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/128316
I sa id don't even think about Florida . But it healed up qu ick . They were really surprised. So I worked really hard to get some strength and mobility bac k. Now it doesn't even hurt when I ride." The only hurt Raines knows now is the hurting he is putting on the competition . And since inco nsist e ncy as already plagued mo st of t he ride rs in t he series , the Was hington-based rider is just 13 point s away om t he points lead, despite his ro und-one DN F. Raines ' wi n le d the way to a day for t he underdogs. e Gene ra l hosted a phenomenal battle for second and ir d, Five-t ime GNCC C hampion Scott Summers an d R Yamaha rider Robbie Jen ks charged o nto the final strack se ction ba ttl ing w heel-to -whe el. Afte r se ve ral passes, th e y co llided in the last turn. Je nks crashe d, and Summers claimed a wildly popular second place, his first podium finish ince 1999. " I've never been excited about just get ting o n the podium before, but this is a real ersonal victory: ' the Unlimited/Mooseed Summers said. been thro ugh a lot the last four years, hd I'm happy to reward all the com panies who had faith in me to ge t back up here." Summers is making a comebac k to fu lltime racing thi s season, but medio c re results at the first two rou nds rais e d som e doubts ab out his potential. His secondplace finish at The Ge nera l, how ever, should eras e those doubts. Jenks , co lle cted his first podium since Florida last year, but he would have been happier with second. "I passed Scott a few miles from the finish, but I made a m istake and went wide in a turn, and he got back by me:' said Jenks, who went down in a last-ditch effort to get past Summers in th e final turn . " I was pretty bummed about that . He rubbed me a little b it last week, so I w as thin king ma ybe I could pay him back a little b it th is week. I wasn't trying to hu rt a nyone or anything , bu t I thought I could st ick it on the inside. I d idn 't make it." Fourth place was anothe r su rprise. Doug Blackwell, FMF Suzuki's newest additio n, rode w ell all day to collect the spot, and he felt he had the speed to do even better. '" had second in me to day," said the West Virg inian . " I don't know if I could have caught Jason , but I felt so Briefly... The Genera l GNC C, which was co-sanctioned by SE&TRA, hosted a record t urnout of 1486 riders. The race took place at the expansive Aonia Pass Motocross facility. Run by Pe rry Gunthe r, Aonia featu res both a motoc ross track and a smaller, supercross-style track, and both were incorpora ted into the GNCC layout. "The whole package is coming together for me now," fourth-place finisher Doug Blackwell said . "The bike, the tires , the suspens ion, the team. It's so much better riding for this team." Blackwell had been privateering it for a few years , but he's very happy w ith his new setup with FMF Suzuki. A strong charge from behind put Blackwell in conten tion for a pod ium in Georgia. but he lost the pin out of his rear brake caliper halfway through the race. · Usually you would lose time in the tight stuff without a rear brake, but I had mo re problems in the open sections. I definitely lea rned how hard you can ride the front brake." Several of the ex -mo tocrossers on the to ur expected to do well on the moto sect ions, but Jason Raines, who has never raced motocro ss, looked the best on the jumps. Rai nes was eve n w hipping his bike over jumps like a supercr osser. "I watch a lot of supercr oss on Tv." Raines said. "I was trying to get my front e nd real low like James Stewart does . At least it loo ks cool. I love having a motocross track. It's a nice re lief from having to pound woods all the time." After a hard run of mud races last season . this yea r's GNCC tour has enjoyed good w ea t he r at all three rounds. Last year 's soft, rutted conditions in Geo rgia we re replaced w ith a fast, whooped-out, high-speed layout that most of the ride rs raved about. Scott Sum mers has been work ing hard to dial in his CRF450R for offroad competition. and he's obvious- ly gettin g closer to the mark . "This big Honda worked w ell for me today," Summers said. " I felt like I cou ld lug it a gea r taller than everyone else , and that made it a lot eas ier to ride over the tree roots. I'm work ing on saving energy right now because I stilldon't feel like I'm in the kind of shape I need to be in to win these races. But I love be ing back out here and racing with these guys again." Tennesee 's P.A. Allen too k to p amateur honors by finishing 14th overall on his Sarge 's Cycles Kawasaki Tea m Gree n ride. He also topped the 250cc A class. The Gene ral kicked off the GNCC Y outh Ser ies for 2004 , and Kawasaki rider N athan Sav ing took the Youth overall win ove r Ann-Pro Morgantown Y amaha's Thad DuV and KTM's Corey Butall trick. Suzuki's Mike Kiedrowski made a charge early in the race and got into the lead. but lappe d riders impe ded his progress. From there he he ld his ground and even loo ked like a podium contender, but a crash in the final mile dropped him to fifth place. Throttlehead .com/Kawasaki Team Gree n's Steve Hatch got hammered on the rough Geo rgia track , and a severe case of blisters proved that . He battled with Fred Andrews most of the day and too k seventh. www.cyclenews.com CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 2.4, 200.4 Sl