Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ra n a Dunlop 0 739 rear tire while eve ryone else ran D756s, so I was a little nervou s abou t tha t, bu t it worked reall y well. I passed Hatch on a rocky, slippe ry u p hill, and tho ug ht that wo ul d be the worst spot for that tire since the knobs are so close toget her, but it actually ma y have been a little bett er. " Hatch, on the other hand, had brush- . es wit h disaster, and late in the race he wa s rid ing with a visibly tw isted front end. Twisting the massiv e fork of th e RM250 is no eas y chore. " I was right be hi nd Fred die o n maybe the third lap ," Hatch sa id, "and I wa s trying to get around a lapper, and I yelled a t the guy, so he kn ew I was comin g and tried to move the right. I just gu nned it and grabbed fourth gear, but his rear-end mu st have hit so me th ing that kicked the rear end ou t. Hi s bike pus hed into mine, and the rid er was laying across my tan k a nd ha nd leba r. I wen t head -on into a tree at a bo u t 40 mph. It was ugly. My bike jus t stop ped, bu t lu ckily I was fa lli ng off the othe r side a nd went past the tree ins tea d of in to it. I was able to ge t ba ck up and cha rge, but the bike was bent a nd I was frustrat ed . I cau ght ba ck up and w as feeling go od, but ano ther lapper hit my fro nt end and I got st uck between two trees . When I pulled ou t of ther e Rod ney was right beh ind me." Meanwhile, wit h th e weight of the cha mp ionship riding on his sho ulders , Smit h was rid ing tight in the early laps . On lap one, he checked through the finish line in sixth pla ce behind Andrews and Hatch, as well as two fairly new pro riders: Team Green's Jimm y Jarrett and Yama ha-moun ted Robbie Je nks . Both have taken tu rn s d omina tin g the 250cc A cla ss befor e mo vin g to pro. KTM's Mike Lafferty was hold ing d own fifth , a nd his KTM tea m ma te Watts was in sev e n th p la ce a m ere thr ee seco nds 'a d ri ft o f Smi th . Barr y H a wk, Josh McLevy and Paul Ed mo ndson .made up the top 10, an d they were all less than 45 " second s behind the lead er. Sm ith seemed to rela x a nd start to jloo k more like himself as the race wor e (A bove) Steve Hat ch made the podium w ith a th ird-place finish. (Right) Shane Walls returned to the GNCC series after injuring his knee earlier in t he ye ar . The Aust rali an eve ntua lly pu lled out of the race. (Below) Mi ke Lafferty finished eighth. the bar a nd kep t goi ng . I thou ght the fork broke. It made the loudest cla nk . . I'm no t sure what I need to do a t the next few races to win the title, bu t I have one fifth place, an d it should be easy to do bette r than that." Fourth-placer Edmondson was ma king his second try at rid ing an RM125, thou gh mechan ic Ma rshall P lu m b had stro ked the engin e to 132cc. He moved thro ugh the pack from LOth, and broke past Jarrett for fourth on the fourth lap. but at the end Ha tch was a safe minute a nd 50 se cond s a hea d. Hawk a nd his YZ400F wer e ah ead of Edmond son on lap one, but behind for the rem aining laps Ha wk was o n ly th r ee seco nds behind the sma ll-bo re at the end . Jarrett was nearl y a minu te back in six t h p la ce a nd Rand y Hawkins was a no the r 30 se cond s bac k w ith hi s Nat iona l end uro nemi sis Mike Lafferty o n ly 10 second s beh ind him . Cu rre nt National Ha re Scrambles champ Dou g Blackwell augured in the w hoop section righ t af ter the sta rt and wa s d ead last leavi ng the start ar ea, bu t he charged to II th on the first lap, then to sixth on the seco nd lap, then d rop ped back to ninth. He ap pare ntly had a mishap on the trail, since he was pretty much lifted off his bike and carried to the pit in pai n. Jason Raines started outside th e top 10, but remained close, then bumped Jenk s out of the 10th spot on the final lap. eN on, and he eve ntually rode to within 18seconds of And rews at the finis h. " I n eed ed to bea t Fredd ie, " Smi th sa id, "and I knew that, but the race was wind ing dow n and I was ru nn ing ou t of tim e to catch him . I was hop in g th a t Steve could win and I'd ge t seco nd . That would have sew n it up for me. The n I came around a corner and there he was. I thou ght , 'Oh, shoot, Fredd ie's lead ing! Now I go tta go!' It was tough. Freddie nev er s h u t down t h e pace. He rod e s tro ng a ll th e way to the finish. I was w hittling away a little bit at him, but it was n' t fast eno ugh, a nd I knew tha t. I never really crashed or any thing, bu t the first three lap s I had so mu ch arm pum p that I stalled it a few times . Then I'hit a G-out at the cree k, and I thou ght I broke my w ris t. Both hands came off the bar an d I was laying with m y chest on the crossbar pad, bu t I sa t up and g rabbed Burr Oaks GNCClH are Scrambles Mill field, Oh io Results: August 29, 1999 (Round 9 of 12/8 of 10) '" '" '" .n ~ O /A : 1. Fred A nd rews ( K.H I:); 2. Rodney S m it h (Suz ); 3. Ste w Hatch (Suz ); 4. Pa ul Edmondson (Suz) : 5. Bar ry Hawk ( Ya m }, 6. Jim j.u rt..'tt ( K. W); 7. Ran d y 1 Hawk in s (Yam ); 1:'1 . Mike La fferty ( KT M); 9 . Dou g Bla ckwell (Yam ): 10. C l' llt;> O na il (K.HV) ; 11. Rodm-v judson (Ho n): 12. J .1·-.I.)I1 R.' int.OS (K.1 W); 13. Robbie Jt"nk!' (Ya m); 14 . C h uck Woudftln,i (K.1W); 15 . Ste ve McS\o\< in 'l ( Kaw): 16. JOt.') De ng le r (Su z) : 17. Ronni e Burnficl d (Suz) ; HI. jos hua Mcl.ev y (KTM); 19. P.llTick Carraban C KTM); 20. Stev e Leivan (Yarn). ~ :;; . .. ..c E C. en 35

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