Welcome to Quick Fill. 

The summer break ticks by and it seems as if the majority of the GNCC Racing Nation is settling into a summer routine. Some are finding some vacation time, some are still racing, and some are just busy with life as a whole. No matter where you fall in there, you’re most likely already looking forward to getting back into the swing of racing. The bad news there is that we’re just getting the summer break started, so there’s a lot of time to kill left. 

I mentioned this last week but on our end we’re wide-open making preparations for Loretta’s and registration is officially closed. This means we’ll see the official rider roster coming up very, very soon and undoubtedly there will be some familiar names from the GNCC community who will be competing in the big show at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in just a few weeks. Again, we’ll let you know who to keep an eye out for coming up in next week’s edition of Quick Fill. 

Speaking of familiar names racing some motocross, last week’s Southwick round of Pro Motocross saw our buddy Josh Toth try his hand at Pro Motocross for the first time. Toth rode well in timed practice and was able to qualify straight into the motos, then rode to pretty solid moto scores of 22-21 for 24^th overall in the 250 class. That’s pretty darn impressive for a woods rider’s first time racing Pro Motocross, especially in a highly competitive 250 class. Congratulations go out to Josh! 

Josh also got a fair bit of love over the live PA system at Southwick. The live announcers Rob Buydos and our old friend Matt Megawatt Watson gave Toth quite a few props throughout the day, and we quick to mention Toth’s GNCC and off-road racing background. Obviously, Megawatt is highly familiar with GNCC as he served as co-announcer with Rodney for several years and Rocket Rob has been to a lot of GNCC events over the years as well. So, thanks to those guys as well for some Toth and off-road racing love over the live PA. 

We’ll try to catch up with Josh for an upcoming Tuesday Toolbox to talk more about his experience at Southwick. As usual, if you have any other recommendations for cool things to talk about here or someone to interview for Tuesday Toolbox, or the Women’s Wednesday feel free to drop me a line at [email protected] with some details. Or, if you have any cool stories to share or general write ups you want to do to share in Quick Fill, send those my way as well. We love hearing from our racers and fans.

Speaking of those interviews, did you catch the newest ones this week? Mikey Waynes caught up with our own Ryan Echols to talk GNCC Trail Bossing, racing Erzberg and even a little about home life! It was definitely a cool look at one of the guys you always see at the races with a smiling face, but maybe you don’t know the whole story. You can catch that HERE. Also, Allie Spurgeon caught up with Amy Collier, the mom of 4x4 Pro Champ Cody Collier, for this week’s edition of Women’s Wednesday. It’s cool to hear the perspective of a GNCC mom who is there each and every week, and you can check that out HERE. 

While there’s a number of local races still taking place, some of the bigger summer break events are yet to come. There are a couple rounds of the National Enduro Series still coming up, and so is the Kenda 9 Hours of Havoc ATV team race. The 9 Hour is actually taking place on the same property we raced the High Voltage GNCC at a few years ago, so check into that if you’re an ATV racer looking for a unique challenge. We’ll keep an eye out for some of the news from these and other events through the rest of the summer break. 

As for this weekend, some of our staff are up in Minnesota for the Spring Creek National round of Pro Motocross. That might be a bit off the beaten path for GNCC regulars and is more well known for the Pro Motocross event but Spring Creek is definitely no stranger to off-road racing. In addition to hosting hare scramble events for many years, the track is actually owned by the Martin Family. Most people these days know John Martin as the father of Pro Motocross stars Jeremy and Alex Martin but John is an old off-road racer himself. 

John Martin was once a Factory Can-Am off-road racer, back when Can-Am made motorcycles and he was pretty darn fast! John was the 1985 AMA National Hare Scramble Champion and raced quite a few GNCC events as well in his day. He was also Can-Am teammates with Australian legend Geoff Ballard, who was basically the first foreign rider to come over and race off-road in America on a full-time basis. So, it’s cool to come all the way to Minnesota for a Pro Motocross event and still have a bit of an off-road feel to it. 

Actually, last weekend’s Southwick round had a bit of an off-road feel to it as well. In addition to Josh Toth racing, Ross Mauri and the Trail Jesters KTM folks were in attendance as well supporting local hero Jimmy Decotis. Jimmy D actually qualified in the number one spot and went 12-17 for 13^th overall aboard a Trail Jesters KTM. On top of that, “MotoFro” Rob Brown who raced Senior A in the entire GNCC series a couple of seasons was out on the track lending a hand as a red cross flagger, and former XC1 competitor Bob Santheson and his wife Tara were helping out at the VIP tent. It goes to show that even when you go to Pro Motocross event, there still seems to be a serious off-road racing influence there as well. 

That’s actually going to do it for this week’s edition of Quick Fill. Again, if you have any news to recommend we talk about, write ups of your own you want to share, or just a few nice words, drop me a line at [email protected]. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you back here next week!