Geicco GNCC ATV
Racing Updates: Round 1 & 2
Washington, GA (3/12/2008) -
GEICO Off-Road Racing is proud to give you the
latest GNCC ATV Racing Updates!
The Triton - Melbourne, FL
Another season of racing kicked off on Sunday
March 2nd at the Parts Unlimited Triton GNCC in
Melbourne, FL. For the first time since revamping
the team with exciting additions to the '08 squad,
the TDI Racing/GEICO Off-Road motorcycle team
was finally all together in the same place at
the same time. The team would also like to send
out props to the GNCC Crew for hooking us up with
a great location for our new pit spot/home for
the season - right in front of the finish line,
where everyone ends up at some point or another
throughout the weekend.
The track was a little more technical this year
than in the past years with a few extra roots,
palmettos, and mud bogs. The area had seen some
rain leading up to the race, leaving conditions
perfect for racing - low dust and some mud. Add
over 1200 riders to the mix and you've got yourself
quite a racetrack.
GEICO female quad rider Jennifer Albright scored
big for her debut on the team. With Jennifer being
a local favorite, she had a lot of buzz around
her all weekend not only at the track, but around
town as well; being featured in several stories
in the local paper. Jennifer had a great race
from start to finish, staying strong all day and
coming out with a solid 3rd place finish and a
9th overall out of almost 200
riders.
Josh McLevy, our XC1 rider had a positive day,
finishing on the lead lap which was the goal for
the race considering Josh missed most of the 2007
season due to a shoulder injury. Josh had a midpack
start (lining up next to superstar Travis Pastrana)
coming out of the first lap in 21st place. McLevy
forged through the day strong and made up 5 spots
to finish 17th in the class.
JT Bennett came across a little misfortune in
the XC2 class, running out of gas on the third
lap about a mile away from his pits. Thanks to
some great fans that jumped in when seeing him
push, and his pit crew running across the field
with gas, JT was off again - unfortunately he
had a lot of catching up to do. After the race,
JT said he felt great and was counting down the
days until the next round in Washington, GA for
a little redemption.
March 9, 2008 - Maxxis General - Washington,
GA
Just 4 days after Round 1 of the Can Am GNCC series
opener in Melbourne, FL, the team traveled north
to Washington, GA for the Maxxis General GNCC.
The team faced weather on Saturday for the quad
race that was much different than that of the
FL round - experiencing snow flurries and during
the morning race. Rain on Friday set the technical
track up with muddy conditions.
Jennifer Albright got off to a mid-pack start
on her GEICO Lojak Yamaha YFZ450 and by the end
of the first lap was up to 6th place. Jennifer
had battled her way up to the 3rd - 5th pack when
she ran into clutch problems. After being towed
in on the final lap, Jennifer finished 9th in
the Women's A class for the day.
Sunday brought with it more promising weather
with bountiful sunshine and wind. These weather
conditions helped tack up the muddy track for
perfect racing conditions.
GEICO support riders Ryan Kaintz and Dan Nudi
did the team proud earning a 5th and 17th place
finish respectively. The boys felt as though they
were getting dizzy as they completed 7 - 15 minute
laps in a 2 hour period. Rumors have it that a
banner was forgotten after the mini race and these
guys had to run the same course. None the less
they did great!
Josh McLevy lead the way in the afternoon for
the GEICO team, climbing from a 17th place start.
McLevy finished the 7 lap race in just over 3
hours, bettering his results from the FL round
to a 14th place finish in the XC1 Pro class and
25th overall. After 2 rounds, Josh sits in 16th
place - just 11 points out of the Top 10.
XC2 Pro Lites rider JT Bennett was unable to
race this round due to illness. JT is feeling
better and out riding and getting ready for the
next round in Morganton, NC.
The GNCC series will continue on March 29 &
30 for the FMF Steele Creek
GNCC. The Maxxis General GNCC will air on the
VS network on August 16th
at 3:00PM (ATV) and August 23rd at 3:00PM (Bikes).
The team would like to extend a special
thanks to all of their sponsors: GEICO,
MSR, MAXXIS, Lojak Yamaha, Rekluse, Gaerne, Factory
Connection, SCOTT USA, Acerbis, HMF, Bel-Ray,
and EBC Brakes. And of course a huge thank
you to our fans.
About
GNCC Racing:
The
AMA/ATVA-sanctioned Grand National Cross Country
series is America’s premier off-road racing
series. The 13-round series is produced exclusively
by Racer Productions. Cross-country racing is
one of the most physically demanding sports in
the world. The nearly three-hour long GNCC races
lead as many as 1800 riders through tracks ranging
from eight to twelve miles in length. With varied
terrain including hills, woods, mud, dirt, rocks
and motocross sections, GNCC events are tests
of both survival and speed. GNCC Racing airs weekly
television shows on Versus (formerly Outdoor Life
Network) every Saturday at 3 p.m. and Thursday
at 4 p.m. beginning on April 14. GNCC featured
sponsors include Parts Unlimited, Moose, Maxxis,
Pirelli, Wiseco, Acerbis, Elka, Geico, Klotz,
FMF, ITP and Tire Balls, and riders compete for
over $3 million in series prizes and contingency
money. Associate sponsors include Alpinestars,
Cometic, EK Chain, HiPer Technology, Laegers,
Motion Pro, Moose Utility Division, Powersport
Grafx, Pro Clean, Race Tools, REM, Scott, Thor,
Twin Air, Weekend Warrior, and MotoTee’s.
Media Sponsors include Racer X Illustrated, ATV
Rider, ATV Sport, www.ATVRiders.com,
Dirt Rider and ATV Insider. For more information
log on to www.GNCCRacing.com.
www.gnccracing.com
122 Vista Del Rio Drive,
Morgantown, WV 26508
304-284-0084
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