Welcome to Quick Fill. 

Well, it’s officially go time! The 2024 GNCC Racing season is here and we’re ready to go racing this weekend at the Big Buck Farm in South Carolina. If you’re on the fence about coming out, get off the fence and get to the track because this is really shaping up to be a good one. Heavy rains fell throughout the day Monday, but this place soaks up a lot of rain really well and by Tuesday afternoon you could barely tell it had even rained. 

It’s a bit on the dry side on the top layer of dirt but once you cut down just a little bit, there’s a nice amount of moisture to be found around most of the racecourse so conditions are already looking to be pretty darn nice. The weather itself is looking to be awesome as well with temperatures hovering around the mid-50s on Saturday and Sunday. It’ll be a bit chilly at night and in the mornings, but once you’re out on the course it’ll feel just about perfect. 

As a reminder, we’ll be utilizing the split race format as we’re expecting a pretty large crowd. This means that the Youth ATV race will take place at 8am on Saturday, followed by Morning ATVs at 10am, and Afternoon ATVs at 1pm. The Youth bikes will move to Saturday afternoon at 4pm, and the Micros races will have some changes as well. The Micro bikes will run first at 8:30am, followed by the Micro ATVs at 9:15am. Since they’ll be racing at the same time as the Youth ATVs, their start, finish and entire course will be completely separate from all the other races. 

On Sunday, the Morning Bike race will be split with the first group of racers at 8am, followed by the next group at 10am and finally the Afternoon Bike race will take place in it’s normal slot at 1pm. For a full breakdown of who is racing when, check out the event page HERE. 

Now let’s talk about the track. Big Buck tends to actually be one of the faster courses of the year as the trees grow far apart around most of the property, but you never really feel like you’re going all that fast. It’s more flowing and does have a few spots that slow you down which take some of that speed factor out of it. You’ll be starting at the 12-mile mark and head through some medium speed trail over towards the finish line. The first time by you’ll bypass the finish line and head out on your full lap. The first half mile will be a bit of trackside pit areas and a few woods sections, then once you pass the half-mile, you’re headed into a cool zigzagging section full of turns inside the woods. 

This brings you to another little field section and back into the woods at the one-mile mark, and then you’re in the woods for a long time. The PM ATVs and all the bikes will continue over to the Micro course and head out to the two-mile mark through some tighter and twisty sections. Eventually you split off from the Micro course and head over to the three-mile mark where you’ll begin working your way back towards that section after the half-mile and into more twisty turns. 

Once you’re out of that, there’s a little bit of tighter and twisty trail before things open back up for a bit to the four-mile mark. After the four, you’ll be going back and forth around and through some of the ravines out on that side of the property. This brings you to a few more long up and downhill sections over the five-mile mark and down into what we call the Green Bottom. You’ll climb back out of the bottom and begin working your way through some medium speed trail to the six-mile mark. 

After the six you’ll hit the pine tree section at the back of the parking area and this section usually tends to be a bit on the tighter side but with a number of optional lines. The bike races will split off in these pines and run and additional single-track section before heading over to the seven-mile mark. You’ll be close to the finish at the seven, but you’re headed over to the other side of the property through some faster sections as you head to the Big Buck Hillclimb. 

Once you’re up the hill, you’ll cross the top and come back down and to the eight-mile mark. It gets fast for a second just past the eight, then gets tighter and twisty for a bit before opening back up once again heading over to the FMF Powerpoint hill climb. Once you’re up this hill, you’ll head over to the nine-mile mark through some faster sections with a number of turns to keep you busy. This continues all the way to the ten-mile mark and up another little hill climb to a section that will tighten up for just a minute. 

As you work your way towards the 11-mile mark, things get a smidge faster and out into a couple of short little field crossings at the 11. You’re then headed into the ATV Pro Pits, then back into the woods into some flowing trail as you make your way back to the start at the 12-mile mark and the bike pro pits. 

Overall, this year’s Big Buck course is already shaping up to be a really fun course that you’re not going to want to miss. With that said, there’s still work to be done so we’re going to wrap up this week’s edition of Quick Fill here and get back to work. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you at Big Buck!