Sitting solidly in the top 10 overall, Jason Thomas has reason to feel confident about the rest of the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series race season -- and the fact that the remaining races, unlike those early this year, will be run on familiar tracks only adds to his optimism.
After achieving amazing results in the latter half of 2008, when he was on the podium in every round he raced, Thomas expected that this year would go well for him. And once the season was under way, he made steady progress: He took third place in the XC2 Pro Lites class at Round 4, second in Round 5, fourth at Round 6 and second at Round 7. At press time, Thomas was seventh in the overall standings and held a solid third place in XC2 Pro Lite rankings.
He ended the first half of the season on a high note, with an XC2 victory at Round 9. Winning the last race before the break was understandably a highlight for the Fred Andrews team racer. “It went really good,” Thomas said. “I had a good start and never really got challenged by anybody. I got a six-minute lead and held it right to the finish.”
Andrews is pleased with Thomas’ performance: “He’s doing awesome, and things are going good. We’re looking forward to the second half of the season. We always knew he could do good. As a team owner, you try to pick the best tires and the best equipment, and Maxxis tires and Yamaha motorcycles are the best. And then I went to the rider that I thought was the best for this year.”
Thomas runs the Maxxcross SM front and SI rear in wet conditions, and the Maxxcross IT front and SI rear in dry weather. He has high praise for his tires -- especially the SM. “I think the SM front tire hooks up way better than anything else. It gives you a lot of confidence going into the race. It’s almost a cheat it’s so good.”
Now in his ninth year as a racer, Thomas got his start riding at age eight, when his dad bought him a clutch PUCH Magnum X. A native of Wales, he has lived in the U.S. since 2004.
