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AMA Grand National Cross Country Series Round S: Rausch Creek Ci3NCC m Own Race Steve Hatch 4th No one had a more dynamic race than the veteran FMF Suzuki pilot. In Pennsylvania, Hatch charged from fifth to second at the midway point, before a bunch of crashes took him down a few spots. "I was afraid they were going to cut the race short because of the tornado, so once I felt a little rain come down, I knew I had to pin it and try to get into the lead," said Hatch. "I felt great. I grew up about three hours from here in New York, so I'm comfortable in the rocks." At the midway point, Hatch drew all the way up to Lafferty's fender and tried to take the lead on an uphm, but he smacked a rock hard and got thrown down, "I figured no guts, no glory; I had to go for it. But I hit the rock in third gear; the bike did a full 180 • I landed hard." 1] Rodney Smith DNF "I was right where I wanted to be," said the four·time and defending GNCC champ. "I was hanging with the lead pack, and they looked like they were getting tired." But before Smith could mount a charge, the chain on his FMF Suzuki machine snapped, and he was dealt his second-straight DNF. "The title is pretty much gone now, which means all I can do is go out and have fun at the races and try to win some." Rausch Creek could have been the one where he won. "It's too bad· the course was awesome. 1loved it." 1] @ Randy Hawkins 5th The "Javelin" put in his finest GNCC ride in nearly two years with a solid fifth·place finish - this despite failing to get his bike started on the line and taking off in dead last for the second race in a row. "I think my bike is like a steam locomotive: You have to keep shov· eling coal in there and working at it to get it moving," joked the six·time AMA National Enduro Champion. "Seriously, my bike was awesome, and we have such a great team here; it's fun on race day. Plus, this course was technical, and that tends to favor me a little bit." 1] 1] Chuck Woodford 6th Chuck missed a couple of races early in the season with a bad shoulder, and while the injury is now healed, he's taking time getting back up to race·winning speed. "I was too conservative out there early," said the Team Green Kawasaki rider. "I was just trail·ridlng for a while and let those guys get away. I feel good, but I need to attack early again and get up front." lAbove) Robbie Jenks ran near the front all day, finishing seventh. (Below) Randy Hawkins complemented his teammates' (Raines and Hawk) strong finishes with a top-five of his own. (0)00 ~ Robbie Jenks 7th Jenks usually excels in the tough, technical conditions that Rausch Creek offered, but he struggled with arm pump on Sunday. "I don't know what the deal is," said Jenks. "I didn't use to train full·time, and now I do, and th.is keeps happening. I need to put it back together soon." Jenks held sixth early and moved to fifth when Rodney Smith derailed a chain, but the day·long pump up left him powerless to fight off Randy Hawkins and Chuck Woodford down the stretch. 1] ~ Mike Kiedrowski 8th The former motocross champ suffered some more bad luck when his chain derailed just a few miles into the race. He was able to remount it but was forced into full comeback mode, and the Californian could only climb to eighth. ~'l7® Josh Summey 19th After finishing 11 th in the final AMA 125cc Eastern Regional Supercross standings, Summey has tried the last few GNCCs to train for the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Champi· onships. His learning curve has been steep, and he collected 11th in the Pro Class and 19th overall in Pennsylvania. "It's a lot of fun; I want to keep racing these," said Summey. 30 MAY 21, 2003' eye • e n e _ 50