Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

The three came out of the pits and into the fastest section of the course, a dry and dusty two-track that the bravest could fly on. Hatch and Smith were swapping the lead with "Junior" Lafferty close behind, and when they ducked back into the trees the trouble started for Smith. "I hit a tree out on the course, and somehow hooked my thumb and twisted it back," Smith told track announcer John Ayers after stopping late in the race. "It hurt really bad, and I thought I could tough it out, but towards the end I just couldn't hold on anymore." It didn't help his luck to suffer the crash on Hatch's fastest lap, and his time loss knocked him down to One of the unique features of the Big Buck GNCC was a youth race run at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, after the quad race. For a seemingly minor part of the program, the youth race was a big draw, with 70 entrants battling it out in three different classes. The kids, broken down into three classes - Mini Junior, Mini Intermediate, and Mini Senior - were sent out onto a shortened course that used some of the sections of Sunday'S big race. They weren't babied. around the course, either - this is a taste of the grown-up GNCC! Seven laps eighth place. Smith continued to set good lap times, but nowhere near the pace of Hatch and the rest of the (Left) Mike Kiedrowski notched his best GNCC result thus far, finishing in seventh. onds. He came back into the pits holding a mechanics' towel over his eye, and immediately went off looking front-runners, and he finally came in to get it iced down after the fifth lap. Lafferty had settled back into fifth place by this time, still very close to the lead group, when his trouble hit. "I don't know what I hit," he said later on. "All I know is I smacked something hard, probably a tree, and that knocked me off the line, and the next thing I knew I was cartwheeling through the woods." He came into his pit on the third lap and tried to tape up a bleeding hand while mechanic Alan Randt beat his handguard back into shape with a sledge hammer. His bike was missing the headlight shell, and the right side of the handlebars were pointing to the sky. Lafferty held on to eighth place with rising lap times until he also lost the strength to hold on, and dropped out after the fifth lap. While all this was going on, Kawasaki's Fred Andrews was holding down fourth place, looking for room to make his move. Soon his bad luck decided to call. Andrews was setting up to pass a lapper on lap four when a rock kicked up by the rider in front sailed back and slammed into Andrews' head, just above his left eye, knocking him off the bike and out cold for a few sec- for medical attention. With Andrews out of the way, Yamaha's Hawk moved into fourth place for good, off the lead pace but riding a good race in his position. He was followed into the finish by teammate Randy Hawkins, booming around the track on the big YZ426. Rounding out the top 10 were Yamaha-mounted Jason Raines in sixth, Mike Kiedrowski on Suzuki's was the distance to cover, and the fastest of them finished up in just over an hour and a half. When the dust settled it was D.R. Atwood of Millfield, Ohio, setting the fastest time and winning the Mini Intermediate class, followed home by fellow Ohioans Joshua Gaitten of New Straitsville, and Charles Mullins of Fairfield. The Mini Senior class was the next quickest, with Bryan Happle of Virginia Beach, Virginia, finishing first, followed by Travis Green of Vinton, Ohio, and Justin Dyke of East Palestine, Ohio. The top three in the Mini Junior class were Thad Duvall of Williamstown, West Virginia, Scolt McClure of Thomson, Georgia, and Derek Pitzer of Taylors, South Carolina. Interestingly, all of the above riders were on Kawasakis. There was also a SETRA (Southern , Enduro and Trail Riders Association) Over 100cc class for the SETRA Junior riders on hand, and a wave of orange broke upon the sea of Kawasakis. Bryan Henson, of Landerman, South Carolina, was the top finisher in that class, followed by Michael Teeter of Salisbury, North Carolina, and Andrew Kendrick of White, Ge~r9ia, all riding KTM 125s. (KTM); 3. Thomas Derby (Suz); 4. Russell Bain (Hon); 5. Todd Temple (KTM). SR B: 1. Mark Mihalik (Kaw); 2. Richard Hicks (Kaw): 3. Andrew Wells (Hon); 4. Benjamin Smith (Yam); 5. J.D. Hammock(Kaw). MINI JR: I. Thad Duvall (Kaw); 2. Scott McClure (Kaw); 3. Derek Pitzer (Kaw); 4. Alex McRee (Kaw); 5. Andrew Yates (Kaw). MINI INT: 1. D.R. Atwood (Kaw); 2. Joshull Gaitten (Kaw); 3. Chllrles Mullins (Kaw); 4. Cody Calkins (Kaw); 5. Robby Towery (Kaw). MINI SR: 1. Bryan Happle (Kaw); 2. Travis Green (Kaw); 3. Justin Dyke (Kaw); 4. Sean McClure (Kaw); 5. Wallace Palmer(Suz). SETRA 100+: 1. Bryan Henson (KTM); 2. Michael Teeter (KTM): 3. Andrew Kendrick (KTM); 4. Josh Mere (Kew); 5. Joshua Garrison (Suz). SPTMN: I. Alan Randt (KTM); 2. Randy Richardson(Kaw); 3. Chad Lough (Suz); 4. Doug Whitmer (Yam); 5. Paul Clipper (KTM). S/5R: 1. Terry Mealer (Yam); 2. Wayne Beatty (Yom); 3. Jimmy Lynch (KTM); 4. Jimmy Ford (G• G); 5. Robert Brendle (KTM). 200 C: 1. Daniel Dabbs (KTM); 2. Luke Durh"m (KTM); 3. Joshua Whisnant (Kaw); 4. Eric Noel (Kaw); 5. Bryon Henson (KTM). 250 C: 1. Roger Guthrie (Han); 2. Mark Davenport (Han); 3. Matthew Pressley (KTM); 4. Joseph Derryberry (Kaw); 5. Bill Hart (KTM). OPEN C: I. Scott Presnell (Han); 2. Daniel Sampson (Han); 3. John Blackman (KTM); 4. Ricky Doores (Yam); 5. Steve Stansel (Kaw). 4-5 C: 1. Henry Turner (Yam); 2. Robert Mielke (Yam); 3. Travis Collins (Yam); 4. Allen Young (Hon); 5. Chris Clark (Yam). VET C: I. Darin Ekis (KTM); 2. Shane Sexton (Kaw); 3. Bob Gregg (KTM); 4. James Van AUa (Yam); 5. Marc Eckard (KTM). 5R C: I. Donnie Kirby (KTM); 2. Mark Willman (Suz); 3. Charlie Johnson (Yam): 4. John Boblin (KTM): 5. Danny Burkhalter (KTM). WOM: I. Heidi Landon (Hus); 2. Karen Nelson (Suz); 3. Jennifer Shul12 (Yam); 4. Bonnie Hamrick (Yam); 5. Deborah Broderick (Yam). new DR-Z400 in seventh, Yamaha pilots Robbie Jenks and Doug Blackwell in eighth and ninth, and Joel Dengler on a Husqvarna in 10th. eN Big Buck GNCC Cross Keys, South Carolina Results: March 26, 2000 (Round 3 of 141 PRO: I. Shane Watts (KTM); 2. Paul Edmondson (Kaw); 3. Steve Hatch (5uz); 4. Barry Hawk Jr. (Yam); 5. Randy Hawkins (Yam); 6. Jason Raines (Yam); 7. Mike Kiedrowski (Suz); B. Robbie Jenks (Yam); 9. Doug Blackwell (Yom); 10. Joel Dengler (Hus). OPEN A: 1. Michael Grizzle (Hbg); 2. Jeff Vealey (KTM); 3. Dave Gunn (Hon); 4. Jeff Murgel (Yom); 5. James Mcree (KTM). 250 A: 1. Chuck Woodford (Kaw); 2. Aaron Kopp (Suz); 3, Brad Hllmrick (Yam); 4. Richard Lafferty (KTM); 5. Daniel Beck (G-G). 200 A: 1, Cole Calkins (Kaw): 2. Tommy Veator (KTM); 3. William Gilleland (KTM); 4. Joshua Knapp (Kaw); 5. John Rentschler (KTM). 4·5 A: 1. Mike Decherd (Yam); 2. Darius Lattea (Yam); 3. Vance Earl (Suz); 4. Ronald Johnson (Hon); 5. Curt Wilcox(Suz), VET A: 1. Steve McSwain (Kaw); 2. Jan Hrehor (KTM); 3. Jeffrey Hursh (Yam); 4. Dennis Decker (KTM); 5. Richard Burbick (G-G). 5R A: 1. Tim Shephard (Yam); 2. Keith Rodgers (Kaw); 3. Mark Smith (KTM); 4. Jeff Bonasera (Kaw); 5. Barry Crone (Yam). OPEN B: 1. David Wolfe (KTM); 2. Lon Buysman (KTM); 3. Heath Henderson (KTM); 4. John Karcz (KTM); 5. Skip Crews (KTM). 250 B: 1. Brian Wright (Kaw); 2. Ryan Wuebbeling (Yam); 3. Blair Jackson (KTM); 4. Ernest Noflz (Kaw); 5. Gary Fridley (Suz). 200 B: 1. Brian Melik (Kaw); 2. Anthony Glasso (Suz); 3. Scott Watkins (Kaw); 4. Chris Kile (Kaw); 5. Michael Faulk (Suz). 4-5 B: 1. Timmy Luckadoo (Suz); 2. Bryan Muscavitch (Suz); 3. Steven Prokupek (Yam); 4. Robert Collins (Han); 5. James Sparrow (Suz). VET B: I. Gerald Greene (Yam); 2. Steve Henson BRIEFLY••• The Big Buck venue has huge fields in which to spread out. and that fact masked the record attendance to this GNCC. Racer Productions' scoring statistics include everyone who made at least one lap. and that included 70 Junior-class riders and 227 ATVs on Saturday. along with 249 riders from the C. Super Senior and Women crasses on Sunday morning, plus 259 A & B riders in the afternoon. That totals up to 805 riders who made it one lap or more. and the actual number of entrants was closer to 850. Popular series? You bet! Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Morganton, North Carolina, April 2 Round 5 - Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, April 16 The fastest lap of the day went to Paul Edmondson. who finished the first lap in a lowly 10th place. and then put his head down on the second lap to clock a 25;09 and move all the way up to second place. "I feel much more confident on the Kawasaki," he said. "like it fits me better. It's a very stable bike and good to go fast on." Big Buck was his second runner-up finish of this young GNCC series. and we expect to see a lot more of him on the podium. Evidence of confidence; Shane Watts' pit crew was all set at the beginning of the last lap to give him a splash of fuel to ensure he wouldn't run out, but after Walts came through the barrels he flew past his pits with a "no worries!" wave, leaving his crew somewhat con· fused. Track announcer Ayers went over to talk to Watts' mechanic Josh. and they were both surprised to see Walts come tooling back into the pit to get the gas after all. He had 1;40 on Edmondson at the time. and apparently he knew it. Walts still finished up with a 1: 13 cushion. Scott Summers (right) made his racing debut for the season at Big Buck. riding an immaculately prepared Honda XR250 that had been "grown" to about 320cc. "This is my first race back." said Summers while limping to his motel room Friday night. ''I've only been testing this bike since Tuesday. I can't walk. but I can ridel My plan is to take Speaking of the finish. a few seconds of confusion were created when Watts appeared at the last tum. lapping Scott Summers right before the barrels. Summers immediately jumped around Watts and said, "Score me first!" The move took the oper~ ator of the bar-code scanner by surprise - GNCC scorers are not used to riders wanting to ride an extra lap. After a few seconds to understand the it easy and finish. get some training in, and get a feel for the bike. It's going to be a long road back." He wasn't in the lead when he came across the creek jump at Big Buck. but he was the only rider the crowd of spectators cheered for. and they cheered loudly. If we could only run Scott Summers for president, I think we'd have something. situation. he complied with Summers' request, and Summers went off to complete his last lap while Watts sprayed the champagne. cue' e n e _ s • APRIL 12, 2000 39

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