by: Jared Bolton
Friday, January 24, 2020 | 12:00 PM
Welcome to Quick Fill.
Heads up before we get rolling; this week’s edition will be a bit on the quick side! I’m doing some traveling at the moment, and news is pretty light so we’ll roll through this one and hit you hard next week with a bunch of information and we’ll bring back the Throwback Thursday photos for that edition as well. In meantime, we do want to let everyone know of a few updates concerning the 2020 season.
First off, we’ve had a few questions regarding the electric 50cc models that some of you would like to race in the Micro classes. Good news, we’ll be allowing them in the current classes as long as they fit the wheel size. Right now, the KTM and Husqvarna models only come in 12-inch wheels, so you’ll have to race one of the MXC classes or the 50cc Sr (6-7). We’ll also only be allowing them to run as high as the fourth setting and will be checking to make sure they’re locked into that fourth setting at the start. Check out the Competition Bulletin HERE for more.
This is all a learning process as these are very new and haven’t seen any competition in GNCC just yet, so this is what we’ll be starting with an if we need to make adjustments after round one, we’ll do so. Also, speaking of the Micros, NOBODY will be allowed on bicycles on the Micro course during the Micro races. That means parents, pit crews or even riders biking the rest of the track. This has gotten a bit crowded over time and it makes it difficult for faster riders to navigate the course and it’s also tough for myself and the other guys to sweep the course as well. You can still run with your kids all you want, but please keep the bicycles off the track.
There’s some racing opportunities this weekend as our friends Andy Barkley and Mike Culler, who help us out at Steele Creek, will be hosting their Team Races this weekend in Denver, North Carolina. They postponed due to bad weather last weekend but they’re fully prepared to make the race happen this weekend. ATVs will race on Saturday and Bikes will race on Sunday. Both will be four-hour team races with two-rider teams or you can race solo in the Ironman classes. They’ll also have youth races both days, which will run as a traditional hare scramble event. Andy Barkley and Mike Culler are the two guys running this event, they’re both experienced race promoters and they help us out each year at Steele Creek, so expect a fun event. Check out their Facebook Event HERE for more info.
Our friends at SETRA will be racing this weekend as well. They’ll be having the popular Burnt Gin Hare Scramble, just down the road from the location of next weekend’s Sumter National Enduro. This is a motorcycle-only event and is always a lot of fun. It’s also seen a huge turnout of pro riders in the past who are looking to get in some extra seat time. Check out the SETRA website HERE for more info.
That’s going to do it for the intro this week. We’ll join back in with our recap of the 2019 season before wrapping this whole thing up. Until next time, we hope you enjoy your weekend and make sure you’re getting ready for the 2020 season to begin; it’s coming up quick!
2019 Season Recap Part Three
We’ve recapped the first four rounds of the 2019 season in the past two editions of Quick Fill, and this week it’s time to move onto rounds five and six where the series begins it’s trek north. This is also the point in the season where riders begin taking a closer look at their points chase in the championship standings. These can be some of the most important rounds and many times can lend themselves to make, or break a rider’s season.
Round five would see a return to Indiana for the X-Factor GNCC, and the first truly wet conditions we saw all season. It definitely wasn’t a full-blown mudder out in the woods, but the field sections were a bit sloppy and the woods got rutted and tough as the weekend wore on. For Saturday’s ATV race, Walker Fowler began his race as usual, leading the first lap. However, Chris Borich and Brycen Neal stayed hot on his heels as the entire top three were only separated by around two seconds on that opening lap.
Neal would find his way into the lead on laps two and three and Cole Richardson ran in podium contention for a while as well. On the final lap, Fowler would make a pass stick for the lead and ride to the overall win. Neal would finish just four seconds behind with Borich just over a second behind him to take the third place position. Jarrod McClure would move into the fourth place spot on the final lap while Cole Richardson rounded out the top five. This would prove to be one of the most exciting races of the season, with all of these guys ending the day within close range of each other. With the championship still up for grabs, they were all hungry and looking to topple Fowler.
On the bike side, Kailub Russell rode an incredible race, picking his way through the numerous ruts and making it look incredibly easy. Thad Duvall rode in second for the entire race and would put on a charge on the final lap to chase down Russell. He would come from around 43 seconds behind with one lap to go, to finish just seven seconds behind Russell at the checkered flag. These guys were absolutely hauling, and even lapped riders as high as 15th place overall! Josh Toth broke through for his first-ever XC1 podium, ending the day in third while Steward Baylor and Ricky Russell rounded out the top five of the XC1 class.
In XC2, it was business as usual for Ben Kelley who claimed his fifth consecutive win at this point and even finished fifth place overall. Johnny Girroir had been an XC2 podium threat up until this point in the season but would experience some health issues prior to this event, which ultimately ended his season early. This left the door open for a new crop of podium challengers, including Craig Delong. Craig had been injured prior to the start of the season and missed the first three rounds, then struggled at round four. He rebounded at X-Factor to finish second place in XC2 while Indiana native Austin Lee scored his second straight XC2 podium in third. Mike Witkowski and Ryder Lafferty rounded out the top five overall.
The series would then head to Ohio for a tough and muddy John Penton GNCC. If you’ve never raced John Penton when it’s wet, then you don’t know just how slick and difficult that place can be! 2019 would be another slick and nasty year but it would be Ohio’s own Brycen Neal emerging with the win. It would be hard fought, as Cole Richardson would swap that lead with him, eventually ending the day in second. As for Walker Fowler, he would be forced to work his way through the pack coming from sixth place to end the day in third. Chris Borich and Hunter Hart would fight their way through the muddy terrain to round out the top five overall.
As for the bikes, Thad Duvall showed that his 2018 win at The John Penton was no fluke. Thad hails from West Virginia, but his home is just across the river from Ohio, so he’s no stranger to slick Ohio clay. Jordan Ashburn would lead the opening lap just as the course was finally getting to be the best it had been all weekend. It was still slick and tough, but areas had begun to tack up and get much better. Duvall would find his way into the lead on the second lap and then Trevor Bollinger would also lead a lap as well. Duvall eventually found his way back into the lead and despite the challenge from both Russell and Bollinger, would end the day with the win.
Russell held on for second while Bollinger lost some time on the final lap and ended the day in third. Steward Baylor experienced issues early and had dropped to sixth place on the second lap, but rallied back for fourth place while Josh Strang worked his way up from eighth place to round out the top five. In XC2, Ben Kelley would lead wire to wire to take the class win with Craig Delong in second. It would prove to be a battle for the third place position between Evan Smith and Austin Lee. Smith would finally find his way into third on the final lap to end the day on the podium. Lee and Mike Witkowski rounded out the top five in XC2.
The season had approached its halfway point and things were beginning to heat up! With riders looking at the big picture in the championship chase, it’s only naturally for things to get exciting!