Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cross Country Rounds 8/9: Burr Oaks GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRYIHARE SCRAMBLES SERIES (Abo ve) Fred Andrews kept the GNCC title chase alive by winning the combined GNCC/National Hare Scrambles round in Ohio. (Left) Rodney Sm ith was hoping to clinch his second GNCC title in Oh io but will have to wait at least another round - if it goes well for the Team Suzuki rider. Doug Blackwell still leads the HS Series despite finishing eighth overall at the Burr Oaks National. MILLFIELD, OH, AUG. 29 awasaki Team Green's mai n man in th e G ra nd Natio nal Cross Country Series celebrated a wellearned win at the Burr Oaks Na tional in his hom e state of O hio . Andrews, who recentl y re-u pped wit h Team Green for 2000, ha s been o h-s o -clo s e a t o t he r round s this yea r, but a win had eluded the former champ until now . As it w as; he picked the perfect time. Team Su z u ki Off-Road' s Rodn ey Smith came to Burr Oaks hoping to sew up the 1999 title early, as he had in 1998. To do so, he needed to win or finish seco nd b ehind a nyone but Andrews or KTM-star Shane Watt s. Walls d id make an app earanc e with what he hop ed K m g: .n ~ E . Q. '" en '" 34 were fullv rehab ilitated k nees and a brand-ne~, box -stock KTM 125 E/XC, but completed only three of the six lap s before d rop p ing o ut. Fortunately , he wa s not the victim of ano ther inju ry, but the heat , hu m id it y and pa in from the recen tly rebu ilt knees cause d him to call it a day, and for the series , a yea r. Keep in mind that Walls came straigh t from Au strali a's win ter seaso n. And rew's win and Walls' D F nar row the titl e chase between Smit h a nd Andrew s and keep th e cha m p ions hip run aliv e . With th e m id -w est in th e grips of a serio us drought, most rid er s feared that Burr Oaks wo uld be a silty nightmare like it wa s in 1998, but a couple of inches o f rain early in the week ma de co nditio ns in th e woods quite good. Unfo rtunately, any area in direct sunlight was dusty . In ot her words, there wasn't a w hole lot of room to pass in th e w ood s, and w he re th e re wa s ro o m to pass , th e re wa sn ' t e no ug h vision to pass. In spite of the limit ations bey ond the contro l of the event producers, Racer Production s, there was a fair amou nt of movement in the lead position s. Sm i th was ob vi ou sl y th e rid er in need of a holeshot, and wit h at least 90 pe rcent of GNCC starts going to a Tea m Su z u k i rid er , h e h ad a 33- pe rce nt c ha n ce, bu t it wa s "Sudd en -St ev e " Hatch who blasted int o the lead trailin g a dust vapor trail. The race qu ickly se t- tied into a hair-raising battle between And rew s and Hatch. The lead went back and fort h early in the race, and Hatc h was a mere two seconds behind for the first two la ps, 12 seconds in arr ears on the third lap and back to withi n one second on the fourth lap. Even on the sixth an d final lap , after teammate Smith e d ged in to second , Hatch remained less than 30 seco nds out of the lead. The difference, though, was th a t Andrews had the speed and a near perfect race. "I feel good, " a fr es h-looking Andrews claimed a fte r the fin ish of a race tha t lasted roughly thr ee minutes less than three hours. 'TVI' been letting myself down all year, losing it in the. last cou ple of laps. I do n' t kno w whether it was because I was tired or if 1 jus t had bad luck. Tod ay I was pretty stro ng and ju st w ait ing for so me thing bad to happen . 1 knew wh en I crossed the road for the last time that if I lost, it would be my fault. Then jus t after the last check I ran straight into a tree. I didn't even try to turn. 1 thought that was it, but I didn't hear anyone, so I regrouped and stayed comfortable to the end ." Andrews, who in the pa st ran Dunlop D752 tires fro nt and rear in all conditions, was of the opinion that his rear tire choice may have been a fact or . "I

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