Warnert Racing’s Chris Bithell & Chris Jenks Finish in Top 10 at Power Line Park

Chris Bithell Chris Jenks Cliff Beasley

St. Clairsville, OH – Sunny skies seemed to be the perfect backdrop for round 12 of the Can-Am GNCC Series where Warnert Racing’s Chris Bithell and Chris Jenks both claimed top ten finishes in the Pro class while Michael Swift and Cliff Beasley walked away with wins in the 4x4 Limited and 4x4 Lites class.

Power Line Park was the hosting facility for the next to last race of the season where conditions were dry and the track was fast, which seemed to suit Warnert Racing’s Chris Bithell and Chris Jenks very well. As the XC1 Pro class left the line, Bithell and Jenks were both towards the back, but both racers made a charge and soon found themselves moving up through the ranks.

Chris Bithell, who was in 13th place at the end of the first lap, kept his head down and just focused on the course in front of him. By lap two, Bithell had worked up to 10th place and kept charging forward. In lap three Bithell recorded his fastest lap time of 00:28:47 and moved up to 8th place. Bithell was still gaining ground and kept pressing forward, and in the final lap, Bithell moved up two more positions to take 6th overall and finish with a time of 01:56:29.

Chris Jenks also came off the line towards the back of the pack, but he wasn’t about to settle for anything less than the top ten. “I didn’t get off to the best start, but I kept pushing,” said Jenks. By the end of the first lap, Jenks had worked himself into 11th place and was keeping a steady pace. In lap three, Jenks had a couple of issues and dropped back to 12th, but made a charge in the last lap. “In the last lap I caught up to Yokley and Sommers and was able to pass them to take 10th place,” said Jenks contentedly. Jenks finished with an overall time of 01:58:02.

In the A.M. classes, 4x4 Lites racer, Cliff Beasley, had something to prove. Beasley, who had issues at round 11, was determined to make his presence known. “I was kind of upset about getting beat at the last round, so I wanted to win real bad,” said Cliff, and win he did. Beasley checked out and finished 20 minutes ahead of anyone else in his class.

Michael Swift, also took home another win for Warnert Racing. The 4x4 Limited champion came off the line with amazing speed and led for the entire race, even after encountering some issues out on the track. “We were testing out some new things out there since I already have the championship wrapped up,  so I did have a couple issues out there, but I still won, and that’s all that matters!” said Swift of his 11th victory of the season.

Warnert Racing’s Scott Kilby and Rick Cecco also had solid performances this weekend with Kilby taking second in the 4x4 Open class and Cecco taking home third in the U2 class.

The round thirteen of the 2008 Can-Am GNCC series will have the Warnert team heading to Crawfordsville, IN to the Ironman, which is a favorite track for many of the Warnert racers, so we should expect to see plenty of top performances from the team for the final race of the season.