Grand National Cross Country Series
Round 9: Matthews Farm GNCC
Barry Uawk takes his·
first two-wh ed win.
lAbovel Barry Hawk, a multi-time ATV GNCC Champion, recorded his first GNCC
win on two wheels.
(RIghtj Series points leader Rodney Smith gave chase, finishing 14 seconds behind
Hawk.
(Below) Steve Hatch had a tough time keeping the rubber side down, but he still
salvagecl third overall.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY PAUL CLIPPER
TAYLORTOWN, PA, JUNE 17
eam Yamaha's Barry Hawk finally
put it all together to win his first
two-wheeled overall in the GNCC
series, at Racer Productions' new
GNCC track on the Matthews Farm.
The Yamaha rider slipped into the
lead on the third lap and never made
a mistake, takjng the overall win just
14 seconds ahead of series points
leader Rodney Smith and FMF Suzuki
teammate Steve Hatch. Hawk, a
multi-time GNCC ATV champion who
made the switch to two wheels three
years ago, said this win was definitely
the sweetest.
"I don't remember how many ATV
wins I must have," Hawk said,
"maybe 60 or 70, but I don't think
any of them, even the championships, felt as good or I worked as
hard as this race right here. It feels
good!"
Smith and Hatch both spent time
at the front of the pack, with Hatch
taking the holeshot but not being able
to make it stick. He blamed the fresh
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course's numerous exposed tree
roots for hjs undoing.
"There were definitely a couple of
tree roots with my name on them out
there," Hatch said, "I crashed twice
when I had the lead and kept jumping
around, thinking, 'Oh God, here they
come!' I could hear them back there.
It was just one of those days. I fell
about six times today. Sometimes it's
the guy who picks up his bike the
fastest who wins, and obviously Barry
was that guy today."
"In the middle of the race, Barry
got away from me," Smith said. "He
was riding a good race. I had some
trouble with lappers on the hills, getting around lappers, but Barry was
riding a good race today."
The GNCC regulars were treated to
a new location chock full of ribbonedoff grass tracks broken up by sections of fast tree sections. The course
was short by GNCC standards - only
eight miles, with sub-20-minute lap
times common for the fastest riders.
Rain all day Saturday served to lubricate the course well, and though the
fields dried out rapidly on Sunday,
