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/128107
(Left) Fred Andrews came back f ro m a so -so start to finish second overall. (Ri gh t) Steve Hatch diced w ith Andrew s on the la st la p and end ed up third . (Le ft) Jason Ra ines rounded out th e top five. (Ri ght) Shane Watts ha d a ll ki nds of problems, but st ill salvag ed sixth overall. "Tha t last lap, Freddy and I were la ugh ing , p a s s in g each other - wav ing," said Hatch with a laugh . "S ee me d like neither of us wanted it." T e am Gr e en / Mo o s e /Pro -Ci rc u it backed Andrews agree d, "Man , me an d Steve had a lot of fun out there. But I'm CN definitely glad it's over with ." Wilderness 6NCC Clarksburg, West Virginia Results: May 20, 2001 (Right) Chuck Woodford rod e a solid race, fi nishing out the day in fourth. O/A: 1. Rodney Smith (Suz); 2. Fred Andrews (Kaw): 3. Steve Hatch (S uz); 4 . Chuc k Woodfo rd Smith took the le ad on the second lap a nd bas ically held it all the way to the finish . And rews rode second at tha t point, but would go back and forth with Ha tch a nd Rai nes for t he p o s it io n th roughout the rest of the afternoon. Probably the da y's best battle wa s waged betwe e n Hatc h a nd An d rews. Th e two frie ndly rivals p ut on a show on the last lap of th e day . Swa pping leads a nd m ud, Andre ws beat Hatch to th e finish by le s s tha n 2 /1 Oths of a se cond in the 2- ho ur, 48-m inute rac e. ( Ka w): 5 . J aso n Ra in es (Ya m); 6 . Sha ne Watts (KTM ); 7. Ricki McAtee (KTM) ; 8 . Randy Hawkins ( Yam); 9. Robbie Jenk s ( Yam); 10. Co le Calkins ( Ka w); It. T odd Mo rain ( KT M ); 12 . John Bennett ( Ya m); 13 . Mik e Kiedr owski (Suz ) ; 14 . Ronn iel bumfield (Suz); 15. Richard Burbick (G- G); 16. John Masch;no (TM); 17. BobHudnall Jr. (Suz); 18. James Tr etinik ( KTM) ; 19 . M ichae l Laf ferty ( KTM); 20. Dan iel Beck. A M A GRAND NA T I ON A L CROS S CO U N TR Y CHAMPIONSH IP S ERI ES PO IN T S ST A ND ING (Afte r 7 of 13 rounds): 1. Rodney Smi th (175/4 wins); 2. Shane Watts ( 146/2 wins); 3. Fred Andrews (1 24/1 win); 4 . Steve Hatch (110 ); 5 . Ja son Raines ( 102); 6. Mike Lafferty (95) ; 7. Mike Kiedrowski (90); 8. Joshua McLevy (89); 9. Robbie Jenks (85); 10. Chuck Woo dford (72); 11. Randy Hawkins (68); 12. Blair Bersen c (58 ); 13. Jim Ja rrett (5 1) ; Barry Haw k Jr /Will iam G illeland (4 0); Bennett (36 ) ; 17. Doug Blackw ell (35 ); Maschino (2 2) ; 19. Paul Edmondson (20); 14. 16 . 18. 20. (TIE) John John Larry Ward (16). BRIEFL Y• • • Holeshot To Nothing: Doug Blackwel l's tough luck con tinued this seaso n. but not until after he pulled the holeshot in C larksburg . " I've won the start the last two or three years here," said Blackwel l. But then all electri cal heck broke loose with Blackwell's bike, with it finally ceasing to run just two laps into the race . "I' ve really been fortunat e the last few yea rs. I guess it' s my time [for some bad luck] . " Blackwell said of his 2001 seaso n. "It's gett ing frustra ting. I get paid to come here to win race s and I'm not doing it. " If yo u've ever ridden in mud. yo u know how you r legs can double as outriggers. St eve Hatch commented on the rigors the riders' legs are put through during a mud race. "I'm sure if you put an odometer on us. we'd have run about 10 miles on each leg!" An d they call this fun? Absolutely. Suzuki's Mike Kiedrowski jumped the gun a bit on the start, firing his bike befo re the rest of the field. Kiedrow ski told race offic ials that he'd been set off by an inordinate moveme nt by the Aagman and. in the subsequent inve stigation. no actions by race officials were taken (see ing as how Kiedrowski waited for the rest of the field to go before taking off) . And while none of the riders protes ted, a number did bring up the incident in post-race interviews - including Kawasaki's Fred Andrews. " Kiedrowski threw me off at t he start . He started his bike early, so my start was bad." Wh en asked by race direc tor Rita Co omb s if he wanted to protest. And rew s said it wasn't that big of a deal and wo uld hold on to his seco nd-place finish . An emotional Steve Hatch dedicated his podium finish on Sunday to hrs mechanic Ma rshal Plumb. Ma rshal's moth er passed away last week. Racer Production s wo uld like to send its condolences to M arshal, and the Plumb femtly as well. Watts' Weekend: "The bike didn't fire on the sta rt. started last. " said S ha ne Watts, w ho tr ails Smith in the ove rall Series points race by 29 . "Then I crashed and got mud all ove r my gloves and handlebars and had a tough time try ing to hang on aft er that. I also got some mud under the throttl e. The grip wo uld jus t spin. So w hen I came in we put a bit of w ire on the grips so they wo uldn' t spin; pretty ordinary day afte r that. Sixth is bette r than seventh, I suppose ." eye ' e n B vv s JUNE 6, 200 1 39