Briefly...
The Yadkln Valley Stomp was an all-new
event. The property used is owned by the
Welborn family, whose son Marc is a big
GNCC fan and often helps the sweep crew
at the races. The Yadkin Valley is quickly
growing into a renowned wine community,
so the race was called the Stomp to reflect
the practice of stomping on grapes to create wine. As for the track, a lack of rain led
the GNCC track crew, headed by Jeff Russell and Buren Hamrik, to use some tighter
trail to keep speeds down.
There were two special parts of the track.
One was a super-deep water hole where
the riders actually had to ride through a tunnel and climb a muddy, slippery bank.
GNCC officials had a tractor hooked up to a
hay wagon so fans could get shuttled to the
section. But the most unique feature was
the old house the riders actually rode
through. Upwards of a thousand spectators
jammed the place, sitting on the kitchen
counter and on old couches while the riders
snaked through the doorways. "The house
was cool; it was a nice way to break it up,"
said Mike Lafferty. The riders had to slow
down so much to negotiate that section that
Barry Hawk's wife, Kristen, was able to
nearly stop him every lap. "She would grab
me and just cheer every time I went by, but
I don't think she realized she almost pulled
me off of my bike!" said Hawk.
Once again, the race was taped for an airing
on the Outdoor Life Network, like all the
Suzuki GNCC rounds. The series returns
to TV on October 18, and the full schedule
is available at gnccracing.com
If Juha Salminen couldn't make three laps
without running out of gas, why didn't he
stop after cwo? "We will now, especially if
we have the one-minut.e lead," he
explained. "I don't know what is wrong. I
never use the high rpms."
Shane Watts had a busy summer with the
birth of Eden Victoria Watts, the first child
of Watts and his wife, Carrie. But Watts has
decided to corne back to racing full-on in
2006 and is entertaining offers from any and
all sponsors.
It was a tough day for the FMFfThrottlehead.com/Kawasaki team:Josh McLevy
was hoping to capitalize on his runner-up
finish at the Wisp, but he crashed hard and
dropped out. Cole Calkins is still recovering
from a wrist injury and was unable to com·
plete all six laps, and Steve Hatch, in a real
heartbreaker, ran out of gas on the last lap
while battling for fifth.
CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 2B, 2005
33
