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/128381
en you're a champion, you're used to winning, and if you're not winning, you try to figure out why which pretty much explains why Barry Hawk showed up for the DP Brakes Coal Miner Grand Prix, the third round of the Parts Unlimited Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals. Before the race, the Team Am-Pro Yamaha/FMF/MSR YZ2S0 racer had only won two races this season, so he decided to ride the OMA looking for answers. Hawk, as well as a few other GNCC contenders, used what would have been an off weekend to brush up on his racing skills. And when the two-hour contest was over, he and the other GNCC regulars had done pretty well. Hawk won by more than 40 seconds over defending OMA Series champ Jimmy Jarrett, who had just three seconds on GNCC riders Doug Blackwell, Charles Mullins and Brian Garrahan. "I felt good," Hawk said. "We made some changes from the Ohio [GNCC] race last week to this week - actually made some pretty drastic changes suspensionwise to my bike just to try. We came out here, and it works pretty well; it seems like I can be a little more aggressive now, like I need to be." Off the start, M2R/Maxxis/SCR RM2S0mounted Blackwell snared the holeshot and the $200 that goes with it, followed closely by Mullins, though the 19-year-old teammate of Hawk's offered a slightly different view. "Off the start, I was the first one to the corner, but Blackwell - he pushed me out. As we came out of the corner, I guess I hit some grass and about highsided and about went 54 JUNE 8, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS down. Everybody got around me, and I was last going into the woods. The track was tight and it was hard to pass, so , knew I had my work cut out." In the meantime, KTMHutt.com/Fun Mart Cycle/Moose 200 EXC-mounted Watts slipped by them all to lead the first lap with Hawk a few seconds back. Rent Ionline/NorCal Motorsports/Moosesponsored Brian Garrahan and Jarrett dueled for third on their RM2S0s, and Justin Williamson held a solid fifth on his Maxxis/Morgantown Yamaha/THORbacked YZ2S0. But Watts would not stay up front for long. "I was leading, but then I tagged a lapper and went upside down in a gully there for a bit," Watts said. '" was only 20 seconds behind or something like that once we got going. Those guys were just going faster - simple as that." When Watts fell, Jarrett, on the Andrews Cycles/Kenda/Moose Suzuki, slipped into the lead for a while, with Hawk right on his fender. By the third lap, Hawk had the lead and proceeded to ride away with the win. "Shane [Watts] and Jimmy Uarrett] and those guys were right there the first couple laps," Hawk said. "Then it seemed like I got through a bottleneck or something. I don't know what happened, but it seemed like I got through better than those guys. Once that happened, I got the pit board and I had like a 20second lead, and I just kept it hammered from that point on to the finish to see how much I could pull away. He said at one point I had almost a minute and a half." Jarrett tried earnestly to keep Hawk in sight, but he had a few problems. For one