Team KTM/PowersportGrafx Race Report

Unadilla NY—After a season of extremely dusty conditions, racers were greeted with ideal conditions for Round 10 of the Grand National Cross Country series.

Junior team riders, Kailub Russell and Jordan Ashburn were making their debuts in new classes after wrapping up championships at the previous round.

Dustin Gibson overcame early race difficulties to climb back to a strong fourth place finish.

Kailub Russell made his presence known in his first Professional start in XC2 by running in second position for the majority of the race. Kailub finished fifth for the day.

Jason Gilleland finished 12 th for the day in XC1. He finished despite a minor injury during the event.

Jordan Ashburn raced for the first time in 250A. Jordan had a hard crash in practice earlier in the week. Despite being sore, he finished 10 th in class.

Next Event: GNCC Round 11, Yadkinville, NC

We appreciate the support of our sponsors:
KTM, PowersportGrafx, KTM Hard Equipment & GENUINE SPARE PARTS, MAXXIS tire, IMS products, Sidi boots, SCOTT goggles, NGK, CV4 products and MOTOREX.

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Warnet Racing Can-Am

GNCC ATV Series
Round #10 - Can-Am Unadilla
New Berlin, New York
September 15, 2007

Warnert Racing Wins Again, Rick Cecco closes in on Championship
Round 10 of the Can-Am GNCC Series was held at Unadilla Motorsports Facility, which is one of the more challenging events of the year, and the Warnert Racing team were once again up for the challenge as they overcame the obstacles and racked up two more wins, which has the team within a few races of clinching all three 4x4 championships.

The rain clouds moved in during the start of the Morning race, which set the stage for a grueling two hour long mud fest. The slick mud and deep ruts created an environment that heavily favored our Warnert Racing prepped Can Am Outlander racing machines.

4x4 Lites racer Cliffton Beasley battled with Can-Am’s Jerime Dudding for the first 2 laps, but by the third lap, Beasley took over the lead and began to pull away from Dudding. By the checkered flag, Beasley claimed the win with over four minutes to spare and finished once again in the top 10 overall out of 261 competitors. The win marked Beasley’s 8th of the season as he wraps up the 4x4 Lites Championship for Warnert Racing with three races remaining on the schedule, but regardless of wrapping the championship early, Beasley will back in full force for the remaining race to add to his win total.

4x4 Limited racer Michael Swift appeared to be on his way to his 9th win of the season as he extended his lead to six minutes over second place, but the brutal conditions brought Swift to a stop for the first time this season in the final laps of the race. Swift finished out the race in 7th place, and Swift has already wrapped up the 4x4 Limited Championship for Warnert Racing with his overall win at Somerset two weeks ago.

4x4 Open class had Scott Kilby missing from the lineup as he competed for the championship in the WPSA at the “Field of Dreams”, which left it up to Rick Cecco to secure the win for the Warnert Racing CanAm Team, and Cecco was up to the challenge as he set a blazing pace on his Outlander 800. With each passing lap, Cecco added another minute to his lead, and by the checkered flag, Cecco finished just under five minutes ahead of CanAm mounted Byran Buckhannon. This win marked the sixth straight top two finish for Cecco, and he is now within one point of taking over the points lead from Buckhannon.

The GNCC series heads to Yadkinville, NC for Round 11 on September 29th. This tight and twisting course will once again test man and machine, and Warnert Racing Team will be up to the challenge!

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Paul Whibley  

Race Report: Round 10 GNCC Series
Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: Moose, Parts Unlimited, Honda
Bike: Honda CRF 450X

Round 10 of the GNCC Series was held at the famous Unadilla complex. Last year it poured down on Sunday morning and made the race a muddy hell. This year it stayed dry on Sunday, with showers on Saturday the track was watered to perfection.

I got a good start and rounded turn one inside the top ten. I followed Wattsy on the first lap and tried to ride smooth to try and prevent arm pump.

I was riding a bit tight as the track was slick, with a lot of small rocks in the ground.  Once I loosened up I started to move my way forward. After the fuel stop I got into a battle with Garrett Edminsten.  It was fun to ride with another 450 rider.  We traded positions a couple of times until I got the better of him and pulled away, to chase down Charlie Mullins and Barry Hawk.

By the end of the race I had moved up to 5th place.

It was a difficult race, with a shorter lap and a lot of riders on the course but the track was fun to ride.

Thank you to my following sponsors:
Parts Unlimited
Moose
Honda
Honda Pro Oils
HRCA
WER
Cycra
RG3
Motion Pro
Sunstar
Braking
Wiseco
Ek
Tag
Powersport Grafix
Thumper Racing
Pirelli
CTi
Smith
Alpinestar
Tire Balls
Vortex Ignitions
IMS
Moto SR
Stringfellows
Darbis Accessories 

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William Yokley

The Unadilla GNCC Race Report
New Berlin, NY, September 15, 2007  

William Yokley finished 17 th overall, 14 th in XC1 Pro today at the Unadilla GNCC race in New Berlin, NY. There were 239 competitors in this race including 22 XC1 Pro riders.

Summary  
We headed out to historic Unadilla on Thursday since it is a 16-hour trip from Kentucky. The Finger Lake region of NY is beautiful and I always look forward to coming here; the scenery is amazing. It rained a little on Friday and Saturday but the conditions were actually pretty good. The temperature was in the 60’s on race day. This track is always rough, and a tough challenge.

I got a decent start but things jammed up pretty quickly in the first few turns. I entered the woods around mid pack. The first lap, everybody was getting shuffled around and I was getting in a pretty good rhythm. My goggles got steamed up and covered with mud, in other words, useless; so I tossed them in the woods. I stopped in the pits at the end of lap 1 to get a fresh pair of Smith goggles and continued on. On the third lap, I was passing a lapper in a fast section of field, and the rider hit a post and flipped into me. The impact caused me to flip as well. Once I got underway again, I noticed my front fenders were flapping around because the mounting brackets had broken due to the crash and subsequent cartwheeling.

I pitted at the end of lap 3 and got some fuel and fresh goggles. Lap 4 was going good and I was in the top 10. I ran into some problems on the final lap. My fenders had become progressively worse and were barely hanging on, when my bike quit abruptly. I thought it may be a fuse and I started removing parts and pieces to check it out. The fuse was fine. Eventually, I noticed that the dangling bodywork had caused my ignition key to be broken and [the bike] switched off. I finished the lap as fast as I could, ending up in 17 th overall.

I was really expecting a good finish because the bike is working great; it seems that minor things and poor luck have been working against me lately. I am not satisfied but I’m still in the top 10 in points. We move on to Yadkinville, NC in 2 weeks, and I will not give up; I expect to be on the podium there.

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Team Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki Fred Andrews Racing

Sept 16th. 2007
Unadilla NY GNCC

The weather was perfect for GNCC Racing with the temp in the mid 50's. Rain on Saturday made it a dust free race.

XC1
Monster Energy Kawasaki FAR rider Jesse Robinson got off to a good start with the drop of the flag. Jesse rounded the first turn in second but got pushed out wide in the next turn and ended up ninth on the 1st lap. Jesse put in his best ride of the year and worked his way up to fifth place at the fuel stop. When the 2-lap card was put out, the Monster Kawasaki FAR team noticed coolant was leaking out of the water pump cover. Jesse had to stop the last two laps to have coolant put in. This cost Jesse four places and ended up with a 9th place for the day.

Jesse said, “I felt good and ran down the riders in front of me. I was on the move today and am happy with my riding and not with my luck.”

XC1 Results
1 David Knight.     Ktm
2 Jim Jarrett.    Suz
3 Joshua Strang. Suz
4 Glenn Kearney.   Suz
5 Paul Whibley.     Hon
6 Barry Hawk.      Yam
7 Charles Mullins.    Yam
8 Garrett Edmisten.   Kaw
9 Jesse Robinson. Monster Kawasaki FAR
10 Brian Garrahan.     Yam

XC2
Monster Energy Kawasaki FAR rider Josh Weisenfels got off to a second place start with Scott Watkins bringing up the rear in last place. Scott Watkins charged through the pack and got up to third place behind Josh. The Monster Energy Kawasaki FAR rider went at it for the rest of the race. Scott would pass Josh and then Josh would pass Scott. At the finish, it was Josh Weisenfels in second with Scott Watkins in third.

Josh said, “I had a lot of fun out there. I crashed a few times and Scott would pass me then he would crash and I would pass him.”

Scott said, “ I had to work so hard on the first few laps that I got a little tired at the end. I need to keep it on two wheels the first lap.”

XC2 Results
1 Justin Williamson.    Ktm
2 Josh Weisenfels Monster Kawasaki FAR
3 Scott Watkins Monster Kawasaki FAR
4 Dustin Gibson.     Ktm
5 Kaliub Russel.   Ktm
6 Scott Decosta.   Suz
7 Wally Palmer.   Kaw
8 Guy Giroux.      Suz
9 David Oettell.  Hon
10 Brian Lawson. Yam

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David Knight

Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team’s David Knight has moved back into the lead of the of the ’07 US Grand National Cross Country Championship following a dominant win at the 10th round of the series, the Unadilla GNCC held in New Berlin, NY. With the event coming just two weeks after his disappointing 11th place finish at the Mountain Ridge GNCC, Knighter was more determined than ever to return to his winning ways and did just that topping the eight-lap race by four and a half minutes.

Unlike the majority of US GNCC events this season, Knight made a good start but was in no hurry to take the lead. Opting to follow, learn the course and get a feel for the track, the double Enduro 3 world champion completed the opening lap in second position behind championship rival Charlie Mullins. Then on lap two, Knight put his KTM out front and never looked back. Battling initially with Mullins and eventual runner-up Jimmy Jarrett, David took his time passing the many lapped riders and on lap four started to open up a commanding lead at the front of the XC1 class. Over three minutes ahead by the end of the third lap, David continued to extend his lead and claimed his fifth win of the season. Joining David on the podium were Jimmy Jarrett and Josh Strang while his closest championship rivals going into the event – Barry hawk and Charlie Mullins, placed sixth and seventh.

With three rounds of the ’07 US GNCC series remaining Knight holds a 20-point lead in the overall championship standings.

David Knight:
“It’s great to put my disappointing result from the last race behind me and get back onto the top step of the podium. The end of the championship isn’t too far away now so I needed a win. The race went well. I got a pretty good start, bumped with a few riders early on, but just took my time. I felt good on my bike and could see that there were a few riders pushing too hard and riding above themselves. I was just riding feet up and at a good pace.

“There were so many lappers that you couldn’t really charge for more than a few corners it seemed without coming up behind someone. You just had to take your time. I didn’t have any problems during the race, my bike worked perfectly, and I was riding a good steady pace. I stepped things up a bit towards the end of the race and kept myself out of trouble. I just need things to go my way for a few more races now.”