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AMA Grand National Cross Country Series • Final Round: lronrnan GNtc By JASON WEIGANDT PHOTOS BY JEFF KARDAS CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN, OCT. 21 fter everything Shane Watts touched during the 2000 AMA Grand National Cross Country Series turned to gold, his struggles in defending the championship tarnished his sparkling reputation. FMF Suzuki's Rodney Smith wrapped up the 2001 title through consistent riding, while Watts suffered through a host of mechanical and physical woes, as well as a stint with burnout. So at the season-finale Ironman GNCC, Watts decided to cut loose and put the bad races behind him. In true, unpredictable Watts style, he showed up with his hair chopped into a KTM-orange mohawk, and uncrated a 520cc Katoom four-stoke, the only full-sized KTM bike on which he's never won a race. Then he bet GNCC television announcer Larry Maiers that if he won, he would shave off Maiers' beard (but if Watts lost, Maiers would get to shave what little hair was left on the Australian's head). Watts was confident, but in order to win he would have to go through Kawasaki Team Green's Fred Andrews, who had won the last three GNCCs. By the end of the day, Watts had sliced off Maiers' beard and snapped Andrews' winning streak, and although his look may be new, the 18 NOVEMBER 7, 2001 • II: U C Aussie's results were reminiscent of the old Watts. "I'm back - at least for today," joked the quirky rider afterward. "This KTM was fun. It was great out in the field, and it was heaps good in the trees," Maiers and Andrews both made Watts' day difficult. Andrews continued his late-season streak of brilliant riding by hanging with the Aussie all day, and at the victory podium, Maiers' beard proved a tough match for Watts' electric razor. "No one has seen me without a beard in 30 years," Maiers said. "Wattsy makes a good barber." It should also make for a good television show (see Briefly... ). As for Andrews, the Ohio native was again plenty fast on his Kawasaki KX250, though he eventually settled for second rather than risk hurting himself trying to win the last round. "Second place is better than nothing," Andrews said. "I haven't (Top) Shane Watts Ileft) and Fred Andrews lright) stood on the winner's podium after an all-out battle for the win over the last lap and a half. Watts won, and with the win he got to keep what little was left of his hair, while announcer Larry Maiers had to let Watts shave off his beard. IRight) Watts rode a KTM 520 in the event, and it paid off. Watts blasted by his competitors through the wideopen fields lap after lap. finished this race in three years, so this was pretty good." Andrews and Watts also had company from FMF Suzuki teammates Steve Hatch and Mike Kiedrowski, but the RM-mounted duo crashed together in a muddy section near the end of the race. They recovered to finish third and fourth, respectively, while Yamaha's Barry Hawk put on a strong come-from-behind charge to take fifth. The GNCC points battle came to a head at the Ironman. Smith and Andrews held on to first and second in the series, respectively, while Watts remained third after a strong challenge from Hatch and SCR/Yamaha's Jason Raines. Hatch's podium ride leapfrogged him past Raines and into fourth in the final standings, while Raines, eighth at the Ironman, will wear number five in 2002. AMA FMF National Enduro Champion Mike Lafferty claimed sixth for the year, with Kiedrowski in seventh, Yamaha's Robbie Jenks in eighth, Hawk in ninth and Honda-mounted Josh McLevy rounding out the top 10. The racing took place on one of the year's toughest tracks. Racer Productions' trail boss Jeff Russell, a former National Enduro Champion, set up a challenging course that featured steep hillclimbs, deep ruts and huge mud bogs. Over 500 motorcycles attacked the track, including 70 youth racers on Saturday. In addition, nearly 500 ATVs raced on Saturday. The motorcycle pros completed six laps of the track, with lap times just dipping under the half-hour mark. "It was gnarly," Hatch said of the course. "It got rough, with a lot of roots and big braking bumps. You could almost fly over the bars late in the race because the bumps were so big, and we were braking so hard." One rider who definitely felt the effects of the rough course was Smith, who had wrapped up the 2001 GNCC title at the previous round in Ohio. The Californian came into Indi-