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Be r sa n o , Shawn Reed a n d Scott
McLaughlin rounded out the top 10.
On the victory podium, Wa tts and
Smi th still had on their race faces.
"I fin all y go t a goo d sta rt ," sa id
Watts . "And I sa t th ere and watched
Rodn ey and Mike and had some good
fun . I like racing wit h Rodney. We were
having a good time, bu t it seem s ever y
race he just wants to throw it away. I' m
not complaini ng - he rod e a really good
race, and I'm just happy to be up here."
"Yeah, that' s three tim es I'v e let him
win," countered Smith. "I just pus hed it
t oo hard th e r e at the en d . I ma d e a
sup er-m ist ak e down a t th e mudhole,
thi nking he ' d tr y to go in si d e m e. I
should' ve go ne a little wide r, where the
mud w asn't so d eep. I fouled a plug
dow n the re.The lap .befor e, I had mad e
the inside m o ve o n h im a t th e sa me
spot, but I couldn' t hear where he wa s,
so I s ho u ld ' ve just ta ken my time in
there a little more.
"I just talked myself ou t of it somehow," Smith adde d . "Th e pac e wa sn't
that fast. I had actu ally lost a minu te fixing my brak es and cau ght back up to
them pretty easily."
Wh en a nnouncer Jo hn Ay ers congra tulated Watts on his sixth win, Watts
sai d , "Yeah, six wi ns, but no champi ons hip. Cong ratu lations to Rodney and
the other gu ys. I'll be back, and hopefully I won' t bus t up agai n next year; I'll be
in there the whole time."
Alt houg h Laffer ty rode his 250 EXC
to his seco nd pod ium finis h of the season, giving KTM tw o 1-3 pod iums in a
ro w, Wa tts dropped him from sixth to
seventh in points. Lafferty led the firs t
lap and kep t close company with Watt s
and Smith for the next four lap s, only to
lose sight of the lead du o on the last lap .
"These guy s w ere just p utti ng th e
hammer d own on the last lap," said lafferty, "a nd I was just trying to stify with
them . I felt good , and th e bike w a s
working well, but they just turned it up
a little too much on the las t lap . I was
jus t trying to han g ou t with th em and
learn wh at they were doin g - and I did,
bu t I had a couple of bobbles with lappers and th ey were pret ty much gone.
My mechanic, Alan (Randt), told me to
ju st r id e th e bike and h av e fun , a n d
th at ' s wh at I' ve been d oing la tely. It' s
w ork ing. I w an ted to di ce it up w it h
them and did for most of the race, but I
didn't want to cras h back to fou rth or
fifth, so I jus t rode a smart last lap ."
"Th ings d idn't start ou t as planned ,"
said fourth-pla ced Blackw ell, whose fin ish moved him up a notch in the final
sta nd ings , fro m ninth to eig ht h. "I got
hung up in the second turn with another
guy's wh eel and rod e like a wild man
the first half a lap . I caught back up to
Ed mon dson and H a w k, but th e lead
pack wa s alre ad y gon e. You have to stay
with the lead pack, and I was n' t, so we
just pla yed ca tch-u p and push ed hard
all da y long ."
"I wa s go in g p retty s teady," sa id
RMl25 pilot Paul Edmondson, who finis hed fifth. "In this ga me, yo u can't
afford to lose the lead ers. It' s got to the
st age where you have to push pretty
hard ea rl y o n and get with th e lead
pack. I fell back some after the gas, then
go t back som e of the time, but once the
lead ers sta rt freig ht-training, you're in
trouble. Me and Barry were battling it
out and had a pretty good pace going, I
thoug ht, bu t we never closed on them .
They stayed a good 20 to 30 second s
ahead of us. The pace has gotte n pretty
fast a t the GNCCs these days, an d the
roo ts we re coming up, and we were hitting them pretty fast. All you can do is
han g on. It was a good course, but it
was hard wo rk out there ."
Wa tt s' win drop p ed Ed mo ndso n
from fifth in points to sixth, with lafferty dropping to seventh.
SC R Yam aha 's Robbie Je nks w a s
sixth a t the Iron man an d ninth on the
seaso n.
"I had a pretty good start and wa s up
there in the top five on th e first la p, "
said Jenks. "And then I started a little bit
of trou ble and had to get smooth again
befor e the gas. The cou rse wa s fun , and
I stayed on the gas all d ay. My Yamah a
h a s w o rk ed g rea t a ll ye ar, a n d Tim
(Shep hard) has worked hard all season.
This w as my firs t year as a Pro, an d I
learn ed a lot. I'm going to come ba ck
next year wi th m ore co nfi de nce and
more (experience) under my belt."
eN
(Above left) Fo rme r Enduro Cha m pio n Michael Laffe rty wa s third overall on the da y,
making it two KTM s In th e t op three po sition s.
(Abo ve) Doug Bl ackwell ha d trouble off the st art and settled f or f ou rth.
(Bel ow) Fred Andrew s (3) led early on, but crashed Int o a tree and was f or ced t o drop out,
The former champ was runner-up t o Smith in the final point st and ings.
Ironman GNCC
Crawfordsv ille, Indiana
Results: October 24, 1999 (Final Rou nd)
O /A : 1. Sa a ne Watts C
KTM ); 2. Rodney Smi th' (Su z):
3. Mic hael Lafferty (KlM); 4, Doug Blackwel l (Yam) ; 5.
Paul Edmond son (Suz); 6. Ro bbie Jen ks (Ya m); 7. And y
Shea (KTM ): 8. Jocl Dengler (Suz); 9. Ro nn ie Bu mfield
(Suz ); 10. Blair Bersa no (Suz): 11. Rod Stuc ke y (Ka w):
12. Sha wn Reed (H us) : 13. Aaron Kopp (Suz ); 14. Jeff
Gregg (Yam) ; 15. Scott Mclau gh lin (Ya m) ; 16. Ti m
Sh ep ha rd (Ya m ); 17. Rodney Jud so n (He n): 18. Joh n
Roth (Yam ); 19. Jeff Mu rgel (Ka w) : 20. Stev en Gordon
(Ka w).
200 A: 1. John Bennett (Yam); 2. Aaro n Johns IKaw );
3. Mike McCre a (Ka w): 4. Joshua Kna pp (Kaw): 5. Curt
Wilcox (}(a w ).
200 B: 1. Bre tt Zo fcha k (Ka w) : 2. Mi chael Fau lk
(Suz) : 3. Mike Stapula (Kaw) : 4. Todd Morro w (K..
1W); S.
David Keith (KTM).
250 A: 1. Andy Shea (KTM); 2. Ronnie Bu mfie ld
(Suz); 3. Rod Stucky (Kaw): 4, Aaro n Kopp (5uz ); 5. Jeff
.
Gre gg (Yam).
250 B: 1. Scott Cuinter (G-G); 2. Brian Wright IKaw):
3. Rya n Wuebbelin g (Yam ); 4. Sea n Gayton (Kaw): 5.
Matt Weis (Yam ).
4· STRK A : 1. Da ri u s Latt ea (Yam); 2. Rona ld
Jo hn so n (Ho n ); 3 . Mart y Mi ch e ls ( Ho n ); 4. Mi ke
Capodice (Yam); 5. Brya n o... Simone (Yam).
o
4-S TR I< B: 1. Sha ne Mu nger (Yam); 2. Mark Fo x
(502); 3. Marshall Young (H en): 4. Mike Vill e rs (Yam);
5. Todd Moun t (Yam).
OPEN A; 1. Dave C un n (Ho n); 2. Jeff Melik (Yam );
3. Mark Adkins (KlM); 4, Chad Coo n (KTM); 5. John
Kealcv (Hon).
o rEN B: r.john Rentschler (KTM) ; 2. Rya n Barre tt
(KTM ); 3. Bradl e y Sm it h (KT M) ; 4. Kri s Aldridge
(KTM); 5. Benjamin Smith (Han),
PRO: 1. Shane Watts (KT M); 2. Rodney Smith (Suz);
3. M ich ael Lafferty (KTM); 4. Doug Blackw ell (Yam); 5.
Paul Edm ond son (Suz).
SR (40+) A: 1. Jeff Fr ed e tt e (Kaw): 2. M ich a e l
Ho lb e r t (Ya m) ; 3. Mike McC a rren (Ya m) ; 4. Rick
Thompson (Kaw): 5. Rick.Ken t (Yam).
S R (40+ ) B: 1. Robert H u d nal1 (Kaw): 2. Ma r k
Mi h a li k (Ka w ); 3 . A nd rew We lls (Ho n}: 4 . Ja m e s
Vicheck (Ya m); 5. J.D. Hammock (Ka w).
VET (30+) A: 1. Tim She phard (Ya m); 2. Rodney
c
Jud so n (H en): 3. Jeff Mu rgel (Ka w ): 4. Dennis De ker
(KlM); 5 . R ichard Bu rbick (G-G) .
.
VET (30+) B: 1. Ru.ssell Batn (Hon); 2. Ray Owens
(KTM); 3. Curtis Reh mert (Suz); 4. Da vid Powell (Hon);
5. Ron Rehmert (Suz).
1251200 C: 1. Bria n Me lik IKaw) : 2. Sco tt Wa tkin s
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