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/128334
t h his chances at the 2004 AMA Grand National Cross Country title slipping from his grasp , Am Pro Yamaha 's Jason Raines needed some help to g et back into the race with series leader FMF/Suzuk i's Rodney Smith . The GNCC series about to head into its summer break, and w ith Raines and Smith trading wins every weekend, time was runn ing out for Raines to chop big points off of Smith 's series lead and put himself in good position to win his first championship. At the Wiseco John Penton GNCC, round 10 of the series, Raines did what he needed to do - he helped himself by scoring a dominant win , something the GNCC series hasn't seen since last year. Then he got help through a strong GNCC debut performance by nine-time World Enduro Champion Juha Salminen. The fast Finnish rider will race GNCC full-time for KTM in 200S, but he proved himself in a one-off ride here by crossing the line in second, bumping Smith back to third. Salminen was impressive , but it was clearly Raines' day. "Every year I have one race like this where I just can't do anything wrong," Raines said. "I can't even figure it out. I come into every race with the same men tal outlook, and today I felt like I was just riding like I normally do. But each lap the lead would get bigger and bigger." How big? Raines won the race by four minutes, which is simply amazing when you consider that just about every other GNCC this season has been decided by about four seconds. The only rider to put any sort of challenge to Raines was Salminen , who is well-schooled in going fast early due to his European enduro experience . Often European riders struggle late in the race due to fatigue and d ifficulty with lapped riders, but Salminen even surprised himself, "This was a very big surprise for me," Salminen said. '" didn't care about Jason; I just tried to ride my own speed. , did get tired; this was the first time I rode three hours . I'm very happy. I didn't have much trouble with the slower riders . In Europe we will race through other classes, so we have to pass slower riders." Unfortunately for Salminen, his inexperience in the GNCC format showed in another facet of the game. While putting in his laps on the Sunday Creek Raceway motocross facility, he followed a bad line and ended up r iding around a section of jumps. GNCC officials saw him miss the jumps and had no choice but to penalize Salminen a position for the infraction. It was simply the result of Salimen's inexperience with the GNCC format, and not an actual intent to cheat, but regardless of where he finished, he served notice that he will be an absolute top contender for W