Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Grand National Cross Country Series Round 3: Steele Creek Rodney's MORGANTON, NC, MARCH 24 odney Smith used consistency to nail down the 2001 AMA Grand National Cross Country Championship, so when he failed to finish the second round of the 2002 series, it appeared that his title defense had hit a big roadblock. So Smith had to throw the consistency theory out the window and go for a win the Steele Creek GNCC (round three) in Morganton, North Carolina. Smith not only won the race, he did it in dominating fashion, serving notice to himself and his competitors that he is still the prime contender for this year's championship. "I know it's early in the series," the FMF/Suzuki/Dunlop/Moose-backed Smith said, "but I knew today would really tell the story for my season. I knew I needed to turn this thing around here, and if I didn't, well, then we were probably in for a long year." Smith did, in fact, turn things around by jumping into the early lead and riding away from his competition. The three-time series champion held a lead of nearly one minute for much of the day and ultimately crossed the finish a full 45 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger. While Smith made the win look easy, behind him raged an intense battle for second that involved six riders and was ultimately won by Yamaha's Jason Raines, the winner of the first round in Okeechobee. Raines made up for a poor first half of the race by taking advantage of the carnage in front of him. "It was funny," Raines said. "I was so far back at first that I started thinking there was no way I was going to get up there, but it seemed like whenever I caught someone they would just fall right over in front of me." Raines benefited from mistakes by Kawasaki's Fred Andrews, KTM's Brian Garrahan and Mike Lafferty and FMF/Suzuki's Mike Kiedrowski to take runner-up honors. Lafferty, the reigning AMA National Enduro Champion, completed the podium by claiming third place for his second podium finish in a row. "I really wanted to get up here again," Lafferty said. "I don't want to be just another good rider, I want to 12 n."". STORY AND PHOTOS BY JASON WEIGANDT R APRIL 3,2002' cue •• get this KTM up into one of the top three positions every race." Kiedrowski felt a little off all day, but he still managed fourth. "I had a rough day," Kiedrowski said. "I crashed a lot and stalled a couple times. I'm actually pretty happy with fourth... Yamaha-mounted Robbie Jenks rounded out the top five, with Andrews and Garrahan coming in next. Barry Hawk Jr., Chuck Woodford and Randy Hawkins rounded out the top 10. Missing from the leaderboard was the winner of the previous round, Steve Hatch, who tweaked his thumb and knee while racing in a WORCS round last weekend in Arizona. Hatch tried to give it a go in North Carolina, but his knee began hurting just a few miles into the race, and he finally called it a day during the third lap. Also absent again was 2000 series champion Shane Watts. Watts hoped to return to racing at Steele Creek following his off-season wrist injury, but was still unable to ride. With his second-place finish, Raines extends his series lead over Lafferty, 70-58. Fred Andrews in third with 55. But the man to watch is Smith, who is fourth with 51 points. The Steele Creek GNCC offered great race conditions, as cold temperatures on race-morning yielded to a warm, bright afternoon and temperatures in the high 60s. Racer Productions' Trail Boss Jeff Russell built a nearly 12-mile course that included soft, loamy soil, a grass-track section at the start and several huge downhills. The top Pros took six laps around the course, with lap times coming in just under the half-hour mark. The popular facility drew over 1100 entries for the weekend. When the green flag dropped for the Pro class, Hatch lit his bike the fastest and got to turn one first, but Smith immediately went by him and started pulling away. Honda privateer Josh McLevy and Jenks also moved past the ailing Hatch to chase Smith,

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