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/128355
AMA National Hare Scrambles Champion Jason Raines JASON RAINES HAS TWO HARE SCRAMBLES TITLES, BUT IT'S THE GNCC CHAMPIONSHIP HE REALLY WANTS - AND HE CAME OH-SO CLOSE TO GETTING IT IN '04 By J ASON WE IGANDT P HOTOS BY RAYMOND GUNDY O U cou ld say it was a bitt ersw eet year for Jaso n Raines: sweet in that he succes sfully defended his number-one plate in the AMA National Ch ampio nship Hare Scrambles Series, and bitt er in that - for the secon d year in a row - an injury thwarted his chances of his fi rst Grand National Cross Co untry title. For 26-year-o ld Raines, the GNCC title is the one he wa nts most, and he's certainly come close of see ing his dre am come tru e . But a broken leg in '03 and a broken sho ulder in '04 have been his undoing, O f the two seasons, the just-concluded GNC C ser ies has to be the most frustrating for the Am-Pro Yamaha team rider. After spending most of the '04 GNCC ser ies dicing back and fo rth with GNCC vete ran Rodney Smith for the series points lead and after sitting pretty going into the summer break, Raines saw his title run all but come to a halt w hen he hurt his shoulder in a nonracing accident. Still, Raines bit the bullet and battled thro ugh the pain w hen the GNCC res umed, but it was just too much for the yo ung rider to take. He had to, once again, watch someone else walk off with the number-one plate. Recently, Raines underwent surgery to re pair the shou lde r, and we got the chance to sit do wn with him and reflect on the 2004 season . Y So how is the shoulder do ing ? It's going great. The doctors said there was o nly a 20-percent chance of fixing it arthroscopically, but they ended up being able to do it that way, and it shou ld cut my recovery time in half. I should be riding by mid-January. r- Will that set you back for next season? Last year I trained through January, and I put a lot of press ure on myself to do well at the first race of the yea r. This year, I won 't have so much pressu re on myself. Last year, I trained so hard during the off-season that I felt like I expected to win. I was just putting too much .....;u;; d ue press ure on myself, and it was tearing me up. : n ;,; ,;; ;,;;. L------r - - - -- - - - - - - - ....--~ ........ 88 JANUARY 5 ,2005 • C YC LE N EWS You go t h urt in a t t hat first race in Texas, and then yo ur a t t it ude changed. Wh at mad e yo u m ake t hat change? When I was hurt, I was watching some of the old tapes from 2002 , when I started doing w ell. And I was ' trying to figure out what my mindset was back then. I knew something wasn't right. I think, after having a good season in '02, I expected it. I was putt ing too much pres sure on. Everyone deals w ith it differently. You know. Barry [Hawk). he can come in and say, "I didn't co me here to get second ," If I do that. I just get stressed trying to live up to it . My attitude in '02 was to just be happy as long as I worked hard and tried. It was a good learn ing experience for me . I neede d to ride less dur ing the week.