Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

@,.~I AMA Grand National Cross Country Series Round 6: Spartan GNCC season by finishing fifth. But it's Raines, now with two wins in a row and three this season, who is quickly becoming the best bet in the fight for the 2002 GNCC championship. Raines, as usual, was humble about his win, even though the victory extends his points lead. This performance may be his most impressive yet, too, because he got the win by overpowering some tough competition. Raines entered the last lap just a few lengths behind Sm'ith, the three-time and defending GNCC champion, and stopped for a quick splash of fuel. But smart line choices let him overtake the champ and grab the victory. (Left) Jason Raines is quickly establishing himself as a serious contender for the GNCC title after scoring a hard-fought win, his third of the year, in Kentucky. (Below) Defending champ Rodney Smith gave Raines a fight but had to settle for second. STORY AND PHOTOS BY JASON WEIGANDT SPARTA, KY, MAY 5 n the first weekend in May, racIng In Kentucky centers around horses and the Kentucky Derby. But while that race packs plenty of action into what it bills as the most exciting two minutes in sports, any horse race would have a tough time matching the thrills of an AMA GNCC event, especially the one that took place in Kentucky on the same weekend as the vaunted Derby. While the horses and jockeys were completing just one lap on their oneand-a-quarter-mile dirt course, the Spartan GNCC pitted riders and their steeds against seven rugged laps on dirt, with hills, mud and rocks thrown in for good measure. By the end of the three-hour event (plenty of time for mint juleps), the riders were heaping praise on the all-new Sparta track, and most of the fans said the race was one of the most exciting they had seen in a long time. And that includes anything they might have seen from Churchill Downs. The Sparta excitement radiated O < 32 MAY 15, 2002' eye I e from an incredible four-man fight for the win. Rodney Smith, Jason Raines, Mike Lafferty and Robbie Jenks swapped the lead over and over for the entire three hours, often completing entire sections in two-wide packs. "I have a lot of respect for Rodney," said the Am Pro Yamahabacked Raines. "A lot of people are asking me what the difference is this year, and I don't know exactly I can't put my finger on it. I still Finally, Raines burst from the pack down the stretch and proved he is indeed the best of the breed. Smith and Jenks held on to the place and show positions, while Lafferty settled for fourth and Kawasaki's Chuck Woodford put in his best ride of the look up to these guys, like Rodney, who has accomplished so much. But I've been working at this a long time, and I'm so happy to see it's finally paying off. I guess I'm putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. " n e _ s Late in the race, though, it looked like Smith was the one about to put it all together. After several races plagued with bad luck, the FMF/ Suzuki rider spent the majority of the race watching Raines, Jenks and Lafferty bounce off of each other through every water hole, hillclimb and rock bed. Then, with the laps winding down, he turned it up and snatched the lead. The stage was set for a classic Smith win, but Raines tried to put the pressure on during the final lap, and it paid off when Smith made a mistake on a hillclimb. "I have to give Jason credit - he rode smart," Smith said. "It was a fun race. I felt fast all day. There was a line on an uphill I had been taking all along, and it was a stupid line. I don't know why I took it again on the last lap." Raines had the hill wired, and he slipped past Smith there, and then put time on him while weaving through lappers. This gave him a big enough lead to hold Smith back on the final grass-track section, which Smith was railing better than anyone. "I was just praying, 'Don't let him get to me on the grass track,''' Raines said. He didn't, and Raines hung on. As for Jenks and Lafferty, each rider had a shot at the win, but Jenks didn't quite have the energy to run down Smith and Raines on the last lap, while Lafferty had a few unfortunate tangles with lapped riders slow him before he could mount his own last-lap charge. The track contributed to the great racing. While this marked the third year for the Sparta race, this year's event took place in a new location a few miles away from the old one. As a result, the track consisted entirely of virgin terrain. Very tight woods sections combined with steep uphills and numerous muddy crossings to create a challenging track. "Great track," Jenks said. "It was technical, slick, and rooty. And then, as the day went on, more moisture came out of the track, so it got even slicker. I like riding in technical stuff like this." Perhaps no one liked the track more than Smith, who yelled to his crew during a pit stop, "This track is fun!" After the race, Smith continued to sing its praises. "The track was awesome. It had a little bit of everything. The water crossings were fun, the grass track was fun, and the woods sections were really technical." Highlights of the 1O-mile track included two steep, wide-open hillclimbs and an lSDE-style grass track,

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