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GNCC Champion Rodnev Smith frorn the Seemingly down for the count, Rodney Smith makes a miraculous comeback to win his fourth title By JASON WIEGANDT PHOTOS BY RAYMOND GUNDY B y most accounts, the 2002 AMA Grand National Cross Country Series was the most competitive and exciting ever. After early-season points leader Jason Raines went down in June with a broken leg, the series was left wide open. Seven different riders won races in 2002, and four riders had a shot at the title coming into the Ironman GNCC, the series' final round. When it all was settled, veteran FMF Suzuki rider Rodney Smith persevered to win the race and the championship, his fourth GNCC crown in five years. After the race, with a jubilant Suzuki crew gathered amidst their army of box vans, Smith shared his thoughts on title number four. o. Well, Rodney, you managed to stay on top for another year. Yeah, another year. It's been a long year, though. The competition is getting tougher and tougher. I've never had to go to the last race before to win a championship. I think what really turned this season around was the Wisp race in Maryland. Raines got hurt there and gave all of us a break. That race gave me another shot at it, so I went into the summer break and kept training. Was there a time this season where you were starting to doubt your chances? Yeah. Leading up to the Wisp race, I knew Raines had almost a two-race lead on me, and after that there would only be four rounds to go. I thought, "When this race is over, it's basically going to be over." But then Raines got hurt, I won the race, and then [Mike] Lafferty got hurt. So I'm glad I never gave up. What was running through your mind when both Raines and Lafferty went down with injuries? I wasn't too worried about Lafferty. Before the Wisp race, he had about 25 points on me, and I was going to go after him. It did help me, of course, and he was strong all year, but I was more worried about Raines. When he got hurt, I didn't know what would happen. I thought he might come back. He didn't, but he gave it a great effort. He's young. I know if I had an injury like that, I probably wouldn't have come back. 50 NOVEMBER 13, 2002' c u e I _ n __ s Did you think Raines might throw the title away because of his inexperience? Not really. I feel sorry for him. But if I could have given him some advice, it was that he shouldn't have gone after me at the Wisp race. I was leading the race, but I wasn't a threat to him in the points. I wouldn't have done that if I were in his .shoes. He wanted to win as many races as he could, but he'll learn from that. I already told him that. A Raines' injury opened up a wild series. Is it more fun to win a title like this, with it coming down to the last race? It is. It wasn't fun last week when I was nervous about it, but it is today. It was kind of neat because I didn't plan to win; I just needed to finish third. So winning the race made it feel even better. You came from a long way back. Was this one of the toughest championships you've won? It was. I had a lot of bike problems early in the year. We didn't get to do much testing before the year started, and I was struggling. Races where I should have done well, I was getting sevenths and eighths. And I had a DNF at the second race in Geo!gia, which put me behind right off the bat. But everyone had DNFs. It was a long year. You're one of the older riders on the GNCC circuit. When you have a few bad races, do you start to wonder if you can come back? I never start to wonder about that. That's what keeps me going. Whenever I feel like I'm too