Whibley, Strang, Jarrett Lead Suzuki GNCC Sweep at Ohio Mudder
DuVall Again in XC2

Strang, Whibley and Jarrett make it a Suzuki sweep.

Story by Jason Weigandt
Photos by Jason Hooper

Millfield

, Ohio (May 11, 2008) ï¿Â½“ This one was as bad as bad can be. The Wiseco John Penton GNCC usually features dust or mud, but past mud races at this track were nothing in comparison to the 2008 version. The course was already pretty slick for Saturdays ATV race, but then it got really, really bad after it rained all night on Saturday, and then rained even harder on Sunday. After the Youth riders trudged through a shortened track, the skies opened up during the 10 a.m. morning race. That race was cut down a lap. By then, the afternoon riders were all smiles. You’re supposed to convince yourself to have fun when conditions are bad, and the top GNCC racers were doing their best acting jobs.

The muddy Ohio conditions had many calling Jimmy Jarrett’s name as a contender for the win, as the FMF Suzuki #4 had won this race eight years ago under the same conditions. Then Jimmy grabbed one of his customary lightning starts to collect the $100 Racer X Holeshot Award. His teammate Charlie Mullins was right behind him, and David Knight got a rare good start and started pressing Mullins. Knight soon hit the ground, though, as did Jarrett, and eventually Paul Whibley had the lead. You knew the race was bad with Whibs out frontï¿Â½” he never leads the races early on. Even crazier, Jordan Ashburn, of the 250 A class, ended the first lap in third overall, and he was in the same spot on lap two.

Jarrett grabs the Racer X Holeshot Award.

Knight was charging so hard and hitting the rain-water filled ruts so bad that his bike started cutting out just three miles into the race. Knight loves these conditions, so he couldn’t resist having fun and hitting things hard. The Suzuki boys led the first lap, with Whibley in front of Josh Strang and Jarrett. Meanwhile in XC2, Kailub Russell had grabbed the Thumpertalk.com Holeshot Award on his Powersports GrafX KTM, but Monster Energy/Yamaha’s Josh Weisenfels led lap one. “Seinfeld” told everyone that he didn’t even expect to do even one lap under these conditions, and he ended up doing that one lap while leading the race!

At one point the rain stopped and the sun peeked out, and the course started getting worse. Knight caught up to Whibley in a run for the lead, and some “mud fleas” on the course told them which way to go. Those were bad directions, because Whibs and Knighter ended up riding into a field with nowhere to go. Strang inherited the lead and rode strong after that. In fact, it looked inevitable that the 20-year-old Australian was going to get his first GNCC win.

Strang looked like a winner.

Past the halfway point, chaos reigned as rain came down hard. Teams were pitting on every lap, taking out pressure washers and cleaning off the bikes’ radiators, seat and grips. GNCC officials elected to pull out the two-lap board early, because no one was begging for extra time in this mud race, and there was no telling how much longer the lap times were going to get.

“It was a blast to ride in these conditions,” said Knight. “It’s just that eventually the course got so bad you couldn’t tell where to go, and riders where just going every direction. Me and Whibs went up this hill, and a guy came over and said “Hey don’t go that way, it’s blocked.” So we went another way and just ended up in a field! We were lost. I came back down onto the trail and saw they guy, I gave him some grief for telling me to go the bloody wrong way!”Â

Knighter was fast--maybe too fast for the conditions.

The Red Bull KTM team had their problems to deal with. Justin Williamson was expected to put his #1 XC2 machine up front in the muddy conditions, but his engine started cutting out on the first lap. Then just as the two-lap board came out, Knight had climbed to second and looked ready to challenge Strang. He had carved a full two-minutes out of the Australian’s lead. Then Knight stopped in the pits for a pressure wash, and his bike would only reluctantly re-fire. Seconds later, Nathan Kanney came into the pits on his 250XC via a tow from a GNCC official. The KTM mechanics hustled to put in a new filter and clean out the airbox. As that was going on, a call came over the radio that Knight’s bike had stopped at the one-mile mark. He eventually got it running again, but the chase for four-straight wins was over for Knight.

As the race came to a close, the winners seemed obvious. Strang was long gone on way to an XC1 win, and Am-Pro Yamaha’s Thad DuVall had climbed to the lead in XC2. Then the checkered flag came out, and all of a sudden Whibley was in the overall lead and took the win!

Whibley rode like this to win.

“I don’t even know what happened,” said Whibley. “I thought I was in maybe third, and I got the pit board that said Josh :52, and I thought that meant he was catching me. Then I saw him behind me, and I thought “Oh no now he’s caught me.” But I guess he was ahead and I passed him somewhere. I didn’t even know.”Â

Strang was dejected having lost his chance at a first GNCC win without even knowing how or why. “Yeah it was hard to know which way to go,” said Strang. “I guess Paul must have had a different line. I don’t know. It was all good, the bike was perfect, and I was able to just keep a steady pace all day. I thought I had it.”Â

Regardless of order, the event marked a 1-2 finish for the new EFI Suzuki RM-Z450. You can’t deny that Suzuki has worked out any reliability problems from these new bikes.

Jarrett pleased the Ohio fans with third.

A whopping eleven minutes after Strang finished second, Jarrett crossed the line in third to make it a Suzuki sweep. “It was actually pretty fun,” said Jarrett. “I finally got a holeshot, people have been riding me for that all year, but then I fell. It was tough, it was as bad as anything I’ve ever seen, but I grew up trail riding in this stuff. It’s great to get all three Suzukis up here.”Â

The fourth Suzuki rider, Charlie Mullins, unfortunately dropped out of the race with a fried clutch. “I tried my best to be easy on it all day,” said Mullins. “But it didn’t work out. Right now, I’m just trying to get my eyes cleared up.”Â

Mullins ended up going to the hospital to get his eyes checked. Just about everyone had eye troubles after the race, and once the rain came down, a lot of riders elected to not even take on new goggles, since they don’t work out too well in the rain.

On the last lap, Knight had to be towed into the pits when his bike stopped running again. The KTM crew managed to get his bike running right again, but then the bike seized up in another deep water hole. The GNCC Champion waited awhile until the engine cooled enough for it to restart. A good half hour or so after the race was over, Knight crossed the finish line. Sadly, all that hard work was for naught, as Knight was later penalized a lap for outside assistance (getting towed into the pits). The same fate fell on his teammate Kanney. For Knight, it’s didn’t matter, though, since he finished fourth in the class even without his final lap counting.

Am-Pro Yamaha’s Jason Raines got his first top-five XC1 finish of the year. He was actually a lap down and ended up battling Whibley on the last lap. “Hey, that’s one less lap of wear on the bike!” said Raines.

In XC2, DuVall eventually pulled clear of the field after struggling early. “I thought it would be awesome in the mud, but I wasn’t going anywhere early on and I was over it,” said DuVall. “All of a sudden, I got to hill and I just saw the whole class there! So I knew I was back in it.”Â

 

Watkins, DuVall and Echols.

Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Scotty Watkins rode strong in his native Ohio mud, and at one point he caught DuVall and looked ready to take the lead. Eventually he settled for second, which is a solid result considering Watkins started the year on the sidelines with a broken wrist. “It was pretty bad, I was trying to stay aggressive out there,” said Watkins. “It was hard to know where you were or what was going on.”Â

Third went to a true mud specialist, Steel City Honda’s Ryan Echols. The West Virginia native finished second at the Snowshoe GNCC last year, and this time he started in dead last and bulled his way forward to get third. “I think this is the first Honda on the podium in this class,” said Echols. “I don’t know what it is with the starts, at the local races at home, it always lights on the first kick, then here, it always takes forever.”Â

GNCC Notebook:

Holeshot Awards at the Wiseco John Penton GNCC went to Jimmy Jarrett, with the $100 Racer X Holeshot Award in XC1, Kailub Russell, who took the $100 Thumpetalk.com Holeshot Award in XC2, and Brandon Higgins took the AXA Advisors $100 Holeshot Award in the morning race.

Kailub Russell dialed in the Thumpertalk.com holeshot award.

The 450 four-strokes are gaining popularity in the top ranks of GNCC racing, with the big bikes going 1-2 for the third-straight race. Most importantly, this race was a mudder, which was expected to be a bad one for the big bikes. “This new Suzuki, it feels so small, it doesn’t feel like a big bike,” said Strang. “It makes it easy, and I didn’t have any problems with the bike all day.”Â

For the fourth-straight race, Logan, Ohio’s Cory Buttrick landed the top Amateur finish overall. He took ninth overall here and won the Four-Stroke A Lites class on his Powersports GrafX KTM. His teammate Jordan Ashburn led 250 A early and ran as high as third overall, but eventually the water and mud slowed him down.

Cory B was top amateur again.

The 250 A Class went to Brad Bakken, the Open A Class went to Florida’s Ken Gilbert. Darren Bigley won 200 A, and five-time GNCC Champion Scott Summers won the Vet A class on his Husqvarna. Dennis Decker won the Senior A class.

Jordan Ashburn was third overall for the first two laps in the 250 A class.

Andrew Boggs won the Open B class, Greg Funk won the 250 B class, Scott Marlin won 200 B, and Donny Bowser won the Four-Stroke B Lites class. EJ Petcheny won Vet B and Cecil Rose topped the Senior B class.

The two-hour GNCC morning race was cut down to 90 minutes due to the rain. Dylan Johnson took the overall win ahead of Colton Anderson and Jeff Fredette. 

Steward Baylor continues to run undefeated in the Youth ranks, taking the overall win on KTM Youth Day. Fellow KTM riders Chris Meadows and Zach Nolan were second and third.

Meadows, Baylor and Nolan on the podium.

John Penton himself was on hand for the event, as well as four generations of the Penton family, including three generations of John Pentons! The Penton Owners Group also had 40 years worth of history on hand, with old Penton bikes from as far back as the 1960s.

Am-Pro Yamaha crowd favorite Barry Hawk returned to the race to watch the race and greet fans. After suffering a broken shoulder and broken ribs earlier in the season in South Carolina, Hawk hopes to return to racing

The Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series continues in two weeks with The Weekend Warrior Spartan GNCC in Sparta, Kentucky.

Results:
Wiseco John Penton GNCC
Millfield, OH
May 11, 2008

XC1 Pro

1. Paul Whibley (Suz)

2. Josh Strang (Suz)

3. Jimmy Jarrett (Suz)

4. David Knight (KTM)

5. Jason Raines (Yam)

6. Brian Guenther (KTM)
7. Garrett Edmisten (Kaw)
8. Nick Faringer (HSB)
9. Louwrens Mahoney (KTM)
10. Josh McLevy (Yam)

11. Nathan Kanney (KTM)
12. Glenn Kearney (HSQ)
13. Charles Mullins (Suz)
14. Gordan Crockard (HSQ)
15. Jesse Robinson (Kaw)

XC2 Pro Lites

1. Thad DuVall (Yam)
2. Scott Watkins (Kaw)
3. Ryan Echols (Hon)
4. Eric Bailey (KTM)
5. Josh Weisenfels (Yam)

6. Dustin Gibson (Yam)
7. Kailub Russell (KTM)
8. Kevin Hoge (Suz)
9. John Barber (KTM)
10. JT Bennett (Yam)

XC1 Point Standings

1. David Knight (159/4 wins)
2. Paul Whibley (118/2 1 win)
3. Josh Strang (108)
4. Charles Mullins (106/1 win)
5. Jimmy Jarrett (102)
6. Nathan Kanney (96)
7. Jason Raines (79)
8. Garrett Edmisten (71)
9. Glenn Kearney (69)
10. Jesse Robinson (63)

XC2 Point Standings

1. Thad DuVall (175/5 wins)
2. Dustin Gibson (126/1 win)
3. Josh Weisenfels (119)
4. Kailub Russell (98)
5. Andrew Matusek (73)
6. Brian Lawson (69)
7. John Barber (67)
8. Justin Williamson (63)
9. Eric Bailey (53)
10. Nick Gentry (52)