check out. But company came soon from
his rookie teammate Charlie Mullins and
AHA National Enduro Champion lafferty.
lafferty took the lead but then crashed,
leaving Mullins and Hawk to battle for the
lead. Remarkably, though, when they finished the first lap, Salminen was already
within striking distance.
From there, Salminen systematically
worked his way into the lead. But Mullins
wasn't done with him, and he actually
passed Salminen back. The 19-year-old
was on a rail until he lost his rear brakes.
Time spent in the pits dropped him to
ninth overall at the end of the day.
Then it was Kanney on the move, coming from nowhere to take the lead, while
Hawk stayed in the game as well, pushing
his pit stop all the way back to lap four,
while Salminen and Kanney pitted on lap
three. Kanney and Hawk led for about half
a lap before Salminen came back to take
the lead again. Hawk had to pit and wasn't
quite able to get close to the leaders again.
Salminen needs only a 15th-place finish
at the next GNCC in St. Clairsville, Ohio,
to clinch the 2005 Championship.
eN
UNADILLA VALLEY 5PORTS CENTER
NEW BERUN, NEW YORK
RESULTS: SEPTEMBER 25, 2005
(ROUND 11 OF 13)
Briefly•••
OVERAll; I. Juha Salminen (KTM); 2. Nathan Kanney
(Yam); 3. ilMry Hawk J' (Yam); 4. Robbie jen'" (KTM); 5.
MKhael Lafferty (KTM); 6. IlOOney Sm;th (Suz); 7. Shane
Watts (KTM); 8. Glenn Kearney (5-.0 ass sections and the wide-open stull
It was fun. I would like to do more and see if I
cOOd do better, but I don't know. I bet you I
toUld race tt- for two ~ and SIll not know enough to win."
689
Bobby Kiniry
Bobby KInIry, another Pro mococrosser;
this one from
New York,
pve GNCC ~ a co· Klr*y cot CIIl&f1t
In the flnt-wm pIeup with SamInen and
SmIth, and It took 11m a IontI time to get
his CRF250 staned. "Y.... I was battIin&
with the guys In the next dass," KinIry
said. "My only awl was to finish, that's It.
just finish. It was a lot or fun. Some or the
sections wwe pretty touah."
SIcaI---'
17th
lighting up the 2SOcc A class this
year, MuOins finished an impressive
-.m over.dI racing Pro In North
Carolina two weeks 11IO. ThIs time,
though, he was going for one betblr.
~ a good start, he went after lafferty and his teammate Hawk In a battle for the lead, and then battled it out
with Salminen later. It was impressive,
but then he lost his brakes. "On the first lap, I pushed the pedal down
and it didn't do anything," he said. "Then It cot better, but after that, it
started getting worse, and then I had nothing by the third lap." The
Am Pro Yamaha squad put on a . - master cylinder, and Mulins lost
some time In the pits. From there, he Ioaed some very fast laps to
dlmb aM the way back Into the top 10 overall.
124 Shane Watts
7th
Shane "'Natuy" Watts usually doesn't excel In rough, rutted c0nditions ~ke this event, but he rode well enouah to fll\ish In the top 10.
"I'm definitely happy with the way things went," said Watts, whose
wife, Carrie, and . - dau&hter, VIctorIa Eden, were on hand. "lately I haven't been very stroI1Iln these types of conditions. It was
great to push my HmIt on the flnal two laps. with my best lap time or
the race being on the last lap despite also suffering my only crash for
the event then. I'm real excited about continuing to Improve my
speed and conlldence for the remainder of this year as a lead up to
an aI-out assault on 2006."
The big crowd of racers at Unadilla included a record 177 Youth racers and an additional 62 Pee Wee riders. The race was cosanctioned by WNYOA, an off·road
association in New York.
The Unadilla track opened in 1968, making it one of the oldest motocross tracks in
the country. When it opened, though, it was
a hare scrambles track, turning to full
motocross by 1969. The GNCC was the
first off-road race held there in 36 yean.
The Robinson family, owners of the facility,
was out in force all weekend working alongside the Racer Productions' GNCC crew.
Nate Kanney hopes his podium finish will
help contract talks for next year. "Hopefully
I'll get a job," he said. "But you have to
back it up. If I can't get another podium
then I'm a 22-year-old has been."
The weatt- was great all weekend until
rain came down hard Sunday morning,
making the Novice race in the morning a
tough one for the 61 I riders. But it tumed
out nearly perfect for the afternoon race, as
the track tacked up and built the big, loamy
berms Unadilla is known for.
CYCLE NEWS • OCTOBER 12,2005
61
