A M A G rand Nat ional C r o s s C o u n t ry S e r ie s
R o u n d 1 1 : Du n lop Spartan GNCC
Barry Hawk
can now add a
motorcycle
championship
to his long list
ofATV
championships
In the Grand
National Cross
Country Series.
Jason Raines wins in
Kentucky, but Barry
Hawk wins crown
S T O RY A ND P HOTOS BY
J A SO N W E IGA N DT
sPARTA, K , SEPT. 21
Y
arry Haw k is a seven- ti me AMA
Gr an d N at i on al Cro ss Country
Seri es ATV Champion , but his latest
t r i u m p h , clin ch in g his fi rs t-e ve r
GNCC bik e title, out weig hs all of his
fou r-wheel er tr oph ies.
"T ho se ATV ti t les were defin it ely
big at th e ti me, but I k now I work and
train m uc h, m uch harder now,' Hawk
said. "T hat makes this one so m uch
bett er. We worked so hard fo r this m y sel f and t he whole team . Years
ago, I look ed up to guys like Rodney
[Smith ), Ran dy [Hawkins] an d Scott
[Summers], and I couldn' t eve n talk
to them . I still look up to them! But I
guess I'm wit h them now. It definitel y
hasn' t sunk in yet. '
Hawk 's second -p lace ri de at th e
D un l op Sp ar t a n G N CC , the 11th
rou nd o f the series, in Sp art a, Ken tucky , wa s more than enough to wrap
up the cham pionship. His teammate
Jason Rain es p ut together a do mi n ant pe rform an c e, w inn ing wir e t o
wire in a ser ies where suc h win s are
extreme ly rare.
" I got o ut t o a good start, and I
kn ew Mik e [Laffert y ] was behi nd m e:
Raines said . "I know he's a ' real hard
runn er i n t h e o pe n ing l ap s, so if I
co uld j ust hold him beh ind m e on the
first la p. I k new I cou ld open a litt le
gap ."
Raines end ed up opening a b ig
gap and ho lding it all day long, a sig nal that his lo ng com ebac k from leg
32 O CTO BER 1 , 2003'
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