Miles by Kory Ellis
- Updated: June 4, 2002
Race all the GNCs and the GNCCs, yeah right. I never thought I would be doing that but wouldn’t you know it – here I am. The past couple of months have been nothing but a blur to me (and everyone around me). In case you’re interested, here’s a brief run down on how it all came together.
I would have to say that it all started in Octoberish’ ’01. My local Southern CA Cannondale sales rep, Steve, who I had met a couple of months earlier at a local race, called me up and told me about a dealer/media event that Cannondale scheduled in our area. All the sales reps gathered their dealers together to come out and ride the new models for the up and coming year. Kind of a method to get them psyched up to sell more Cannondale bikes and quads. Anyway, Steve tells me that it would be great if I could come out and make a couple of laps so everyone could get an idea of what kind of potential the Cannondale ATV truly has. Since it was only a two-hour drive to Palmdale I was there. After all, what could it hurt hanging out wit the factory guys doing some riding on a well groomed track, beating the hell out of some one else’s quads and eating free food all day? I’m sure you follow my drift.
Cannondale has been great. I commend them on their new sport quad and their commitment to help the sport of ATV racing. Here Cannondale’s Steve Maslanik figures out a wiring problem. Check this out, he can hear where a crossed wire might be in the Blaze wiring harness
After hanging out for two days with a bazillion dealers, magazine editors, sail’s reps, factory gurus, and motorcycle riders like Robby Reynord it unfortunately was time to go home.
On my way out I got a ton of question as to how I liked Cannondale’s latest lineup and which model I liked the best, the Speed, Moto or the Blaze. With equal opportunity to ride any model they had I often found myself on board the Blaze – believe it or not. Interestingly enough since that machine was so fun to ride, this is where the whole idea of racing the GNCCs came from.
The show took place on a Thursday and Friday, on that Sunday there was a GP at Glen Helen. Some how I talked the Cannondale guys in to letting me take the Blaze to race on Sunday. I showed up early Sunday morning to the track with Steve, he also brought along his demo Speed to put out on display. Soon after we pulled in Jeremy “the So Cal hick” Schell showed up with Harry and the Trinity crew. By the time we went to the line Steve’s Speed demo had the hick’s numbers on it.
I had a blast at that race, even though I got passed in the final turn after my dead last to first comeback. To do that on an off the showroom floor none stock ATV against fully built aftermarket 250Rs made it all the more rewarding!
This is a shot of myself and Clarke’s Chris Roley at this year’s Dealer Expo.
The Dealer Expo in Indianapolis is the biggest and best dealer show in the world.Needless to say, after that I was hooked. I went and got a Cannibal from my local dealer and quickly got parts made for it to more suit my riding style. John Howell and Adam Campbell at ATV Action got a hold of the news and did a story and photo shoot on it, (I even made their cover).
I ended up racing it at half of the Clear Channel Stadium events but about half way through the series things got really interesting. I had always heard about the Indy Dealer Expo but never attended it. I asked around and got a pass from one of my sponsors, snagged Wes Miller’s hotel room after he changed his plans to shoot in Africa for H-5 instead.
It ended up being a great opportunity. I caught up with a lot of people that I had dealt with on the phone and never met in person plus I talked with companies that I was interested in aligning myself with.
Somehow between sharing the hotel room with John Pellan, and talking to sponsors that wanted more bang for their sponsorship buck – the wild idea of racing all the GNCCs and GNC came up. Since the GNCs got pushed to a whopping 15 rounds and the GNCCs were close to that many as well – my 2002 program would be the most grueling ever, not to mention the fact that I live farther away than just about everyone I would be racing against.
Nothing came together right away. To be honest we about called it off when too many potential sponsors couldn’t commit in time for the first GNCC in Florida. Basically we winged it with hopes that they would sign on while the season got underway. I quit my job, (sorry Steve O. I didn’t enjoy leaving you hanging), went and got a Blaze the next day from ALBA Action Sports in Poway CA, mounted up some KENDA tires, hurriedly threw my entire garage into my box van and left the next morning at 6am by myself. Destination – Okeechobee, FL. 47 hours later I arrived in Orlando FL to pick up JP from the airport, where I pretty much fell over from complete road trip exhaustion. Only a half hour into my unconsciousness, JP got me on staggering feet and we hauled ass to the track to make it their in time to go over the never before started or ridden Blaze before practice.
I never raced anything close to what the GNCCs had in store for me. It’s extremely tight at the GNCCs – kind of too tight as I would later find out the hard way. After leading the new Pro Production class and actually running for the overall, I hit a tree and did some series damage to the poor brand new Blaze.
If you’ve got this far, you should have an idea of why my column is called “Miles”. I think it fits, don’t you? With all the miles I’ll be logging there is sure to be some interesting stories that should fit nicely into this column, many come to mind, like the time JP and I just about got shot and robbed in Atlanta.
That’s all for now, I need to get back on the road. As the song goes “I’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there – I’m going to do what they say can’t be done”.
I love GNCC racing. It’s even more fun than I thought it would be.
