AMA Grand N a t io n a l C r o s s Country Serie s
Round 10: Mat h ews Farms
--Barry Hawk wins again
in 'front o'f local 'fans
By J A SO N W E IGANDT
PH OT OS BY R A Y G U N DY
MOUNT MORRIS, PA, SEPTEMBER 7
~ ar ry Hawk fan s ar e indigenous to
th e so uthweste rn Penn sy l v an i a
area , so w h en t h e ir f a v or it e r i d e r
co mes to th eir loca l ra ce - the FMF
M at hews Farms GNCC - you kn ow
th ere's on ly o ne ra c e o utcom e they
w ant to see . And , as has been th e
case all se ason long in t h e AMA
Grand N ational Cross Cou ntry Series.
Bar ry Hawk delivered.
"I charged hard , but I' m surpris ed I
wo n. " said Hawk . who live s in Smithfield , just m inutes from the track . " We
we nt ba ck and forth a ll day . It w as
fun. Ra ci ng with St ev e [Hatch] and
Freddy [Andrews]. you kno w no one
is going to take anyon e o ut. "
Hawk had to work hard for hi s win ,
wi th Pro Ci rc u it Kawasak i's An drews
and FMF Suzuki' s Hat ch lead in g him
for m o st o f th e event. But the Am Pro/ Yam ah a/B rid gest on e/FMF/ MSR/
Sm ith/Mo rga nto wn -backed Hawk had
lu ck and fitn ess o n h i s si d e o n t he
l ast l a p . He sta r ted th e lap in ba d
shape wh en he tagged a lap per and
fell , but then the same sce nario c ap tu red A ndrews and Hat ch, and Hawk
wa s in th e rig ht pl ace to spee d pa st
and take his fifth win of the season.
And rew s led m o st of t he three-h ou r
rac e but ended up sec ond with Hat ch
thi rd.
"I felt rea ll y stro ng ," Andre ws said.
"I fell th ree times early on. and 1 had
t o dig dee p t o get b ack up to t he
fro nt . I was letting it hang out a littl e.
but I fe lt comfo rt ab le. Bu t on the last
lap we all crashed in t o some lap pers .
We were all j ust pushing and shov ing
trying to get up there . Barry wen t by
m e. Hat s off to him. He ro de well."
Ev en a fte r Haw k we nt b y them ,
And r e w s and H at ch co n t i n ued t o
scrap in th e fi na l tu rns battli n g for
se c ond . Th ey co lli de d wi th a f ew
turns left , but Hat ch played the gen tl e m a n ' s ro le an d re sis ted puttin g
A ndr ew s o n the ground.
"If Hollywood co uld have scrip ted
a m ovi e about those last thr ee m iles,
e
•
Barry Hawk captured his fifth win of
the GNCC and extended his series
lead w ith three rounds left.
28
S EPTEMB ER 17.2003'
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