Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Cavity and many other big hills and jumps on the moto track. Meanwhile, the woods were fresh and offered classic off-road conditions. "It was rough," said Salminen, who had lost the last two rounds of the series after reeling off six wins early in the season. "I liked the track, but it was very tough. There were so many riders out there." As. pumped as the riders were to be able to race at Unadilla, there were many who were just happy to watch one of New York's finest put in the ride of his life. R.E.R. Motorcity's Nathan Kanney finally put it all together to finish a very impressive second overall, the first GNCC podium ever for the young rider from High Falls, New York. "This is only the second time in my life j've had a race this close to home," Kanney said. "It's hard going to the races completely by yourself and having to find people to pit for you and stuff. It's awesome having a thousand people in the woods who are as motivated at you are. They know that I've been busting my ass for the last six months getting ready for this race!" Kanney came from way back - 16th on the first lap - to rally all the way back to the lead, and then eventually he hung on for second. "I crashed in the second turn," he said. "Then I crashed just before I got into the woods. Then I crashed once I got into the woods. But after that, I guess I got all of my crashes out of the way, because I was smooth from there. I just rode as fast as I could all day. I even passed Juha! I passed Juha Salminen. I can't believe it." Kanney made a believer out of many. Third place went to Am Pro Yamaha's Barry Hawk, who led the very early stages of the race but found too many lappers to keep the pace. "I don't think it came down to those guys being faster or anything," said Hawk, who had won the last two GNCC rounds. "There were so many riders out there, you just couldn't go fast or get into a rhythm." Fourth place went to KTM's Robbie Jenks, who survived a torrid battle with his fellow KTM rider Mike Lafferty, who took fifth. With his win, Salminen is now on the verge of the GNCC title, but he was just happy to get the win. "When you have bad luck one time, you don't get so mad," Salminen said. "But when it happens twice, you want to come back and show everyone you can still do it." Salminen picked the best way to do it, too. Rain in the morning left the first turn a little slick, and a pile of Pro racers went down in turn one. "I had nowhere to go," said Salminen, who got stuck in the wreck, along with GNCC Champion Rodney Smith and several other contenders. "It was very hard to get past all the guys." Meanwhile, Hawk took the lead on his Am Pro Yamaha, and with Salminen and Smith in the back, he was looking to

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