Welcome once again to the weekly rambling of randomness from the offroad racing world. If you’ve never checked out Chicken and Waffles before, well, I just said what it is. So let’s drop the random introduction and get right into it.

This past weekend was packed full of offroad action. Round 3 of the 2011 National Enduro series was held in Kalgary, Texas. From the sounds of things, it was a pretty good race. One of the things the riders talked about was the heat. Apparently it was pushing 90 degrees at the race. In the end though, it was Charlie Mullins taking the win. Husaberg rider Nick Fahringer took a career best second place overall and Cory Buttrick rounded out the podium. Mike Lafferty was in the running as well but had some mechanical issues and didn’t make it to the finish. Russell Bobbitt finished fourth which was good enough to hold down his series points lead. He’s currently sitting 8 points ahead of Charlie Mullins.

In the southeast, the Mid-East series held a rare Saturday race at Antioch Speedway in Morganton, North Carolina. This event is held at a dirt car track and while the laps were short, the racing was still pretty good. Paul Whibley would take the overall win ahead of Steward Baylor and Jordan Ashburn. Then if that win wasn’t enough, Whibs raced the NCHSA race in Taylorsville, North Carolina the next day. He had an early challenge from Jimmy Jarrett but Jimmy would drop out of the race with mechanical problems. Whibs cruised to take another win. Two races and two wins in twenty-four hours shows why Paul Whibley is one of the gnarliest dude’s in the offroad world.

Looking ahead to this weekend, we’ve got the Big Buck GNCC coming up in Union, South Carolina. Heading into the fourth round of the series, Josh Strang holds down a three point lead over Charlie Mullins. Last race saw that dramatic upset in the last corner as Mullins went down and Strang cruised by for the win. Strang will be looking to carry the momentum from the Steele Creek win, and Mullins will be out to gain his points lead back. It could definitely get interesting!

Another rider to watch will be Kailub Russell. He’s finished third and fifth overall from the XC2 class at this race, so he could definitely be a threat for the overall win. I also can’t forget the other front runners who are hungry for a win. Cory Buttrick, Chris Bach, Paul Whibley and Nathan Kanney are just a few of the riders who have been up front at some point so far this season, and they definitely have to be hungry for a win.

Taking a look back at the history of Big Buck, when the XC1 class takes off at 1pm on Sunday, there will be only two riders who have ever won at Big Buck. I won’t divulge who the two riders are at the moment because it could be some cool info for later, but check back next week and I’ll be sure to include it. Another interesting fact about this race is there has only be one rider to win it 3 times. It was actually the first three years they had the event. Again, that’s something I’ll save for later, and I’d also like to give a thanks to Hank Turner for his help on some of the race winners.

Big Buck was added to the GNCC schedule in 1997, and since then it’s been one of the most popular races in the series. In the 14 year history of this event, there have been 9 different winners but only 4 of them have been repeat winners, and only 1 has won it three times.

This race is held in an area that is sort of a hotbed for offroad racing in South Carolina. The SETRA Little Brown Jug Enduro is one of the oldest enduro events in the country, and while it’s location has changed over the years, it has been held in the same general area as Big Buck for a number of years. Additionally there’s a NCHSA event held on the opposite side of Union from Big Buck as well as Mid-East and SETRA hare scrambles near-by.

This area is pretty unique. While it’s fairly flat there are the occasional elevation changes and some of them can be pretty steep. The soil is fairly unique as well in that it’s a clay that has a bit of a sand mix to it. When it’s dry it tends to get really silty, and when it’s wet it can get really slick. Larger trees don’t tend to grow close together here but the smaller ones seem to grow right on top of each other. This can make for some true single track trails in some places.

All in all I believe it will be a great weekend for racing at Big Buck. Storms moved across the southeast last night and this morning but the rest of the week is forecast to be sunny with temperatures in the 70s and 80s. Come race weekend we’re currently looking at 85 and 86 for the high’s, so with this being one of the first true “hot” races of the year, it could make things a little more interesting.

No matter what though, I’m definitely looking forward to it and can’t wait to see who comes out on top. That’s going to do it for now though. As always, if you have anything you’d like to see shared on the site, just let me know! jbolton@offroadjunkies.com will be your best bet.

Until next week, stay goony my friends.