Thomas Brown took the inaugural Indiana ATV National win in 2015 with a 3-1 score over Chad Wienen’s 2-2 and Josh Upperman’s 4-3. As far as the upcoming event he is excited and having won there in the past he is eager to do it again. Thomas has also seen some success this season with two podiums and a top five. He is rather excited to continue the season next weekend and says he “Now with one round shorter it gives me and everybody else on the Pro line that wants a championship less time to make up ground on Chad. Some might say I don’t have much of a shot but look at Tomac at the beginning of the Supercross series. The first four rounds were really bad and he turned it around and had the red plate with two races to go. Anything can happen and now I have two moths less of an opportunity.” This all signals to me that he is hungry and is really expecting wins to start coming. It is mindsets like this that give you the confidence to do so. 

As far as the off weekend for Thomas he was able to make the best of it. He said “It was good a good couple days off from riding. Brandy and I went down to Texas Hill Country and floated the Guadalupe River. A friend got us a nice place to stay down in a small town by the river. Then we did a little sight seeing in Austin on our way home. Of course I had to throw some work some work in. I finished the weekend off by getting started on building a new race track.” 

Chad Wienen also took advantage of the off weekend and went home to Illinois to recharge and have a little fun. He told me, “We went Moral hunting which is a wild mushroom that are popular in the Midwest. It only grows for about a 3-4 week span in the spring. There were six of us out looking and we found about four pounds of them. We ate a bunch of them on Sunday with the family.” He did also say, “I’m bummed we are not going to High Point to check out the new layout but we are going to make the most of the down time with family and the Florida weather. It’s back to the grind in our normal race prep format. I am looking forward to the Ironman. It feels like a long break but I have been taking advantage of it.” 

Josh Upperman who took third at the first ever Ironman ATVMX race has seen some positive results and steps forward this season. A few changes in the new program seem to be working out well for him and he is hopeful of a strong finish in Indiana. He told me he is back home in Ohio and used the off weekend to train and has been working on his track. He said he didn’t do anything fun but did say he used some of the time to organize his shop from being away in Florida for so long. He said, “I didn’t get much riding in due to the rain but I have been training like crazy off the bike. However, I would rather be riding.” 

Joel Hetrick on the other hand may have seen as much of a momentum stand still as anyone. This was to be his home race at High Point and said, “The break was a change of pace for sure! I would love to be racing though. I’m not a fan of long breaks!” He said he used the time “...riding really. I did some wedding stuff with Carlie last weekend and that was cool. We registered at Macy’s and did some work at my property getting ready to start to build the house soon.” 

One rider that is real happy to be looking forward to going to the Ironman is Jeffrey Rastrelli and the idea of a nine round 10 round series does not hurt his feelings. As most probably know, Rastrelli was injured after Alabama and was out for this past weekend anyway. So it was a blessing for him in many ways. He said, “the off weekend was nice considering what happened to me making me not able to race. I went to Fort Wilderness Campground in Disney and relaxed.” He also said he hopes to be back to riding this weekend and return for in Indiana. 

If you are like me then you may be wondering just exactly what happened. He told me he was practicing at his home track when “the ground wire on the four wheeler broke on the face of a jump and sent me over the bars. Then the bike smashed me into the face of the next double causing a massive concussion and non-displaced skull fracture.” It’s not real clear for sure when he will be able to ride for sure but he is remaining optimistic. 

I hope you spent your time well this weekend. I spent some time with the kids and did some kayaking myself, which was a needed break in routine. I hate seeing that High Point was finally cancelled, but the big picture is the big picture. And as far as the amount of rounds, it’s not a huge deal as we have seen seasons of only nine rounds for amateurs and pros, so it shouldn’t be too devastating in the grand scheme of things. 

That’ll do it for me for now. Let’s check in with Gloop's Loop and with Ken “I’m so productive” Hill. Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs. 

In The Loop with Gloop:

Keeping up with Ken Hill:

So I sit here thinking if I should even bring up the latest change to the schedule thanks in large part to those who contacted the series and due to back-to- back race weekends, helped get the High Point round canceled. Social media, no doubt, played a huge part in this as it blew up, calling for the lynching of those responsible for the rescheduling. Am I upset people called in voicing their options one way or another? Of course not, communication is the key, so how can one blame another for getting involved? No matter which side you came down on in all of this, working with the series is paramount to growth or even the continuation of the ATVMX, so I applaud those who made their voice heard. I could rail on about conspiracy theories that popped up in posts, or the dissatisfaction with the final outcome, but that really helps no one and just shows that the keyboard can run wild with falsehoods and sway opinion based on no facts. However, that’s a topic for another day.