by: Jared Bolton
Thursday, March 5, 2020 | 12:00 PM
Welcome to Quick Fill.
It’s time to roll into round two! This weekend we take on the Wild Boar GNCC in Palatka, Florida. This can be one of the toughest races of the year and it’s not due to overly technical trail, it’s due to how tough the sand whoops can get as the weekend wears on. Of course, it’s also a really unique and fun event as this is the only time we race in deep sand all season long. Yeah, we do have sand in a few weeks at Camp Coker, but it’s definitely a lot different than the deep Florida sand. We’ll have the low-down on the course coming up a little later in this week’s edition of Quick Fill.
Of course, there’s still a good bit of work to be done out there so we’ll be keeping this week’s edition of Quick Fill a bit on the short side so I can get back to the woods to get everything ready for the weekend. Before that though, we do have a few updates to talk about before rolling through Quick Fill this week. The bike side has been crazy abuzz since Big Buck as two key riders are now out with injury. Thad Duvall suffered a knee injury on the first lap at Big Buck, which has left him with a torn ACL and meniscus. Thad is set to undergo surgery and will be missing a big chunk of this season, but hopefully we’ll see him back before the season is totally done.
With Thad out after Big Buck, and Trevor Bollinger out due to a pre-season knee injury, that left the Rockstar Husqvarna squad without a rider. Well, the official PR came out today and Craig Delong has signed on to ride with the Rockstar Husqvarna team for the remainder of the 2020 season. Craig will stay in the XC2 class in GNCC, and will also contest the remaining National Enduro events in the Pro 2 class. This should be pretty cool to see play out!
Ben Kelley is another rider who will be missing the first part of the season. Ben injured his shoulder prior to Big Buck, but attempted to race to see if it was possible to salvage points. Unfortunately the pain was a bit too much, and Ben pulled off early. He’s since undergone surgery to repair his shoulder, and the same doctor who took care of Kailub Russell’s shoulder did the surgery on Ben. So, hopefully with some recovery time we’ll see Ben back on track as well before the season ends.
That’s it for the intro this week. I’m headed back into the woods to put the finishing touches on the course here in Florida. Safe travels and we’ll see you in Florida!
Update From Wild Boar
This weekend’s Wild Boar GNCC is shaping up to be a great one! Expect a dry race, which will lead to some dusty areas but that also means the low lying areas that can usually be a bit swampy and wet are actually really dry. This has allowed us to add in some different sections here and there, which will be a really cool change and even lead to some new trails throughout the weekend. When you take off from the start, you’ll be starting at the end of the lap and heading towards the finish line. You’ve got about a mile of trail that will lead you over to the finish to head out on your full lap.
The first half-mile of trail out of the finish will be medium speed, flowing back and forth. Around the half-mile point the bikes will split off and run a tighter section that has been used as the practice track in the past. It will tie back in at the one-mile mark, and the trail from the one to the two mile mark has a cool mix of some tighter spots and a lot of twisting trails in places, with some faster areas as well. Around the two and a half, the bikes will split off again. The ATVs will continue through some double track trail to the FMF Powerpoint. The bikes will hit a different trail with some tighter spots, and some faster areas mixed in as well, which will lead them to the three-mile mark.
At the FMF Powerpoint, the ATV racers and AM Bike racers will run an inner loop of trail that works them back to the Powerpoint. There’s some all-new trail in this section, and some stuff we’ve used in the past. It’ll be tight in some spots for ATVs, but there are also open areas that offer passing opportunities. The PM bike riders will turn at the three-mile mark, run the FMF Powerpoint backwards, then backwards on a short piece of ATV trail. They’ll then split off and head across a big, flat open area. It drops into some tighter trail over to the four-mile mark, and that tighter trail continues around to the five-mile mark.
The PM bike trail continues through some open areas before dropping back into the woods again, where you’ll pick your way around a few little low-lying muddy spots. There’s plenty of dry ways around those, so don’t worry! You’ll then head back across that big open, flat area to the FMF Powerpoint once again. The ATV and bike trails merge together again on the other side of the FMF Powerpoint at the six-mile mark. This brings you through some tighter, twisty trail all the way over to the seven-mile mark. At the seven, you’re zigzagging back and forth through the planted pines for a bit, all the way over and past the eight-mile mark.
About the eight and a quarter, the track crosses over into a section of open trail to the nine-mile mark before popping into a big field section. This leads you to some fast trail to the ten, and out into the mudflats by the pits. These flats are the driest we’ve every seen them, and we’ve kept everyone out of the water that’s still standing so don’t worry about the mud pits! The 11-mile mark is behind the pro pits, and you’ll run back into the big field section once again to the 12-mile mark and tie back into where you started.
Overall, Wild Boar is looking to be a great! It’s a 13.1 mile course for the PM Bikes, somewhere in the neighborhood of 11.7 miles for the PM ATVs and AM Bikes, and about 10.5 miles for the AM ATVs. Don’t miss out, this could be one of the most fun Wild Boar courses we’ve ever had!