Welcome to Quick Fill. 

Are you ready to go GNCC Racing? We’re rolling into the penultimate round of the 2022 GNCC season and things are shaping up for a great weekend of racing in West Virginia. The track has really came together nicely this week and the weather is looking pretty good for the weekend, albeit a little colder than what we’ve been used to this year. However, for some that may come as a welcome relief as beating the heat sounds pretty nice right about now. 

We did receive some sad news this week as country music icon, Loretta Lynn, passed away in her sleep at age 90. Loretta Lynn’s name is synonymous with Amateur Motocross racing as for more than 40 years Loretta Lynn’s Ranch has been home to the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship but off-road racing has deep roots at the ranch as well. From 1983-2014 Loretta Lynn’s hosted GNCC events and even ISDE Qualifiers a number of years ago as well. In addition to that, the ranch still hosts two annual trail ride events as well as Yamaha’s Extreme Terrain Challenge and a few local off-road events as well. 

While Loretta’s may not currently be part of the GNCC schedule, we still love Loretta, the ranch and enjoy our time there each year for the motocross event. Loretta may have been an iconic celebrity in the eyes of many but she truly was much more than that. It’s likely that anyone who has ever watched her interviews or anything of the sort has thought “wow, she seems like a genuinely sweet lady” and that’s exactly what she was. Not only was she a great person who loved her family, friends and fans but she truly cared about everyone she encountered and anyone who stepped foot on her ranch. She’ll definitely be missed by many. 

I mentioned Yamaha’s Extreme Terrain Challenge at Loretta’s, and that actually took place last weekend. This event is put on by the great folks at Yamaha but they always bring in a few extra hands from our staff to help out. Myself and Kayla plus Tim Cotter, his son Cameron and Brett Tustin who helps the folks at RacerTV made the trip to the ranch for a fun weekend of ATV and UTV action. This isn’t a race as everything is untimed and you’re not competing head to head, but rather just making your way around the 22-mile course littered with challenge up and down terrain, plus a few fun obstacles as well. 

Johnny Gallagher was on hand with the folks from GBC and he took part in the Grizzly (ATV) portion on Friday afternoon, then Josh Merritt tried his hand in a UTV as he rode an RMAX on Saturday afternoon. It was pretty cool to see these guys get out there and mix it up, and have a little fun as well. Every time I make a trip to the ranch it seems like I get quite a few questions why we currently don’t have a GNCC event at the ranch and to be honest it comes down to the parking. 

Now, you might be saying “but you guys cram a bunch of campers in there for the motocross?” and that is true. However, for one, a lot of campers end up parked nearly a mile away in some of the fields by Loretta’s house. Also, the GNCC footprint is much different. For a GNCC event we have to build a starting line, a finish line, have a pro pit area, and still have room to park everyone. Starting on the motocross start isn’t really an option anymore as a 40-man gate is actually only 20 quads wide, and a lot of rows have more than 20 quads on them! Then the GNCC pro pit area has grown tremendously in the last few years, which also eats up some of that parking. On top of this, there’s the fact that to get to the woods at Loretta’s you have to cross the county road twice. While a GNCC return to Loretta’s is not impossible, there’s a lot of factors at play that make that return a bit of a challenge. 

Now, let’s talk about this weekend’s event. This year’s Buckwheat 100 course is the longest Buckwheat track we’ve ever put together in the three-season history of this event! You’ll be starting a little ways into the lap, just around the three-mile mark to be exact. There’s a field section around the three to the four that you’ll skip off the start, so you’re heading into the woods and towards the five-mile mark. This section will have some open areas that will tightehn up a bit in a few spots, then open up again as you come to that five-mile mark. From there, you’ll pick up the Monster Mile in it’s traditional spot over the big coal piles then head into some twisty, slower, tighter trail to the six-mile mark.

After the six, it gets a little faster for a bit over to the seven-mile mark where you’ll drop off the back side of the property and into some rocky, slightly muddy and zigzagging trail all the way to the eight. When you pass that eight-mile marker, you start working your way up a rocky, technical uphill section for a bit and once you make it through that you’ll be bouncing back and forth from open trail to tight trail all the way to the nine-mile mark. From there, it’s a bit of faster double track trail with one tight section mixed then back into some faster trail to the 10-mile mark. 

Once you pass the 10, you’ll work your way off the highest point on the property and towards a big grass track section passing the 11-mile mark along the way. Then it’s back into the woods for a bit, out into another field section, then back into some twisting woods to the 12-mile mark. These woods have a few tighter areas with multiple lines through them up to the finish, then there’s another mix of grass track, twisting woods, and grass track again all the way to the one-mile mark. You’ll contine through the field for just a bit, then drop into the woods again and work your way up a little hillclimb and over to the two-mile mark. After the two, you’ll find a few up and downhills before one steep downhill into some tighter trail that will bring you back out to the start. 

Overall, it’s just shy of 13-miles for the full loop and the quads will miss just a little bit of that to make an 11.5 mile loop. This is shaping up to be a really, really good course so don’t miss it! With that said, there’s still work to be done so that’s going to do it for this week’s edition of Quick Fill. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you at the Buckwheat 100!