AMA Grand National Cross Country Series
Round 1: The Hurricane 'f00
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You would think that the one nonYamaha rider to break the streak
would be a rider from one of the other
three (Suzuki, Kawasaki and KTM)
factory teams, but he was not.
Instead, it was a rider from Vero
Beach, Florida, Kawasaki Team
By
KIT PALMER
PHOTOS BY KINNEY JONES AND PALMER
40
MARCH 19, 2003'
eye
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even more
g,Dad, not one
f
e other factory
race teams eve ftnjshed the race,
FMF Suzuki's Rodn-'e y Smith, Mike
Kiedrowski and Steve Hatch all
you weren't on a Yamaha, or if your
I
I
wasn't Edminsten, Black, /Weill or Vanleer.
r
(\s you can imagine, the day didn't
go by without its controversies. The
first began when some of the team
managers and riders questioned
whether or not the race should be held
in the first place because of the
extremely adverse conditions. Rain
had already been falling many days
leading up to the race, and with the
rain still falling on race morning, conditions were only going to get worse.
After making many changes to the
racecourse, trying to find as many
sandy sections as possible, the race
organizers decided the track was in
good enough shape to go on with the
show, rain or shine (though an hour
behind schedule). The team managers
and riders reluctantly agreed to race.
The second controversy arose not
long after the race started, when the
early leaders, Smith, Lafferty,
Andrews, Caselli and reportedly a few
other riders, suddenly found themselves merging onto a section of the
course in the middle of the pack, having followed a wrong trail. Smith said
he was following Lafferty, and Andrews
was running third, when they saw a
course marshal on a quadcycie pulling
down arrows from Sunday's quad race,
At that point, the leaders realized a
very bad thing had happened - they
had been on the wrong course and had
ridden an extra half-mile or so before
the quad trail merged with the correct
trail. Smith, Lafferty and Andrews
pleaded their case with the marshal
I last fame
