Welcome to Quick Fill.

It’s finally time to get back to GNCC Racing this weekend with the Hoosier GNCC at Ironman Raceway. It’s already been discussed the past several weeks that this is a pretty unique break from the traditional Ironman event in the fall, and this one is mixed up even more. There’s quite a few changes that will make this one feel a lot different and just being here will seem to have a lot different vibe than THE Ironman. Regardless, it’s shaping up to be a good weekend of racing and we’re ready to get things rolling. 

First, we’ll hit on the weather real quick. It’s been raining on and off all week here at Ironman Raceway but there’s not really been any seriously heavy rainfall. It’s a bit wet out on the track, but we’ve routed the course to make it as great as possible. It was really, really shaping up nice and drying out Thursday morning but we’ve got a little more rain throughout the day. We’re doing our best to tread lightly and keep as much of our own traffic off the course until it’s time to go racing in order to preserve it as much as possible.

Now, with that said, it’s definitely not a full blown mudfest out there. We’ve all got our fingers crossed that this rain works it’s way out of here and anymore rain we receive will hopefully be a minimal amount. Things will likely be a little slick and muddy Saturday morning but as the day wears on we’re hopeful it just gets better and better, and come Sunday the bike riders could very well have some epic conditions, which will be a welcome relief for anyone who rode last year’s season finale Ironman. 

As for the course, let’s take a look at what to expect there. Once again, the start is still in the big cornfield. You’ll be starting towards the end of the lap, so you’ll drop through a little piece of woods and drop out onto a little bit of the motocross track. You’re running a short section of that backwards and heading straight over to the finish line, that is back where it used to be near the covered bridge. You’ll head back out onto another little section of the motocross and head towards the two-way through the back of the motocross pro pits, which will actually be the GNCC pro pits for this event. This will lead you into a little field section and into the woods at the one-mile mark by the cell tower.

From there, you’ll hit an open woods section that tightens up just a bit before popping into some trackside pitting for just a bit. Then it’s back into a tighter section of woods that zig-zags to the two-mile mark. You’ll drop down a hill after the two and head across a new bridge over one of the creeks and into another section of woods before crossing yet another new bridge over the creek. After last year’s Ironman we decided if there’s any chance of rain, we’ll just add  some bridges over those creeks and that’s what the crew has done. You very well may find yourself in a traditional creek crossing in the future, but this time we’ll stick to the bridges. 

After the second bridge you’re headed back across the two-way and over through some open woods to the three-mile mark. Things tighten up a bit here but you’ll then drop down in the the big open woods where you zig-zag back and forth through that flat bottom area that serves as the Monster Mile. From there, it’s back up the hill to the four-mile mark where you’re headed through a mix of open trails, tight trails and quite a few sections with lots of turns all the way to the five-mile mark. This same thing continues past the five where you’ll cross the road but you don’t hit the traditional field section across the road from Ironman Hill. That field has already been planted for the year, so you’ll skirt one edge of it and hit a short section of new trail. 

This leads you to the six-mile mark where you’ll drop down along the creek, cross over and head underneath the bridge next to Ironman Hill. We’re skipping Ironman Hill for this event to keep it in as good as shape as possible for THE Ironman, so you’re headed to what we call the Enchanted Forest from that bridge. You’ll zig-zag through the Enchanted Forest and past the seven-mile mark before heading through another mix of fast and tighter trails that will take you to the big cornfield section at the eight-mile mark. 

There’s a lot of turns out in the field this time, and it’s actually flowy and very fun. You’ll drop back into the woods near the start, and head off to the bottom section passing the nine-mile mark on the way. You’ll run through the bottom and hit a different hill near Twin Hills (again, saving Twins for THE Ironman) and tie back into where you started at. Overall, the course is a little on the shorter side at 10.3 miles, but there’s a lot more zigzags and slower trail than THE Ironman.

With that said, there’s still a lot of work to be done so we’re going to end this week’s edition of Quick Fill here and get the final touches put on for the Hoosier. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you here in Indiana!