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
AMA G rand Nat ional C ro s s C ountry Ser ie s R ound 7: W ild e r n e s s GNCC Ha tch ( 110) ar e we ll within strik ing di stance of Sm ith at th e ha lfway po int of th e 13 -rac e se ri es , wh er e every round counts towa rd the fin al cham pionship standing s. T eam Gr een ' s Chuc k Wood ford had a so lid rid e fo r fourth o ve rall , while Yam aha -mounted Jason Raines rounded out the top five . Fin ishing seventh behind Watts was former multi -t ime AMA Nat ional Enduro Champ ion Rand y Hawkins . Th e rest of the top 10 , in ord er , were Yamaha mounted Robbi e Jenks and John Benn ett , then fo rme r fo ur-tim e AMA National M X C ham pio n Mike Kiedrowsk i. The win was Sm ith 's fo urth on the year and he became the fi rst ri der this season to put together bac k -to -b ack wins. And the Wildemess GNCC wa s only the second time in seven races that Watts finished off the podium. The course at the Wilderness GNCC was a super-muddy affair, as a long week of rain showers left the Jeff Russell-designed course in terri ble condition , especially after Satu rd ay afternoon's ATV race and the support class race used up some of the trai l. Yamaha- mounted Raines was th e leader at the end of the first o f fiv e laps, which took the riders nearly 36 m in ut e s. Smith ran seco n d o n hi s RM250 at a deficit of j ust th ree sec onds, an d the n ca me Suzuki- moun te d B lair Bers an o , Hatch an d A ndrews. Wat t s, who cras hed off th e start , was B y PAT S CH UTTE PHOTOS BY M IKE N ICHO LS MAY20.CLARKSBURG,WV he force s of na ture ra in ed down heavily upon thi s hilly town in centra l We st Virg in ia , ma k ing fo r a me ss of thing s at ro und seven of the AMA Gran d Nat ional Cross Co un t ry S e r i e s . B u t for Su z u k i 's Rod n e y Sm ith , it wa s j ust another da y at the office as the two -t im e GNCC cha mpion outlasted the rest of the fi eld in th e y e ar 's first r e a l mud rac e - t h e Wild ern ess GN Ce. With the win, Sm ith ex tended his points lead over second-place Shane Wa tts of the KTM squad to 29 points, 175 - 146 . Watts, the defendi ng GNCC n um ber-one-plate hol de r fr om A us tralia, finished a disappointing sixth overall in th e West Virginia mud . Round ing out the podium beh ind Smith wa s Kawasaki's Fred Andrews in second , followed by Smith 's Suzuki teammate Steve Hatch in th ird . Both Andrews (1 2 4 overall po ints ) and T 38 JUN E 6 . 200 1 • eye I e IAbove) Rodney Smith stops for ga s and goggles at the wet and wild Wilderness GNCC in West Vi rginia. Smith went on to win an d e xtend his series lead over Shane Watts. (RIght) J ason Raines 1 a nd 9) Doug Blackwe ll IS) fi ght for th e lead at the start of the Pro race, while Sm ith 1 31) t ries to cut underneath t hem both. neVII'. back i n 10 t h s p o t, more than a minute and a half behind the lead er . One of the k eys to Sm ith 's victory was his powerfu l start and abil it y to remain up front for the entire race. "I got here this morning , rode the dual sport around a bit and figured I' d need a good start and then t ry and stay with the riders who w ent out fast," said Smith of his fourth win in seven GNCC races this year. " A nd that 's k ind of what I did . [Jason] Raine s passed m e [fo r the lead], the n I passed him back. I kept moving forward and had a go od race . Th ose first three laps I went out and ran m y ow n pace. A few guys ca me up and ch alle n g ed, bu t en de d up c r a s h i n g . I sta y ed c onservative, m ade the hills and ro de my ow!" race. My concem was to ge t on the podium, not to win." "We did everything we coul d to get up some of those hills." said Hatch, who has yet to grab the to p spot in a GNCC event this yea r but who's consistenc y ha s h im fo u rt h in th e rank ing s. "I hi t a few guys t oda y ; didn' t m ean to, but it's just the difference in th e speed [between the Pros and Ama teurs I and wan ting to get up the hills." Hat ch would actually fight through a nasty wrist stinger [lig am ents] to hi s spot on th e pod ium. " It was j ust one of those sur vival of-t h e -fi t t est d ay s," sai d th e native New York e r , w h o n ow ma k es h is home in Arizona.