Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A M A Grand N ati o n a l C r o s s Cou ntr y S e r ie s R o u n d 10: M a t h e w s F arms Steve Hatch w as a lso in the hunt f o r the win whe n h e crashe d in t o the same la p p ed rider a s did And rews. Hatch followed A n d rews across the fin ish line. Andrews charged all the way into th e le ad , with Hatc h and Hawk battling for second. Hawk had a few big crashes, which p revented him from catching up to Andrews , and he was 13 seconds b ac k as th e wh ite fl ag came out. But Andrews' te am pu lled h im in for a splash of ga s as the final l ap beg an , w hich pu t Haw k o n h i s rear fend er. The Haw k fa ns who lined the wood s were anticipa ting a move from their rider, but inst ead he pic ke d a bad li ne in a mud hol e and we nt down . T h e race ap pea re d o ver for him , b ut t h en Hat c h and Andrew s bo th h it a l ap p er o n an uph ill and cras hed . "I ca me up a hill , and Freddy and St eve were both on the ir sides," Hawk said . "T hey looked tired picking their bikes up ." " F red d y was getting t ang l ed up with a lapper, so I j ust pi nned it on th e i n si de ," Hat c h sa id . " I g ot all th ese vines tangled in my vis or. T hey a l m ost r ipped m y h ead o f f. But I pinned it , wheelie d, and I h it the lap - per Freddy had taken out. I'm k icking it and ki ckin g it , thin k ing Fr eddy 's gone and h e' s g o ing to win it , an d Barry 's hitting m y front wheel trying to weasel past. T hen I look , and Freddy was down on the other side of the bank, I was th inkin g, 'This cannot be happening. '" "I got up and looked around , and we we re all on the ground pushing and shoving ," A ndrews said. " Som e ti m es the lap pers he lp you and somet im e s th e y h u rt y o u . It ' s n o t t h eir fault; th ey' re rac ing too," "It just h app ened that I made my mistake befor e them ," Haw k said. "It ended up working out for m e. If I had been u p th ere wi th them , I prob ab ly w ou ld h av e g o tt en ta ng l ed up wi th th em , too ." eN Mathews Farms Mount Morris, Pennsylvania September 7, 2003 (Round 10 of 131 O/A : 1. Barry Hawk J r. (Yam ); 2. Fred And rews (Ka w); 3 . St eve Hatch ( Suz) ; 4. J ason Raines (YDm); 5. Mik e Ki edrowski (Suz); 6. Rodney Smith (Suz); 7. Do ug Blackw ell (Hon ); 8 . .Joshue Mc Levy (Yam); 9 . Robbie Jenk s (Yam) ; 10 . Micha el Lafferty (KTM) ; 11. J im J arrett (Yam); 12. Randy Hawkins (Yam) : 13. Dar y l Conner ( GG); 14 . Rya n Rod ger s (Yam) ; 15 . David Lykk e (Yam); 16. Scott Sum me rs (Hon) ; J7. Charl es Mulli ns (KTM); 18. Scott Watkins (Kew ): 19. Cole Calki ns (KTM) ; 20 . Ben Bouwens (vern ). A M A GR A ND NAT IONAL CR OSS CO UNT RY SER IES PO IN TS STANDIN G S (Al l er 10 of 13 rounds) : 1. Barry Hawk Jr. (253/5 wi ns); 2 . J ason Raines (186) ; 3 . Mich ael Laff ert y (176/1 win ) ; 4 . Fred Andr ews ( J75/1 win) ; 5. Robbie Je nks (1 40) ; 6 . Steve Hat c h (137); 7 . Ran d y Haw k i ns ( 13 1) ; 8 . Rodney Smi th (l08/1 win ). 9 . Chuck Wood ford (85/2 wins ); 10. Mik e Kiedrowsk i (80 ). B RIEFL y •••• Wi th rain coming down in the area all week , the Mathews Farms cou rse was opene d up just a little to prevent bott lenecks In case of mud. But the course dried out under perfect weathe r all wee kend. leading to a ve ry fast track. The high-speed cou rse featured twisting woods and elevation changes , as we ll as wide-open fields and grass track. Lap times were a little quicker than the normal half,hour GNC C lap. so the top riders co mpleted seven laps to complete the three-hour eve nt. You might say that Kawa saki Team Gree n's Chu ck W o odford (right) had a bad break early in the race whe n he tangled w ith a lapper and bro ke his arm . Woodford will prob ably be out for the remainder of the season. Desp ite spending mor e tim e at t h e doctor's office than o n t h e bike d u rin g the off Al so out for the year is rookie pro Andy Shea who was last year's to p GNCC amateur . Shea broke his femur over th e summer and is expec te d to have a long reco ve ry time. s e ason,Jason Raine s st ill finis h ed a c ommendable fourth ove ra ll. Am Pro Yamaha's Jason Ra in e s wa s feeling a lot better at M a th ew s t han he has at t he pr ev iou s rou nds. He we nt unde r the knife over th e summer break to repair his slow-healing collarbo ne and have the rod removed from the leg he broke last season. " lts so nice to be able to ride witho ut pain." Raines said. and M i Ke Gu er r a [ Ya ma h a 's ra c e rna na q er] know ho w m an y po ints I need," Hawk said , " but I don 't eve n know , I j ust want to keep doin g what I'm doing , and hopefully I' ll wrap up the c ham p ionship ," The two -mo nt h GNCC break offi c i all y ende d wit h t he dead-engin e Math ews Fa rm s sta rt , R.E .R. Yama ha M otor Ci ty p r i v at eer J o sh M c Levy and defen di ng series cha m p ion RodnlOY Smith go t int o the .!ir st.!!!!!!..fi rst , and Smith set th e early pa ce. Hawk and Lafferty were c ha rg ing hard fro m beh ind , and th en Lafferty ass um ed his custo m ary pos iti on at th e fr ontLaffert y had to gas early , since he did not have his norm al ov ersized ga s t ank on his new 25 0, In addition , the co urse was slig htly sho rter th an m ost 9NCC s, which threw every one 's p it tim ing off . Cha rgi ng t h ro ugh all of th i s wa s An drews. " I was struggling," th e Ohio pil ot said. "The n Shan e Watts passe d me . Man ca n that guy ride a m ot orc ycl e. He was tak ing all o f these differe nt lines; it was li k e a differ ent tr ack . I pick ed it up after tha t. " 30 e S EPTE M B ER 17, 2 0 0 3 · cue I n e vv s GNCC W o me n ' s Cha m pio n H e a th er W il son decided to celebrate clinching her champio nship by rid ing wi t h th e boy s in the 250cc A cl ass . " I can t walt to get smoked by the se guy s! " Wil son said. " l learn to gel faster by riding with good peop le and getting my ass kicked by them . - Wil son had a thro ttle prob lem early in the race. but she managed to finish 18th out of 22 rider s in the clas s. Former amateur mo tocross prospect Gene Stull raced the 200cc A class on his Suzuki and finished ninth. "Thls is jus t for fun. - Stull said. " I grew up riding in the woods." GNCC Racing' s Am erica' s Team , present ed by Parts Unlimited - continues to march toward its ISDE date in Brazil. The tea m's bikes we re due in Brazil this wee k. and they will be shippe d fro m Randy Hawkins' Am Pro Yamaha sho p in South C arolina. A s a result , bikes fro m all brands , Including the Suzukis of M ike Kiedrow ski and Rodney Sm ith. we re put into the Yamaha factory semi en route for shipping. Aft er wrapping up his sixth AMA National Enduro Champi onship. KTM' s Mi ke Lafferty decided to make a change. Lafferty has been riding KTM 's 400 and 450 cc four-strok es over the last few years. but he was back on a 250cc two-stroke for this race .•A t least it fee ls diffe rent , which is coo l." Laff erty said. - I really liked the fo ur-stroke at fir st. but I don' t think I'v e go tte n any faster on it in the last tw o year s. So I wa nted to make anot her change. -

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