JG Off Road / GEICO GNCC Race Report

MotorcycleUSA.com Snowshoe GNCC – Snowshoe, WV

The 9th round of GNCC racing and final stop before the summer break took the JG Off Road / GEICO Powersports team to “almost Heaven” high atop Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia.  It was a paramount race weekend for the team with the points lead on the line and a $10,000 overall bonus as the bounty. 

Jennifer Albright was on the first line of this weekend’s modified start which was a live engine start on blacktop and a maximum of 5 riders per line.  Albright was came through the first lap in 2nd place and held a comfortable pace for the first 3 laps.  In the midst of the 3rd lap she ran into some issues with her rear shock and battled her machine for the final lap, salvaging a 4th place finish (16th O/A) for the day.  Going into the summer break, Jennifer is sitting in 3rd place in the points race.

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.

JT Bennett got off to a quick start on the 13 mile morning race track, after starting on the 20th row, he was the 4th bike through the finish line putting him in the overall lead (time adjusted) on the first lap.  Bennett, enjoying the track kept a consistent lap time through the 3 lap race finishing 3rd overall.  JT commented after the race, “It was an awesome course, probably the best one we’ve had in a while – I want to thank Racer Productions for that.”

The riders of the afternoon pro race were challenged with the toughest track of the season.  A double loop that totaled almost 27 miles was filled with mud bogs and exhilarating up hills.  Whibley and Jarrett lined up on the first row and Watkins was slightly behind them on the 3rd row.  Whibley, who had fallen all the way back to 7th place at one point of the race after battling some suspension problems and running into some bad luck on the track, was able to put his head down and live up to his reputation as “The Badger” working his way up to a 2nd place overall finish and a $5,000 MotorcycleUSA.com bonus.  "It was a long day for me," Whibley said. "I couldn't get up with them today. I managed to come in second and get some points. Jarrett and I got stuck in a mud hole for awhile and Josh passed us by. I never saw him again."  This finish keeps Paul in the points lead with just 4 races to go.

Jimmy Jarrett was running in 3rd place for most of the day, fell down to 6th after getting hung up in a mud hole.  Working hard to gain back some time and positions, Jarrett almost caught up to Charlie Mullins for the 4th place finish but just fell short and captured a 5th place finish on the day.  Jarrett’s finish moves him up to 4th place in the points going into the summer break.

Scott Watkins worked hard all day, with positions in the XC-2 class swapping all day.  Watkins found himself down to 6th place at one point and up to 4th by the end.  In the last few turns of the race, Scott went for the pass on 3rd but unfortunately went down, slightly injuring his wrist and knee.  Scott said after a few days rest he should be good as new.  This finish keeps Watkins in the 4th place spot 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 is now on summer break and will continue on September 12th & 13th  for the Can Am Unadilla in New Berlin, NY. The Snowshoe GNCC will air on the VS network August 8th at 2:30PM (ATV) and August 15th 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.

For photos from the event: JG Off Road Snowshoe Gallery