Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1051196
IN THE WIND P36 DELONG TAKES SECOND IN JAPAN T he Amsoil GNCC Series continued its 13-year partnership with the Japan National Cross Country (JNCC) Series, November 5. Coastal Racing Husqvarna's Craig DeLong was elected to represent the U.S. at the Jigatake Ski Resort in Omachi City, Nagano, Japan, after his 2018 XC2 season where he finished third overall. Delong would cap off his race season with a second place at the season finale AAGP JNCC race. He would battle with Japan's best off-road tal- ent, such as former GNCC competitor and 2017 JNCC champion, Takeshi Koikeda and new 2018 JNCC Champion, Manabu Watanabe. Koikeda would exit the race after lap seven and Watanabe took home the win in the premier AA1 class and the 2018 JNCC Championship. It is a tradition for JNCC President Masami Hoshino to invite GNCC riders to the season finale in exchange for a Japanese rider that will compete in a single round of the GNCC series. Earlier this year, Ren Ishidoya traveled to West Virginia and raced in the XC1 Open Pro class at the Snowshoe GNCC in June where he finished 12th in class. CN GAJSER HAS SUCCESSFUL SURGERY B ack in February, Honda HRC rider and former MXGP World Champion Tim Gajser suffered a double fracture to his lower jaw prior to the start of the 2018 grand prix season. He missed round one but came back for round two, but the injury affected his performance all season. Gajser still managed to finish fourth in the champion- ship. On November 6, Gajser underwent surgery in his home country of Slovenia to remove titanium plates in his jaw. "It's good to have had the final surgery to remove all the metalwork from my jaw—I don't think people realized I had that many brackets and screws holding my jaw together all season! It was a big crash in Mantova so I feel lucky to have got away with it with just the jaw, but it was still a big injury that did affect me all season—we started by los- ing training time and time on the bike in the pre-season and then missing Argentina, and that had a knock-on effect throughout the season," Gajser said. "For a long time I couldn't even eat properly, so I suffered that way too. "Now [that] I have had this operation, it will take a little time for me to return to normal, because there is some pain in the jaw, which is normal after such surgery," he added. "But I'm so pleased that it all went well and we can now leave it totally behind. By doing it now, we have time to make sure we're back to 100 percent on the bike for next season, and I can't wait." CN Tim Gajser recently had surgery to remove titanium plates from his jaw. Japan's JNCC Series wrapped up last week with Craig DeLong coming along as a guest racer.