Welcome to Quick Fill. 

This week’s edition of Quick Fill actually comes to you live from Washougal MX Park out in Washington state, site of this weekend’s round of the 2024 Pro Motocross Championship. It’s set to be a great weekend of motocross racing, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little part of me that wants to take off and do a little exploring in these Pacific Northwest woods. Maybe I’ve done a little bit of that here before, shhh, we’ll keep that a secret. 

Summer break is in full force and with the heat that some areas have seen, I’m sure there’s not too many people who are completely bummed we’re not going racing right now. Yes, there’s a part of us all who would like to be back racing already but when you look and see those temperatures in the 90s, all of a sudden that feeling changes a little bit. I’m sure there’s also plenty of people who say, “bring on the heat!” but a break from the heat doesn’t sound too bad either. 

On our end, in addition to Pro Motocross, we’re all making our final preparations to make the trek to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch for the 2024 version of the Amateur National Motocross. Some of our staff is already there getting things setup, some have already made one visit to do some track work and actually came back home for a little bit, and some are headed to The Ranch at the beginning of this coming week. 

As always, there are a few names familiar to the GNCC Racing Nation who will be taking part in this year’s Loretta Lynn’s event. Some racers to keep an eye on include GNCC 250 A class racer, Thor Powell who will be contesting the 250 B Limited and 450 B Limited classes and 4-Stroke B Lites racer Jacob McPherson who will be in the 250 C and 250 C 12-17 Limited classes. If you’re scratching your head a little, yes, you ARE allowed to move down one skill level when switching disciplines (IE: off-road to motocross, or vice versa). 

The WMX class has a number of racers who have GNCC backgrounds. Former WXC champ, Tayla Jones is back at the ranch this year to try her hand in the WXC class and so is Korie Steede who is no stranger to the Loretta Lynn’s program as well. Shelby Rolen is a former full-time GNCC competitor who has been back on and off for a number of years. She is also a Loretta Lynn’s veteran having raced there since she was a kid and will make her 18^th trip to the ranch this year. Then of course there’s Jordan Jarvis, who is arguably one of the fastest women’s racers of the last several years. She’s been trying her hand at some GNCC events in 2024 and will be back at Loretta’s as well. 

Caleb Wood and Brayden Baisley have been battling in the GNCC YXC1 Supermini class this year and will also be battling it out at Loretta Lynn’s as well. Brayden is set to race both Supermini 1 and 2, while Caleb will be in that Supermini 1 class as well. This will be cool to see as those Supermini classes are incredibly fast and competitive. 

As you transition to some of the age classes, there are a few more familiar names to watch including Phoenix Racing Honda team manager, Heath Harrison who will not only be in the Junior 25+ class to defend his title, but the Open Pro Sport class as well. Former XC1 competitor Ben Nelko will be in that Junior 25+ class also, as will none other than former Pro Motocrosser, Jason Lawrence who tried his first-ever GNCC at last year’s Ironman. 

The Senior 40+ class will have Ryan Inmon, who has spent many years as a GNCC racer and dabbling as a mechanic for several top racers as well. Additionally, Sam Forrester who found a bit of success in some of the GNCC A classes several years ago will have a go at that Senior 40+ class too. Then there are a few other additional GNCC ties as well including Noah Stevens in the College 18-24 class, who is a top amateur motocrosser but you may remember Noah’s brother Seth as a top GNCC eMTB racer several years ago as well. There’s also North Carolina’s William Hall, who has done several GNCC events himself and but is really close with a lot of the western North Carolina GNCC racers. 

Former Pro Motocrosser, Mike Brown, found a successful career racing off-road events once his professional racing days came to a close. Brownie raced a number of GNCC events through his career and has become a staple in the Loretta Lynn’s vet classes over the last few years. He’s back this year in the Senior 40+ and Masters 50+ classes. Last but not least is Michelin’s Randy Richardson, who has also been around the GNCC events a good bit racing both motorcycles and e-bikes. Randy will be competing in the Masters 50+ class for his first trip to the ranch. 

Once again, RacerTV.com will bring all the Loretta Lynn’s action all week long. So, if you’re looking to catch all the action live you can do so there. That’s actually going to do it for this week’s edition of Quick Fill. Next week we’ll be on site at Loretta Lynn’s, so be sure to check back for all the latest. Until then, enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you back here next week.