Photos courtesy of: Matt Ware

CORONA, Calif., (June 29, 2009) - Monster Energy/Fred Andrews Racing/Yamaha's Jason Thomas scored his first XC2 class win of the 2009 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series (GNCC) tour, this past weekend topping out at round nine of the series at West Virginia's Snowshoe Ski Resort.

With the win Thomas secured 3rd place in the overall standings as the series now goes into hibernation for the summer months.

"I thought I was at home riding today," said Thomas. "This track was just like back home. My Yamaha worked awesome. I had so much fun out there. This is what I needed before the summer break!"

Thomas, who's accumulated 191 points through nine (of 13) rounds, is just two points behind Cory Buttrick for 2nd place overall. Kailub Russell leads the XC2 class with 247 points.

The unique Snowshoe Ski Resort layout featured a 20-mile loop run three times by the racers. The course had a variety of conditions set up to test the riders and torture their bikes to the max, including rocks of all sizes, mud holes and, of course, hills.

Thomas pulled an excellent start, according to Monster Energy/FAR/Yamaha team owner Fred Andrews. "Jason got the start and never looked back all day," said Andrews, who was pretty pumped with the team's first win of the season. Thomas led by almost two-and-a-half minutes after the first lap and continued to put time on the rest of the field, eventually winning by just under six minutes (5:56 over 2nd place).

Thomas' Monster Energy/FAR/Yamaha teammate, Dave Snyder, also had good race, starting out a couple clicks inside the top ten (8th) and eventually working his way up to 6th. "I had a few small problems on the track today. It was really rocky, but I never gave up - pushed all day," said Snyder.

The Monster Energy/FAR/Yamaha team returns to GNCC action on Sept. 12-13 for the Unadilla GNCC in New Berlin, N.Y.

Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it GNCC, WORCS, Hare & Hound, EnduroCross, SX, rally, insane distance jumping, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, rock crawling, wake, mini bikes, surf, snow, BMX - name it - the athletes are rockin' Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types - Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, Monster's fruit juice hybrid dubbed "M-80," the party-friendly MIXXD, the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream drink line supercharged with our Monster Energy blend, along with the new Monster Energy "Hitman" energy shot. Fred Andrews' boyz digs 'em - so will you. On the 'Net at www.monsterarmy.com and www.monsterenergy.com