Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Grand National Cross Country Series Round 1 1: High Point GNCC (Left) Barry Hawk J,. celebrates his High Point GNCC win with a stopple across the finish line. (Below) Fred Andrews negotiated the slJtr conditions well enough fo, a second-place finish, despite two al,filter changes. Hawk scores a win, while Smith takes over the points lead By Smith may have come out the biggest winner on the day, however. With points leader Jason Raines dropping out of the race due to the lingering effects of an injured leg, the defending champ has taken the points lead and looks headed toward his fourth series title. And while Hawk's win was certainly welcome, Raines' misfortune meant there were mixed emotions in the Yamaha pits. "I felt pretty good early," said Raines, who had led the points chase since winning the opening round of the series in March. "But then I caught the leg in a rut, and it really started hurting. It never started feeling any better. It's hard to deal with." A disappointed Raines was left to watch his points lead evaporate, as he falls to third in the standings, 11 points behind Smith and two points behind Mike Lafferty, who finished eighth with a bad shoulder. Intriguing as the 2002 GNCC points battle has become, the battle for the High Point win was what really kept the over-3000 spectators who were on hand guessing. Positions throughout the top 10 seemed to change by the minute, and at different times, any of a whole host of riders - from Smith's teammates Mike Kiedrowski and Steve Hatch, to KTM riders Brian Garrahan and Lafferty all had a shot at catching Hawk. "It was tough," said Kawasaki Team Green's Andrews. "It was easy for me to stay focused because I got so mad at having to change filters twice. I feel like I rode my hardest, so JASON WEIGANDT PHOTOS BY RAY GUNDY MOONT MORRIS, PA, SEPT. 22 t was one of the wildest races in one of the wildest seasons of AMA Grand National Cross Country racing. With clogged air filters and championship drama dictating the action, the latest event was ripe for an upset, and for a record seventh time this season, a new rider took the victory. Barry Hawk, a seven-time GNCC ATV Champion who now races motorcycles for a living, rode strong to his first GNCC win of the season. "I wanted it so bad," said the AmPro Yamaha rider, who hails from nearby Smithfield. "And I know everyone comes into these races wanting to win. But something changed for me over the summer. I really, really want it now. You can ask anyone who's winning what it is - it's like you go into this other mode. I did that this summer. I want it more than I ever have." That desire helped Hawk fight through a very tough race to win his second-career GNCC. A dry summer had transformed much of the dirt at the High Point facility into silt, a condition that led to clogged air filters for many of the race's 1171 competitors. Hawk wasn't immune to the problems, as he ran two Filter Skins around his air filter and still had to install a fresh one, but he still pulled out a solid lead to win over Team Green's Fred Andrews and Team FMF Suzuki's Rodney Smith. 16 OCTOBER 2, 2002' cue • • n • _ os I'm happy. Congratulations to Barry. I know he's been working really hard at this. "With the dust, you never knew what was going to happen," Andrews continued. "You would just be hitting holes out there, and it's hard on your arms and legs and shoulders because you're not ready for them, and then you think, I'd better get ready for them, and you would tense up. That's not the best way to ride a motorcycle." All of the action took place in the woods and fields surrounding the High Point Raceway motocross course, home of a round of the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. National Motocross Championships. The highspeed High Point layout offered not only a national-level motocross track, but some rough woods sections, a long water crossing, and some grasstrack fields. But the biggest obstacle, by far, was the silt. "It was so deep in sections, it felt like riding in mud: said SCR/Yamaha's Robby Jenks, who finished sixth. "Vision wasn't too bad, but you just couldn't avoid the ruts." The start of the race was all Suzuki, as Smith, Hatch and Kiedrowski jumped out to the top three spots on the first of seven laps. On the second circuit, Kiedrowski (a former High Point winner as a motocrosser) took the lead from Smith and started to pull away. It looked like the "OffRoad Kied" was going to make a run for his first-ever GNCC win, but he would become one of the first victims of the clogged-filter blues soon after and drop off the pace. About the time Kiedrowski dropped back, Hawk started climbing through the pack. Seventh on lap one, Hawk caught fire and charged past everyone. It looked like the race was all his, but a slow pit stop of his own (also to change a filter) nearly cost him. "I was in getting gas, and I didn't want to stay for a filter: Hawk said. "But my crew ripped me off of my bike and changed it! Rodney was coming, and I was mad. But then, just as I got back on, Rodney came by and his bike started blubbering. I was so relieved - I knew he couldn't make it a whole lap like that." Hawk soon passed Smith when the Suzuki rider was barely able to get

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