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OFF-ROAD AMA GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES By Jim Talkington ELIZABETH, WV, MAY 9-10 '''''or the first time in nearly a year, Team Suzuki's Steve Hatch topped the Grand National Cross Country Series field and effectively threw his hat into the ring for championship con'tention in the fifth round of the series in West Virginia. Beset by injuries and setbacks since the latter part of last season, Hatch's struggle to regain form after a broken back appears to be complete. "I want to thank Suzuki and Mike. Webb and all of my sponsors for believing in me, because even three weeks ago 1 was having doubts in myself," a relieved Hatch said afte)"ward. "I've been just trying to get up to speed. You always second-guess things when you're not quite up to speed, but 1 kept at it and kept training and I'm happy to win it today for my mom since it's Mother's Day and her birthday." The Starvation Point event was also the mo t technicalJy chalJenging GNCC of the year thus far, which made Hatch's . three-minute lead at the finish aU the more convincing. The course was badly rutted and the hills were made slippery from torrential rains in the days leading up to the race. Only 11 riders finished on the lead lap. Finishing second to Hatch was Team Kawa aki's Fred Andrews with Suzuki teamster Rodney Smith a bike length behind in third. Andrews and Smith's race-long battle for second was as hotly 4 Round 5: Starvation Point contested as their season-long battle for the championship. Andrews' second place put him one point up on Smith in the season points standings as the series nears the halfway mark. . Team Yamaha/HWK Racing's Randy Hawkins finished a season-high fourth overall alter starting the event dead last off the Pro starting line. Hawkins always shines when the terrain toughens, and he used his formidable line-picking abilities to work his way through the 21-rider Pro field. Kawasaki's Jimmy Jarrett, who started even further back than Hawkins, claimed fifth overalJ. Jarrett, a 250cc A rider, started 30 seconds to the rear of the Pro class and displaced many of the nation's top off-road riders to score his top overall GNCC finish to date. Three other nonPn;> riders, Steve McSwain·, Chuck Woodford and Gene Onail, also penetrated the top 10 overalJ. Starvation Point has played host to the GNCC tour for four consecutive seasons after replacing the infamous Blackwater 100 on the race schedule. While Blackwater was long regarded as the nation's toughest race, Starvation Point played a close second fiddle this year after being deluged with rain for days on end. Due to high water and slippery conditions, the traditional pit area was moved to a large concrete pad that held the Pro pits and the finish/scoring areas. Pitting on concrete made the job of maintenanc~ easier and gave a unique Grand Prix appearance to the traditional GNCC backdrop. Hatch. immediately jumped to the' lead at the sta)"t, followed by Team KTM's Scott Plessinger, the Kawasakis of Andrews and Luca Trussardi and hometown favorite Doug Blackwell on (Above) Suzuki's backon-form Steve Hatch (2) led from the very beginning 01 the Starvation PointGNCC and was never headed. (Right) Hatch was unstoppable in the WeSt Virginia mud, winning the event while also putting himself in serious contention for . the series championship. his Yamaha. Kawasaki's Brian Keegan, Yamaha/HWK's Barry Hawk and the Suzukis of Smith and Paul Edmondson completed the lead pack. Blackwell had high hopes entering his home round and had a shot at completing the. "triIecta" of woods racing. After scoring wins.a t the previous ational Enduro and ational Hare Scrambles rounds, BlackweU could make-it three wins in three series with a victory in his back yard. Unlortunately, the West Virginia speedster's race would last only one lap as he fell and badly jammed his left wrist. With a realistic shot at two other championship titles in the balance, Blackwell had no choice but to retire. Defending GNCC champ Scott Summers also had a less-than-desirable first lap alter burying his big XR up to the tank in the black mud. "Rodney (Smith) and Fred (Andrews) both went through this mudhole and I went right behind them. Their bikes dug it out just enough that it swallowed mine when I hit it. 1 had to expend so much energy to physicaJJy lift roy bike up and out that everybody was long gone by the time 1 got going again." After losing 16 minutes on the first lap, Summers soldiered on to finish an eventual 13th overall. . Entering the scoring tent after one lap, it was the tightly clustered pack of Smith, Hatch, Team KTM's Mike lafferty and Keegan within 10 seconds of one another. Andrews, Edmondson and Hawk were battling with each other another 25 seconds down, and Hawkins had climbed to eighth. By lap three, Hatch began his sprint from the field. Riding smooth and never getting stuck allowed the national number-two rider to take off and not look back. Andrews and Smith were already running together by lap three, and Lafferty was there to keep them honest. Climbing into fifth place by the midpoint was Edmondson, who was beginning to experience problems that would plague him throughout the event. "I got stuck in this mudhole and (the bike) just completely stopped on me," Edmondson said. "I thought 1 had run out of gas but 1 hadn't, and after a while