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The Aussie Shane Watts: who is campaigning in the States has fought hard to Overcome Injuries: to get back to his previous competitive form.
Shane`s PR will be regularly updating Silver Bullet with his progress.
Shane Watts wins Round 12 GNCC
Team KTM offroad racer Shane Watts scored an emphatic victory on the weekend at Round 12 of the Grand National Cross Country series, held in St. Clairsville, Ohio.
Conducted in perfect conditions, Watts gradually worked his way through the field from a last place start to take the lead position midway through the third lap of the six lap, three hour race. After holding the lead for two laps Watts was then taken down by a crashing lapped rider, which allowed Barry Hawk to slide through into first position. From there Watts just followed Hawk for the remaining lap and a half, with the intention of making a pass in the closing stages of the final lap. With a mile of the course remaining Watts made his move and charged past Hawk and onto a very long overdue victory in America\'s premier motorcycle Offroad Championship
\"I\'m totally stoked!\" Watts excitedly said at the end of the race.
\"It\'s been two extremely long and difficult years of injury and recovery since my last GNCC victory. For sure now, there were times that I really wondered if I was ever going to get back to the top of the GNCC podium, but generally I had faith in myself and just kept plugging away and remaining determined to succeed. It\'s a very relieving feeling!\"
\"I\'m very thankful to the companies and many race fans who have continued to fully support me through all of these hard times. However, and as I said on the podium today in my victory speech, those few companies and fans that discarded me and wrote me off as a \"has been\", well, they can all go and kiss my ass! I definately proved something to them today, and I am very determined to do it again many times in the future!!!\"
\"It ended up being a very funny kind of race, at least the start of it was. Four riders, including myself, were penalised for jumping the start. In the re-start the four of us had to start the race facing in the opposite direction of the course, which ultimately ensured a dead last position heading into the first corner for myself. Once I started to make up positions I began to feel confident and realised how much faster I was riding than most of the guys. I felt comfortable in the lead when I had it, but then the lapper took me down. At that stage of the race I was actually wanting to follow Hawk to see what his lines were, and to see on what parts of the course he was riding strong, and where he wasn\'t. From there I devised a plan of where I would pass him in the closing stages of the race. His overall pace around the course was slower than what I had hoped, which let the rest of the pack close in a little. But I decided to stick to my plan, so I just sat behind him and waited for my opportunity to make the pass. From there I just had to ride the final mile without risk. It was all pretty easy!\"
Watts will now head to the final round of the National Hare Scramble Championship in Lynnville, Indiana this coming weekend.
Grand National Cross Country Championship:
Round 12 St. Clairsville, Ohio
1. Shane Watts (KTM)
2. Barry Hawk (YAM)
3. Jason Raines (YAM)
4. Scott Summers (HON)
5. Mike Lafferty (KTM)
6. Steve Hatch (SUZ)
7. Robbie Jenks (YAM)
8. Jimmy Jarrett (YAM)
9. Brian Garrahan (KTM)
10. Randy Hawkins (YAM)
