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ed to cha rge beca use I've been training
really hard and I felt like I was read y to
go . Th e tr ack was n' t too rou gh and it
was real fast. I rea lly concentra ted on
sta yin g wit h Shane and Rodney, but we
got into lappers and they go t away from
me . I just put my head down a nd rod e
to the end . I want to cong ra tula te Sha ne
for getting the win a nd Rodney on the
cha m pio nsh ip."
Smith ' s Su zuki teammat e Ste ve
Hatch was fourth ov erall, while end u ro
legend Ra nd y Hawkins p laced a seasonbest fifth on his Yamaha YZ400F.
Coming int o the penultimate round
of th e 13 -race se ries in Lisbon , o nly
O hio 's own Fred Andrews had a shot a t
knocking th e crown off Smith' s head .
The Team Green /Pro Circuit / Ac erbis /Moosc /Cf'L'Uni /Tsubaki / Andrew
s Racing-backed And rews had won two
s traig h t even ts to keep h is tit le hopes
alive , but need ed to w in ea ch of the last
two races to sta y i n th e pic tu re .
And rews g rabbed the hol eshot and con tended for the earlv lead , bu t the former
'93 GNCC cha m pion was out of the ra ce
by the fou rth lap afte r sna p ping off his
bra ke pedal in a co llisio n with Team
Su zuki' s Pa ul Edmondson. That effectively ended the title chase for this seas o n in fa vo r of FMF /IMS /Dunl op /
Alpinestars-backed Sm ith.
Smith' s cha m pi o nsh ip was hi ssecond in a row and second ever in GNCC
racin g . He join s fiv e -tim e c ha m p io n
cott Su m mers ('90-'92, '96, '97), tw otime ch ampion Scott Ples sin ger ('94-'95)
and Andrews ('93) on the list of this
d ecade's GNCC #1 rid ers.
" It was a heck of a yea r a nd w e're
really glad to ha ve th e cha m p io ns hi p
again," said Team Suzuki off-roa d boss .
Mik e Webb. "Con gratulation s to Shan e
for co m ing ba ck and winn in g - h e
show ed that he's goi ng to be a force to
be reckoned with ne xt yea r. Also, my
hat is off to Fredd y Andrews, who rode
o ne of the bes t ra ces I ever sa w in m y
lif e a t Mt. Morri s two w eeks ag o . H e
ga ve us a trouble all yea r lo ng and made
u s work ha rd for thi s cha mpio nshi p .
Our whole tea m had to work th eir butts
off . Th e GNCC Series is a w ar of a ttrition, a nd the g uy who makes it to th e
end is the guy who wins, a nd that' s .
wh at mak es it such a grea t title to win."
Sm it h is wren ched by fo rm er o ffroad sta r Mark H yd e, a four-time winner of the leg endary Blackwat er 100.
Due to a di sputed road crossing, the
Scarecrow G NCC was mo ved at the last
minute from its orig ina l site 20 miles
away to the p roperty o f for mer Oh io
ra cer S teve Johnson, which is dubbed
Crow Can yon Raceway. (Lisbo n is a lso
kn own as th e h o m et o wn of form er
AMA 5 00cc a t io nal MX C ha m pi o n
Garv Sernics .) The 12th round of th e
GNCC Series wa s the first rac e ever held
o n the property, wh ich meant a co mpletely virg in trail for the more than SOD
riders who show ed up for the weekend
e ve n t. The co u rs e measured just over
nine miles, mostly through tight woods
and fa st fi eld s.. Earl y mo rni ng rain
caused some co nce rn for th e Pro rid ers,
but the preced ing novice race serv ed as
a dirt Zamboni for the muddy course,
making co nd itio ns much better for the
a fte rnoo n run . Lap times m ea sured
righ t around the 23-minute mark
th rou ghout the race . Wa tts' overa ll win~
ning time was tw o hou rs, 54 mi nutes, 45
second s.
With his ba ck a gain s t the wa ll ,
Andrews respond ed with a ho leshot to
lead everyone off the dead-engine start.
Unfortun~tely , he mi ssed the trail and
surrendered the lead . At the e nd of the
firs t lap, the order read Smith, Ed mo ndso n, fo rm er cha mpion Sco tt Plessinger,
West Virginia's Doug Blackwell, Hatch
a nd Andrews.
Throughout th e ea rly laps th e lead
ch anged hands ba ck and forth between
Smith and his teammate Hatch . Watts
was a di sm al 15th a t th e end of the first
of sev en total laps, but he di d manage to
climb into fourth by the end of the seco nd lap.
At the halfway point, Smith led , with
Ed m o ndso n holding se cond a head of
Laffert y , Watt s , a n d a s olid-ridin g
Blackwell , Andrew s was ou t this time,
and early contender Jim Jarrett ,
And rews' teammate and a local fav orite,
cras hed out as well .
Throughout th e second half o f the
race, th e lead pack trad ed turns o u t
front. It a ppeared tha t Smith wa s in the
driver' s seat with two laps to go, but
Watts proved to be a more co ns is te n t
pilo t on this day.
" W h a t an I say? Sha ne was rig h t
there a ll da y and he ro d e smart ,"
ex p la ined Smith . " I mad e a few mistakes , mostly because it was slip pe ry . I
was up there on the last lap and pulling
a way, but I made a co u ple of mi st akes
and he go t m e. It was tough runn in g
that pa ce in these condition s, and I was
tryi ng to run away but I lost the front
e nd . I caugh t back up but th ere w asn't
a nv tim e left for me."
-" I was try ing not to thin k abou t Rodney bec ause he was com ing at me with a
really hard pace, and I kn ew someone
was goi ng to hav e to crash at that pace,
because that's w hat happened all year,"
ex plai ned Watts of the sp rin t for the finish . " Lu c k i ly it w a s Rodn e y wh o
crashed , and I e nded up b ack in th e
w inner's circle."
" My knee hasn't been th e problem,
but my fitness has," added Michelin /
Pr o Grip / Alpin estars / A cerbis / Arai /
FMF /Moose Tubes-backed Watts, who
also w on last weekend's AMA National
Hare Scram bles race in Indiana. "I think
I proved that I'm read y ' now, so lik e I
sai d th is morning, 'Le t's ge t it on: "
Prerace co n te nder Barry H awk Jr. ,
whn finished o n the podium a t the last
race in Pen nsy lvania, was ho pi ng th at
by parki ng his quad cycle for this eve nt ,
he might bette r his cha nces of actually
w in ning the mo tor cycle ov erall. (Ha w k
h~d a lready wrapped up his se venth
consecutive q uad cycle championship
before the Scarecrow ev ent.) Hawk ac tually had the fastest lap time of the da y in
the midd le pa rt of the race (21:13), but
then suffered a n inju ry.
(Above left) Like Team Green 's Fred Andrews, Steve Hatch has had a string of pod ium
finis hes , but in Lisbon he just couldn't keep up with the front three's pace.
(Above right) Third place was Lafferty's best-ever GNCCfinish . The two-time National
Enduro champion was extremely happy to join Watts and Smith on the pod ium. Lafferty led
a triplet of former enduro champions, which included fourth placed Steve Hatch and fifth
placed Randy Hawkins .
" I hit a tree with my arm and banged
it up pretty goo d," sa id Hawk after g u tting it out for eigh th in the Pro class. " I
was goi ng to quit because 1 thought it
mi ght be broke, but I decided to keep
th e pain in the back of my head and get
a finis h:'
Hawk' s teammate Ra nd v Ha w kins
put in his best GNCC ride o( the yea r for
fifth overa ll in Oh io.
"T he track was reall y good a nd my
Yamah a wa s working great , " s aid
Hawkins, who hails from Sou th Carolina. " It's just be en ta kin g so me tim e to
get used to th is four-stroke, but I thin k I
have a good hand le on it now. I had a
bad sta rt - maybe d ead las t - but on ce I
go t rolling I w as reall y ha p py with the
wa y I rod e. I ca ught Paul Edmond so n
w ith a lap to go a nd end ed up pulling
o ff a fifth:'
Rounding out the top 10 overall were
Ed mond so n, Blackwell. Hawk, Ohio 's
own Chuck Woodford , and North Ca ro lina 's Ste ve McSwain.
W ith o n e ra ce left a nd th e titl e
clinched by Smith, the rest of the sta ndings sho w Andrews pretty much a lock
in seco n d, H at ch t hird an d H aw k
fourth.
eN
Scarecrow GNCC
Lisbon , Ohio
Res ults: October 10. 1999
(Round 12 of 13)
O lA: 1. Shane Watt.. (KTM) ; 2. Rodney Smuh (Suz) ;
3. Micha el La ffe rt y (KT \1 ); 4. S teve Hat c h (Su z) ; 5.
Randy Ha wk ins (Ya m ); 6 . Paul Ed mo nd .... (5 u7.); i .
m
lJ\lU/o; Blackwel l (Ya rn): 8. Barry E. H.' ....-k Jr. (Y ,lm); 9 .
C h uc k Woodfurd (1( ,1\.\ ') ; 10. Stl'\'l' M"" w.lin (Ko,w ); l l .
S
)('t" o..· li~ lt·r (Suz); 12. Rob bie Ie nk s (Va m) ; 13. Blair
n.."""llU (Suz); 14. J.hon R.. in~ (K. W); 15. 5 h.''''''11 Rl'C.-d
\
,
(Hu..); 16. Rod Stuckl."'· (J(aw); 17. G:lh.'O n.,il ( K,lW ); l B.
Sctltt McL. u gh lin (Y.lm); l q , J.N m C.,kr (Hu n); 20. Tim
l
SIll'p h,lTd (V" m ).
200 A: 1. C' ll\' C