Fun Mart Cycles/Maxxis/cyclehutt.com racer Shane Watts performed strongly at Round 5 of the GNCC series held at the famed Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Tennessee.
Quite warm conditions greeted the racers as they roosted off the line, with Watts again snagging an excellent start on his Yamaha YZ250 to be in the lead pack of riders as they headed into the trees. From there Watts followed fellow Aussie Glenn Kearney for the first lap and then slipped into the lead for the next lap and a half. By then David Knight came charging past, apparently on a mission, so Watts easily picked up the pace and tagged along with Knight for the next two and half laps as they distanced themselves from the rest of the field. At the start of the sixth and penultimate lap Watts pitted for a quick splash of fuel and charged after Knight again so as to catch him and be ready for a showdown on the 7th and final lap with the Manx man. Unfortunately in his haste to get back with Knight, Watts suffered a major crash which took him out of the running for the race victory and relegated him to a fifth place finish.
"Having the chance to ride the Yamaha a few more times since the last GNCC let me set the bike up more to my liking and let me feel more prepared to take the victory again. Definitely the first five laps of this race show the potential that I have to win with the YZ250 so it was disappointing to have that crash. It was spectacular, as I bounced off 3 consecutive trees before looping it out as the Yamaha actually rode up the trunk of the last tree. The front end got pretty tweaked so I had to stop several times to try and straighten things out."
"I was happy with how easy it was to run David's hectic pace especially seeing I had to continually catch back up to him after losing some distance due to lapped riders. What I was amazed with was the way he passed the lapped riders, either knocking them out of the way or just plain mowing them down. Making contact with a lapped rider is inevitable for us, but not with every single lapped rider! I felt like I needed to stop and apologize to all of those guys lying on the ground. If he keeps that up it won't be long before someone gets seriously hurt."
"Overall though I had a strong ride and think that I proved that myself and the Yamaha are a great match and will be shooting for the podium at the next round on May 13."
Shane Watts is supported by the following companies; Fun Mart Cycles, Maxxis tires, cyclehutt.com, Yamaha, Progrip goggles and grips, Spectro oils, Shift apparel, GPR stabilizers, DeCal Works graphics, Dirt Tricks sprockets, Race Tech suspension, Bullet Proof Designs radiator protection, Springfield Armory, Flexx handlebars, Synergy seals, Cycra plastic, Clarke fuel tanks, Alpinestars, FMF, and E-line guards.