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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128397
Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Series
By JASON WEIGANDT
PHOTOS BY RAy GUNDY
l ....,,_..I,
the chance to alme back strans
and'}ll'Owi is still the man in this
And Salminen appeared ready to
that once the Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC
began. He entered the woods battling
with Smith. which is what the fans wanted to see. But soon he was pulling away
while Smith tried to work to cobwebs out
of his riding. Hawk then moved into second, but by then Salminen h
pneIlli
lead, and he seems unstopp
once that hwpens.
But not this time. As the riders
emerged from the woods for the first set
of pit stops, Hawk was the new leader,
and Salminen was nowhere to be found.
His KTM was out of gas.
The KTM team started running for the
woods, hoping to find their series leader,
fearing he might have been injured. By the
time they got to him and his fellow KTM
rider Shane Watts had pulled over to give
Juha a splash of fuel, Hawk and the rest of
the pack were long gone.
Hawk was in the right place at the right
time - and was apparently quite miserly
with his fuel economy.
'''fter the start, I was on Rodney
[Smith], and I was dogging him a little bit,
and I was hoping Juha would have been
right there, but Rodney let me by and Juha
was already gone," Hawk said. "So he had
like a minute lead, and I would take some
off of it and then he would get it back.
And then, all of a sudden, I came by and
he was sitting on the side of the trail. I
thought, 'This is good for me''''
Salminen's splash from Watts got him
back to the pits, but since the KTM techs
were still out in the woods, he had to lay
his bike against the KTM semi awning and
fuel the bike himself! By then, he had fallen out ofthe top IS.
Hawk, a victim of so much bad luck
early in the year, now had things going his
way. After pushing the pace so hard to
catch Salminen, he now had a big lead on
second. And that was Smith, who was facing heavy fire from an old rival and a new
face. KTM's recently crowned 2005 AMA
National Enduro Champion Mike Lafferty
was there, but so was the super-rookie Charles Mullins.
Mullins races with Hawk on the AmPro Yamaha team. He started the year as
an amateur rider and clinched the 250cc
A title, so he moved to the Pro class here
and turned a lot of heads - including those
of Lafferty and Smith. They both saw - but
could not stop - the young rider, who
eventually passed them both and set sail
for an incredible second-place-overall finish. At one point, he was even tracking
down Hawk.
"I didn't expect it to be this good - I
don't know what to say," said Mullins. "I
was expecting to be in the front pack, but
some of those guys got away. It was a tough
race, and I was able to get around Rodney
and Lafferty, and then they told me I was in
second. I'm just trying to get experience
and go for a championship."
"I was out there cruising, and then I got
my pit board and they said Mullins had
taken, like, 20 seconds out of my lead," said
Hawk. "So I had to start charging again."
At the finish, Hawk hung on to win his
second GNCC in a row, topping Mullins
by a little over a minute. Lafferty would
take third, his first GNCC podium since
breaking his collarbone while leading a
race a few months ago. And Smith would
take fourth in his first race in nearly a year.
'" was a little mellow," said Smith
about his first race since the 2004 GNCC
finale in October. "I could have been
more aggressive. I got a little tight, too,
for maybe a half of a lap. I waved Barry
'bye. I didn't quite get into a now with
some of the tight trails."
Expect bigger and better things from
Smith soon.
Meanwhile, Lafferty was happy to get
third, and he gave Mullins credit.
"I was kind of patient today," Lafferty
said. "Charlie rode really well today. I
rode right up to him, and he wicked it up.
I had a few chances to stay with him today
and key off of him, but my hat's off to him,
he rode well."
FMF Suzuki's Glenn Kearney - who,
like his mentor and teammate Smith, was
making a comeback from a broken leg took a very impressive fifth. Sixth went to
Justin Williamson, a career best. Salminen
came in seventh, which certainly was not
his best, but as always he was laid back
about the situation.
"I need a diesel," he loked.
Eighth was 250cc A winner Jesse
Robinson, ninth was Ryan Rodgers, and
Brian Garrahan rounded out the top 10.
next year
GNCe
IYADKlNVIW, NC
REsuLJs: SEPTIMUR 11, 2005 (ROUND 10)
YADKIN VAWT STOMP
OVERALL: I. Barry Hawk Jr. (Yam): 2. Charles Mumns
(Yam): 3. M;chael LalIerty (KTM): i. Rodney S....h (Suz): S.
Glenn Kearney (Suz): 6. Justin WoH-.on (Yam): 7. Juha
Salminen (KTM): 8. Jesse Rob;nson (Kaw): 9. Ryan Ro