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/128103
[Left) Steve Hatch ducks under a tree on his way to third place, though he led the race In the early going. Paul Edmondson (below) and Shane Watts (right) both le d , but dropped out In the Tennessee heat. Watts' DNF was particularly costly, as it removed him from the top position in the points standings of both serie s . overall tall y , Watts' m ysterious DNF cost him th e to p ranking he held since winning t h e series -open er in Lake Okeechobee , Flor ida . Until his Tennessee m eltdow n . Wa tts had won two ra ces and finish ed second in the other tw o to Sm it h and his Suzuk i. Smith . the very man Watts dethroned after two years o n top. is now in the driver' s seat with a total of 115 points to Watts ' 1 10 . Hatch is th ird with 77 po ints , followed by Andrews' 74. In th e four races held since Andrew s could not start the series op ener in Flor ida d ue to a n injury , he ha s fini shed 11 -5 -4 -1, clawi ng his wa y ba c k into title contention in the p r o c e s s . T he Yamaha- moun ted Raines , who h as finished 11th or better in all five rounds , is a so lid fifth in the ra n king s with 73 poi nts, five better than Kiedrowsk i's 68. Be s ides Sm ith , Fairfield , Con nec ticut's Joshua McLevy is the only man to have finished in the to p 10 at all five rounds. The Honda-mo unted McLevy finished ninth in Tennessee a nd now holds seventh in the series rankings, two points b e h in d Kied rows k i. Defending Hare Scram ble s champ Paul Edmond so n had another day of bad luck in Te nne s s ee . After starting well a nd le a d ing the whole field , the Brit ish Tea m Green driver hit a live obstacle a nd was forced to retire . " I probably got o ne of my best st a rts this yea r - I was a bout fifth or s ix th , " E d m ond s on s a id afte r the ra ce. "Then we pitte d , an d I managed to keep m y position of fifth or s ixth . Just afte r pittin g o n the second -lap start, I wa s in the lead , tryi ng to ma ke a break fo r it, a nd I c olli d e d with a la p ped rider. He just ca m e across in front of m e , and we just co llided, and we both ended up c rashing. It wasn 't my fault , and I suppose it wa s n 't his fault. It was a shame, really , because I felt really good out there and was hav ing a good ti m e. I' m o b vio usly very disappointed because this race is a hare scrambles as well , and obvi ously with Watts pu lling in, it was a good chance to win . I needed to win this race, and that's what I intended on d o ing . But , as usual, it was bad luck for me. " Steve Hatch led at t he end of the first la p at just un der 31 m inutes . "My FMF S uzuki wor ke d real good off the start - I ha d the holeshot, a nd about th re e -q ua rters of the wa y around the first la p , I was just having fun," sa id Hatc h , who hails from Scottsdale , Arizona. "I d idn 't wa lk the track but about two miles , because yesterday we were doi ng testing , making sure I had my bike set up good , which is more im p o rt a n t than walk ing the track . S o m e bod y said I had like 25 seconds at one point on the first lap. I cartwhee led once and got back up, and still didn't really hear anybody . I finally sa w them back there, and then I pulled away a littl e more. " At the computerized checkpoint at the end of the first lap, Hatch led lafferty by 20 s econds , followed by Raines , Suzuki-mou nted Ji m Jarrett, Smith and KTM-mounted Brian Ga rrah a n. "O n the s ec ond lap , I loo ke d ba c k , and all of th e su dd en the y we re all behind me!" Hat ch said. "But I wa sn 't rea lly worr ied be cause I thought , 'You kn ow wh a t, we 're go ing to h it lap pers .' I wa s playing th e train , tr ying to kn oc k e ve rybo dy out of the way a nd using all my e n ergy . I d idn 't t hin k anybody wa s goi ng to run a way with it very easy today because of th e lap p ers, and it was pretty high speed." Watts wa s b ac k in th e lead a ft er th e sec ond la p, bu t the n he in turn su rrendered it t o J a rrett before the end of the third lap , th en pulled out o f the race with a vo lun ta ry DNF . Team Green's Chuc k Woodfo rd , who was second at th e s tar t beh ind Ha t ch , wa s another ea rly c asua lty . "We made a bad c a ll o n the gas . and I d idn ' t make three la p s ," sa id Woodford , who hails from Ohio and has a season-high GNCC finish of th ird overall. "We were trying to go three laps to gas . I ra n ou t in the m iddle o f the second la p. I lost about five m inutes until I could get gas back in my bike from another rider, a nd once I did , I started riding again . I was still having fun , but then I hit s omething the wrong way a nd crashed on a downh ill a nd knocked th e wind ou t of myself, and I had to sit th ere for a little while to try to recoup . I was too far down , and I knew I was out of t he race for sure, so I just kind of took it as a lesson, and I'm going to go to the next one and hopefully win : As the race enter ed the late stages , t h e veterans Andrews and Smith moved into positions to make respective runs at the victory. Laffe rty and Jarrett were righ t there as well. but both would s uccumb to t h e course and dehydration in a run that had transformed into a survival test. "I worked m y way back to second , and with a lap to go, I stopped for gas . and it put me ba ck to fourth ," Sm ith s a id . "I g ot bac k into s e cond rea l fas t and ca ugh t Freddy , but I just couldn't get around him : " I tr ied t o run it ha rd wh e r e I tho u g ht I cou ld - and whe re it was tr icky , I just k ind of sat o n the s e at and they could n 't get b y me: s a id And rews of th e endgam e . "Ro d n e y caught up to m e , a nd I knew Rod ne y wa s n 't going to do anyth ing radica l to get around m e , so I wa s pre tty confident. From th e re , I just hel d on , d id n't make any m ista ke s , and got that win I've been wa iting for. " Sm ith followed Andrews across the finis h line , then c a m e Hatch , Ra ine s and the ha rd -edged Kiedrowski , who had just enough left to finish the race, ra ther than join Watts, La ffert y , Ja rre tt a nd the res t in the pits. CN Loretta Lynn's Ranch Hurricane Mills, Tennessee Results: April ZZ, ZOOI O/ A : 1. Fred And rews (Kaw) ; 2. Rodney Sm ith (Suz); 3. Steve Hatch (Suz); 4 . Ja son Raines (Yam ): 5. Mik e Kiedro wski (Suz): 6. Robbie Jenks (Yam) ; 7. Bla ir Bersenc (Suz) ; 8. Will iam Gill elan d (KTM ); 9 . J o shu a McLev y (Hon) ; 10. Bnen Garraha n ( KTM); 11. Pat ri ck G arrah an (K T M); 12 . J oh n Ben nett (Ya m): 13 . S teve Le iva n (Ya m) ; 14 . Jim J ar rett ( Su z); 15 . M i ch el e l L a ff ert y ( KT M ) ; 16 . J oe y A m brosini Jr. (G -G); 17. Doug Blackwell (Yam ); 18. J ohn Masch ino (TM ); 19. Barry Hawk J r. (Yam) : 20 . Randy Hawkin s (Yam) . AMA NA T IONA L CHA M PI O N S H I P GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COuNT RY SERIES POINTS STANDINGS ( A ft er 5 of t 3 rounds ) : 1. Rodney Smi th ( 115/2 w in s) ; 2. Sha ne We tt s ( 110 / 2 ); 3 . Steve Hatc h (77) ; 4. Fred Andrews (74/1 ): 5. Jason Raines (73); 6. Mik e Kiedrowsk i (68) . AMA NATIO NAL CHAMPION S H IP HARE SCRAMB LES SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (A ft er 3 of 9 ro unds) : 1. Freet A ndr ews (46/1 win ); 2. Jason Raines (43) ; 3 . Brian Garrahan (41/1); 4 . Rodn ey Sm it h (4 0): 5 . Sh an e Watts ( 39/1) : 6 . Patr i c k Garraha n (37); 7. Paul Edmondson (36) ; 8. Ch uc k Woodfo rd ( 33) : 9 . Steve Hat ch ( 32) : 10. Rob bie Jenks (27) . Upcoming Rounds (GNCC): Round 6 - Sparta. Kentucky. M 6 ay Round7 - Clarksburg, West Virginia. M 20 ay Upcoming Rounds (HS): Round 4 - Kahoka, Missouri, April 29 Round 5 - Elkton. Oregon. July I Loretta Lynn's Ranch is celebrating its 20th anniversary of holding national-caliber motorcycle events. Since 1982, the ranch facility of the country singer made famous by her music and immortalized in the film "A Coa l Miner's Daughter" has held the AMA Amateu r National !'IX Championship final s. One year after that, Racer Productions held the first Loretta Lynn's GNCC there, making this the 19th running of the combined event. A total of more than 1300 riders attended the race, which included an ATV division on Saturday. plus an amateur support race for motorcycles on Sunday moming. The ranch course was its usual nasty self, as the crowds of riders made the 13-mile trail whooped-out and square -edged in many places. While the weather was perfect for a summer race, the fact that this was only the middle of April made for a long, hot aftemoon for the riders. who may have been mentally and physically unprepared to face such heat. cue. e n e VIl's