we can’t wait to see what 2017 has in store for them!

Kailub Russell Makes History Again (Jared Bolton)

While we all know that Kailub Russell had already secured the 2016 GNCC National Championship at the previous round at Powerline Park, one thing that we haven’t delved much into is what kind of historical impact Kailub has put on the GNCC history books in 2016. For one, his fourth consecutive title ties Kailub as the most that a rider has ever won consecutively since the series has been known as GNCC.

Ed Lojak still holds the record for most consecutive titles as he was able to claim the first five titles when the series was still known as the 100-Miler Series. When it became GNCC in 1986, Lojak would win five more, giving him a total of nine championships, with Jim Maltba keeping him from claiming nine consecutive titles. On the bike side, there has never been a rider to claim more than the five titles that Lojak was able to claim. However, will Kailub make the 2017 season a “drive for five”? Obviously we know he has the desire to win, and also has the speed to do so but we also know that anything is possibly in the world of GNCC Racing and someone could make a run at the title to knock that number one plate off Kailub’s bike.

However, when you look at the record that Kailub has, that’s a pretty tall feat. This year Kailub would make history by becoming the only bike rider to ever claim ten wins in a single GNCC season. In fact, when you add up Kailub’s win record, the results are actually pretty staggering. Kailub would move to the XC1 class in 2011, so 2016 would mark six seasons as an XC1 Pro. In that time, Kailub has missed the final three-rounds of the 2015 season, but other than that, has been there for every round. That means he’s contested 75 races in the XC1 class and in that time has been able to amass 40 wins in that time. 

40 wins in 75 races gives Kailub a 53.33% win percentage. Yes, Kailub has won more than half of the XC1 Pro races he has competed in. He currently sits second on the all-time bike win list, just 6 wins behind Scott Summers. To put things in perspective, Summers had raced several seasons before claiming his first win. However, from Summers’ first win in 1988 to his final in 1999, he won 46 of 146 races which gives him a 31.5% win percentage. Of course, Juha Salimenen would win 17 of the 26 GNCC events he contested, which gave him a win percentage of 65.4%!

Regardless, we all know that in the past few years Kailub Russell has broken many records. Just to name a few; most wins in a single GNCC season, only rider to claim GNCC and National Enduro titles in the same season, only father-son duo to hold National Enduro titles, only father-son duo to hold GNCC bike overall wins, among others. It’s pretty interesting to realize that we’re living in a time where off-road racing history is being written, and there will come a time where we’ll look back and realize just how special this moment in time is!

Love is in the GNCC Air 

They say Love is all you need, and this year our GNCC Racing Nation has seen a lot of love. We wanted to congratulate all of our riders that have celebrated weddings and engagements during the 2016 season. We look forward to seeing many more happy years between all!

Congratulations to our GNCC Couples who have tied the knot, or are about to tie the knot:

Adam and Hayley McGill
Thad and Maggie Duvall
Jordan and Mary Ashburn
Soon to be - Josh and Cameron Strang
Soon to be - Travis and Kacy (Martinez) Coy
Soon to be – Cory and Mackenzie Buttrick 

Have you had a wedding? Send us a picture and details to [email protected] and we’ll be sure to include you in the upcoming editions of Quick Fill. 

Headlines

AMSOIL Ironman GNCC Becomes Largest Rider Attended Event in the History of the Grand National Cross Country Series

McClure Takes Home the AMSOIL Ironman GNCC Overall Win

Kailub Russell Wins AMSOIL Ironman GNCC Season Finale

Journal Review: Record Breaking Weekend at Ironman

AMSOIL Ironman Photo Galleries