Team Fun Mart Cycles/Maxxis/ktmhutt.com Off-road racer Shane Watts fought through some difficult times at Round 2 of 2007 GNCC series held in perfect conditions in Washington, GA over the weekend to salvage a decent finish and add to his points count for the Championship.
Following an 8th placed start Watts quickly worked his way through the pack to be challenging with Glenn Kearney for the early lead. Disaster struck at the 3 mile marker when unexplainably the rear brake line on Watts' bike fractured, resulting in a loss of brake fluid and subsequently no rear brakes for the remainder of the opening 12 mile lap. Once the first lap was completed Watts stopped in the pits to replace the complete rear brake system, which took just over three minutes to undertake before rejoining the race deep in the pack, outside of the top 50.
From there, Watts just railed through the pack riding at a pace that was 30-seconds a lap faster than the lead riders and had moved up into 6th place overall by mid-way through the fifth of seven laps. Again disaster struck as the rear brakes failed for a second time. This time however there was no chance of fixing them so Watts had to ride the remaining two and a half laps with no rear brakes at all. Amazingly only 3 riders were able to move ahead of him in the final results, relegating Watts to 9th overall for the day.
"For being so unlucky today, I got really lucky to get the result that I did. We salvaged that 9th because we were prepared, unlike in previous years where this probably would have resulted in a DNF or zero points from a poor finish. I'm stoked that we were able to pull that off, to ride without rear brakes for exactly half distance of the 3 hour race plus have a 3 minute pit stop to replace the brake system, yet to still finish within 6 minutes of the winner.
Without these problems today it would have easily been a second place finish for us at the minimum which would have been a great back-up from my victory at Round 1 in Florida. Currently we sit second in the points chase for the Championship and are ready to move back into the lead following Round 3 to be held in North Carolina on March 25th. Following my excellent start to the 2007 season, we asked KTM to review their commitment to my race program, and again they have stated that they will provide ZERO support for my racing."
Shane Watts is supported by the following companies; Fun Mart Cycles, Maxxis tires, ktmhutt.com, Progrip goggles and grips, Spectro oils, Shift apparel, GPR stabilizers, DeCal Works graphics, Dirt Tricks sprockets, Race Tech suspension, Bullet Proof Designs radiator protection, Flexx handlebars, Synergy seals, Cycra plastic, Clarke fuel tanks, Alpinestars, FMF, and E-line guards.