Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I The Pro race gets under w a y, w it h Josh McLevy (711) ge"ing the holeshot ahead of Steve Hatch (7) and the rest of the field . Briefly•.. The Power Line Park facility offers ATY, bike and truck trails, and the GNCC cou rse offered a mix of both, with tight, technical sections mixed with wider spots for passing. But the fans we re drawn to the mud holes, which offered awesome action, from C-c1ass riders struggling in the morn ing, to the Pro' passing back and fort h. The worst victim of the mud: Team Green's P.A. Allen, who wo n this year's GNCC 250cc A title and decided to move up to Pro. Allen stuck his KX250 so dee p into a bog that he had to just leave it until the race was over. Yes, Jason Raines is hurt. The Y amaha ride r finallydecided to come clean and admit he cracked his shoulder socket . Ther e's not much pain there, but Raines said the shoulder could get stuck in a groove and lock up. "Then it's like deer in the headlights while you wait for it to come back out," Raine' said. He injured the shoulde r while out trail riding just a few days afte r dom inating the Wiseco John Penton GNC C in Oh io. He w ill have surge ry as soon as the season ends . Fresh off a victory a t the last National Hare Scrambles event, Doug Blackwell was able to ride another excellent race to come across the finish second overall. I finally have that. I'm back." ':All year lo ng I've been struggl ing," said Woodford, w ho lives only 10 min utes from Powe r Line Park . "I've been trying some different things. I did n't get ex cited today because the way my luck is going, I knew something could happen until I saw that c heckered flag. I've been up there before, but it seems like stu pid th ings ha ppen an d 1 crash or something. But today I just stayed ca lm and in my comfort zone. 1 didn' t have to bang bars all day. I just followed guys, and when they made a mistake I went around them." Woodfo rd was able to go around people because the racing was so t ight. For about two ho urs of the three -ho ur ra ce , the top Pros circulated around the I 1m ile track in a tigh t freight train, and the action was inte nse . Throttlehead.com Kawasaki teammates Josh Mc Levy and Steve Hatch nailed the start o n t heir KX2S0s , a nd Smith got a good get away as well on his Suzuki. But Hawk was the o ne who go t a bad start. " I was riding t he '05, and I'll admit it AMAEnduro kingMike Laffe rty was back, and this time on a 450cc thumper. "We tried the two-stroke for a little while, but we just decided not to fixwhat isn't broken," the New Jersey rider said. Lafferty had collected several podium finishes and wins on the thumper before switchingto the two -stroke late last season. Lafferty rode in the lead pack allday but didn't get the breaks he needed for a podium. He ended up ninth. Barry Hawk and Ran Hawkins deb uted dy the 2005 Ya maha YZ250, and they enjoyed the way the aluminum-framed machine handled. "We're just getting a head start on next year," Hawkins said. Unfortu nate ly, Haw kins' development ride wo uld end early when he tweaked his wrist . With a National Enduro Title on the line in two weeks , Hawkins decided to call it a day. "Be careful and don't get hurt ," Rod ney Smith said about his plans for the next two weeks . Smith needs to finish IBth or better at the season-finale Ironman GNCC ifJason Raines wins there. < IfRaines doesn 't Win, Smith will win the title). "It's funny. last Thursday I was thinking of going riding, and I decided it might not be smart ," Smith said. "So I'll ride the bike a little bit and cruise around this week. But I'll be care ful." Glenn Kearney's two-race a uditi on for a GNCC ride in 2005 may have worked . "I hope so; I had a couple of offers coming up now," said Keamey, a factory Yamaha rider in Australia. "I hope I proved I held the pace this time. When I lost my brakes, at that point I didn't feel tired . last week I was dead. So, I don't know; I think I was more relaxed." CYCLE NEWS • OCTOBER 27, 2004 33

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