Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) Rodney Smith led for much of the race, but a clogged air filter helped bump him to the runner-up spot by the finish. (Right) After spending much of his ONCC break training hard, .Iason Raines capitalized by scoring a podium finish in Ohio. the conclusion of the first lap. Andrews was up to fourth, and then he passed Lafferty halfway through lap two to take third. He then pushed Kiedrowski up to Smith's fender, making for a close race as the tri0 completed lap two. Further back, Hatch was working up from 13th after taking three kicks to get his bike started, and Raines was reeling in the lead pack from fifth. Then Andrews and Kiedrowski started going at it, too. "I was going good and everything, and then Andrews got by me," said Kiedrowski. "We were passing a lapper on a rooted downhill. The lapper hit a root and stopped and I hit him and fell." With Kiedrowski down, Raines passed Lafferty and started catching the lead pack of Smith and Andrews. "I got a decent start and got around [Paul] Edmondson and [Jim] Jarret and I looked ahead and saw nobody for a long way. Laff~rty was behind me, and we just freight-trained up to the lead pack. I just tried to pick good lines and stay out of those powder berms because it was so dusty today." Indeed, vision and later air filtration would become a factor on the hot and dry racetrack. Kiedrowski was one of the first to have filter problems. "I started chasing Raines and my filter went," Kiedrowski said. "I got up to fifth but I was coming into an offcamber and the berm broke, and I got a tree stuck between my front wheel and my pipe." Kiedrowski finished seventh. Up front, Andrews was chasing hard after Smith. When Smith had a problem with a lapper, Andrews made the pass. "Rodney was going left, and a lapper was starting to go right, but then he went left and cut him off," explained Andrews. "Then I hit another guy and fell and he got back by me." Andrews and Smith battled so closely that both riders scored identi- cal 25:03 lap times on the fourth lap. When they pitted to start lap five, though, Smith was able to open up a little distance. Soon after, Raines caught the leaders, and the threerider pack opened up a one-minute gap on fourth-placed Lafferty. Smith was once again in control of the race, but he lost the lead when his air filter began to clog. "With about a lap and a half to go, it [the filter] clogged and the bike was barely running," said Smith. "I didn't want to take a chance on fouling a plug and getting a DNF so I came down a hill and found one of my mechanics and we changed it." Smith lost a minute and a half changing the filter, which left Raines and Andrews alone out front. Then Andrews gathered a big lead when Raines started having his own filter problems. "I ran a filter skin, and I didn't need to pull it until the two-lap card came out, so I thought I would be okay," said Raines. "Then, on the next lap, I fell over in a turn and when I fell, the dirt must have just came up into the filter. I had to stop, and I saw Rodney had stopped before. I was wondering if Fred would stop and maybe we would see him out there, but he ran a good race and saved his bike." Thanks to the filter changes, Andrews had a big lead once the white flag came out, but when he started riding conservatively to preserve his own air filter, Smith was able to mount one last charge. "My Kawasaki has a good air box on it," said Andrews, "and once I saw Rodney's filter clogged, I never touched another silt berm. That's why he gained 40 seconds on me on that last lap." Indeed, once his Suzuki was breathing fresh air, Smith was able to gain a considerable amount of time on Andrews. Down by over a minute early on the last lap, Smith would cut the lead down to just eight seconds at the finish of the two-hour-and-54minute event. "I didn't give up - I was trying to push all the way to the finish," said Smith. "I thought Raines was second and I thought maybe I could catch him, so I just put my head down. I've been training really hard. If it wasn't for that [the filter change], we probably would have been okay. Either that or I just would have needed another lap." "You know, I really enjoy racing with Rodney Smith," said a happy Andrews from the podium. "He's a great guy and we have a lot of fun together. I don't have to worry about him taking a cheap shot or anything. That keeps us motivated and keeps us going. He would pull away and catch a slow guy; then I would catch him and start yelling at him. Then a slow guy would go the wrong way and I would pass him, and next thing you know, I would hit a slow guy and fall aown and he would go back by. I just had a great time out there." CN .hIhn PenDn BNCC Millfield, Ohio Results: Septe....r _,ZOOl O/A: I. Fred Andrews (KllW); 2. Rodney Smith (Suz); 3. Jason Reines (Yam); 4. Randy Hewkins (Y.m); 5. Borry Howk (Yom); 6. Steve H.tch (Suz); 7. Mike Kiedrowski (Suz); 8. Robbie Jenks (Y.m); 9. Mike Lafferty (KTM); 10. Doug BI.ckwell (Yom). After his race bike developed Ignition problems, . defending champ Shane Watts opted to put In a few laps of practice on his practice bike. BRIEFLy•••• Fox Sports has been happy with the feedback on the GNCC TV shows this season and has rewarded some markets with improved time slots. Most markets still aim for an 11 a.m. Wednesday slot, although others have moved to weekend afternoons. You can check local listings for times, or visit wvvw.gnccracing.com. Besides Andrew's win, Team Green Kawasaki had a rough day at the John Penton GNCC. Chuck Woodford was absent from the race after breaking his leg at a National Hare Scrambles in Oregon earlier in the summer, and Paul Edmondson dropped out after two laps due to problems with the hot and dry weather conditions. Several top GNCC riders raced other series over the two-month saries break. Race winner Andrews competed in the National Hare Scrambles series and appears headed to a championship in that series. Also. Paul Edmondson and Shane Watts traveled to Brive, France, for the Intemational Six Days Enduro. Both rode well but suffered bad luck. Edmondson got disqualified from the 250 class, and Watts was leading the 125cc class until the end of day five, when he crashed hard and lost time. There was a nostalgic fe.1 to the race, as four vintage Penton motorcycles sat on the infield to honor off-road motorcycle pioneer and Ohio native John Penton. Penton, the man largely responsible for brining KTM motorcycles to the U.S.. was on hand as the official race starter. Former five-time GNCC champion Ed Lojak was also on hand to witness how much the series has grown. cue •• n __ lIS • SEPTEMBER 26, 2001 35

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