JG Off Road /
GEICO Powersports GNCC Racing Team Race Report
Acerbis
Loretta Lynn's GNCC
- Hurricane Mills, TN - Round
5
Hurricane Mills, TN (4/21/2009) -
The JG Off Road / GEICO Powersports / Monster
Energy Kawasaki team was paid a visit to Loretta
Lynn's Dude Ranch for Round #5 of the Can Am GNCC
Series. The weather was perfect for racing on
Saturday, with cool temperatures and overcast
skies. The area had seen some rain prior in the
week, keeping the dust down for the ATV's. Sunday
brought a whole new story as the skies opened
up and drenched the area, leading to soupy, slimy
mud for the bikes.
Jennifer was off to a good start coming through
in 3rd place at the end of lap one and with one
great battle ahead of her. Throughout the course
of the next 3 laps, 2nd through 5th freight trained
around the course. Midway through lap 4 Jennifer
had found herself in a turn by turn, position
swapping contention with Angel Atwell for 2nd
place. Unfortunately for Albright, she had a slight
run in with a lapped rider, which cost her a few
positions. Jennifer finished 5th (7th O/A) for
the day. This finish keeps Jennifer in the 5th
place position in the points standings, just 3
points out of the Top 3.
Sunday morning brought with it heavy rain in
the morning. could it be because mud rider JT
Bennett was up all night doing his rain dance?
It must have been because low and behold, the
beloved #33 showed up on the starting line of
the morning race. When rumors of rain started
on Saturday, JT said that if it rained, he would
be racing and he kept his word. Bennett raced
the Sportsmans class and by the end of lap one
had settled in to a 2nd place spot. JT had to
take goggles every lap, which was his only complaint,
as he smiled his way around the track all 5 laps
to take a 2nd place overall finish at the checkers.
By the start of the afternoon race the rain had
ended, but the damage was already done. The mud
was soupy, slimy, and everywhere. All three of
the GEICO riders got off the line without a hitch
and the race was on. The end of lap one had Jimmy
and Paul up in the Top 5 and who was that was
just announced as the OVERALL leader. none other
than the #15 of Scotty Watkins. Watkins, Whibley,
and Jarrett are all strong mud riders and had
the chance to prove it. As the day wore on, the
guys all seemed to get stronger, however during
lap 4 Whibley found a bit of bad luck when his
master link broke and he lost his chain. He had
to push his bike back a little over a half mile
to get back to the pits. Luckily the crew caught
wind of Whibley's misfortune and had a chain ready
to go. Although he lost some time between going
back to the pits, getting fixed up, and going
back to the point of the track he left, he was
able to battle his way back up through the ranks
and pull out a 7th place (11th O/A) finish. In
the midst of all of the happenings in the GEICO
pits, Jimmy Jarrett stepped up his pace. Jarrett
who was down to 5th place at one point in the
race, kicked into high gear in the last lap chasing
down Strang and Mullins. Before the checkers flew,
Jimmy was able to catch Mullins and take a 2nd
place overall finish. Scotty Watkins had a strong
ride the entire day, enjoying the mud and making
no mistakes, Watkins took a 1st place XC-2 finish
and an astonishing 4th place overall.
With 5 rounds under their belts, the points standing
are: Whibley - 2nd (XC1), Jarrett - 6th (XC1),
and Watkins - 4th (XC2)..
The GNCC series will continue on May 2nd &
3rd for the Weekend Warrior GNCC in Lafayette,
TN. The Acerbis Loretta Lynn's GNCC will air on
the VS network June 13th at 2:30PM (ATV) and June
20th at 2:30PM (Bikes). For a full
listing of the TV schedule, visit: http://www.gnccracing.com/pages/gncc-television.
For photos from the event, visit the JG
Off Road Gallery
Jennifer would like to
thank of her sponsors:
GEICO, MSR, Lojak Yamaha, MAXXIS, HMF, HiPer Technology,
Rekluse, GT Thunder, Spider Grips, Precision,
XFR, Cycle Gear, Scott, Flexx, CV4, IMS, ProGraph-X,
Triple X Motorsports, PowerMadd, Moto Pro Training,
and DP Brakes.
The team would like to
extend a special thanks to all of their sponsors:
GEICO, Monster Energy Kawasaki, Moose, Pirelli,
Tsubaki, IMS, Works Connection, EBC Brakes, Silkolene,
Renthal, Pro Moto Billet, Enduro Engineer, PG
Graphics, and Acerbis.
In addition, the guys
would like to thank the following sponsors:
- Paul Whibley -
Leo Vince, Shoei, Smith, G-2, Vortex Ignitions,
WER, and CTI
- Jimmy Jarrett -
FMF, Arai, Motion Pro, Cytomax, Applied,
UFO, Twin Air, and BRP
- Scotty Watkins
- FMF and Shoei
- And of course a huge thank
you to our fans.
www.gnccracing.com
122 Vista Del Rio Drive,
Morgantown, WV 26508
304-284-0084
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