'06 John Penton GNCC

[MaineExport]

Just got back from the Ohio GNCC... holy crap the woods there SUCK! It's not very rocky which is nice... but the mud (basically slick red clay that sticks to all your equipment yet provides absolutely NO grip for tires) combined with 8" to 10" deep ruts created a miserable experience for a quad that has about 3" of ground clearance with the piece of shit skid plate that I just bought.

However the start was AWESOME! The first 5 or so corners were part of the Steel Creek MX park. Normally that would probably scare the b-jaysus out of me... but this was a pretty tame MX compared to the couple others I've been on.

I got an excellent start... the 2-stroke open A/B class consisted of four 250R's (two of them mildly built and two EXTREMELY built) a piped/carb'd/filtered Banshee, and me... on a little kids quad. The only thing in front of me for the first 3 corners was ONE of the 2 built 250R's... got passed on the 4th corner because I screwed up... then made my way back to 2nd just before the MX track dumped us into the woods.

That's pretty much where my race ended. By the 2 mile marker I had been stuck in deep clay/mud ruts twice for a total of about 10 minutes or more. Every time I'd get free I'd make it about a quarter mile and get hung up again. Most these guys are running 22" tires now... makes for some SERIOUS Blaster eating conditions if the ground is soft enough.

Still a fun weekend... but there were a bunch of gnarly accidents for Pro's and us weekend warriors as well. I thought I witnessed one guy experience his final ride. Did a major endo off a 10 foot mulch pile and had the quad land on his back and neck... after not moving for about 5 minutes he got up and rode off.

I've got two pics so far... haven't been able to pirate the other two yet...

[Banshee]

Damn suck the woods were crappy sounds like you would have had a pretty good race on your hands if it weren't for that. What size rear tires were you running? If the blaster can fit banshee rims I have a set of Maxxis Razr II's in 23" that would have helped you out, you would need to regear but I love my Razrs for that kind of crap, I ride a lot of rocky trails so I needed the extra clearance. Just let me know before the next race your welcome to borrow them.

Did you recruit any new members with the banner?

[MaineExport]

Haha... I'd definitley have to re-gear for 23's!! If I can't find some good mud tires in a 21" I may take you up on that offer. I can't get Razr's or Shredders in 21's... but I think Holeshot makes their new TrackStars in the 21".

Right now I run 20's... and I've NEVER had a problem with hanging up in ruts.. but this was crazy... and I think my problems were mostly due to this skid plate. I might have 3" clearance under the bearing carrier... and it just lifts the tires right off the ground if I slide into a rut.

The banner was hanging up on the pit tent facing the track... so hopefully people saw it. Unfortunately the nuber of 2-strokes is getting smaller and smaller each year. Every chump and their retarded inbred cousin is riding a 450 now...

I had the wifey handing out stickers to 2-stroke riders though... so hopefully a couple people will come check us out.

[$evy]

damn sounds like you woulda really stomped some ass.....this summer i'll be doing a few hair scrambles so we'll see whats up and what i'm racing against.....

but congradulations man, hey you can't win them allr ight?

[MaineExport]

Originally Posted by $evy

but congradulations man, hey you can't win them allr ight?

Haha... I can't seem to win ANY of 'em!!!

But it was plenty of satisfaction beating the snot out of three 250R's and a Banshee off the line! I'm sure if the Banshee was built like the R's it would have hammered the hell out of all of us until it got to some of the more tight technical stuff... but he was in dead last off the line. The guy that got the hole shot on me had a really sweet R. He had 400ex plastics on it which I thought was kinda ghey.... but everything on this quad was top of the line. Ohlins triple rate shocks, ESR engine work... you name it... this R had it... and he was a really good rider too... nailed the corners like a pro... definitely good to see someone with that kind of skill still racing a 2-stroke!

[MaineExport]

Managed to rob this pic from them also!

[$evy]

damn, that must of felt really good racing those guys. Too bad they didn't have 4 strokes in that class....that couldof got interesting...

[blaster04]

nice good job man

[gixxer1kr]

Congarats you finished...LOL that was an accomplishment for me last year.Seeing a was running on a 20 year old quad against some seriously built bikes.How do u like the magura hydraulic clutch.Im thinking of getting 1 for the 450R...What ski plate were you running.I run the PRM and noticed a huge gain in ground clearance!!!

[MaineExport]

With the HD Barnett clutch kit the Magura clutch is a MUST HAVE!!! Pulling the clutch is a "one finger" affair now... definitely a huge improvement over stock.

The skid plate I bought just before this race was a Shark Racing 400EX skid plate. The JB Racing +2 swing arm uses the Honda style round house bearing carrier and it's set up to use a 400ex or Raptor skid plate. The one I used before was perfect... it had a ton of clearance in the middle and then the plate dropped down on each side for the sprocket and disc. But this Shark racing piece of crap is straight across under the whole carrier, sprocket, and disc... so it literally cuts me down to about 3" of clearance. The other one only hung down that low for an inch or so wide... so it wouldn't hang up on everything... this shit-tastic design is like a giant ski uner the rear end that lifts the tires right off the ground... not impressed.

So for the time being I've found a Durablue Raptor skid plate made of PVC plastic... won't hold up as well as the aluminum... but at least I won't get stuck so damn much.