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BRIEFLy•••• As presenting sponsor of the GNCC ISDE effort, Parts Unlimited, in conjunction with Yamaha, the Loretta Lynn's event sponsor, hosted a Saturday night dinner for the racers, during which fans and riders made donations to help support the U.S. Trophy Team's efforts at the ISDE this year ir. Brazil. GNCC Racing will also host an ISDE dinner at the MSR Wisp GNCC in June, which will include a celebrity golf toumament at the Wisp golf course, After the race, Barry Hawk commented on his sudden success in GNCC racing, .\ just had to get my head right." said the popular fonmer ATV champ, "Last year I was thinking too much, I would be out there thinking about the bike settings, like I was still testing during the race, After the summer break last year I just started racing and having fun, and my results have been much better, " With his Yamaha boss Mike Guerra on hand to see his win, Hawk was quick to thank him for sticking with him even while he was struggling a few years ago, "I guess \ can finally call him and say I'm a contender, not a pretender, for the championship," joked Hawk, who is one of the most down"to-earth racers in the sport, "I'm really happy to be a part of the Am-Pro team with Randy [Hawkins] and Jason [Raines], We all get along so well; it makes it easy to train and work hard." Brake problems thwarted Jason Raines' effort. He still salvaged fourth place. (Above) Mike Kiedrowski had one of his better rides of the year. He finished out the race on the podium in third. (Below) Defending champ Rodney Smith suffered a costly DNF at Loretta Lynn's. He crashed and was forced to retire early. nearly side by side in the final mile of the race, which was contested on the famous Loretta Lynn's motocross course, home of the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships, After losing the lead to Hawk in the final lap, Lafferty tried and tried to get it back, but he ultimately came up just a few feet short at the finish, "I probably could have taken him out there, but I don't want to race like that," Lafferty said of his attack on Hawk in the final motocross section, ''I've been working really hard with my training, and I wanted a win, but we'll take a podium finish any day," Third place went to FMF/Suzuki/ Dunlop/O'Neal's Mike Kiedrowski, a former amatuer motocross champion at Loretta's who has now adapted well to the off"road game, '" figured I have nothing more to learn here, so I needed to go for a win," Kiedrowski said, "I made few mistakes there, and I just couldn't catch those guys," Hawk's teammate Jason Raines was fourth, and Kawasaki's Fred cue I e Andrews, the winner of the previous GNCC race in South Carolina, was fifth, As usual, a huge crowd showed up for the Loretta Lynn's event, which was held as a com" bined round of the AMA National Hare Scrambles Series and was co-stanctioned by SEE,TRA, the Southeastern Enduro and Trail Riders Association, and Racer Productions the GNCC series organizer, The fifth round of the MSR/ Wiseco/ Yamaha/ FMF/ Dunlop/Klotz/ Maxxis GNCC Series also served as a great test of endurance, The three hour race was run under high temperatures, and the track ended up whooped out, choppy and rough, "It was really rough," Andrews said, The sandy Tennessee soil usually forms square-edged whoops, and much of the track is covered in loose shale rocks, which offer precious little traction, Things didn't look good for the Hawk early in the race as a slip-up heading into the first turn left Hawk next to last in the Pro field through turn one, FMF Suzuki's Steve Hatch batlied past Fun Mart Yamaha's Jimmy Jarrett for the holeshot, and before long his teammates Kiedrowski and Rodney Smith, the defending GNCC Champion, were right behind him, "I felt awesome," said Hatch, who has been suffering from a rash of injuries and illnesses over the last year. "I know today was my day to get up on that podium," Hawk was left trying to pick off as many riders as he could while the pack was still tight. "I knew I had to pass some guys in the grass track before we got into the woods," Hawk said, "I probably passed 10 guys right there, I wasn't mad or anything; I was really relaxed and just kept going," n e _ os • MAY 7,2003 31