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Current Race Report
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2008 Results
GNCC Rd. 4
South Carolina
GNCC Rd. 5
Tennessee
Shane Watts race report – GNCC
Rd. 4
Fun Mart
Cycles/ktmhutt.com/Maxxis offroad racer Shane Watts turned
in a fine display at Rd. 4 of the GNCC series held in
perfect conditions at the Big Buck venue over the weekend,
April 13.
Taking
off at the rear of the pack due to a two kick start Watts
was able to methodically work his way through the Pro class
pack to a high position of fourth place a short way into the
third lap of the six lap, 3 hour race. This was only to last
for another lap though as by part way into lap number 4
Watts had began to noticeably tire due to his very limited
physical preparation in the previous few months. The main
causes for this were his full commitment to his wildly
popular Dirt Wise riding schools, personal sickness, and the
recent surgery and recovery of their 6 month old child.
Watts
soldiered on for the remainder of the race with his body’s
energy levels on “vapours” to finally finish a dismal 16th
overall.
“With
the limited preparation that I’ve had I’m actually surprised
that I lasted that long before bonking,” Watts exclaimed
whilst slumped in a chair following the race. “It was pretty
decent to work my way through the pack and to ride up near
the front again especially seeing this is my first Pro GNCC
race in a very long time. The previous weekend at my Dirt
Wise riding school I had a massive crash while demonstrating
a “Pro level” skill and subsequently suffered quite a hefty
concussion so when I started to get a major head ache at the
beginning of lap 4 I decided it was time to back it down
significantly and just take it easy to the finish. I was
extremely tired by then anyway!”
With two
weeks now to focus on an increased amount of training Watts
will be aiming to run up at the very front of the pack at
Rd. 5 of the GNCC, and this time hopefully for the majority
if not all of the 3 hour race.
For more
info and news about the racing endeavors of Shane Watts, and
that of his Dirt Wise riding schools, please sign up for his
periodical Newsletter by sending an email to
dirtwise@shanewatts.com or visiting
www.shanewatts.com. This feature is made possible by the
great support of GPR Stabilzers, Dirt Tricks sprockets, and
Fasst Flexx handlebars.
Shane Watts Race Report – GNCC
Rd. 5
Fun Mart
Cycles/ktmhutt.com/Maxxis offroad racer Shane Watts provided
a stellar display of offroad riding at Rd. 5 of the GNCC
series held in perfect conditions at the Loretta Lynn’s
Ranch, Tennessee venue over the weekend, April 27.
“I
always enjoy heading to Loretta’s and this year was no
different with one of the best tracks ever , a nice flowing
course that really tested skill, speed and endurance, “
Watts commented following the grueling 3 hour race. “I got
off to a mid pack start but then quickly moved up into
fourth where I could keep an eye on the lead riders. Once
Knight had got out front and disappeared it was time to put
the hammer down and leave the rest of the pack behind so as
to catch up to the fellow foreigner and not make his next
victory so easy. Once I bridged that gap I decided to just
tag along for a while and watch seeing as I hadn’t ridden
with Knight for almost a year, since back at the 2007
version of the Loretta’s GNCC. Right at the end of the first
lap though I clipped a tree which pin-balled me straight
across into another tree resulting in quite a violent
wipe-out that not only had me spitting some blood following
the race but also wrenched my already tender neck muscles
from the huge crash I’d had a few weeks earlier, and I
banged my head again which left me somewhat dazed.”
“Once
I’d recovered and got going again I was 30 seconds down and
back amongst the other Pro riders. I was heaps annoyed at
myself for making such a dumb mistake so after about mile
when I had found my rhythm again it was time to charge back
up to Knight. Midway through that second lap I had again
bridged the 30 second gap and then towards the end of the
lap was able to pressure him into a mistake and subsequently
take the lead. I was riding comfortably and just cruising
along in the lead until the later stages of that third lap
when we both had a little “incident” out on the trail. I
went to go around a couple of lapped riders while he took
the same line as them and as the trail joined up again we
both ended up having a collision which left me laying on the
ground. Now, there are two ways I could look at this
incident and I’d like to interpret it as just one of those
unavoidable racing accidents where I was the one that came
off second best. I’m quite certain that there was nothing
intentional about it from Knighter’s aspect, especially
seeing as he offered a public apology when it was mentioned
during his podium victory interveiw.”
“This
second crash totally knocked the wind out of my sails. I
have scuff marks all over my body and by then my head was
severely throbbing with pain. Mentally the desire was there
to again charge back to the front but my lack of pre-event
training basically meant that there really wasn’t anything
left in the tank to do it with physically. I’m just
disappointed that I used a lot of extra energy in the
beginning of the race as I was really looking forward to
running up front for the majority of the race and finally
making Knight have to work extra hard for his next victory.
I showed that I was able to reel him in a few times with
some scintillating speed, and even if for some reason he
wasn’t going at full speed, I was at least able to easily
pull away from the remainder of the hard charging pack of
Pro riders. This resulted in me easily gaining the fastest
overall lap time of the day for a full lap of the course.”
Watts
will now put away his racing boots for a while and focus on
his wildly popular Dirt Wise Offroad riding schools for the
next few months. Due to a crammed schedule of the Dirt Wise
schools resulting from the overwhelming interest, Watts will
only be able to possibly attend two more GNCC races for the
remainder of 2008, that being June 22 at Yadkinville, NC and
the series finale on Oct 26 in Indiana. With spectacular
style and scintillating speed Watts will sure be a crowd
favorite at these races as he again tears up the track and
tries to lead from the front of the pack.
For more
info and news about the racing endeavors of Shane Watts, and
that of his Dirt Wise riding schools, please sign up for his
periodical Newsletter by sending an email to
dirtwise@shanewatts.com or visiting
www.shanewatts.com. This feature is made possible by the
great support of GPR Stabilzers, Dirt Tricks sprockets, and
Fasst Flexx handlebars.
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