The McClure Report: GNCC Round 6, John Penton - Pro ATV Racing

Jarrod McClure at the starting line

Millfield, OH (5/15/2008) - The “John Penton” GNCC is one race that I never look forward to. It seems like I never have any luck there, but after my fifth place finish in TN I was pumped to see how I would fair out. We left home early Friday morning, and got to the track around two o’clock. It was finally a closer track with only seven hours driving. (Only!) Upon arrival, you can tell that they had just got rain there, because all of the creeks looked very muddy, and there was water lying in the pits. We dropped the trailer next to Matt Smiley, and after getting my rear shock over to Elka we headed to get some dinner. After dinner there was a movie theater across the street from our hotel so we went to see “Ironman”-great movie!

Saturday morning rolled around, and it appeared that it rained a lot overnight, so I knew I was in for a good old Ohio mudfest! We got to the track around nine, and were surprised to not see the youth running. They postponed the race 'till the afternoon on account of the muddy track conditions. I thought to myself: "Great it must be a mudbog!"

With the sun shining though, and after watching the morning race, it was starting to dry up a little, but I knew it was still muddy. I mounted up my Maxxis Razr2 tires, and slapped some duct tape on the bumper. I was ready to go, at least I thought I was.

“Tennnn Seconds” I was on the kicker and ready to go, but as the flag waved I kicked and nothing happened, then I kicked again, and again, and again….! Untill I got a push start I almost got the holeshot in the XC2 Pro Am class! I was running about mid pack XC2, then about two miles in on the motocross track the bike quit. I got towed in to the pits, and we drained the carb and replaced the main jet, which got me going. I was in 243 overall on when I hit the track again.

I knew that I was in for a tough race, but I just put hammer down and tried to ride as fast and smart as possible. It is a different world riding with the B classes, I would try to pass as many as I could I the open sections, and try to avoid the bottlenecks. I was in 21st place on the first lap and thirteen minutes behind. When I came through on the second lap I closed the gap to 10 minutes. I just kept riding smart, and trying to get through the deep ruts that were on the track. I ran into a few problems, my seat fell off four times, and then I had a rock jam under my shifter. There was just that much mud on the bike that I could barely keep my feet on the pegs!

I never caught anyone in the pro class, but I could tell that people were dropping out. On my fourth lap I was lapped by Ballance, and knew I was only getting five laps. At the checkered flag I was in 15th in the pro class, finishing 6 minutes behind 14th, and battled my way up to 75th overall. I was very disappointed with the finish, but it was better than a DNF or crashing my brains out. Seems as though my Ohio bad luck hasn’t changed. I will be back in Kentucky, and plan on a solid top ten finish. In the meantime I’ll hit some local races. See you in three weeks!

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