JG Off Road /
GEICO Powersports GNCC Racing Team Race Report
Wiseco John Penton
GNCC - Millfield, OH - Round 8
Millfield, OH (6/11/2009) -
Round 8 of the Can Am GNCC Series was the weekend
of redemption for the JG Off Road / GEICO / Monster
Energy Kawasaki team in Millfield, OH. The weather
was hot and the team even hotter - after a rocky
finish in Somerset, PA just 3 weeks ago, the team
was fired up to get back up to the top.
Jennifer Albright headed out onto the just about
perfect track Saturday morning on a mission for
a podium finish and got what she was looking for.
Albright had a good start, going into the woods
in the top 5. By the end of lap 1 she muscled
her way up to 4th. Her husband Phil and team manager
JT Bennett pulled her in on lap 2 for a splash
of gas and had learned that Jennifer's brakes
were fading on her. Hoping they were just a little
hot, they sent her back out and on her way. Gretchen
assured Phil that "brakes just slow you down"
and that Jen would be fine. And fine she was,
making up yet another position and finishing the
day in 3rd place (14th O/A). Jennifer has moved
into the top 3 in the points standings for the
year.
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.
Team manager JT Bennett took to the track first
on Sunday morning, racing the Sportsman class.
JT was 4th into the woods. By the end of the second
lap JT had found himself up to 3rd place and moving
up quickly. Having fun on the technical course,
Bennett made his way up to 2nd place and settled
in for the rest of the race, finishing in 2nd
in the class and overall.
Once the green flag flew in the afternoon, the
GEICO Kawasaki's took off and they weren't looking
back. As announcer Rodney Tomlin stated, starter,
Ricky Towery barely had time to get out of Paul
Whibley's way once he threw the flag. Taking the
$250 MotorcycleUSA,com holeshot award for the
day, Whibley got out front and stayed there for
the entire day. Jarrett, getting a mid-pack start,
put his head down and was on Whibley's tail before
the end of lap one. "I got a decent start
and worked my way up to third couple miles into
it," Jarrett said. "Glenn was actually
in front of us and he crashed and then Paul and
I slowly pulled away from everybody. Maybe a few
miles to the end I crashed with a lapper and crashed
again and I settled for second. I didn't do anything
to throw the race away and I'm happy with second."
After a wheel to wheel battle all day between
the teammates,
Whibley and Jarrett took 1st and 2nd respectively,
putting a couple of minutes on 3rd place, Suzuki's
Josh Strang. This finish puts Whibs back on top
of the points lead. "It was pretty cool to
win," Whibley said. "It's been a tough
year. I've had a few problems this year with some
bad luck so this was a good race. I feel pretty
good about taking the win. It's good to be back
on the top again." Jarrett's finish bumps
him up into 4th place in the standings.
Scotty Watkins also got a good jump off the start
and headed into the woods with the lead pack.
For the first 3 laps, the top 4 riders swapped
positions back and forth, but the KTM duo of Kailub
Russell and Cory Buttrick seemed to have found
a higher gear and made it hard to chase down.
This left Watkins and Jason Thomas battling for
the 3rd place position, leaving Thomas the winner
of that duel. Scotty took a 4th place class finish
and 9th overall. This finish holds Watkins steady
in 11th place overall in the points standings.
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.
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,
HR
Motorsports, Ohlins USA and BRP
- Scotty Watkins - FMF and Shoei
And of course a huge thank you to our fans.
The GNCC series will continue on June 27th and
28th for the MotorcycleUSA.com Snowshoe GNCC in
Snowshoe, WV. The Millfield GNCC will air on the
VS network July 25th at 2:00PM (ATV) and August
1st at 2:30PM
(Bikes). For a full listing of the TV schedule,
visit: http://www.gnccracing.com/pages/gncc-television.
To learn more about JG Off Road Racing, please
visit www.GEICOgarage.com.
www.gnccracing.com
122 Vista Del Rio Drive,
Morgantown, WV 26508
304-284-0084
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