2005 GNC Glen Helen National Preview & Live Coverage

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With the 2005 GNC Season ready to being tomorrow morning at Glen Helen Raceway just north San Bernardino, CA. I think this is a terrific time to give a peak behind the scenes of what has been going on out west for the past two weeks in preperation for this weekends big event.

I arrived in Arizona on Friday the January 21st to participate and cover the open round of the WORCS series, and I spent the rest of the week traveling across Arizona and California putting together some incredible stories that I will be sharing over the coming months.

One of the first places I visited was Lonestar Racing, which is located in downtown Phoenix, AZ. While, I was checking the manufacturing facility Jason Luburgh & Keith Little stopped in to drop off some parts and put in some orders for parts they needed for GNC National that was only two weeks away.

Needless to say, Dan Fisher, commented laughingly "nothing like waiting to the last minute."

With the earlier start to the GNC series and the greater number of racing oppurtunities available many of the top pro riders no longer even get a break away from the sport over the winter months.

Left to Right
Keith Little, Dan Fisher, and Jason Luburgh

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From Lonestar, I headed west to Southern California where I stopped in to see what was going on at Duncan Racing.

When I arrived, I was immediately greeted with a box full of Stock Honda 450R parts with “Doug Eichner MX Bike” written on the Outside.

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Once I walked inside the shop area, I found an almost completely bare 450R frame with only a few aftermarket parts installed. I was informed that they were just getting start with building Doug Eichner’s GNC MX machine and had plenty of time to get it ready with the National race over 10 days away.

Last year, with the Honda just being released, they were forced to build the 450R from the ground up overnight before the race, so this year gave them plenty of breathing room plus they already know which setups work and don’t from over a year of extensive testing.

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The aftermarket parts for the Honda were scattered around it waiting to be attached.

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Duncan Racing Sales Manager, Lenny Duncan (left) and Duncan Mechanic, Jason Duncan (Right – Ironically no relation to the Duncan Family) began installing the Roll Design A-arms as I went to check out Tavis Cain completed GNC National YFZ450

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The Duncan team had Tavis Cain's YFZ450 race ready with some of the finest aftermarket addon parts available.

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Tavis Cain was still at home in Northern California practicing for the Nationals over at Dana Creech's Track

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As I headed up the California Coast, I couldn't resist stopping in and checking out the Alba Action Facility.

Alba Action has really stepped up their ATV racing program over the past year by signing both Jeremy Schell and Chris Borich to their race team, which already included well know riders Kory Ellis and Traci Cecco.

Kory Ellis Pro Quads Series YFZ was at the Alba Facility getting prepared for the Phoenix, AZ round the coming Weekend.

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Kory Ellis’s GNC Pro National machine was further along than Doug Eichner's Honda, but is was still far from race ready.

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When I stopped in to See Pro Armor, they were designing the new Yamaha GYT-R bumpers for Factory Yamaha Riders Bill Ballance and Kory Ellis.

Kory has been sponsored by Blingstar and even had his own signature bumper, but after becoming a factory Yamaha rider, he was asked to run the Yamaha GYT-R products instead, and ofcourse, he didn't argue.