"It was a great day," said team co-owner JT Bennett. " Ashley finished a very strong second and all three of our guys finished in the top 10 in their classes which is fantastic. We needed those kinds of results today and I'm really proud of the whole team."
Ashley Crouch tightened her hold on second place in the Womens point standings after she grabbed second once again behind Defending Champion KTM's Maria Forsberg. This is Crouch's third second place finish in a row, which puts her six points ahead of nearest competitors Leeann Bange and Mandi Mastin.
"The track was awesome," Crouch said. "I loved today and I'm super excited I got another second."
Crouch started the day at the top of the pack and finished the day with minimal problems. After getting around Shelby Rolen and Hannah Otto, she took off on the second lap and never looked back, finishing a little more than two minutes behind Forsberg.
"I just had two little tip-overs today," she said. "Other than that, I didn't have any problems. After the second lap I didn't really see anybody and finished in second."
Jimmy Jarrett powered his 450 off the XC1 line for a good start and went into the woods with the lead pack on the first lap. Jarrett latched on behind Suzuki-mounted Josh Strang on lap three and put his head down to battle to the front. Jarrett moved up as far as fourth before settling into fifth behind Strang for the finish in XC1, and fifth overall, his best finish of the 2011 GNCC series.
"I've always liked that track, but for some reason I can't put together a great finish there," he said. "But I didn't have any mishaps today and I felt like it was a decent race."
Watkins pulled off a strong start but had problems sticking to a consistent pace at first and got shuffled to the back early into the race. A few falls in the fields gave the new XC1 rider some problems but he was able to take a 13th place on lap one to move steadily up to seventh for the day in XC1 and 13th overall.
"I put my head down and tried to ride as clean as I could and worked my way up each lap," he said. I lost the front end a few times, but I made it up all the big hills. It was a pretty average race, and I wish I had rode further up in the pack than I did."
Rory Mead battled a traffic-laden two laps in the XC2 class to come out of the ranks in the top five on the third lap. Mead made a last lap move around Morgan Moss to move from 5th into fourth. The final push was enough to put him more than 20 seconds ahead of Moss, to finish fourth for the day behind Andrew DeLong, and 10th overall.
"I didn't like the track today," he said. "But once I got into the groove I enjoyed it a little bit more. I'd like to thank the entire team for all of their help today."
"All in all, we had a really fun weekend," Bennett said."We loved being there with those good results. The best case scenario is to carry that momentum into the long weekend at Loretta's."
The JG Off Road crew heads to the final round of the Parts Unlimited OMA series, the Moose Racing Moose Run in Morrison, Illinois on October 30th.
Jarrett and Watkins would like to thank team sponsors JG Off road, GEICO, American Honda, Kenda, Silkolene, EBC, Tsubaki, Ride PG, Rekluse, Moose, Cycra, Arai, FMF, G2, IMS, BRP, Renthal, Works Connection, Factory Connection, Smith Optics, and Sidi.
Watkins would like to thank his additional sponsors Parts Unlimited, and ProMoto Billet.
Jarrett would also like to thank individual sponsors No Toil, CV4, and Outerwears.
Crouch would like to thank sponsors JG Offroad, GEICO, American Honda, Kenda, Silkolene, EBC, Tsubaki, Ride PG, Rekluse, Moose, Cycra, Scott, Tucker Rocky, Ogio, PMP, Spruill Honda, and Factory Connection.
XC1 Results
Charlie Mullins (KTM)
Thad Duvall (YAM)
Paul Whibley (YAM)
Josh Strang (SUZ)
Jimmy Jarrett (HON)
Russell Bobbitt (KTM)
Scott Watkins (HON)
Cory Buttrick (KTM)
Eric Bailey (KAW)
Nathan Kanney (KTM)
XC2 Results
Steward Baylor (KTM)
Jordan Ashburn (YAM)
Andrew Delong (HSQ)
Rory Mead (HON)
Morgan Moss (YAM)
Jason Thomas (HSQ)
Steven Squire (YAM)
Ryan Lojak (YAM)
Cody Gragg (YAM)
AJ Stewart (YAM)
Share