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Race Report: Round 6 GNCC Series, John Penton
Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: Parts Unlimited, Moose, Honda
Bike: Honda CRF450X
Cresting a hill on the drive into the John Penton GNCC on Saturday revealed a thick dust hanging in the air. The quads raced around the Sunday Creek MX track that served as the start and focal point of the GNCC course sending up blinding clouds of soil. I was hoping for rain but it never came.
Sunday was a welcome relief with the temperature now at a more pleasant 65f/18c and less dust was being kicked up by the morning bike race. The track crew had been working hard and had made some gains in keeping the dust down around the MX track.
From the start it was destined to be a tough day. Being in the back of the pack at the start and trying to see through the dust was hard work.
I managed to get up into about 10th on lap 1. I had a minor off-track excursion when I went off-line and over a bank into a mud hole. The grips were all covered in mud and slime but I only lost 1 position which was lucky.
The track was 11 miles on the first lap but was pushed out to a 14 mile lap for the 2nd lap and the rest of the race.
I think that this was a measure to lessen the effects of the dust and it worked great as the lapped riders were spread out and not encountered until late in the 3rd lap.
We gassed at the end of lap 3, as it was to be a 5 lap race. I had caught Glen Kearney several times during the race but always lost contact again, as we enter some of the real dusty sections and had struggled to find anywhere to try and pass.
Finally on the 4th lap I squared up a corner out in a dusty field and shot past and, with Glenn now in my dust, he couldn't stay with me.
Later that lap I passed Jenks and Robinson in the pits as they stopped for a splash of gas. By the end of the race I had moved up to 6th.
Post race I was talking to Scott about how the race had gone. He mentioned that, off the start, the last 3 bikes off the line were Garrett Edmisten, David Knight and me.
The three of us were the only 450s on the pro line and we all had a terrible start. Knight managed to move up to 4th, I made it up to 6th and Edmisten managed 12th. In the thick dust and limited visability we were lucky to get that far.
Thanks to the following sponsors for their support:
Moose,
Parts Unlimited,
Honda,
Pro Honda oils,
RG3,
WER,
EK chains,
Sunstar,
Pirelli,
Powersport Grafx,
Braking,
CTi,
Alpinestar,
Wiseco,
Thumper racing,
Cycra,
Smith,
Honda Riders Club America,
Tire Balls,
Tag,
IMS,
Motion Pro,
Moto SR,
Stringfellows
