Whibley GNCC

[denill]

And now Whibs moves up to Second in the Series:

Bloody fantastic..........................

[denill]

Race Report: GNCC, Rnd 10 Snowshoe, West Virginia
Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: FMF Suzuki
Bike: Suzuki RMZ 450
Result: 2nd

The Snowshoe GNCC is a one of a kind race. With the picturesque setting in the mountains and ski lifts floating over the track allowing for a unique view of the racing. Most spectators get a very different view of the race than the actual riders. That is unless they venture into the woods to witness the struggle of the riders as they claw their way through the numerous bogs and push and heave over the slimy rocks and roots. Any spectators that do brave a look into the woods often get drafted into dragging bikes out of the slop by exhausted riders and return from the woods looking like they raced themselves.

With space at a premium on top of a mountain a unique start system was adopdted. Riders were released in groups of five, ten seconds apart, with a live engine start on tarmac road.
I holeshot and led the first lap. Midlap I crashed on a gravel road. I picked my bike up and 2nd still hadn't past me. Later I also lost the track deep in the woods and some spectators had to point me in the right direction, allowing the others to catch up.

Early in lap two Knighter caught me and I elected to let him by. I wanted to follow him and learn from the master in these conditions. Thad Duvall also came by on a mission. He had started twenty seconds back and had caught us and took the lead.
I followed Knighter and picked up on some good lines and passed him back mid race. We got into a brief battle before he pulled away to chase down Thad.

We had pulled a big lead over 4th place and there was no danger of being caught, although I still pushed on wanting to take that no. 1 spot.
In the end I took 2nd in class behind David Knight and 3rd overall behind Thad Duvall from the XC2 class.

I was pretty happy with this result as last year Knighter blitzed everyone by twelve minutes at this race. For Thad and I to be up there challenging him was cool.

Results:
XC1
1st- D. Knight
2nd- P. Whibley
3rd- N. Kanney

[NordieBoy]

Bluddy good effort from Thad.

[denill]

The Kiwi Wins:

[takitimu]

The Kiwi Wins:

Nice, next year get's real interesting with Knight going WEC & Endurocross getting more profile.

[denill]

OMA Points to Date:

[denill]

Nice, next year get's real interesting with Knight going WEC & Endurocross getting more profile.

Hey Nigel. Did you know Knight's Going to BMW?

[takitimu]

Hey Nigel. Did you know Knight's Going to BMW?

No, but I'm not surprised, he was not looking happy with KTM & going through mechanics like most people go through oil filters.
I'd have liked to have seen him race Whib's next year, but then again it makes Whib's the favourite to be next season's GNCC champion.
Could be one helluva season next year, Whib's in GNCC, Cody/BT AMA MX, Josh Europe MX.

[denill]

Race Report: OMA XC series, Rnd 8 Arkansas
Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: FMF Suzuki
Bike: Suzuki RMZ 450
Result: 1st

Round 8 of the OMA series saw another great race between Jimmy Jarrett and myself. Swapping positions throughout the two and a half hour event.
Cole Kirkpatrick holeshot and led the way, I got a good start and dropped in behind him. Cole was riding well and set a good pace, but late in the lap I began looking for an opening to get by. I snuck around the inside on a fast sweeping grassy corner and pinned it because I knew Jimmy was behind me and was ready to pounce as well.

Late in the second lap I got a massive amount of wire wrapped around my rear wheel. It was making all sorts of noise, then I lost my rear brake. I thought my race was done but after five minutes my brake began to come back. I guess the wire settled in and allowed the brake to pump up again. While this was happening I could hear Jimmy closing in again.
The track was pretty rocky but as the race progressed a line formed through the rocks and the course got better. Still I didn't want to go down in this stuff so I was riding cautious.

After the fuel stop Jimmy was on me and the pace was increasing. We began to push harder as we both wanted the win. Jimmy got by me in one of the bike only sections near the pits. I thought I had a good line through here but Jimmy pulled out a better one and shot to the lead. It was tough riding behind someone as there was some dust and plenty of random rocks just waiting to take you down, so I pushed hard wanting to retake the lead asap. I got my chance sooner than expected when a lapper went down on a wet slab rock and slowed Jimmy down, I shot around the side and retook the lead. I pushed as hard as I was comfortable doing but still I couldn't shake my teammate. We got the white flag and I was just clinging to the lead. Jimmy took the lead again near the start of the last lap, and hooked another gear.

I gave chase and we were now going faster than I wanted to go through the rocks but I was thinking about the win. We were coming up on lappers pretty fast and we would split them, diving either side of them, probably scaring them to death. I retook the lead again on one of these encounters and was determined to hold on to the end.

I got to the finish and grabbed the win. Jimmy had dropped back, I think he crashed while passing another lapped rider.

Brian Garrahan took third after a late race charge that saw him pass Cole Kirkpatrick.

1st- P. Whibley
2nd- J. Jarrett
3rd- B. Garrahan
4th- C. Kirkpatrick

[secondfield]

No, but I'm not surprised, he was not looking happy with KTM & going through mechanics like most people go through oil filters.

Ha, heres a video of David having a hissy and calling his kato a 'bucket of shit' after a blocked fuel cap hose caused a vaccum lock in his fuel line ....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5bIBWdhgLDE



GO PAUL .. Is all I can say ... go to his website, buy a tshirt to support his endeavours and drop the man an email wishing him all the best....

[NordieBoy]

Ha, heres a video of David having a hissy and calling his kato a 'bucket of shit' after a blocked fuel cap hose caused a vaccum lock in his fuel line ....

I think anyone racing for the win would call their bike a 'bucket of shit' if the vent hose blocked and you hadn't worked out what it was.

I know I did going down Jollies Pass into Hamner on the 2007 Dusty Butt 1000.

[secondfield]

4 sure ... Id probably set the c**t on fire as well.

Time for another free bike from ktm ...

[NordieBoy]

4 sure ... Id probably set the c**t on fire as well.

Time for another free bike from ktm ...

From BMW now

He'll be riding with a pipe and slippers next

[takitimu]

Tough day @ the office for Whib's at the Unadilla GNCC coming 9th, but that does not quite tell the story, he was last off the line ( I guess it didn't fire 1st kick ) & up to 3rd by the second time around, then he pulled clear into 2nd, but on the last lap he ran out of gas, real bad luck & it meant Knighter won the day & the series today.

I've attached a few photo's from the race, yesterday it rained a bit, but looked good this morning & the amateurs had a nice clean race, then it came down, not real bad, but enough that I was soaked & my camera fogged up so many times it was not funny, alot of riders pulled out of the main race.

Gotta say though Whib's looked real good, I've watched a few GNCC'S now & this was definitely the strongest I have seen him race, to be last at the start & only 2 minutes behind David Knight after 3 hours racing is impressive to say the least, I was actually heading for the podium because my camera/lens had cleared up & I could take photo's again ( I found the limit of rain my camera could handle & kept it there for 3 hours ) when over the speaker I heard Whib's was out of gas, I figured he'd be hardly happy & I was soaked so I bailed, hopefully I get another another chance to watch a GNCC, they are pretty cool.

[takitimu]

Some more photo's