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m Own y Race ® Barry Hawk 6th ®® Scott Su m m ers DNF ®77® 8th Th e new series champ led m uch of the first half of the race. "I went into one of those val leys with all these rocks at the bottom," Hawk said. "Somethi ng grabbed my front end, and th is has never happened to m e before, but the whole bike fli pped , and the Bark Buster came down right on my fool My foot was caught between a rock and the bike ." In pain, Hawk was unable to mou nt a charge after the crash. "My gloves, m y goggles, every thing was just co vered with m ud. I don't kno w what the deal is; I was j ust getti ng slower and slower out there. It must have been a bad crash.' The former GNCC cham p has been gett ing stea dil y better on the CRF450R . "I really enjo yed m ysetf," Summers said. -I felt like I was a fact or for the first tim e since I've come back. We're getting closer on the setup of this bike, and I think once we get it. I can be even closer to the front. Mostly, we're using less com pression on the shock , but I think my rebound was a little stiff. It was costi ng me too much energy to go that fast." Summers crossed the finis h in fourth place . but he was disq uali fied for refueli ng outside the designated pit area. "My dad is doing my pitting, and we haven't done this in a few years. He honestly didn't know. But what's cool is - I don't care. I'm raci ng for myself now, and I do it because I love the gam e. So it doesn't matter what my result is now. To be able to come back from the injuries I had a few years ago and then run with these guys. I was the happiest man in the woods tod ay." It wa s th at ki n d o f r ace . Sev e ral rid e rs ran up front and sho w ed t h e potential to wi n, but o nly o ne , Smith , st uck! I en de d up flying over the han - ; d le ba rs, up sid e down. I was thinking , ' M an , th at's m y tea m m ate!'" was ab le to rid e w ell consiste nt ly fo r W hi le Ra ines was busy ext r ic ati ng th re e h ou rs. An d t ha t's ex a c tly w h y h e h as spo rt ed t he number-o ne p lat e h im se lf o u t o f t he m u d h o l e , H aw k took over the le ad ah ead o f a c harg- fo ur ti mes . After a tough ye a r, Smith in g Lafferty . Ha w k loo ke d st rong, as officia lly closes out t he 2003 seaso n in six th p lac e . The only re a l question le ft to be answered at th e fina le wa s the b attl e us ual, but L afferty st ill m ana g ed t o r:!ass him w h en he stopped fo r gas. Haw k , howe ver, d idn't re alize it. "I d id n ' t notice him g o by while , for second on the season , w h ich ulti - w as in th e pits," sa id th e new cham- mate l y w ent to Ra ines. Only a few points en d ed u p se p arati n g h im a n d L a ff e r t y, wh o f in ish ed third for t he pion . " So I'm o ut there charging , and th en I g et th e pit board saying 'catch him.' But I was st ill thinking , was in second -stra ight year. When the g reen flag wa ved fo r th e t he l ea d. It sou nds stup id, b ut t h at final ra c e of th e year, Raines g rabb ed re ally c o nfuse d m e . and I made a fe w mistakes after that. " a hug e h o le s h ot o n his YZ250 . F M F/S u zu ki's M ike K iedrow sk i w as the a gg re ssive ta nde m of S u m me rs t here wi t h him, bu t he wash ed out a n d c r a shed a few t urns la t e r , just li ke h e did at last yea r's race. Raines soon had a ru n n ing pa rtner i n t eamm at e H a wk , and t he d u o push ed hard ea r ly while t ryi ng to pull away. Summers "and S mith were way ba c k afte r ter ribl e sta rts . GNC C s h ave a way of equal izi ng t h e f iel d , howeve r, an d Ra in es ' lead Nathan Kanney Th e RER Motorci ty rider was pu m ped with hi s biq -alr and wh eeJie techniques as he sk im med across the lronman 's nume rous water-crossings. But his result also gave him something to be exci ted about. He hung around the lead pack all day and recorded a soli d eighth. ® Robbie Jenks 4th 1] ~ Mike Kiedrowski 7th 1] § Doug Blackwell Robbie Jenks had a slow first two laps due to a bad start and some minor arm pump, but he rode strong for the rest of the day. "' was ki nd of by myself m ost of the day ," Jenks said. "I was happy with the way ' rode, though." Suzuki's Mike Kiedrow ski return to actio n after inj uring his hand a month ago in Kentucky. The retum , however, didn't go too well for the former MX cham p. He slid out just a few tums into the race and played catch-up all day. He worked his way up to seventh . 5th Doug Blackwell cont inues to improve with every race. The mud specia list rod e con sistently all day to claim a respectable top -five finish, his best of the season. The m istak es w ere enough to let a nd S m ith get to t he lead er s. " It w a s g reat to be up there, " Sum m ers said. "I felt li k e a fac to r. " Th e lo y a l GN CC fans lining th e h ill s we re pum ped , to o , as Su mmers we n t to wo rk o n Lafferty , Bu t he d ecided to ba ck o ff j us t a bit to c o nserve ene rgy for th e final laps . S mith , m ean w hil e , w as really start- e n de d w h en he picke d a b a d li n e ferty to o k an extra g as stop . Summers h ad a b ig slide o u t in a lect his second wi n o f th e season . eN Klotz lronman GNCC Crawfordsville, Indiana Results: October 19, Z003 I Round 13 of 131 0 / A : 1. Rodn ey Sm ith (Suz) ; 2. Mich ael Laffert y (K TM): 3 . Jason Raines (Y a m) ; 4 . Robbie J en ks (Ya m ) ; 5 . D ou g B lackw ell (Ho n ): 6 . Ba r ry Haw k (Yam); 7. Mik e K iedrow ski (Suz); 8 . Nath an Kan ney (Yam); 9 . Jim Ja rrett (Yam): 10 . Ryan Rodgers (Yam) . ing to fl o w , and h e m o ved all the way in to t he n umb er -one spot when Laf- through a m ud hole . " O f a ll p eople , m y [inju red ] team - AMA /GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES FINAL POINTS STANDINGS ( After 13 01 13 r ound s ) : 1. Barry Ha wk Jr. (303 /5 w in s) ; 2 . Jason Raines (252/1 wi n) ; 3 . Mic hllelLafferty (235/1 win) ; 4. (T IE) Fred An drews (1 75/1 wi n ) / Robbi e Jenks ( 175): 6. Rodney Smith ( 159/2 wins); 7. (TI E) Rand y H awk in s / St e v e H a t ch ( 152) ; 9 . Do u g B l a c kw ell ( 103 ) ; 10. ( T IE) J im J a rr ell /Mik e Ki edrow ski (94) ; 12 . Ch uck Woo dfo rd (85/2 wi ns); 13 . Ryan Rodgers (80); 14. Josh McLevy (75 ); 15. Nathan K ann ey (60 ); 16 . Scott Sum me rs (53 ); 17. Bri an Gar raha n (50 ); 18 . Shane Walts (4 5/1 win) ; 19. P.A . Allen (43 ); 20. Brett Zofc hek (39). ol d champ put together a nearly fla w les s last lap to ex ten d his lead a nd col - mate Rand y H awk i n s was o ut t he re h i gh - sp e ed fiel d tel ling m e w h ich line to t ake thro ug h a mu d hole , " Ra ines said . " l went knocked him further bac k . and Hawk section. wh i c h crashed rea lly ha rd , as well . This left th ro u gh t h er e , and the fron t end Lafferty and Sm ith to battl e , bu t the BRIEFLy•••• Injurie s were the story of the weekend at the lron man, as a bunch of contenders we re unable t o suit up to race. After winning the previous GNCC , Shane Watts separated his shoulder at a hare scramble and was unable to ride. Team Green Kawasaki's Chuck Woodford is still mending from a broken wrist. and Fred Andrews just discovered he has a broken scapula. Broken thumb injuries got the better of Suzuki's Steve Hatch and Yamaha's Randy Hawkins. Both riders injured their thumbs at the previous race in St. Clairsville, Ohio. Fred Andrews' lingering shoulder in j ury not only prevented him from riding today, but it also prevented him from competing in the final round of the AMA Hare Scrambles the previous weekend , wh ich ended his chance of keeping his number-one plate . That ins tead went to Yamaha 's Jason Raines . The injury also prevent s Andrews from competing on the U.S. Trophy Team for the upcoming ISDE in Brazil, His position will now be filled by new GNCC champ Barry Hawk, who was already set to go on a U.S. Club team. Robbie Jenks rode consistently all yea r , f in ishing out the season tied with Fred Andrews f or fourth. GNCC Racing and off-road fans bid A m erica ' s Team a hearty farewell during the Ironman GNCC weekend. The U.S. World Trophy team will travel to Brazil in a few days. Parts Unlimited and ITP Tires hosted a huge send-off dinner on Saturday night. Besides food and live bands, Parts Unlimited's Rob Buydos organized a minibike race under the lights, and there was even a mechanical bull on hand for the racers to challenge . M ike Kiedrowski"s mec hanic S han e N a lley. wh o used to co mpete and dominate the morning amateu r race s , decided to take this year off in order to concentrate full time on maintai ning the FMF/ Suzuki team's new semi. At the lronman, however, Nalley got back into race mode and competed in the Industry class on the new Suzuki RM·Z250 four-stroke. Just like he has done in the past, Nalley won. Racer Productions announced the 2004 GNCC schedule will kick off with an all-new event in Tex as on February t , Seals Communications announced the 2003 GNCC TV schedule on Speed Channel. All 13 race s from this seaso n w ill have one-hour shows on Sundays at 4 p.m. Back -to -beck episodes mean two full hours of racing every weekend. The shows begin airing Sunday, December 14th. cue I e n e vv So O C TO B ER 29 , 2003 31