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AMA Grand National Cross Country Series Round 13: Ironman GNCC By Rodney Smith did not have a good start to this year's GNCC series, but he had a great finish, wrapping up his fourth title. JASON WEIGANDT PHOTOS BY RAY GUNDY CRAWFORDSVILLE, OH. OCT. 20 he 2002 AMA Grand National III Cross Country season has been anything but predictable, so it's only fitting that the series finale showcased a bunch of unexpected twists just to keep things interesting. Coming into the race, the Iron man GNCC, Suzuki veteran Rodney Smith had built a small points lead after a host of other riders took big wins but made even bigger mistakes. So with the Californian only needing a third-place finish to sew up his fourth career title, and with consistency becoming his trademark, not many expected him to go out and win the Ironman. But - surprise! - that's exactly what Smith did, making the math easy by winning the race going away. His road to both the title and the win weren't easy, though. A few months ago, Smith looked completely out of the championship running before mounting a comeback. And at the Ironman, he had to out-ride a motivated Fred Andrews, Mike Lafferty and a bunch of visiting European Champions to take the win. Only in the final few miles was the FMF/ Suzuki/Dunlop/Maxima/Moose/HJC backed-Smith able to pull out the stops and collect the win. "I didn't need to do that much," Smith said. "But I figured if I hooked on to Freddy, we would set a good pace and end up where we needed to be. We had a lot of fun out there. I wasn't even looking to pass him, but he made a little bobble and I got around him. I love racing Freddy." Andrews and Lafferty needed to win the race and have Smith finish fourth or worse to win the title. But after coming up just short in both the race and the championship fight, Andrews wasn't too disappointed. r 8 OCTOBER 30, 2002' cue • e RodNEy SMiTh TAkES ThE 'RONMAN ANd fOURTh "Rodney's a great rider, and I had fun racing him," the Team Green GNCC TiTLE championship. National Enduro Champion Mike Lafferty and four- Kawasaki/Cornwell Tools/Pro-Circuit- time National Motocross Champion backed Andrews said. "My hat's off to him; I knew he would do what he Mike Kiedrowski also came into the Ironman with a title shot, but needed to do." their efforts came up short despite The two veterans once again ran 1-2 in the final GNCC standings, but their best efforts to make up for poor starts. it was possibly the most competitive series ever in terms of how many Lafferty, who also needed to win and have Smith finish fourth to win other riders had a chance for the the title, ended up third. "Maybe I was a little nervous at the start," the KTM/Big Gun/Michelin/Moose/Arai rider said. "But once I got going, I gave it everything I had. I just couldn't make up time on them unless I really hung it out over the edge. I knew I wouldn't make it to the finish if I rode like that." As if the title ramifications didn't make the race exciting enough, a host of foreign riders came to the Ironman to get a feel for GNCC racing, and some of them nearly spoiled the championship. Englishman David Knight put on the best ride of all, capturing the lead a few turns into the race and running strong for the first hour. "The pace was fast early because David Knight was just flooring it," . Andrews said. "He was a maniac in the creeks, but I guess he can do that because he's only here for one race and we're racing for a championship. But I'll tell you, if he could ride that way for three hours, we would be in trouble." Knight ended up losing his goggles after one too many hard charges through the water, and then he suffered clutch problems, which held him back even more. But he still persevered and finished fifth. Andrews' teammate Chuck Woodford came in fifth behind Lafferty and Knight. The racers did battle on the appropriately named Ironman course, which consisted of 10 miles of rough, whooped-out Indiana trail, with mud, water, rocks and hills thrown into the n • _ ,. Great Britain's David Night (639) jumped out to an early lead ahead of Smith (1), Chuck Woodford (11). Barry Hawk 16} and Fred Andrews (3).