Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AM A G r a n d National C ros s Country Series R ou n d 12 : Power Line Par k GNCC Shane Watts wins his first GNCC In nearly two years an d th ought I w o ul d ne v er c om e back , well , th ey c an all k iss m y ass!" W att s' win was as exci ti ng as it was su rp r i si n g, as h e d u el ed wit h Hawk down to th e fina l m inutes of the th ree-hour race . He m ade a pass o n a grasstrack section wi th a m ile to go , rel eg at ing Hawk, wh o had c linc hed th e GN CC title at the prev iou s rac e, to a seco nd -p lac e fi nish. " He rode goo d," Hawk said. " He's d ef in itel y fast er o n th e grasstrack not by much, but j ust enough. I th ink there were so me sectio ns in th e wo od s wh ere I felt f ast er than him , though. Hop efull y at the next race in Indiana, I'll be in first and he 'll be in second." Making Wa t t s' w in even stranger was the fact that he started bac kwa rd on the GNC C start gr id . Wa tts , J ason S T O RY AND P HOT OS BY J A SO N W EIGA N DT ST. ClAIRSVILlE, OH, OCT. 5 J7\ L.;,J fe w years ago , it lo oked like noth ing could sto p KTM' s Sh ane Watt s. He would show up at ra c es o n worn -out stock bi kes and w in . a nd the competiti on h ad no ide a ho w to stop h im. A s th e 2000 AMA Grand National Cross Country Series Cham pi on , Watts looked to have a lock o n old m agic for o ne afternoon , and he American off-road racing . won a drama ti c an d excit ing battl e with Barry Hawk. " I' m so stoke d!" h e said . " T w o But th e odds finall y sta ck ed up too high. Watt s lost hi s mot ivati on in 20 0 1 and reli nq u ished his title. Th en Rain es, and FMF Suzuk i ri de rs Rod ney Sm ith and St ev e Hatch j u m ped th e start , and wh en th e rac e wa s red fla gged and then rest arted , th ey wer e li n ed up b a ckward as a p en alt y . Despite the sta rt, all four wo uld m ak e up on h im, and a new g eneration of race rs has fill ed his p la ce at th e top yea rs ago, I was j erk in g around and wasn 't put ti ng any effort into m y rac ing. Then I got hurt , and it wa s so ha rd to co m e back. I never lost faith in m yself, but there were t im es whe n it was pr etty hard. But I want to th ank of the spo rt . Then , suddenly , at th e Power Lin e KTM and MSR for st icking w ith me, th eir way to th e front of the p ack , with Watt s co mi ng o ut the best. Raines fin ished third, despite the ba ckw ard start. He ba ttled mo st of t h e day with anot her rid er on t he and all th e fan s for bein g beh ind m e. co mebac k tr ail , Scott Summers. wh o Park GNC C in Ohio , Watts fo und h is And all the people that dou bt ed m e tr ied a CRF4 50R at th e race and put he br ok e hi s wri st prior t o th e 2002 sea so n , and bro k e h is leg this year. By now , almost everyone has g ive n 28 O C T OB ER 15, 2003' cue e n e vv 50 in h is best resu lt since return ing to the GN CCs four rac es ago. " Sco tt's on th e ro ad to reco very , Raines said . " He was abo ut 15 sec o nd s ah ead of m e for ab out th re e la ps , an d I was pu sh ing and I co ul d not gai n on hi m . Finally I ca ught him, and we go t aro und Michael [Lafferty ]. He's rid ing aw eso m e." Sum me rs was ve ry happy to end up fourt h , ju st 10 sec o n d s b eh ind Raines, while Laff ert y was fifth . S i xth we n t t o Hatc h , wh o led bri efl y but reinju r ed th e thumb he tweaked a few week s ago . Sev enth and eighth wen t to Yamaha riders Robb i e Jenks and Jim my J a r rett , with Brian Garrahan ninth and 250cc A rider Rya n Rodgers 10th. Rain es added a few m o re points to his t a ll y in his battle with Laffe rty for second in the serie s. Th e St. C l ai rsville race a ls o c o u n t e d for AM A N at io na l Hare Scramb les poi nt s , an d Ra in es was t he bi g w inn er th er e. Serie s l e ad er Fr ed Andrews w a s un a b l e t o ra c e i n O hio du e to a shou ld e r i n j u ry , wh i c h mov es Rain e s to j us t a f ew p o int s b ehind h im h ead in g into th e se ries' finale next week en d. " It 's g o n n a b e a k nock -dow n, d ra g- o ut rac e be tween us th er e ," Rain es sai d. Apparentl y , Watts was so pump ed t o ra ce i n Oh io that he couldn 't wait fo r th e GN C C de ad eng ine start. He lit his KTM 200 a tad early, which led Smith , who was li ned up next to him, to sta rt hi s b ike, too . Th en Rain es and Hatch rea cted by ac t ually tak in g o f f, g ett ing a huge j um p o n the field . "I was in the wrong ," Rain es said . "You 're so te nsed th ere that even the sligh te st th in g mak es yo u j ump. I h ea rd Shane start it , an d y o u start co mmitting. So the n Steve and I both came off , and th ey re d-flagg ed it . Th e good thing was, we all talk ed to

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