This year’s trip turned out pretty interesting. Everyone was set to leave Wednesday morning. Strang flew from Charlotte, NC to Dallas, TX and onto Tokyo. Phoenix Honda’s Eric Siraton attended as Delong’s mechanic, and he actually flew from Charlotte to Chicago with the intention of meeting Andrew, his wife Angelina as well as us from the GNCC staff which consisted of my wife, Kayla (Our Media Manager) and I. It just so happens that the morning we were set to depart, Chicago experienced some winter weather. Eric was able to make it to Chicago and on the flight to Tokyo with no issues but it was an interesting trip for the rest of us. 

With the Delongs flying out of Philadelphia and us Boltons flying out of Pittsburgh, we were scheduled to meet up in Chicago. Well, due to the winter weather early in the morning flights out of Chicago were severely delayed. This caused late arrivals to both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, which delayed us arriving in Chicago and missing our flight to Tokyo. We met up in Chicago and developed a plan as a group, and the airlines rebooked us for Thursday morning to fly to Los Angeles and onto Tokyo. So, we stayed in Chicago for the night and returned to the airport in the morning. 

Winter weather struck again, and our flight to Los Angeles was delayed due to the need to de-ice, and apply anti-icing spray to the aircraft. This ended up taking so long that they needed to refuel the plane and this all caused us to once again miss out connection to Tokyo. Once in Los Angeles, they rebooked us for Friday morning, which we made with no issues but due to time change, this means we wouldn’t arrive in Tokyo until 4:45pm on Saturday. With a five-hour drive to the race site, this means Delong was left with jetlag and a serious lack of practice time on the bike before the race. 

The JNCC folks are so friendly and welcoming that they actually let Andrew make a practice lap during their morning race. So, luckily he did get a little time to do a quick shakedown of the bike before going racing. As for the race itself, Josh Strang would put in an excellent ride and break away from the pack on the second lap. He rode to the win, while Delong fought back from some early issues to end the day in third with JNCC champion Manabu Watanabe rounding out the podium in third. While it was a stressful and drawn-out trip, Andrew and Angelina both handled the pressure incredibly well and kept such a positive attitude through the whole thing. 

All of us who were there representing GNCC had an absolute blast and we can’t thank the JNCC staff enough for their hospitality. Our tour guide, Yoshi is an absolute legend and stuck with us from the time we arrived, until the time he had to catch the very last train in Tokyo Monday night so he could get back to work on Tuesday. Also huge thanks also go out to JNCC President, Masami Hoshino for his amazing hospitality as well. Japan is a beautiful country with great people and we definitely can’t wait to see our Japanese friends again! 

Fast forward to this week, and what a week it is! The International Six Days Enduro is taking place as we speak, and at the end of the third day the US team had taken over the lead! It’s been a tight battle all week as the Australian riders have been riding phenomenally, but the US World Trophy Team was able to put their heads down and pull out a lead. Additionally, the Junior Trophy Team is having a great week as well, currently sitting in second place while the US Women’s Team leads the way. 

If the World Trophy and Women’s Teams are able to hold on, and the Junior Team can push their way into the lead, history could be made as USA has the chance to sweep all three categories for their first-time! This would also be only the third time that a team has swept all three categories since the addition of the Women’s Trophy in 2007. The only other times this has happened took place in 2012 when France swept all three, and Australia matched that in 2015. Fingers crossed, but there’s still a lot of racing left this week, so we can’t count our eggs before they hatch!

Also happening this week is the 2020 Yamaha YZ250FX and YZ125X Introduction, taking place in South Carolina. Our friends at Racer X actually sent Mason Rader and myself to cover the event with Mason shooting video and myself doing some test riding. Yamaha went all-in with these bikes, trying to make a true off-road specific race machine with GNCC in mind. We’ll have more on this event next week when we release the finished product, so keep an eye out because this is a cool event and these are really nice machines! 

With that said, I’ve got to get back to test riding that YZ125X! Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget that the banquet is just around the corner!

Keeping up with Ken Hill

Oh my, keeping tabs on the ISDE has been a blast this week as so many of our racers are competing and as of today they all look to be doing great! I know Jared will probably fill in the details so far but I just wanted to express my gratitude and cheer them all on! 

So, the series season is history and did we sure have a wild year. I have been busy pulling images and writing year end articles and the memories come back as I venture back to races from earlier in the season. Funny thing is I don’t remember all the driving time or lack of sleep but I feel it! I always enjoy listening to the stats from the season and do we all get around! Just listening to the numbers from Ironman were nuts and I am talking about fuel, ice, food not attendance. As a group we sure bring a lot to the local table as it were and that is a good thing, except the amount of candy that was bought but I realized it was also Halloween so they can’t blame that all on us! 

Keeping tabs on everyone via social media is always entertaining and it’s wild how everyone disappears for a week or two after the final round. A post here or there as our interests go in different directions but soon it’s back to race talk and prepping for next year. Those fresh builds that glean in the warm southern sun at the start of the season seem to take away the memory of the bitter cold many of us suffer through. New programs and teams and sponsors will soon fill the feeds of all the various platforms that we call social media these days. Heck we are not even close to the banquet and I am excited to get back to racing! Now maybe that has to do with the horrible year I had regarding my health but that part is getting better and I am praying by the time I have to head south I will have even more of a handle on things.  

Now I haven’t sent in a Quick Fill in a few weeks simply because the information overload that is happening doesn’t really require me to dive in, it is more of a fit in when you can. The ISDE is taking over this week and there should be some big news released shortly but I feel confident I can squeeze out a contribution or two. As I work in other areas, I learned that JoJo Cunningham had made the switch from orange to green and will be racing a Babbit’s Kawasaki. It’s been a cool few seasons watching him come up through the youth ranks and make the jump to the big time. His switching teams is going to leave a big hole that needs to be filled. And also, the news from Jesse Ansley that he will be competing in the XC2 class which really has me anxious to see what he can do. If he can stay healthy and uninjured, I have a feeling he will be visiting the podium quite regularly!

Well that’s it from me this week, I am packing and heading back to Indiana except this time it’s for some quiet time and deer hunting. As always, be safe in all you do and may God continue to bless us all!

GNCC News (Kayla Bolton)

GNCC Tentative Top 10 Class Results are POSTED to review:
The Tentative Top 10 Series Class Results are now available for public review at the links below. The results will remain under public review for a 1-week period, during which time any objections or corrections must made to Racer Productions. Due to our custom awards, please review the top 10 for spelling errors and notify us immediately by email [email protected] or by phone at (304) 284-0084.

• ATV Top 10
• eMTB Top 10
• Bike Top 10

This week's Tuesday Toolbox Featured Jesse Ansley:
Jesse Ansley, from Myakka City, Florida, was able to successfully defend his FMF XC3 125cc Pro-Am National Championship this season. The nineteen-year-old is currently 2-for-2 in his pro racing career. At the season finale in Indiana, Ansley made the move up to XC2 250 Pro and will continue to run that class for the 2020 season.
Read the complete story by clicking HERE.

#ThrowBackThursday - 1996