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Race Report: Round 3 GNCC Series, Steel Creek
Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: Moose, Parts Unlimited, Honda
Bike: Honda CRF450X
Round 3 of the GNCC series was held at Steel Creek, North Carolina. This venue features some steep hill climbs and descents. The ground is hard pack with a lot of chop.
We were greeted with record temperatures of 30'/85F making a change from last year when snow was drifting down as we watched the Saturday quad race.
Off the line I got a bad start and had a lot of work to do to regain any contact with the leaders up front. I pushed a little too hard on lap 1 and suffered bad arm pump for most of lap 2.
I got up to about 10th place but there was a gap of about a minute and a half to the guys in front of me. With the track being so rough and the sun pounding down many guys began to drop off the pace as the race wore on.
About half way through the race I had a terrible collision with a photographer. I was taking a line through some trees and he was kneeling down looking through his camera. I had committed to taking this line and as soon as I realized he was on my line, I hit the picks as hard as possible.
At the last second I swerved to miss him, but at the same instant he realized he was in trouble, he brought the camera down from his face and made a desperate dive out of the way. They bad thing was that he dove in the same direction that I was swerving.
We collided pretty hard and he was sent flying. I felt bad for hitting the guy and it was hard to refocus on the race.
As the 2 lap board came out I got a pit-board from Katherine that I was gaining on the guys in front and I had narrowed the gap to 50 seconds. I tried to put the impact behind me and pushed on. I caught local favorite Jesse Robinson, making the pass stick on the last lap. Moved up to 8th.
I learned after the race the photographer was Jason Hooper. I would like to offer my sincere apologies to Jason for the accident.
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
