Off-Road
Posted: 10/28/09
The Grand National Cross Country Series is considered by some to be the premier national off-road series in the world. Whether or not that's the case is irrelevant, as the one thing that is certain is that the series has attracted many of the greatest off-road racers the world has had to offer for the past several years. Not to mention, the success of this series depends as much on the amateur racing that is coupled with the pro classes all weekend. It's a downright dirt bike racing festival, folks. For years, the Ironman GNCC located in, well, pretty much the heartland of the midwestern U.S., takes it all to another level. It's so freakin' Americana that it wouldn't surprise you to see Abraham Lincoln walk by holding hands with Kathy Lee Gifford as they shared a McDonald's hot apple pie. They'd fit right in, in their own odd little way. So let's check it out and see just what makes this event so special, plus we'll take a look at some of the players in the sport.
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Posted: 10/28/09
Part of the appeal that brings the fans out to The Ironman is the abundance of test rides that are avaialble. This year, Yamaha came out with all shapes and sizes of 2 and 4 wheelers, while Polaris and Can-Am brought out their variety of utility quads for tests. KTM was there in force too, of course, and last year even BMW got into the game with test rides on their (soon to be defunct) off-road 450 available.
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Posted: 10/28/09
There's also a huge area of food vendors and more localized businesses that setup shop. It has a distinctly county fair-like feel. The Motocross Nationals seem to be heading more toward this type of all-encompassing festival type of feel, too, which makes sense since the same organization (MX Sports/Racer Productions) promote both series.
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Posted: 10/28/09
The Geico Powersports presence is also huge in GNCC racing. In fact, this year's XC1 premier class champion - New Zealand's Paul Whibley. Just one of three team riders, Whibs is joined under the Geico tent by Jimmy Jarrett and Scottie Watkins.
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Posted: 10/28/09
The KTM presence at this particular round was the first time they have NOT had two 18-wheelers at a GNCC in a long time. The reason for this is not what most would expect - the sorry state of the economy - but rather the fact that the team chose to send their rigs out to the WORCS final in California, which fell on the same day. Their rider, Mike Brown, was gunning for the title - and he got it. Here in Indiana, KTM's riders won both pro classes.
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Posted: 10/28/09
This is the finish of the Sunday morning amateur racing. The format for a GNCC goes: Saturday - ATV's, most of the slower big bike classes, minis and for this round, side-by-sides.. Sunday is broken down into AM and PM - AM is for Industry, other senior classes, women, etc. while the afternoon is for the cream of the crop Pro classes, A and B's. It's not unusual to have 1500 entries total for the weekend, although this year it's appeared down from years past. The Ironman looked to have about the regular amount, though (A Lot).
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Posted: 10/28/09
if you don't know the name Jeff Fredette, then you need to turn in your dirt bike to the nearest authorities. This dude has done it, and won it, all. On more ISDE teams than maybe anyone (think 20+ years), won more national enduros and hare scrambles than almost anyone and he's STILL going strong in his mid-50's. For Sunday's AM race, Fredette came in 2nd overall despite starting wayyyyyy back in the 17th wave. That's insane, considering he must've passed a thousand riders to get that far up toward the front. Respect!!
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Posted: 10/28/09
It was strongly suggested by the kind folks taking our money out front that we not drive into the pits if we didn't have 4WD. "Ahhh, we can make it no problem!" This is what awaited us and no, we didn't make it out (w/o some help).
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Posted: 10/28/09
Now this is what we're talkin' about. This guy was giving rides around the muddy pit area all weekend.
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Posted: 10/28/09
On to the racers themselves, and we'll start with one of the many Ohioans on the line - Jimmy Jarrett. Known locally as a super-talented motocross and hare scrambles kid from way back, Jarrett is becoming a veteran on the scene by now. Having races on the Suzuki factory team and (we think) KTM, he's gone to several ISDE's and done very well. He's also won 4 OMA (a midwest based off-road racing series) and finds the podium regularly at GNCC's. He's got an Alessi-like skill at the starts, too.
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Posted: 10/28/09
Another Ohio guy, 1/2 of Team Suzuki Off-Road is Charlie Mullins, seen here with Rachel Ayers. Charlie's move to the pro class in 2006 was seen as many as the second-coming, as he'd dominated each level of the amateur program as he progressed upwards. He's won a few rounds, but has yet to get the title that so many expect of him.
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Posted: 10/28/09
Mullins' teammate is Australian Josh Strang. Sort of on a parallel career path as Mullins, only based originally downunder, Strang came pretty close to this year's title after pulling down several wins. He seems like a good kid and has already committed to next year's series.
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Posted: 10/28/09
Here's another Aussie - Glenn Kearney - and his just-as-famous mechanic, Wyatt Seals. Seals was a regular mechanic on the supercross and national motocross series for many years before getting inspired by Kearney at some point and stepping up to help him out on the factory Husqvarna team. Kearney's a scrapper, putting that Husky right in the middle of the dogfights up front all season. He's a 3-time Australian National Enduro Champion, so he's obviously got what it takes to run up front for the long haul.
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Posted: 10/28/09
There's no production rule or anything of the sort in GNCC racing, but this is about as trick as we could find on the line - a CF gas tank on Kearney's Swedish/Italian machine.
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Posted: 10/28/09
You can see that Whibley likes to run his forks high and, like most others, runs a steering damper to keep the front end from swapping too much due to them being up so high. Whatever he's doing, it's obviously working for him.
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Posted: 10/28/09
No longer an active GNCC racer, Fred Andrews (yet another Ohioan) is absolutely key to the GNCC racing scene. After retiring from a highly successful pro motocross and off-road racing career, Fred turned his attention to running his own team. Starting on Kawasaki's and now on Yamaha's, the Andrews Racing Team's primary sponsor is Monster Energy, so GNCC racing has no dearth of the big green claw in their world. Fred's been quite successful at plucking younger riders out of the A classes and giving them pro-class competitive 250F's to compete on in the XC2 (250cc) class, which is still in its infancy. The result? Lots of podiums, a few wins, but no titles - yet.
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Photos: 2009 GNCC Series Final
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