As Halloween approaches this is an eerie time of year. There is a lot of darkness and cold. There seems to be a lot of unknown lurking all around. And believe it nor not, it dawned on me that this must be our ATVMX Halloween season and Trick-or-Treat is about to get underway. Surely something has got to start happening.

As I mentioned I spoke at length today with factory supported Yamaha rider Thomas Brown. Perhaps Thomas has been about the only real news we have had this off-season and still things are pretty quiet there. Thomas stated that things were going well and he was busy working on some things for his new program and he would have plenty to share in the near future.

Thomas said after the season he went north to Pennsylvania. He said he spent some time with his girlfriend and kind of relaxed and wound down from an intense season. He said though he wasn’t battling for the title that he was still battling to maintain the number two spot with Joel Hetrick. Thomas said he pushed hard to the very end closing up some ground about mid-season but struggle in the muddy conditions at Loretta’s, which ultimately ended with Joel taking the spot.

One thing that was on Thomas Brown’s mind was the epic championship battle waging between 5-Time GNCC Champ Chris Borich and the young Walker Fowler who sits tied in points heading into the final round of GNCC Racing. He said he was friends with both riders but was pulling for his Yamaha teammate Fowler to bring home the upset and the championship.

Brown also stated he was excited and curious to see how his former boss Chad Wienen would fair at the upcoming Ironman GNCC he is slated to attend. Thomas said he has full on respect for the woods guys. He said he raced the Ironman himself once under perfect conditions but had no idea how brutal it could be. He said he ran 2^nd for the first 25 minutes dropping to 5^th then all the way back to 56^th before the races end. He said he wishes Chad well but if didn’t do so well that then Chad would get 57^th place so he could always tease him he did one better. Obviously he and Chad are still good friends and the move was healthy all the way around for both them and possibly the sport in the end. Why you may say? Because Chad can help other riders like he has helped Thomas and help continue to grow our sport.

Be watching my Quad Radio Facebook page and the conversation with Thomas Brown will be posted there.

Now let’s check in with Ken “working in the woodshed turning bowels” Hill:

Thanks Rodney, 

It is kind of funny, Rodney can hit me up on messenger and we can discuss things like there is no shortage of information for us to write about each week during the off-season. I haven't figured that out yet but I will give it some more thought although I think it relates to us being able to chat but unable to bring those thoughts to you all in a way that works for this type of medium. 

Now speaking of Rodney, I might as well include him in this deal about introducing him as I have others in the series. Introduce? Seriously? Everyone knows Rodney!

Humor me a bit because there are so many people that have no clue who that is but they know his voice as he commands the microphone at our events 99% of the time. He is best known for his infamous "10 seconds" call at the GNCC races and it is his signature war cry! You will also recognize him from several episodes of the LIVE RacerTV shows where he handles that duty like a boss from both ATVMX and GNCC rounds. 

I found out that he used to be on the radio and had a morning show. His name was Pork Chop or T-Bone, he relayed the story late at night and I just recall it was a cut of meat and not which one he was. Even falling asleep, Rodney can carry a conversation and keep that deep tone as his years of running his gums never ends fortunately for us! If you get a chance, ask him about it, you will be laughing at his tales from his days of radio stardom! 

So social media and press releases are still pretty scarce these days. Our series champion Chad Wienen released an image of a Wienen Motorsports Yamaha all done up for XC racing and as far as we know, he will be lined up on the front row at the final round in Indiana. If he runs as strong as he did in 2013 when we had mud race after mud race, he should do well. I do not think I have ever seen him run in the woods so it should be fun to watch. 

Everyone must have been getting their year end awards as social media lit up last week with images of plaques and awards and that was great to see. You all work hard to earn those things and show a lot of pride when showing them to the world! I am also starting to see the "I miss racing" posts and we are right there with you, sort of. As I have relayed in past Site-laps, the season never really ends for the staff but we love racing so we feel your pain.