DirtWise Race Report: Mountain Ridge GNCC
Monday, September 22, 2014 | 12:15 PM
Perfect racing conditions greeted riders at Round 11 of the GNCC series held at the Mountain Ridge race venue in Pennsylvania over the weekend, and Maxxis/KLIM/DirtWise KTM team rider Jason Thomas rode to an excellent 6th place finish in the XC1 Pro class despite not being on the bike for nearly 6 weeks due to injury.
Jason Thomas was pretty happy with his race result, saying, "This was my first time riding in six weeks so I was just going out there to get some quality seat time as I begin to rebuild my fitness again - basically I was looking to have a fun fast trail ride. Once the flag dropped though all of that went out the window, the adrenaline kicked in, and I was off to a 3rd placed start. I was surprised at how good I was feeling and riding, especially seeing it was my first time out on Wattsy's mighty KTM 200XCW, so I just kept ripping along in third place Overall for the first two laps - that was such as great confidence boost for me, and I really needed it because I've had some rough times lately. By the time we got to the mid race fuel stop I was totally spent so the rest of the race I dropped into the original plan of doing that fast trail ride pace. I'm excited to stick to my plan now in the coming weeks and see what I can achieve for the remainder of this year as I prepare for an all out assault in 2015!"
Meanwhile there was plenty of success with the DirtWise "Ready to Race" bike rental and team support riders also.
+45A front runner, and Morning class legend, Rick Matteson used his DirtWise "Ready to Race" rental KTM 450 to wrap up the season Championship win another solid victory. Rick was over that moon, enthusing, "My bike broke a few days before the event, so my obvious first thought was to contact DirtWise and they straight away hooked me up with a 450 from their fleet of rental bikes. True to name, the bike was ready to race, and race is what I did, all the way to a National Championship! There was rush or hassle to try to fix my own bike before the event, and come to think of it there's no rush to fix it now either because a fully prepped DirtWise KTM 450 is now only a quick phone call away."
DirtWise support rider Jesse Ansley again exceeded all expectation with another dominant victory in the 85cc (12-13) class, which keeps his perfect season of wins intact. Ansley also scored 2nd Overall in the Youth race, beating all but one of the older age group riders who started in front of him.
DirtWise "Ready to Race" participant Mat Herrington nailed down a career best 10th in the XC2 Pro class and was ecstatic! "I'm stoked to finally crack the top 10. I spent the day before the race working on my speed at the DirtWise Race Techniques class and this was for sure a contributing factor to my on-track success!"
Meanwhile, DirtWise "Ready to Race" participant Howie Bussard rode to a solid finish in the Morning race Sportmans B class. "I tried the KTM 350 machine and it was flawless and such a pleasure to ride on that brutal race course. The bike was so good I think I'm going to buy it at the end of the year when it comes up for sale."
Team owner, and off-road racing legend, Shane Watts commented, "That was a great day of racing with plenty of success all around the Maxxis/KLIM/DirtWise KTM pit area - I can't wait for the next GNCC in two weeks time!"
The next racing commitment for the Maxxis/KLIM/DirtWise KTM Race team will see Jason Thomas competing in Round 9 of the OMA Nationals series in Iowa this coming weekend.