Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128238
AMAIG rand Nat ional C r o s s Cou n t ry Serie s F in al R o u n d : K lot z Ironman GNCC After a disappointing year, Rodney Sm ith finished out the 2 0 0 3 GN CC Se ries w ith a win in Indiana. so I' ve bee n do ing it here fo r a lon g tim e . Th e li nes an d t he rut s re a lly develo ped as the day we nt on , but no m atter w hat, all th e mud holes were sti ll pas sab le. · S T O RY AN D P HOTO S BY J A SON W EI GA N DT CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN, OCTOBER 19 t 39 years of age, Rodney Sm ith c an st ill teach th e "ki ds" a lesson or tw o. After a tho ro ug hly fru str at ing yea r tha t saw Smith fi nish more races o n th e si deli ne s t ha n h e ' d care t o r em emb er , t he four -tim e GNCC c ham p at l ea st ca pped off the ye ar wi th a po p ula r win at the K lot z Iron M an GNCC in Indiana . Sm ith , who officiall y lost this year 's title to Ba rry Haw k two rounds ago , m ight be on e of the veterans o n th e GNCC circui t , b ut h e still has a n iron w ill t o win , which certa in ly sh o wed th r oug h on this ve ry demanding race course . It seems whenev er it gets tough , Smith ge ts going , as he proved it today fo r his fourth Iron Man victo ry . "T his is alwa ys a dem an ding tr ack , w eath er it i s dry o r mudd y ," said Smith, on e of th e m ost suc ce ssful off ro ad rac ers in America . "T his is one of the first GNCC s I have ever won. A With the series crow n already decid ed , Jaso n Raines (5) had se cond pla ce on his mind. A third-place finish in Indiana gave Rai nes runner-up honors f or the year. 30 OCTOBER 29 , 2003· IE: U IE: I e n e vv s Two rac ers whom you c an expect t o be runnin g up fr on t f o r ye a rs t o co m e , Mik e L a f f e r t y and J ason Raines , too k seco nd a nd t h i r d , respect ively. Lafferty lo oked to have the st uff to wi n t o d ay , but th e w ily ve te ra n , Smith , outfoxed th e KTM rider down the str etch . " O n the second -to-lest lap, Rod ne y and I ha d a pretty good pa c e goi ng," th e six-time AMA N ati on a l En duro Ch ampion said. "I wan ted to sta y close and maybe get a pass or som ethi ng going, but I ended up getting stuck in a rut and losing some time. I' m happy with second. I wanted to w in t o d ay really b adl y , and I tr ied rea lly har d , bu t I still feel good.· Rain e s a lso f el t g o od , a s h e g ra bbed th e ea rl y le ad and set th e p ac e. But a fe w big cra shes in the mud holes put him too far back to gra b a win . Fourth would have gone to Honda rider Scott Summers, but he was dis qualified for un knowingly refueling outsid e of th e d esigna,ted pit area . Summers, who now runs his own race program, said that he simply wasn 't familiar with th e ~ew refueling restric- / tions . But Summers, a veteran hi m . ' self, clea rly rod e well at th e Ironman , impressing his lon g -time competitor Smith. " Sc ott Summers was definitely rid ing well ," Smith sai d. " In fact, at one po int h e w as the most a g g r essive rid er in the woods , and I just tried to fo llow him. He reall y helped push m e and get m e towa rds the front." SCR Yamaha's Robbie Jenks rode a lon ely rac e aft er a slow start, but he worked h is way up to fo u rth p lace, offic ially , t hanks to Summers ' d is qualific ation. Fifth went to Hawk, th e new cham p , who c ras hed hard while ba tt li n g La f f e r t y f or t he l e a d a nd limped ho m e wi th a sore foot.