JG Off Road /
GEICO Powersports GNCC Racing Team Race Report
Weekend
Warrior Titan's GNCC
- Lafeyette, TN - Round 6
Lafayette, TN (5/3/2009) - Round
6 of the Can Am GNCC Series took the JG Off Road
/ GEICO / Monster Energy Kawasaki team back down
to the hills of Tennessee for the Weekend Warrior
Titan (later re-named the Titanic) in Lafayette.
Unrelenting rain drenched the area the entire
weekend, leading to an underwater, muddy track.
Jennifer had a good jump off the start, heading
into the woods in the top five and by the end
of the first lap had moved into the 2nd place
position. On the 2nd lap Albright came in for
a splash of gas and to get new gloves and goggles
and was quickly back out on the track to charge
for the lead. Throughout the course of the day,
Albright, Cecco, and Atwell swapped positions,
but midway through the last lap, Atwell ran into
some mechanical issues, leaving the battle between
Jennifer and Traci. At one point, Jennifer was
able to take the lead, but got hung up with only
a few miles to go. Albright took the checkers
in 2nd place for the day (4th O/A). This finish
moves Jennifer up to 4th in the point’s
standings, just a mere 2 points out of 3rd.
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.
Sunday morning came around and so did rumors
of squeezing 2 races into one. As the rain continued
to pour down in buckets, Racer Productions considered
combining the morning 2 hour race and the afternoon
3 hour race into one, 2 hour race; instead they
kept the normal schedule but shortened both races
by one hour in fear that the track just would
not hold up.
JT Bennett was smiling from ear to ear again
when he saw the mud and was back out on the track
for what we were calling Mudfest Round 2. Bennett
aboard his trusty Lojak Yamaha YZ250, grabbed
the hole shot and settled into a good pace for
the remainder of the race. As he came around each
lap he would just shake off the goggles that Gretchen
was offering and laugh as he went past. On the
podium he was asked why he fell off pace a bit
on the last lap – JT laughed and said that
Cory (McDonald) was riding well and didn’t
think he could catch him, so when he saw trail
boss Jeff Russell out on the trail looking lonely
he stopped and chatted with him for a minute.
He also took a moment to thank his sponsors: GEICO,
MSR, Lojaks, EBC Brakes, Rekluse, his wife Gretchen,
and everyone else in the pits. Bennett ended up
2nd overall for the day.
The flag flew for the afternoon race and so did
the GEICO boys. Jimmy Jarrett grabbed the $250
motorcyceUSA.com hole shot with Paul Whibley and
Josh Strang right on his rear wheel. The three
swapped positions back and forth for the first
couple of laps, but during lap 3, Whibley regained
the lead and wasn’t letting go of it and
Jimmy Jarrett wasn’t about to let Paul out
of his sights. The GEICO pit crew was ready for
the guys on lap 3 as they pulled them in for clean
goggles and gloves, a shot of gas and a quick
spray from the pressure washer to keep the radiators
clean. The GEICO teammates put on a hard charge
for the last two laps and took the top 2 spots
on the podium. Whibley taking the top spot on
the box also regains the points lead with 7 races
left. Jarrett hold on to a 5th place spot in the
point’s standings.
Scotty Watkins got off the line in and into the
woods in the 3rd spot, but by the end of the first
lap was in the overall lead, giving a thumbs up
as he rode past the pits. Watkins battled with
Kailub Russell for a good portion of the day and
ended up taking a 2nd place finish in the XC2
class, and 5th overall. Scotty currently stands
in 3rd place in the class and 11th overall in
the point’s race.
Team manager JT Bennett couldn’t be more
proud of the team commenting, “I cannot
thank the guys enough for their hard work on and
off the track. They’ve been working really
hard and it’s paying off.” Gretchen
added “Although we’re all working
hard and putting a lot of time in, we’re
all still having a lot of fun, which is what the
races are all about.” JT also wanted to
thank the Racer Productions crew for the outstanding
job they did maintaining all the races throughout
the day and getting them started on time. For
anyone who wasn’t there, it’s hard
to describe how bad the conditions were.
The team would like to extend a special thanks
to all of their sponsors: GEICO, Monster Energy
Kawasaki, Moose, Pirelli, Rekluse, Tsubaki, IMS,
Works Connection, EBC Brakes, Silkolene, Renthal,
Pro Moto Billet, Enduro Engineer, PowersportGrafx,
and Acerbis.
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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