Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

But Smith was ab le to ho ld onto second , which was big since his series rival Jaso n Raines struggled m ightily and recorded a su b -par seventh-place finish. " I'm just th inking a bo ut the cham pionship at th is po int ," Sm ith said . "Jason , I don't know what ha ppened to him, but he's a good racer and a nythi ng ca n happe n. T he way things have be e n goi ng w ith us all yea r, I didn't th ink I'd ge t into this position wit h a 24 -point le ad." Sm ith nearly lo st th e se co nd spo t o n th e last lap . T he 40 -ye ar-old fou r-time cham p was cruising home whe n a fier ce battle fo r the fina l po d iu m spot broke o ut be twe e n two underdogs , Australian factory Yamaha rider Gle nn Kearney and Throttlehead.com Kawasaki' s Josh McLevy. Kearney was racing t he GN CC as an audi tion to possibly ge t a ride in the State s next season, and he turned a lo t o f heads in West Virg inia . After a m idpack start, Kearney battled with Hawk and Smith early, and he even hel d the lead briefly Most international riders who come to the GNC C Series show plenty of speed but not enough endurance in the three -ho ur GNCC format, and Ke arn ey, e xpecting to wear down late, tried to sprint away and build a gap early. "I was following Ba rry and Rod ney for a while: ' said Kearney, w ho came st ra ight to t he State s after racing the ISDE in Po land . "I dec ide d to pass the m and push as hard as I could to pull a gap because I knew that I did n't have the fitness to last t he whole race strong. That didn't work, though, as after IS minutes of rid ing as hard as I could, I loo ke d behind me a nd there they were!" " I didn't know how my wrist was going to feel early o n, but I got the ho leshot and decided to just run a smooth steady pace:' Haw k said . " I didn't have mu ch pa in. I was e xpecting Jaso n and Rod ney, the guys that go fast ea rly, to come up o n me . Glenn e nded up passing me, and I passe d him back. No one wa s really pressing me. I think on the seco nd lap , I ma de a m istake on a rocky uphi ll, then Rodney and Glenn got by. The n Rodney made a m istake and G lenn got by him . You could tell when Glenn got the lead that he picked up the pace. He tried to pull away, but we stuck w ith him. " Kearney then made a m ista ke o f his own on what m ight have been the toughest section of the 12-m ile track: There was a mudhole, which was followed by a set of big boulders, and, w ith muddy bikes dragging slop on top o f them, the rocks became incre dibly slippery. "T ho se moon ro cks were to ugh: ' Smith said . " I got stuck in that se ctio n." "Rod ne y made a mistake: ' Hawk said . " Luckily I had fo ur or five of my frie nd s down t here pointing o ut the good lines. Ro d ne y had his pe op le down the re too, but I got th e bet te r line . I go t the le ad again and that's w hen I t ried to brea k away. I pushed as ha rd as I could fro m that po int all the wa y to the finish o f th at lap. T hen I ke pt pu lling away fro m th e re ." Afte r that , the battle for the le ad was over, as Hawk open ed up ne arly a three-minute cu sh ion at t he finish. Sm ith , mean while , was content to ho ld second. "The y to ld me Jason was in 12th at one point, so I knew I co uld take second: ' Smith said . "But those last three laps , my head was just bo bbing . I was so tired." As a re su lt, Sm ith nearly go t swallowed up by the Kearney/McLevy battle fo r third. McLevy rode calm th e en tire race and then turned it up when the wh ite nag came out. He passed Kearney for th ird bu t then made a mistake on a hilldimb and gave th e s pot back. T hat se t up a wild scene t hro ugh that last se ctio n of mud and rocks, as Ke a rn e y, within sight o f Sm ith, fell and www.cy ciene W 5 .c o m I Briefly... . ' The Good Evening Ranch hosted the Mountainee r GNCC, and the facility had a lot to offer besides racing. The Ranch has an exotic animal farm, a golf course, a restaurant and cabins. They even hosted a rock concert on Satu rday night to keep the cam pers entertained. Nearby Summe rsville is home to a lot of white-water rafting, so, much like the Wisp GNCC in Maryland, the re was plenty to do even off the race track . The course used a combination of wooded trails, logging roads and the Good Evening Ranch motocross trac k, which opened in the spring. Accord ing to Racer Productions course designer [eff Russell, the super-steep terrain of West Virginia meant loggingroads had to be used. "Some of the terrain was just too steep to use for trai ls." Russell said. "We 're talking straight up and down." Barry Hawk came close to no t even making the race due to a wrist injury he suffered early in the week. "O n Tuesday I crashed at home, tweaked my wrist pretty good ," Hawk said. "I rode Wedne sday and Thursday, and on Friday morning, I wou ld have bet anything I owned that it was broken . But I had it X-rayed and they said it wasn't . Basically, on Friday I knew I wasn't racing on Sunday. But once he told me it w asn't broke n, then the racer took over and I was planning on racing!" It's been a long, hard road to the front for Throttl ehead.co rn Kawasaki's lash MeLevy , who spe nt years toilingas a privatee r, usually \JO show ing great speed bursts but rarely finishing up front. During the off-season, McLevy nearly retired to become a motocross mechanic, but now he's getting resu lts. "It was nice to see [osh do it," said Steve Hatc h, the founding mem ber of the team . "He had to battle back from injuries, wh ich is tough to do . He put it all together today. We knew he had the potential." McLevy rode calm. and that made a difference. "Slow down to go faster," the Connecticut said rider. Barry Hawk mentioned that he, Randy Hawkins and Jason Raines have already begun riding and test ing the ir 2005 alu m inum -framed Yzs , and they 're good bikes, they said. "Stock versus stock, it's better than last year's," Hawk said. "The fork is really good . If I can get it all set up, I may race it before the year is over just to get a head start on 2005." Pod ium finisher Glenn Ke a r n ey had quite a trip to the race, heading strai ght over fro m Poland and the ISDE to Randy Haw kins' ranch. where he started pr e paring for t he GNC C. " I want to thank Randy for giving me the bike to borro w: ' said Kearne y. Another Australian, Shane Watts, missed the race. Walts had art hroscopic surge ry on his knee and found out he has torn his AC L for a fifth time and has done major damage to the joint. The 2000 GNCC Champ is heading back to Austra lia to re -evaluate his racing career, and there are many that believe the charismatic Au ssie w ill not re turn to the track. FMF Suzuki veteran Fred And re ws put in a great ride for sixth since he is just re moved from a tough bout with shingles. "I've heard tt's brough t on by stress, but I got it while I was on vacation in the Bahamas and Las Vegas, so I guess not : ' Fast Freddy said. "Then I tried [riding) and it only made things wo rse. So alii could do was sit on the couch. That made it hard to get back going again once it we nt away." Two Mikes were missing from the Pro field: Mike Kiedrowsk i and Mike Lafferty. The MX Kied crashed very hard into a tree at the last GN CC in Kentucky and is st ill struggling with injured ribs, while lafferty is going to r e-evaluate his conditioning . Since ret urning from ACL surgery a few months ago, Lafferty has struggled in the GNCCs. CYCLE NEWS • OO OBER 13,2004 SS

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