Weekly Updates (Chelsea Taylor)

Just like that, in the blink of an eye, the 2016 race season is over. I’m sure many of you have mixed feelings about this. While it’s good to have a minute to take a breath, it’s sad to know that you won’t see your GNCC family for a while. However, we still have the banquet, which will be here soon! The deadline to purchase your hotel room with the group discount has now passed, but you can still purchase your tickets to the actual banquet. Don’t forget about the rider’s meetings when you are planning your trip as well! Those times will be announced closer to the event, but you can plan on the pro meetings being the day of the banquet, and the amateur/youth meetings being the day after.

If you’re looking for somewhere to ride this weekend check out the 3^rd Annual Rich Mackey Charity Ride this Saturday! Every year our accountant, Jerri, holds this special memorial ride day in honor of her late husband, “Mack”, and raises funds to donate to a local charity. With the event taking place right after Veterans Day, it was a perfect fit to partner the ride day with GNCC’s very own Vigilant Vet Racing (VVR)! For only a $15 donation you can enjoy a great day of riding, food and fun. There will also be various items up for grabs at the raffle and all proceeds (raffle and gate fee) will go to VVR. More information is available HERE. Also, if you plan on attending please RSVP on the Facebook page so they can have an accurate count for food!

Don’t forget that tomorrow is the last day to apply for the Aaron Plessinger Race Scholarship. Due to the generosity from Aaron’s aunt and grandmother there is a n now total of $2,000 up for grabs to one lucky recipient of the GNCC Racing Nation. All you need to do is email [email protected] with your report card/transcript and an essay detailing “what racing means to me.” Have fun and good luck! The winner will be announced at the bike banquet on November 26th!

Please review the latest competition bulletin regarding the 2016 Top 10! Please check your class and make sure that your points and placement is correct. If you have any questions or believe there is a mistake, please email [email protected].

Constant Change (Rodney Tomblin)

I have been scanning social media recently and I came across a couple of posts by Johnny “GNCC” Gallagher. It was very interesting to read both. Just like when he speaks during the pro rider interviews, Johnny can always tell a good story. Simply put, Johnny was talking about his career, his age and where he may be headed in the future. He made it clear that he will be still racing XC1 Pro, like he has now for more than 20 years now. He wrote what it has meant to him, how he is even more inspired than ever to continue racing at his age and still competing as one the 20 top riders in the nation and likely the world. Johnny will continue to be a face of GNCC Racing, no matter what names come up through the ranks.

Johnny is quite possibly one of the greatest role models in our sport, if truth be told. The “Johnny G” story is one that begins as far back as diapers for him. His father was a true pioneer of our sport and he has been there for nearly every great moment our sport has seen. Johnny told a story of when things were not so good for him. He had not finished a race all season, and in reality he was being a crybaby. He blamed everything and everyone but the one person that was responsible, himself. It took the words of the late Laz Sommers, who basically told him to quit being a baby and ride. He said Laz challenged him and it opened his eyes. When he did what Laz challenged him to do, he finished one of his career best races to that date. Johnny said it changed his life ultimately and I think it may honestly have created the Johnny Gallagher we know today. If ever anyone were a candidate for a lifetime achievement, it would be him my opinion. And the great thing is that Johnny’s best finish is still to come.

The days ahead in this off-season will soon begin to present us with the anxiety of the new things to come. Right now we are settling in for a little relaxation and rest. It has been a challenging year and the season ahead will surely present its challenges as well. The good thing for us as a racing family is that we will be able to come together again soon as the banquet quickly approaches. This is always a great time. It’s a long night as well so be prepared and get ready for some laughs and some surprises.

As a reminder as well, don’t forget RacerTV.com has all the archived races from the past few seasons. You can watch races from the past several seasons and if you go back you may be surprised at the changes in the short amount of time. One thing that stands out for me is the VP Fuels Pro Row with all the bigger and more professional looking pits. In particular the Factory Husqvarna team rigs just completed the picture. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me, and to know we are part of these constant steps presenting us with constant change that is proving to be good.

Looking Back on 2016 (Jared Bolton)

While the 2016 GNCC Racing has just ended, it’s never too early to take a look back at what the GNCC Racing season brought us. We saw a season of great racing on both the bike and ATV fronts. We have plenty of time this off-season to take a look back, but we’ll start this week by looking at the XC1 bike class. From afar, things seem pretty similar to the past few years, but when you really dive into the 2016 season, things were actually a little bit different.

The opening rounds of the 2016 season started a little different than what we saw in 2015 with Josh Strang claiming the win in the first two rounds. This would lead many to look at Strang as the number one challenger for defending champ, Kailub Russell. Of course, many already expected this but not many were predicting Strang to come out of the first two rounds with two wins. Russell’s sheer emotion in those opening rounds would solidify his mentality that he hates losing more than he enjoys winning. 

Those two losses in the opening rounds would light a fire inside Kailub and he would start a win streak lasting from round three at Steele Creek, all the way until round eight at Tomahawk. In that time, it would be the other podium spots that would be shaken up. Chris Bach, Thad Duvall Jordan Ashburn and Grant Baylor would all take turns claiming podium finishes of their own. Round eight would see one of the most dramatic races of the season and arguably one of the more dramatic races GNCC Racing has ever seen.

Josh Strang and Kailub Russell would begin and all-out battle for the win in the closing laps when the nearly unthinkable would happen. When battling for the lead, the two would take different lines around a lapped rider and simply try to occupy the same place at the same time. This would put both riders on the ground with Kailub’s bike taking the worst of it. It would suffer such a hard hit that it would actually break his fuel pump inside his gas tank. This ended Kailub’s day a lap early, earning zero overall points for that round and thus handing the championship points lead back to Josh Strang heading into round nine.

Round nine would see Josh Strang riding the struggle bus all day, only able to muster a seventh place finish while Kailub Russell would return to the center step of the podium and also regain the points lead as the series headed into summer break. When the series resumed at Unadilla in September, we would see Russell back on top, sweeping the final four rounds making for a record breaking ten wins in a single season. Josh Strang would suffer a slight ankle injury before round eleven, a mechanical issue at round twelve and after breaking his ankle at the ISDE, Strang would sit out the final round. The last part of the 2016 GNCC season will be one Strang would rather forget but the good news is that the ol boy got married last weekend, so even though his race season may not have ended how he wanted, at least his year will see a great ending!

One of the most impressive riders in the final four rounds would be that of Ricky Russell who would go on a tear claiming two podium finishes and a fourth place. This shows promise of things to come from Ricky who is setting himself up to be a favorite to watch for podium finishes in 2017. Thad Duvall also had an excellent year, ending his season with a career best third place earning seven podiums throughout the year after a disastrous start to the season.

This leaves a lot of promise for the 2017 season. All eyes will be on Kailub Russell going after a record tying five consecutive championships, but with the kind of competition brewing he will definitely have his work cut out for him. We’ve got a long winter ahead of us but it will be over before you know it. Stay tuned!