Rappin’ Rodney Raps (Rodney Tomblin)

The wait is over as the summer break has come and gone. There is no longer a sense of what to write about for my weekly contribution and now the task of where to begin now becomes the issue. The best thing to do is to try and start from the beginning but even if I do I am not sure that the actual the magnitude of what to place will be able to be conveyed. So I will try and at least shed a little light.

The Unadilla GNCC seemed like a normal racing weekend. Sure there was the feeling of “it’s been a while” but all in all it seemed normal. The chaos of so many participants may have overshadowed the big stories in my opinion. However the big stories were; Walker Fowler captured his third consecutive title and Kailub Russell inched one step closer to title number five. There were many other stories unfolding but in the grand scheme of things those were the ones that seem to count most at this time. 

Walker Fowler came to Unadilla with high hopes and the confidence that the championship was all but wrapped up. He rode with that confidence all day and in the end it all came to pass. Walker was champ again. In doing so Walker begins to show true dominance in era of racing that he leads the way into. 

The win this past weekend at Unadilla marked his third consecutive win in a row at Unadilla and he has won there a total of four times. This year’s win marked Walker’s 35th overall win of his professional career. It seems so long ago that the first time we saw him in the center of the podium at Unadilla was in 2011. It was his second career overall win from the XC2 Pro Am and set a standard of winning for him that he continues to try to live up to today. 

Walker now sits fourth on the ATV all time wins list behind Barry Hawk who has 49, Bill Ballance with 67 and Chris Borich with 73. The reality is if Walker wins another race or two this season and has an equally as strong season next year, he could move past Barry Hawk and start looking ahead to chasing down Ballance’s place in the standings.

After this championship, folks are starting to wonder how long will Walker be the dominant factor of four wheels. Is there anyone on the horizon that may stand to offer a challenge? There are few up and comers in some of the lower classes that may stand a better chance than others and maybe one or two that are in XC1 now but by all indications Walker is on track to do some very big things in our sport unless someone steps up to the level at which he operates. You can say I may be over embellishing the champ but I challenge you to prove me wrong. Riders have stepped up but each time they do Walker outsteps them. At least that has been the story so far. 

The question if Chris Borich will ever beat Walker again to re-stake his place as the hierarchy of our sport is starting to fade. I am not taking anything away from Chris Borich, and yes I think he has more wins in him at some point but when, I don’t know. Is it a matter of hunger and desire or a matter of what he is willing to risk to reach that level.

The one thing about Chris Borich at Unadilla that I did notice is that he is still willing to put forth the effort. I figured the old champ would just call it a day after his shock broke with two laps to go. Boy was I ever wrong. As I conceded to that I noticed that Borich was back on the track circulating and gaining ground back. He had no chance of a win, top five or even top ten as far as that goes but he kept on going and kept pushing.

Borich checked in on the white flag in 20th overall and a huge time deficit to claw his way to 15th. It is not the best finish of his career but it may be one of his most impressive. Instead giving up, Chris Borich sucked it up like the man we know and pushed like the true champion he is. It is moments like that that make me feel I could be wrong about Borich not being back on top some day. Many hope I am wrong but time will tell the story.

As far as Kailub Russell is concerned this weekend, the win at Unadilla marked his fifth win of the season. KR would say that is not so impressive but what is impressive, in my opinion, is that the win marked his 45th of his career. That puts him now only one race away from tying the bike all time wins record with the great Scott Summers, who currently holds the record at 46. So in essence, Kailub will be on the verge of one of the most monumental feats in our sport. He will become the rider who has won more than any other rider on two wheels in GNCC.

It’s also amazing that Kailub has the opportunity to secure his fifth consecutive GNCC title. It will put him in the same category as Scott Summers and Rodney Smith who both have five titles as well. The only other bike rider with more titles is Eddie Lojak who won a total nine in the early days of GNCC. So to be put in this category at this point in his career is huge also. It took the other champions a little longer to reach the status he has and lends one to wonder what Kailub is actually capable of in the end.

I guess ultimately you have to admit that Kailub Russell is essentially a living legend in our sport. Regardless of how you feel about him or anything else you cannot take away the amazing athleticism, talent and hard work it has taken him to reach this point. He never set out to be the greatest rider of his time but it has happened. So accept it. Kailub is a living, breathing racing legend that we are blessed to not only witness but recognize his accomplishments while they happen. The only question at this point is how far Kailub will raise the bar on the records he is setting and will anyone ever be able to match his accomplishments anytime soon. I am going to say, “No! Not anytime soon at all.”

Though I mention these things and give credit where credit is due, I do have to admit that future will be a little tougher for Kailub. It has been proven he is human and he can be beaten. Thad Duvall backed it up several times earlier this season so we know it’s possible. The fact is that there are some very hungry individuals that want to try and stop Kailub and maybe fill his place on the podium. Stu Baylor and Josh Strang are two others that have proven at one time or another they can run with and beat Kailub. Each one respects KR but each have been at the top level in their own respects of our sport. Even though Stu has yet to win a championship, he could win on heart and desire alone against anyone under the right circumstances. So don’t ever count him out. I’m serious.

A few other names that you may want to watch for are Ricky Russell, Trevor Bolinger, Josh Toth and Layne Michael. Each one has the potential to step up to the levels it will take to contend for the championship in the future as well. Ricky has proven he can win in the toughest terrain and has been more and more consistent signaling the likelihood of more to come from this rider. Bollinger is a machine and is constantly getting stronger and stronger. Josh Toth is proving he has the skills, heart and ability to do great things and of course Layne Michael who has taken a little more time to mature than expected is starting to show even greater and stronger rides than we saw him making from his youth days through the amatuer to the XC2 Pro class. Eventually Layne will be XC1 and that may be when he is finally able to stretch his legs and show what he is really capable of achieving.

The championship for Fowler and the win for Kailub Russell this past weekend was very monumental, though not flashy for either. It could almost seem a normal day at the races but if you look at it from a historic perspective then it all starts to shed a whole new light. We are living the best days in the history of our sport and sometimes we just don’t slow down long enough to recognize it. So I challenge you to take a moment and soak it all it. Now get ready for the Mountaineer Run GNCC as new pages to this unfolding story are added and we learn what the next chapter holds. 

That’s it for me for now. Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.