What I learned at the GNCC UTV Opener

photos by Rick Sosebee

Okay with a year of UTV racing under my belt, my sickness hasn’t gone away. I’m addicted to UTV cross country racing, specifically GNCC racing. I wasn’t planning on racing this year. I only raced last year because I felt it was a great way to review the mighty Polaris XP 900, but as I said I’m sick, and after a long cold winter in north east Ohio, a road trip to 70 degree Georgia for the opportunity to race one last time (maybe more we’ll see) was definitely in order.

It was my first DNF. I broke a ball joint and folded the wheel under the machine, but not before having four laps of fun with copilot Thad Josey. Somehow we still managed to finished top ten of 26 in the XC2 class. Anyway I jotted down a few things that I learned throughout the day at the 2014 GNCC UTV Season Opener….

Wow, 86 entries, a UTV GNCC record! And I bet it gets beat several times in the future, but what if they get too many entries? Carrie Coombs Russell said at the banquet that they don’t want to see more than 100 machines on the course at the same time, and I can see their concern. I’m not sure what the answer to this success problem will be, but they could have as many as 100 as soon as the next round. What do you think, maybe a longer course? Split the classes into two separate races? Night time racing? I’m not sure what the best answer is but it’s a fun problem to try to figure out. I love that UTV racing is taking off like it has and that we’re having this kind of problem.

I want to confirm a notion I had last year. I feel GNCC racing is the best off road series you can possibly race in. Strong words, I know, but combine the amount of talented staff members with a zillion years of know-how and consistency, the level of competition, notoriety and sponsor exposure, and the kind of people that you meet in the pits, not to mention the mud fleas that help you along the course – I can’t think of a better off road series. I wish I would have raced more GNCC events in my past, but I do have a 1986 Blackwater 100 to my credit, I’m very grateful to have raced and finished in that legendary event.

I don’t know whether to praise him or cuss him out at times, but Barry Hawk sure can make a mean course! He’s good at seeing what could go wrong and planning ahead of time for it. What I mean is even while 86 machines navigate the course, with several breaking down, there never seems to be a bottle neck. Something you would think you would see more of with big machines trying to squeeze through tight spaces, but that’s rarely the case,

At the same time the courses are by no means easy. In fact, I’m beginning to think that a typical GNCC course offers up about the most challenging terrain of any series you can race a side-by-side in.Click here for an HD Video conversation I had with GNCC course marshal, Barry Hawk. If you’re the kind of person that likes a challenge, you should try a GNCC UTV race for yourself, but I’m warning you, you just may get addicted like I have. Even if you don’t finish, you’ll still have a blast!

I’ve known this for years, so I guess it’s not something I just learned at round one in Georgia, but despite all the championships, factory sponsorship and material things that they’ve gained over the years, William Yokley and family are about the humble-est, happy-go-lucky people in the pits. I’ve always enjoyed talking with them, and if you haven’t yet, I promise you will too. I like it when a happy, grateful, simple guy with good morals and values succeeds. Nice guys don’t always finish first, but William sure has.

John Yokley (William’s nephew) was flat out flying. The Big Country Powersports Polaris will be tough to beat this year. Especially when John gets to have pro ATV racer Jarrod McClure in his copilot seat. With a completely dialed-in Polaris XP 900, Jarrod helping with line selection and John’s driving talent the team won by 40 seconds. Nephew just might knock his uncle off of his championship-winning-streak.

Coastal National Guard Team driver Scott Kiger #5 raced the the Mint 400 in Nevada quickly got on a private jet flew across the country to Georgia with no time to spare, then he sprinted to the line just in time for the start and went on to finish in a top five spot for the day! I thought I was addicted, but Scott is way sicker than I am. That’s hard core dedication.

I’m so happy to have met up with these guys last year. They’ve sort of taken me under their wing and helped me win the 2013 Stock Novice Championship. This year, they’ve gone all out, fielding four XC1 machines! They’re called Loud Performance Products led by the #724 team of William “Dee” Dipple and Copilot Casey Mulkins. You have to see the XP1000 they’ve put together for GNCC racing. It could almost define the word “modified”. Nothing about it is not meticulously thought out out. Its wheel base has even been shortened nearly a foot so it can slip through the woods as if it were a 900. Check it out here.

They probably couldn’t have done worse at the opener, all four machines ended with problems, but they’ve aligned themselves with some great people and companies, specifically a fabricator that you’ll be hearing a lot more of. His name is Andy Prins, he’s the owner of RacerTech. I got a chance to talk to Andy and had a close look at a few of his components. In short, Racer Tech’s stuff is pure top-shelf. Once the Loud Performance team sorts through a few season-opening-issues, watch your eyes and cover your ears – Loud may be making a lot of noise.

More from the Loud Performance Products camp… They’ve partnered up with The Rider Scope in an effort to stream live HD footage of their GNCC UTV adventures. I met the guys behind The Rider Scope and got to see their video stream in action. They have some very good ideas, including streaming live GoPro footage through a phone in the driver’s pocket! Did that get your attention? It sure did mine. As a tech junkie, I like seeing this kind of thing, and it really helps to build the sport. Can you imagine if they’re able to perfect this? The future of off-road racing coverage is about to get really interesting.

More high tech stuff… I learned just how cool footage from a radio controlled copter can be, and just how advanced they are now days. I got to help fly Rick Sosebee’s copter, it’s about the coolest place you can mount a GoPro camera, and Rick really knows what he’s doing. There’s a lot of know-how that goes into dialing it in, Rick builds and sells copters, which range in the $2k to $3k range, but I’m telling you that’s actually cheap after you see what they’re capable of doing. Anyway, I felt like I time-warped to some futuristic year that I wasn’t supposed to be at yet, but there I was watching HD footage on an LCD monitor mounted on a tripod with a sunscreen.

We even flew the copter above the neighbor’s forest fire. Yep, they had a controlled burn going across the street (despite the fact that it was kind of a windy day and a big event going on a few hundred yards away). Anyway the fire managed to jump the street and burned an area near the Aonia Pass motocross track area. They managed to get it contained and thankfully we didn’t have to evacuate, boy that would have been a GNCC-first, huh?

I realized that I have a lot of very good photographer friends that call Georgia home, including; Rick Sosebee, Thad Josey, Jorge Cuartas and John Howell, who recently moved to Georgia to take a job with American Suzuki located in Marietta, GA. Of course I tried, but John could not either confirm or deny Suzuki’s first UTV. It’s only a matter of time before they release something, maybe John will spill the beans at another time. Anyway, it was AWESOME to get to hang out with each of my old pals at Aonia Pass.

I learned that the old vintage Honda Pilot single seaters are no longer racing with the UTVs. I feel for the guys that were into racing those, since that was a somewhat inexpensive way to enjoy GNCC racing, but at the same time it was a good choice, their speeds were just too slow, and XC1 UTV guys are too hungry for championships, a bad combination to say the least.

Let’s see, I also learned that Zac Zakowski’s engine may also be from that future year I got a glimpse of with Rick. It sounds and moves like it makes twice the ponies as everyone else’s. If there was such a thing as a GNCC drag race, my money’s on Zac’s Can-Am Maverick and the Loud Performance Dasa/ Casey Mulkins-powered XP 1000 as the two fastest machines on the circuit.

It was nice to see my ole pal Tim Farr take the runner up spot. He was on the gas at the final round in Indiana last year, and it seems he and the JB Racing Can-Am team are dialed in and in place to be a real contender for this year’s XC1 Championship. Check out my recent interview with Tim. It’s nice little read that takes place just before he arrived in Georgia. Tim’s an asset to the sport. I’m really stoked to see him back to his front-running ways.

I learned that very few people were happy to spend an extra $50 for an AMA membership. When I talked with Carrie at the banquet she seemed perfectly fine being non-sanctioned, but I suppose issues have been resolved and we all get to help “protect our right to ride” when we race from now on.

I was the District 12 AMA delegate and VERY pro AMA in the past, after seeing how ATVs (and now UTVs) aren’t really their main focus – not so much in the present. I estimate that GNCC riders could spend as much as $100k this year on AMA memberships. In my opinion, that same money could have done way more good for the GNCC series than a few thousand more AMA memberships will for either the Series or the AMA organization. In example $100k would have been a great start to the purchase of GPS enabled transponders, maybe even Wifi equipped ones, an investment that would provide amazing results. Imagine seeing riders as they navigate through the course. You would view passes as they happen on trackside screens or on your phone at the track or world-wide. And imagine seeing live GoPro footage on the monitor to its right. And with this Racer Productions’ television package would be much more valuable to potential segment producers looking for the next big thing. It would be must-see-tv in my opinion. Better than NASCAR! Maybe I’m wrong and there’s way more to this and going AMA will ultimately be good for the series and the sport as a whole, but for struggling racers like me it seems like just another dreaded expense.

Mud fleas are awesome! Not only are they fans that appreciate the effort that we go through to entertain them, but they actually help you find cool new lines. Mud fleas back in the day couldn’t be trusted, at least not the drunken party people that gathered throughout the old Blackwater courses in year’s past. Now days, for the most part I think they’re after good racing with plenty of passing, not causing wrecks and bottlenecks for their drunken entertainment. So on behalf of all GNCC racers, I sincerely thank you for being out there in the trenches with us.

I leaned that I can actually stove my finger while racing a UTV. That’s an injury I didn’t think would be something to worry about, yet I’m having problems typing this. I wish I had a quickener. Effortless quick steering sounds really great and probably wouldn’t injure me.

I learned that UTV GNCC drivers tend to be a little older, more mellow and more friendly to one another, but not so much on the track.

I also learned that you can drink beer and stay up late the night before a race and still lay down Chris Borich-like laps the following day. I can’t remember the last time I was disappointed to see a white flag.

I talked with Mike Penland, who lives only an hour or so north of the Aonia Pass track. With no further ATV support from Can-Am, Mike will end one heck of an impressive streak. He chased GNCC points on a quad every single year for the last 23! His GNCC racing experience will be put to good use as Mike will continue to race the series on a Can-Am factory supported Maverick. He finished the season opener with a respectable 7th overall of 26 in the XC2 class.

Did you know you can watch each ATV and UTV GNCC event live online? Click to racertv.com during the race and check it out. They have several cameras that stream content while Rodney Tomlin, Jen Kenyon and Chuck LeMaster do a great job covering the race as it unfolds. It’s getting better and better each round. Here’s the archived live broadcast from round two.

Lastly I learned that if UTV Scene is going to be successful we need HELP. If you’re into taking photos, shooting video or writing content hit me up and let’s see about making you a member of our editorial team.

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