Weekly Updates (Chelsea Taylor)

Even though the off-season is in full swing, that doesn’t mean there isn’t big news circulating the GNCC Racing Nation. Late last week we released the 2017 schedule, which starts off a little different than normal. For the first time ever, the season will kick off with the Big Buck GNCC on March 4 and 5. With Supercross and Daytona Beach’s Bike Week being held a week later than usual, we had a unique opportunity to start the GNCC schedule at a different venue.

You may be asking yourself, “what does GNCC have to do with Bike Week?” Well, with the events taking place less than an hour from each other, this allows OEM representatives and other industry personnel who are in town for the Supercross race a chance to experience GNCC first hand. Often times, this is the only GNCC that their schedules permit them to attend. The results from our survey showed that people preferred if the Florida race was back-to-back with another, so this schedule allows for that to continue. We realize this may not be ideal for all and is abnormal for the season opener, it was the only way to accommodate the challenging Bike Week schedule and still ensure our traditional 13-round series. 

The banquet is coming up next weekend, so don’t forget to register. You can reserve your seat until next Tuesday, September 22, at 5 p.m. EST. Please plan on attending your riders meeting this weekend to discuss rules and classes for the upcoming season. Friday at 2 p.m. is the Pro ATV riders meeting. Saturday will kick off with the 9 a.m. ATV amateur meeting, with the 10 a.m. ATV youth following. Both pro and amateur UTV participants will meet at 2 p.m. and the pro bikes will start at 2 p.m. Then on Sunday the bike amateur meeting starts at 9 a.m., with bike amateur riders at 10 a.m. The convention center will have signs directing you to the correct room.

Last week we asked the GNCC Racing Nation to send in their wedding pictures from this season, and we were blown away by the response we got and how many people incorporated racing into their big day! There’s a full photo gallery featuring all the submissions, just click HERE to view it. Congratulations to each and every couple that said “I Do” and best wishes to the couples who will be making the big step during the off-season.

Just yesterday I received this wonderful email from the JNCC president, Masami. I know in last week’s Quick Fill I mentioned how well that Trevor represented not only the GNCC community, but also the entire U.S., but hearing this from Masami just reinforces it.

“Trevor is great rider and he made a huge impact on the Japanese XC world. He came back very fast at first lap, more than Takeshi, what is more Trevor was leader on all laps. It was shocking and everyone feels big difference in ability. Japanese riders learn from what the GNCC riders do and then they can know world riding skills. Especially young riders are inspired by Trevor.”

Masami also included a few links including photos, an overview video and Takeshi’s Go Pro footage. Once again, thank you so much for your generosity Masami. We will never be able to say thank you enough! Don’t forget to listen to Pit Pass Moto next Tuesday night, November 22, at 9:26 p.m. EST to hear all about the trip from Trevor himself!

Looking Back on 2016 Part 2 (Jared Bolton)

Last week we discussed the XC1 bike races throughout the 2016 GNCC Racing season. Continuing along with a look back at the 2016 season, we’ll take a glance at the XC2 bike class, where there was a pretty interesting season of racing. Trevor Bollinger would become one to keep an eye on almost immediately at the opening round, and he would establish a strong points lead right away by sweeping the first four rounds.

Bollinger did have a few tough rounds throughout the season, with the first of those coming at a muddy round five at the Camp Coker Bullet GNCC. Layne Michael would break through for his first-ever XC2 class win before Bollinger would bounce back to take another win at round six. Round seven would see another first-time XC2 winner, this time in the form of Craig Delong. Later in the season, there would be yet another first-time XC2 winner when Josh Toth would claim the XC2 class win at Unadilla.

Bollinger, Michael, Delong and Toth would be the only riders to claim XC2 wins in 2016 but the latter three would all claim their first-ever XC2 class wins. With a newly added age cap of 24 years old starting in the 2016 season, this has shaped the XC2 class into a true stepping stone to the premier XC1 class and is helping to groom the next crop of talent. Bollinger would come away with the XC2 championship with a stellar eight wins in the 2016 season, but Craig Delong’s season would be almost just as impressive.

Delong proved himself to be Mr. Consistent last year and that continued in the 2016 season as he only finished off the podium five times and never finished worse than sixth place. That’s a tough feat as the odds are always stacked against you in the world of GNCC Racing. With 13 rounds of three-hour races for the 1PM bike racers, you’re bound to experience some sort of mechanical issue at some point but Craig never let that happen and once again put together one of the most consistent seasons of any racer. 

Also impressive was Layne Michael who would end up claiming a total of three wins in the 2016 season during his first year riding aboard a Husqvarna. At the same time, you also can’t forget Josh Toth who began the season backed by the Trail Jester’s Team out of his native Connecticut. He put in some solid rides in the 2016 season but never landed a podium finish in the first part of the season. However, he was still awarded a spot on the N-Fab/AmPro Yamaha team upon the departure of Nick Davis from the team and in his first-ever GNCC as part of the AmPro team, he not only landed his first podium, he did it by claiming the win. That in itself is pretty darn impressive! Rounding out the top five of the XC2 class is another rider who saw some success in 2016, earning two podium finishes. That rider would be Toth’s early season teammate, Ben Kelley. While he ultimately had some rounds that he would have liked to have gone better, his 2016 season still went exceptionally well with two podiums and five more top five finishes!

These guys all had stellar 2016 seasons and give a little teaser of what kind of action to expect in the XC2 class next season. Who knows what’s next for the XC2 class but if it’s anything as good as what we’ve seen in 2016, then it will be a great season in 2017. Stay tuned!

Good Times Busy Times (Rodney Tomblin)

The off-season continues to roll on in the GNCC Racin’ Nation, and as Thanksgiving is only a week away surely thoughts of racing will turn to family, friends, eating and for many, hunting season. The idea of information leaking out this time of the year is one you probably don’t put a lot of promise in. However, I feel we may be hearing some big news and maybe even some changes coming out for some. On the other hand, many also have a solid program and not a lot of changes are coming. They are just moving forward status quo. 

One of the riders very comfortable in his program heading into next season is Landon Wolfe. LW11 has moved up from number 11 to be the number 7 for 2017. Landon had his best season to date and being able to cap it off with a third overall at Ironman was an exclamation point to his success. Landon is a great up and comer that we are watching, plus a great individual that has a personality we are only beginning to see shine through. He is a rather intelligent and funny individual. The great thing about LW is that we will likely get to know him better in the coming seasons.

Landon told me he has been playing around on his dirt bike at his house just having fun. He said he has also spent some time riding with 2-Time Ironman Winner Jarrod McClure and actually participated in one of “The Cobra’s” famous “Instaclips.” As far as next year, he is just going to work on bikes and prep them and get ready for the new season, which is nearly done. He also hopes to be able to spend some time training in the south through the winter months. Right now he is looking forward to the banquet next week.

Speaking of Jarrod McClure, I think the JMR team will be moving forward with the program they have. It is a combination that seems to work, so why change it? As far as what he has been up to himself, it is pretty much a deja vu for him as he works and trains at home in Pennsylvania. He will make some trips south as he always does and try to keep the program on track. He said he had been riding with Landon but he hasn’t spent hardly any time on the quad doing wheelies. The wheelies McClure does are amazing and the one at the finish at the last race was cool. It was almost as if it looked like a cobra hood spread out at the finish showing his dominance. Jarrod says he is looking forward to the banquet next week.

Adam McGill has also been keeping himself pretty busy this off-season. He told me that he had been doing some buddy races having fun. Last weekend he and Kamren Bobb, who is one the top WXC racers, teamed up and came in second overall behind the team of top GNCCers John Glauda and Devon Feehan at the OXCR series Buddy Race. Adam says that this Sunday he will be headed to Wildwood MX in Belpre, Ohio for the Off Road Team Hare Scramble. Bikes will run on Saturday and you can find out more on their Facebook Page.

Adam said this week he would be riding an original and stock 250R he has. It will be cool to see Adam out and about having fun with fans and friends. Adam will be teaming up with GNCC Schoolboy Jr. (13-15) National Champion Branden Owens for this next race. Branden will make a great teammate, as he knows how to ride and win. He took seven class wins this past season in his class and is expected to be name we get to know better in the future.

Another rider enjoying some of the off time is Brycen Neal. Brycen had a great year himself. It was a good learning year and even though he never captured that first overall win, he was able to gain a lot of knowledge on how to win. He worked with the great Barry Hawk and came close on a few occasions to making it happen. Brycen also had his obstacles this season on the track and mentally but overall seemed to rise above all the craziness. “The Bidwell Bullet” shot up one spot in the overall this season and moving from number 5 to number 4 may not look like a monumental move, but if you look at the three names ahead of him and behind him you may be a little more impressed.

Brycen told me that he and his dad competed together this past weekend at the NECXC Buddy Race while with his mechanic Tyler King and Barry Hawk also teamed up on the quads where he said that they had “an absolute blast and me and my Dad ended up getting the best of them and finished third overall in Pro!” He told me that Barry Hawk then jumped on the two wheeler and teamed up with “Shotgun” Shawn Remington. He said Barry grabbed the holeshot over Craig Delong and Sean Bogdan’s team. Then Tyler King raced the bike with Ian Flynn (sounds like a movie star name) as well. Delong and Bogdan ended up getting the best of them and he said he thinks they finished second overall. What I think is cool about the story he told was that he spoke like the overall didn’t even matter but it was more about beating each other. That’s when you know you are still having fun. Congrats to Brycen and Chris on their strong finish and may show the apple didn’t far from the tree. Sounds like Dad is still pretty fast. 

That’s about all I have this week. Next week is Thanksgiving and of course the following day the banquets begin. It’s going to be a busy week. I myself am leaving for Florida for the Winter Olympics at Gatorback Cycle Park. I will be at the banquet hopefully before it begins but should be there at some point. I look forward to celebrating one of the greatest years of racing we have seen. Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Zoo City GP December 3^rd! (Jared Bolton)

Every year I talk about a little GP event I throw together at Zoo City MX in Asheboro, North Carolina. It’s a really fun event and we’ve seen some top talent make their way to take part in the race. Charlie Mullins, Josh Strang, Trevor Bollinger, Nick Fahringer, Jason Thomas, Takeshi Koikeda and former XC2 holeshot ace Cody Gragg are just a few of the names who have taken part in the Zoo City GP in it’s six year history.

So you may be asking “what makes this so fun?”. Well, it’s a hybrid mix of fast woods trails, some tighter trails and single track, plus motocross and optional extreme obstacles. It consists of two 30-minute plus one lap motos on a 2.5-3 mile track and many riders have the opportunity to race multiple classes if they choose and there’s classes 50cc to top level pros. Unfortunately for the ATV folks, this is a bike-only event due to time constraints and the fact that darkness comes quick this time of year!

Regardless, it’s a fun event and I’d love to see some familiar GNCC faces make it out. In years past we’ve raffled off a number of items and this year we’ll have a bunch of stuff available but we’re doing things a little bit different as well. We’ll have some pieces of pink tape hanging on clothespins in several spots throughout the race course each moto. If you grab one, pin it to your bike or body (or even just hold onto it!) and bring it up at the end of your moto, you’ll win a prize. Of course, we’ll also be doing the ever-popular 50/50 raffle and who knows what else kind of fun. 

This event pays no points to no series, and is simply just an opportunity for everyone to come together to have a little fun racing something a little bit different than what we’re used to. If you’re interested in giving it a try, you can get all the info, classes, fees, rules, times and more HERE. Hope to see you there!

Headlines 

2016 GNCC Banquet Information

2017 AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series Schedule Announced

Video Report: Ironman Bikes

Video Report: Ironman ATVs

GNCC Hometown Hero Program Expands to all 13 Rounds

AMSOIL Ironman GNCC Raises Over $7,700 For Breast Cancer Awareness 

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