2008 Jason Raines Full
Circle Training Camps
June 7-8
The week after Kentucky GNCC, we had a full schedule trying to prepare everything for the 7th annual 24 hour challenge located in Maplesville, Al. At first, on paper it looked as though it would be an easy preparation but in reality it was a lot of work! We took my practice bike I have been riding since January and did a major overhaul on it from the ground up, and we had already tested our night lighting from Trail Tech so that was one less hurdle to get over. After spending all week working on the bike and loading up all the extras that we thought we would be needing we started our 7 hour trek towards Alabama.
Our team was very strong and consisted of Randy Hawkins, Thad Duvall, Dustin Gibson, Joe Scherer and myself. We did some pre-track inspection on Friday morning and later that night Thad, Joe and Dustin did some riding in the Alabama moonlight to get used to the bike set-up and the lighting.
The race got under way at 10:00am and I was the one who started. I got off to a 3rd place start and I posted the fastest time of the entire 24 hour on the second lap! The track started out about perfect because we got some much needed rain the night before, but let me tell you, after 24 hours of racing (I rode the last lap of the race) it was rough and silty.
As the race wore on we took turns every two laps, trying to keep the riders fresh and able to charge. It was very hot and humid so 2 laps each was about right to keep fresh and motivated.
Pretty much the entire race it was between our team and the KTM team of Nathan Kanney, Russell Bobbitt, Corey Butrick, Jason Chancey, Michael Gravit and Michael Grizzle. We swapped back and forth so many times during the race, it was exciting. We would pull a gap and then they would reel us in and get into the lead and then it was us making up the time on them. It went on like this until about 6:00 am. We had four hours to go and we had a slight lead on them so we were going to try and put our 3 fastest guys (Thad, Dustin and Myself) on the track and finish it out, and they ended up doing the same thing and putting Kanney, Bobbitt, and Butrick out.
That is when we started having some troubles, they were riding really well and we were making mistakes and losing ground. They made the pass with about 1 1/2 to go and we just couldn't mount a charge to catch them.
After 24 hours of racing and many gallons of gas being burned we finished a hard fought second place. This race is a true test for the machine and it really showed how strong the WR's are. Even on a bike with many hours on it prior to the race the only maintenance we did was change one rear tire, 2 sets of rear brake pads, 1 oil and filter change and we changed the air filter every 4 laps. That is it! The Trail Tech lighting system never missed a beat and kept the night looking like day the entire night and even though the bike felt a little loose by the end it was still running strong.
1 - KTM/Cycle Specialties
2 - Am-Pro, FMF, Yamaha
3 - Action Kawasaki/Yamaha
24 Hour Pre-Race
The Sunday after the 24 hour was the 3rd round of the AMA Hare Scrambles series in Elkland, PA, about 5 miles from the New York border. One week down in the bayou of Alabama, the next in the hills of PA! It rained hard about 20 miles North of the race but not one drop fell at the track, and it was much needed. The woods were dark and moist with scattered rocky sections. It was blinding dusty in the open field portions of the track so a good start was going to be a plus. The track was 10 miles in length and had a good variety of sections ranging from wide open grass fields to tight, technical marshy sections.
My WR 450F fired quick and i was off to a top 5 start. There were 35 pros on hand so I made my day a lot better as I rounded the first few turns in the front of the pack.
I made quick move into 3rd before we entered into the 'white out' of the grass track. I was in 3rd and I couldn't see anything in front of me! It was bad dusty. Once we got to the woods the dust cleared and the leaders had pulled a little bit on me so I put in a charge to make up ground, only to come to another field section and be in the dust again. You had to make up the ground in the woods and pass them before you got to the fields, time was not of the essence.
I moved into second in the beginning of the 2nd lap and took over the lead about mid-way through the 3rd lap.
I was all alone in the lead for 2 laps and was riding a comfortable pace, but I must have not been pushing hard enough because all of a sudden I heard a bike right on my tail! It was Nathan Kanney, he had caught me sleeping and before I could re-group and pick up the pace he made the pass when I made a slight mistake with a lapped rider.
We had 2 laps to go and I wasn't going to let him go, I woke up and started pushing to match his pace. When we got the white flag, we both stopped for fuel and left out of the pits together. I was in the same position again. I would lose ground in the fields and gain in the woods. I was hoping for a mistake to make the pass, but it never happened. I crossed the finish line in 2nd about 10 seconds down. I was a little disappointed that I let my guard down and got int a pace instead of continuing to push. After looking at the lap times, once he caught me I picked it up but it was too little too late. Need to push the entire race next time!
Results
2 - JASON RAINES
3 - Glenn Kearney
4 - Jerod Stoner
5 - Andrew Delong
6 - Justin Williamson
7 - Ben Bouwens
8 - Gordan Crockard
9 - Heath Voss
10 - Brian Lawson
Points after 3 of 8 Rounds
1 - JASON RAINES
2 - Nathan Kanney
3 - Glenn Kearney
4 - Justin Williamson
5 - Paul Whibley
Thank you to all of my friends, family, fans and sponsors for all your support, see you at the races! Our next race is this weekend at round 8 of the GNCC series in Yadkinville, NC, wish us luck!
July 6 - GNCC/AMA National Hare Scramble - Somerset, PA
July 27 - AMA National Hare Scramble - Tremont, PA
At first, we went down to the gym to do some stuff, and I was thinking “I’ve been doing this longer than him. I don’t need to listen!” But then I thought hey, I’ll try it and see what happens, and if it doesn’t work I’ll go back to what I do. But it’s fun. Jason mixes it up.
Randy Hawkins
I have trained and done a lot of different programs throughout my career. Jason has always impressed me with his dedication and hard work in the training field. Jason’s programs and training manual are professionally organized and make me feel totally prepared heading into any race I attend.
New dates have been announced for 2008 camps! See our "Camps" page for all the details!
2 Day 3 Day
July 12-13 *September 2-5
Aug 2-3 November 4-6
*Aug 30-31
September 6-7
November 1-2
* = Tentative Dates
Race Report
Hey everyone! Since the last GNCC in Kentucky we have had a little break in the GNCC action, but rest assured we haven't been sitting on the couch the last two weeks! I am sorry about the delay in me sending the last two weeks worth of racing action, but here is what we have been doing on our 'off weekends'.
June 7-8
The week after Kentucky GNCC, we had a full schedule trying to prepare everything for the 7th annual 24 hour challenge located in Maplesville, Al. At first, on paper it looked as though it would be an easy preparation but in reality it was a lot of work! We took my practice bike I have been riding since January and did a major overhaul on it from the ground up, and we had already tested our night lighting from Trail Tech so that was one less hurdle to get over. After spending all week working on the bike and loading up all the extras that we thought we would be needing we started our 7 hour trek towards Alabama.
Our team was very strong and consisted of Randy Hawkins, Thad Duvall, Dustin Gibson, Joe Scherer and myself. We did some pre-track inspection on Friday morning and later that night Thad, Joe and Dustin did some riding in the Alabama moonlight to get used to the bike set-up and the lighting.
The race got under way at 10:00am and I was the one who started. I got off to a 3rd place start and I posted the fastest time of the entire 24 hour on the second lap! The track started out about perfect because we got some much needed rain the night before, but let me tell you, after 24 hours of racing (I rode the last lap of the race) it was rough and silty.
As the race wore on we took turns every two laps, trying to keep the riders fresh and able to charge. It was very hot and humid so 2 laps each was about right to keep fresh and motivated.
Pretty much the entire race it was between our team and the KTM team of Nathan Kanney, Russell Bobbitt, Corey Butrick, Jason Chancey, Michael Gravit and Michael Grizzle. We swapped back and forth so many times during the race, it was exciting. We would pull a gap and then they would reel us in and get into the lead and then it was us making up the time on them. It went on like this until about 6:00 am. We had four hours to go and we had a slight lead on them so we were going to try and put our 3 fastest guys (Thad, Dustin and Myself) on the track and finish it out, and they ended up doing the same thing and putting Kanney, Bobbitt, and Butrick out.
That is when we started having some troubles, they were riding really well and we were making mistakes and losing ground. They made the pass with about 1 1/2 to go and we just couldn't mount a charge to catch them.
After 24 hours of racing and many gallons of gas being burned we finished a hard fought second place. This race is a true test for the machine and it really showed how strong the WR's are. Even on a bike with many hours on it prior to the race the only maintenance we did was change one rear tire, 2 sets of rear brake pads, 1 oil and filter change and we changed the air filter every 4 laps. That is it! The Trail Tech lighting system never missed a beat and kept the night looking like day the entire night and even though the bike felt a little loose by the end it was still running strong.
Top 3 Overall
1 - KTM/Cycle Specialties
2 - Am-Pro, FMF, Yamaha
3 - Action Kawasaki/Yamaha
A special thanks for the tiring efforts of our pit crew, mechanics, friends, family, and fans for their 24 hours of work! Thank you to all of our Team Sponsors for their continued efforts to our team.
24 Hour Pre-Race
June 15
The Sunday after the 24 hour was the 3rd round of the AMA Hare Scrambles series in Elkland, PA, about 5 miles from the New York border. One week down in the bayou of Alabama, the next in the hills of PA! It rained hard about 20 miles North of the race but not one drop fell at the track, and it was much needed. The woods were dark and moist with scattered rocky sections. It was blinding dusty in the open field portions of the track so a good start was going to be a plus. The track was 10 miles in length and had a good variety of sections ranging from wide open grass fields to tight, technical marshy sections.
My WR 450F fired quick and i was off to a top 5 start. There were 35 pros on hand so I made my day a lot better as I rounded the first few turns in the front of the pack.
I made quick move into 3rd before we entered into the 'white out' of the grass track. I was in 3rd and I couldn't see anything in front of me! It was bad dusty. Once we got to the woods the dust cleared and the leaders had pulled a little bit on me so I put in a charge to make up ground, only to come to another field section and be in the dust again. You had to make up the ground in the woods and pass them before you got to the fields, time was not of the essence.
I moved into second in the beginning of the 2nd lap and took over the lead about mid-way through the 3rd lap.
I was all alone in the lead for 2 laps and was riding a comfortable pace, but I must have not been pushing hard enough because all of a sudden I heard a bike right on my tail! It was Nathan Kanney, he had caught me sleeping and before I could re-group and pick up the pace he made the pass when I made a slight mistake with a lapped rider.
We had 2 laps to go and I wasn't going to let him go, I woke up and started pushing to match his pace. When we got the white flag, we both stopped for fuel and left out of the pits together. I was in the same position again. I would lose ground in the fields and gain in the woods. I was hoping for a mistake to make the pass, but it never happened. I crossed the finish line in 2nd about 10 seconds down. I was a little disappointed that I let my guard down and got int a pace instead of continuing to push. After looking at the lap times, once he caught me I picked it up but it was too little too late. Need to push the entire race next time!
Results
1 - Nathan Kanney
2 - JASON RAINES
3 - Glenn Kearney
4 - Jerod Stoner
5 - Andrew Delong
6 - Justin Williamson
7 - Ben Bouwens
8 - Gordan Crockard
9 - Heath Voss
10 - Brian Lawson
Points after 3 of 8 Rounds
1 - JASON RAINES
2 - Nathan Kanney
3 - Glenn Kearney
4 - Justin Williamson
5 - Paul Whibley
Thank you to all of my friends, family, fans and sponsors for all your support, see you at the races! Our next race is this weekend at round 8 of the GNCC series in Yadkinville, NC, wish us luck!
Upcoming Races
June 29 - AMA National Hare Scramble - Lynnville, INJuly 6 - GNCC/AMA National Hare Scramble - Somerset, PA
July 27 - AMA National Hare Scramble - Tremont, PA
Training Tip of the Month
Since we are heading into the middle of the season and it is going to be dusty in the up-coming summer races i recommend putting a lot of effort into practicing your starts, getting a good start is crucial in the dusty races approaching and more time needs to be spent getting comfortable and confident in your starting procedure when doing dead engine starts. A lot of races over look this part of their program and make sure you aren't the one left in the dust off the start!Quotes from Full Circle Athletes
Barry HawkAt first, we went down to the gym to do some stuff, and I was thinking “I’ve been doing this longer than him. I don’t need to listen!” But then I thought hey, I’ll try it and see what happens, and if it doesn’t work I’ll go back to what I do. But it’s fun. Jason mixes it up.
Randy Hawkins
I have trained and done a lot of different programs throughout my career. Jason has always impressed me with his dedication and hard work in the training field. Jason’s programs and training manual are professionally organized and make me feel totally prepared heading into any race I attend.
