Whibley Mountain Ridge GNCC Race Report
Monday, May 18, 2009 | 3:00 PM
Race: GNCC Round 7, Somerset PA
Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: JG Offroad, GEICO, Kawasaki Monster Energy
Bike: Kawasaki KX450F
Result: 7th class
What a race. Plenty of drama and excitement although not really the kind I had hoped for.
I got a great start again, something I am getting good at now or maybe it is just the Kawes' sweet motor and lightning quick reflexes. Anyhow I rounded the first turn beside Charlie Mullins and my team mate Jimmy Jarrett. After a couple of switch backs we dropped down a hill onto the track proper. Jimmy took the lead and I settled into 2nd. The track was a lot faster than a normal GNCC terrain in the early part of the lap. I felt good and was soon looking for a way around Jimmy, shooting to the lead as we swept round a fast right hander. I rode a good pace and began to pull away. We entered the woods and the fabled Mountain Ridge rocks came out to greet us. Those suckers lay everywhere and at all kinds of random angles, and were covered in plenty of muddy slop. Although this year the amount of nasty rocky sections were reduced so the riders only hated life for 10 minutes at a time. By the end of the lap I was out to about a thirty second lead but I could feel my arms starting to tighten up a little, I backed it down over the second lap as I didn't want to pump up so bad that I couldn't ride. The temperature was pretty chilly and the track was fast in the open with plenty of rock, this seemed to be a recipe for more than normal arm pump.
Josh Strang and Charlie Mullins began to close in on the third lap. Josh caught me mid lap and snatched the lead as we came out of a woods section. He was riding fast and looked determined. He made a small amount of time on some fast stuff but to my surprise I caught back up quickly in the nasty rocky stuff that I didn't really think I was that fast through. RG3 had come up with a setting for the rocks that was working great and I had a smoother cam in my G2 Throttle Cam system so I think these mods were working for me.
The race was on. We came out of the woods and into some more faster tracks. Josh leading the way with me hot on his tail, Charlie tucked in behind me. On a fast corner I clipped an unseen rock with the front wheel and went down hard on my shoulder, Charlie thankfully managed to swerve and not run me over. I got going again although I had some of the wind knocked out of my sails. Thad Duvall passed me as I was gathering myself, so back on the bike, I first ran him down and regained third spot just before the end of the lap. A quick gas stop and back out on the track, I was down about 30 seconds on Josh now but was making some small progress through the tight rocks. On the forth lap I continued to make some progress, in roads on the leaders and was confident of moving up in the positions. Disaster struck again on lap five when a small slip in the rock garden resulted in a massive hole smashed in the water pump cover. I saw all the coolant pour out and I could see my chances of a good result evaporating. I nursed the bike back to the pits and to be honest I was lucky to get that far through the demanding trail. In the pits some frantic swapping of parts saw the pump cover from my spare bike fitted and fresh coolant added. Back in the race but down a lot of positions I charged out of the pits. Steam was pouring out from my bike so a u turn was performed and into the pits again. It seemed like there was a hole in the radiator some where. Quick thinking saw pepper dumped in to try block the invisible hole. Back out on the track again and on a mission I was outside the top 10 but manged to make some passes on the last lap to claim 7th spot.
Pretty disappointed with the final result but happy to come away with some valuable points when a DNF looked set for the scorecard.
A big THANK YOU to Jt, Monty, Jimmy, Larry, Wyatt, Patrick, Gretchen and Katherine who all helped me in that frantic pit stop.
Thank you to my following sponsors:
GEICO, Kawasaki Monster Energy, Moose Racing, Pirelli, RG3 Suspension, Moto SR, Leo Vince, ProMoto Billet/Fastway, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, CTi, Renthal, Enduro Engineering, IMS, Vortex Ignitions, G2, P.G. Graphics, Silkolene, EBC Brakes, Tsubaki Chains, No Toil, WER, Rekluse, CV4, BRP, Motion Pro, Works Connection
Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: JG Offroad, GEICO, Kawasaki Monster Energy
Bike: Kawasaki KX450F
Result: 7th class
What a race. Plenty of drama and excitement although not really the kind I had hoped for.
I got a great start again, something I am getting good at now or maybe it is just the Kawes' sweet motor and lightning quick reflexes. Anyhow I rounded the first turn beside Charlie Mullins and my team mate Jimmy Jarrett. After a couple of switch backs we dropped down a hill onto the track proper. Jimmy took the lead and I settled into 2nd. The track was a lot faster than a normal GNCC terrain in the early part of the lap. I felt good and was soon looking for a way around Jimmy, shooting to the lead as we swept round a fast right hander. I rode a good pace and began to pull away. We entered the woods and the fabled Mountain Ridge rocks came out to greet us. Those suckers lay everywhere and at all kinds of random angles, and were covered in plenty of muddy slop. Although this year the amount of nasty rocky sections were reduced so the riders only hated life for 10 minutes at a time. By the end of the lap I was out to about a thirty second lead but I could feel my arms starting to tighten up a little, I backed it down over the second lap as I didn't want to pump up so bad that I couldn't ride. The temperature was pretty chilly and the track was fast in the open with plenty of rock, this seemed to be a recipe for more than normal arm pump.
Josh Strang and Charlie Mullins began to close in on the third lap. Josh caught me mid lap and snatched the lead as we came out of a woods section. He was riding fast and looked determined. He made a small amount of time on some fast stuff but to my surprise I caught back up quickly in the nasty rocky stuff that I didn't really think I was that fast through. RG3 had come up with a setting for the rocks that was working great and I had a smoother cam in my G2 Throttle Cam system so I think these mods were working for me.
The race was on. We came out of the woods and into some more faster tracks. Josh leading the way with me hot on his tail, Charlie tucked in behind me. On a fast corner I clipped an unseen rock with the front wheel and went down hard on my shoulder, Charlie thankfully managed to swerve and not run me over. I got going again although I had some of the wind knocked out of my sails. Thad Duvall passed me as I was gathering myself, so back on the bike, I first ran him down and regained third spot just before the end of the lap. A quick gas stop and back out on the track, I was down about 30 seconds on Josh now but was making some small progress through the tight rocks. On the forth lap I continued to make some progress, in roads on the leaders and was confident of moving up in the positions. Disaster struck again on lap five when a small slip in the rock garden resulted in a massive hole smashed in the water pump cover. I saw all the coolant pour out and I could see my chances of a good result evaporating. I nursed the bike back to the pits and to be honest I was lucky to get that far through the demanding trail. In the pits some frantic swapping of parts saw the pump cover from my spare bike fitted and fresh coolant added. Back in the race but down a lot of positions I charged out of the pits. Steam was pouring out from my bike so a u turn was performed and into the pits again. It seemed like there was a hole in the radiator some where. Quick thinking saw pepper dumped in to try block the invisible hole. Back out on the track again and on a mission I was outside the top 10 but manged to make some passes on the last lap to claim 7th spot.
Pretty disappointed with the final result but happy to come away with some valuable points when a DNF looked set for the scorecard.
A big THANK YOU to Jt, Monty, Jimmy, Larry, Wyatt, Patrick, Gretchen and Katherine who all helped me in that frantic pit stop.
Thank you to my following sponsors:
GEICO, Kawasaki Monster Energy, Moose Racing, Pirelli, RG3 Suspension, Moto SR, Leo Vince, ProMoto Billet/Fastway, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, CTi, Renthal, Enduro Engineering, IMS, Vortex Ignitions, G2, P.G. Graphics, Silkolene, EBC Brakes, Tsubaki Chains, No Toil, WER, Rekluse, CV4, BRP, Motion Pro, Works Connection