by: Jared Bolton
Thursday, April 8, 2021 | 10:25 AM
Welcome to Quick Fill.
It seems like we should be talking about going racing this weekend, but that’s still a week away! These early off-weekends are a welcomed relief in some ways and in other ways leaves you scratching your heads thinking about what you’re going to do with another weekend without a GNCC event. Don’t worry, this weekend and the early part of next week will fly by and you’ll be rolling towards the Big Buck Farm before you know it.
Next weekend’s Tiger Run GNCC is a return to Big Buck. I’ve had some random questions from folks who seemed to have heard a rumor that it’s “across the street” or “back at Camp Coker”… No. “Across the street” from Big Buck, you’re only going to find people’s homes, and if you come pulling in their driveways they’re probably going to be really, really confused. If you go back to Camp Coker, well, you’re going to find an empty field and probably some folks shooting sporting clays. So, be sure to go to the Big Buck Farm, ya know, the place where we had the first race of the season? Check out the event page HERE if you still don’t believe me. To recap; don’t go across the street from Big Buck, and don’t go to Camp Coker. The Tiger Run is racing AT Big Buck.
There have also been quite a few people asking about what Tiger Run is going to be like. Well, it’s now been going on seven weeks since we raced there, and will be eight weeks when we take off next weekend. Weather has been pretty decent in the area, and our guys Lollipop and Bob The Builder have been back at Big Buck dozing and planting grass seed. Believe it or not, the majority of the place will end up feeling like a different place than when we were there last.
We’ve got some pretty good ideas on routing the course differently and stay out of a lot of the spots that got pretty wet our last time there. Like I said, those guys have been running dozers there already and have those areas cleaned up really well but we’ll still avoid as many of them as possible but sounds like they’ve dried out nearly back to normal already. Overall it’s shaping up to be a great weekend back at Big Buck for the Tiger Run… Yes, please take note of another mention that its AT Big Buck.
Last weekend we had the Wake Up! High Point Ride Day last weekend and the dirt was absolutely perfect. If you skipped it, then you really missed out. I opted to ride my old Husaberg FE390 for some sweep laps, about 15 of them to be exact, and boy was it a great time. I put in an optional single track section towards the end of the loop that was a bit on the technical side. By no means was it a “hard enduro” section, but it was a bit off-camber, had some rocky areas but was my personal favorite part of the loop.
Our Marketing expert, Derek Garcia, threw a new Insta360 ONE X2 camera on my handlebars for a lap around the woods loop and it turned out to be a really cool video. Below is a video of the full loop via that Insta360 camera. Check it out but warning, it’s not like watching a professional rider!
This weekend our friends with the NECXC are racing at High Point Raceway. This event is solely on the High Point property, and if conditions are anything like our woods loop was last weekend, it’s going to be epic! The NECXC guys have posted a few teasers on social media and looks like they’ve ran their dozer around a few areas and have been working hard to make a really fun course for the weekend. If you’re interested in coming out to race, you can get all the details on the NECXC website HERE.
The other big news of the week comes from Kailub Russell. The rumors have been flying for a long time, but the word is out; KR557 is going racing this summer in the Pro Motocross series. He’ll be contesting the entire series as part of the Red Bull KTM team in the 250 class. You might be thinking, why a 250? Well, from my perspective, Red Bull KTM already has two full-time 450 riders in the form of Cooper Webb and Marvin Musquin, but with the Troy Lee Designs team making the switch to GasGas this season, KTM only has Max Vohland on a 250, so it makes sense to have two riders in each class. As I mentioned that’s just my personal perspective on it and is no way an official word from those folks, but sounds sensible.
The folks at Racer X were to the ones to break the news thanks to an interview with Red Bull KTM Team Manager, Ian Harrison. Check out the full interview HERE for some more details. This is pretty cool to see and is actually somewhat of a first. There have been numerous professional motocrossers turn GNCC racers. Rodney Smith, and Fred Andrews are ex-motocrossers who found the most GNCC success but there have also been guys like Guy Cooper, Ty Davis, Doug Henry and Ryan Sipes who have GNCC wins to their credit and numerous others who have tried their hand at GNCC… Including last year’s Pro Motocross 450 champ, Zach Osborne, and Travis Pastrana who needs no introduction.
On the GNCC end, guys like Shane Watts, Barry Hawk, Josh Strang, Chris Bach and of course Kailub Russell, have tried their hands at Pro Motocross in the past and some of them have landed inside the top 20. On the flipside, there’s never really been a full-time GNCC racer make the switch to Pro Motocross. Yes, Aaron Plessinger has a ton of GNCC experience and won some class titles and even has an XC2 race win, but Aaron never really raced at the top level of GNCC, chasing overall championships for multiple seasons. Even when he tried his hand at the XC2 class, he was focused on the motocross side and did a few GNCCs on the side.
So, Kailub marks the first time we’ve seen a GNCC champion make the switch to the Pro Motocross full-time. That’s why this is a pretty big deal and it will be pretty interesting to watch it all unfold throughout the summer. Predictions on social media comments and online forums are all over the place. How do you think KR will fair in the 250 class? Each race is different, but they all get brutally rough. I think he’ll shine late in the motos and if there’s a full-blown mud race, things could get really interesting.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. Check back next week for the latest from Tiger Run, which will be held at the Big Buck Farm if you haven’t heard. Until then, enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you back here next week!