June 1, 2008 ”“ Weekend Warrior Spartan GNCC ”“ Sparta, KY
The GEICO Off Road team headed to Kentucky for round 7 of the Cam Am GNCC series.  The conditions for the race were much different from what the team has been facing all year, with temperatures in the mid 80’s and vibrant sunshine.  The track for the quads was close to perfect, by the time the bikes hit the track, the dust had become quite an obstacle. 

The GEICO pit found itself a host to the Plessinger family and their lemonade stand.  The Plessinger’s were “Shaking it Up for Cancer” as part of the K12 Take a Stand Against Pediatric Cancer.  On Saturday alone, they were able to raise over $800 for the cause.  For more information on the program, check out http://go.k12.com/operationlemonade/.  

Team ATV member, Jennifer Albright took her hand at the track Saturday morning, pulling a mid pack start going into the first turn.  By the time she reached the woods, she was able to make up ground in the tight, off camber corners and found herself in 3rd place.  Jennifer battled lap traffic all day, but was able to hold onto her 3rd place position and put time on 4th.  In the last ¼ mile of the race, Jennifer decided to say hello to a tree, which flipped her quad, but she was able to quickly pick herself up and head to the checkered flag.  Albright finished 3rd in the women’s quad A class and 6th overall.  This finish moves Jennifer up to 4th place in the class for the season, just 2 points shy of 3rd.

The Sunday bike race didn’t go as well for the GEICO boys.  Josh McLevy found himself tangled up at the start forcing him to push hard to catch the rest of the field.  Josh had run into some problems due to his crash and the heat that only allowed him to complete one lap.  Josh is still able to hold on to his 15th place for the season so far.

JT Bennett was mid pack at the start and up to third place going into the woods.  JT said his bike was running better than ever until his rear wheel caught a rock causing his bike to start swapping back and forth.  The bike finally came to a halt against a tree, but sent JT airborne over the bars when he came to a halt against the next tree.  Thanks to Andy Shea for seeing JT and going to get him help.  It was originally thought that JT broke both femurs and was air lifted to the University of Cincinnati Hospital where he was x-rayed and CAT scanned.  All tests came back clear, thankfully with no breaks.  JT has some pretty bad bruised and scrapped up thighs.  The doctors told him that it will be a good 3-4 weeks before he’s back to normal. 

JT wants to thank everyone that helped him on Sunday and everyone for their concern, thoughts, and prayers.  No one ever plans or even thinks of these situations ever happening, but it’s great how everyone rises to the occasion and helps out when it does. THANK YOU.

JT’s wife Gretchen was a bit freaked out when she found out what happened, but thanks to the Racer Production crew, especially Carrie Russell and Big John, Gretchen was able to calm down a bit and get off to the hospital where she was able to find JT in good spirits and joking with the nurses.  The nurses even told her when she got to the hospital that JT asked them to send an ambulance for her because she was probably in worse shape than him.  Gretchen wants to thank everyone that helped JT, and Carrie, Big John, Mark Sippel, Dan Nudi and Monica Conner for all of their help as well.

The team would like to extend a special thanks to all of their sponsors: GEICO, MSR, MAXXIS, Lojak Yamaha, Rekluse, Gaerne, Factory Connection, SCOTT USA, Acerbis, HMF, Bel-Ray, and EBC Brakes.  And of course a huge thank you to our fans.

The GNCC series will continue on June 20 & 21 for the Elka Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC. The Weekend Warrior Spartan GNCC will air on the VS network on November 8th at 3:00PM (ATV) and November 15th at 3:00PM (Bikes).