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/127962
CROSS COUNTRY Round 10: Burr Oaks A GRAND NATION . MA AL CROSS COU NTRY SERIES . .. '. -'. MILLFIELD, OH., SEPT. 14 ea m Suzu k i Off-Roa d ' s Rodn ey Smith capped a near-perfect GNCC season w it h a n ear-perfect ride in co ndi tio ns far less th an perfect a t th e Burr Oa ks nation al. With 10 rounds run, the ever-consistent vetera n has finis hed on the podiu m in all 10 with a dom inating five overall wins. The eve r-growing significa nce of the GNCC series attracts the crea m of th e off-roa d talent in this co u n try as well as se lect competi to rs from overseas. As a resu lt, competitio n has been fier ce. Nevert heless, the toll , the pace a nd len gth of eac h race - and the enti re series - has virtually guaran teed th a t no one rider d omin at es th e series . Until now, that is. Smith 's combinati on of n ati onal - and w orld -cla ss motocross tal ent a n d the trail savvy acquired winning nine nati on al off-roa d titl es a llo wed him to se w u p his fir st GNCC cham pions hi p wit h a full three rounds remaining in the series. If Smit h had missed th e wi n tod ay, hi s Team Suzuki Off- Roa d tea m ma te Steve Ha tch, H onda ' s cu rr ent cha mp Scoll Summers a n d Team G ree n / Andrews Kawasak i rider Fred Andrews s till wou ld have had a ma th emat ical lon g shot at the title . Each wo uld have needed to wi n all the remaining races to guarantee the cha mp ionship. All three rid e rs gave it their best shot. Neardrought conditions had rendered the notoriously tight course more Baja than. Back East. All of the 12-miles of trail were dustv, but the ha lf of the course shared with Saturdav's ATV race billowed with silt that m~de for impenetrable walls of w hite dust. The dust was much on the mind of the riders at the start. The sudden Suz uki rid er s have got te n th e holeshot in nearly eve ry race so far thi s yea r, and Hatch and Smith picked the safe ins ide while Su m mers gam b led o n a la s t minute move to the far ou tside. Hatch pulled his patented holeshot with Smith and And re ws right behind. Su m me rs ' ou tsid e line appeared a wise gamble as he swe pt around the outsid e, but whil e near the lead rid er s he hit a mound of dirt at the o u ts ide of th e tra ck and cras hed hard . Yama ha's Doug Blackwell wa s forced to u se the d owned XR and Su m mers' back as a sma ll patch of d ustfree traction . Su m me rs restarted d ead last and comp leted the first lap in 15th p lace. H at ch ' s lead didn't las t m u ch longer, since he ove rju mped an obstacle on the third straigh t and Smi th sneaked unde rnea th. Wit h th at move, the top five riders we re set for the first thr ee laps. Virtually no one could p a ss in th e ea rly d ust. They had to wai t for ma jor mistakes or serious bad lu ck to strike the competition. Gremlins a ttacked Andrews firs t. Wh ile threading th ro u gh a bot tlen eck on a dusty hill, a lapped rider fell over on him. "I saw gas leaking, and I jus t figured I' d cha nge th e fuel lin e in th e pits," And rews sai d a fte r the race. "Bu t th e carburetor fell ou t of the manifold as I land ed fro m th e tabletop on th e MX tra ck. Th e guy's handlebar mu st hav e kn ocked th e clamp loose. A specta to r had a screwdriver , so 1 just fixed it on the motocross track . 1 dropped back to seventh (aft er losing roughly five min utes a t the s id e of the tra ck ), but 1 worked too hard to s tay in third , so I cranked to make up time." Andrews' misfortune land ed all thr ee m embers o f Team Suzuki in the top three as Eng lis h man Paul Edmondson wa s bumped up to third - rou ghl y four minutes behind his teammates - af ter runn in g fif t h fo r three laps . Ea r ly ez 28 fourth-pl acer Blackw ell fad ed back to eighth, but Andrew s was obvious ly on a mission. His cha rge coincided with bad luck striking other rid ers. Mike Laffert y never sa w Andrews co ming . Th e KX rid er hunted him down o n th e motocross section, leaped a giant tab letop just behind him , then jumped again to land right beside the KTM rid er in the next tum. Andrews, on the insid e, controlled the line and took off in sea rch of o the r prey. He ran d own both Randy Hawkins and Barry Hawks on the same lap, but his trip into the top thr ee (from seventh) came at Hatch 's misfortune. Staying with in striking di stance of Smith kept Hatch and his RM250 unfortun ately clouded in dust. Once the air filter cried uncle, th e eng ine w asn't fa r behind. With under two lap s to go, Hatch had to start pu shin g the bike up hills. The RM gave up before the super-fit rider. "I was read y to push it up all th e hill s," Hat ch quipped goo d- na tu red ly afterward . "Bu t it jus t wouldn't run an ymore." After inspec ting the air boot back in th e pits, h is mechanic Sha ne Nalley claimed he'd be able to plant com on the piston . Rodney Smith clinched the Grand National Cross Country Series title with his fifth win of the seas on at the Burr OaksGNCC. Smith w as s till s tre tch ing hi s lead with lap tim es fa st er than a ny oth er rid er on th e first five laps, d espite the fact that he w as in the dust as bad as any other rid er at that point. Andrews w as s till cha rging, but Su m me rs was makin g on e of his fam ou s come- fro mbehind rid es. Despite leaving on the last lap with a nearl y d estroyed rear wheel