Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128613
AMA/VVisec o / yamaha /Dun lop/ IMS /Ma xxi s / MSR/ Kl o tz/FM F/ L aeger Grand Nati o n a l Cro s s Count ry S eries Round S: S parta G NCC L S T O RY A N D PH OT O S BY P A UL C LI PPE R, T RA IL RID ER MAGA ZINE SPA T , K , A . 30 R A Y PR Different bike, same result: Once again, Shane Watts w as the w inner of a GNCC round, this time on a KTM 400cc four-stroke. n c e a ga in , Austr a li an Sh an e Wa tts ca me o ut o n t o p o f t h e pack at th e latest GNCC s er ies round, but th is tim e he added an inte resting twist. Instead o f th e KTM 125 he 's famous for rid ing , instea d of the 200 MXC and th e 250 EXC he 's wo n on as we ll th is yea r, Watts tumed up a t the lin e on a brand -n ew 40 0 EXC Rac ing Four Stroke, electric start and a ll. Th er e was a little b it of snicke ring here and there when he unl oaded his bike , and a fair amoun t of o pi nion that h e 'd b ett er think t wice if he plann ed to wi n on a four -stro k e in this crowd. But once aga in . Watts simp ly e m b a rra s s e d them all , and m ost of the GNCC regulars are begin ning to wonder if a nythi ng can stop Sha ne Wat ts . T he Sparta , Kentu ck y , round o f the GNCC wa s the first ever hosted at this lo cati on , a nd Racer Pro ducti on s ' Jeff Rus se ll put togeth e r a tra ck th at wound up a nd down thro ug h th e hills s urrounding the field , staying la rgel y off -camber the wh o le time . It was a tr ick y course; the ATV races on S at urda y pack ed the su r fa c e d o wn smooth a nd level , and it looked easie r than it was . "Whe n I tried to go fast I just th re w m yse lf on th e g rou nd! " s aid Fr ed Andrews , not ing that it was one of the most techn ical cou rses ye t in the ser ies. The KTM/MSR/Suomy/Scott/Mich elin/ FMF ride r fronted the KTM 400 fully intending to button-start. "Are yo u kidding , mate? " he sai d beforeh an d, "I've been button-starting this 4 00 for a co uple of da ys now, and I do n't ever want to kick start a b ike aga in!" It wa s a good plan, but it d idn't quit e wor k out: "I thought the button wou ld give me the h o leshot fo r on ce , but a s u su a l, I sc rewed it up once ag ain . I gave it too mu ch gas on the line a nd flood ed it c erta inly not th e bike's fault. Got my usu al lou sy start." He wa sn 't exagge rati ng , as he got off the line in the las t q uarte r of th e 31 Pro rid ers t he re , a n d narr o wly av o id ed a pil e -up t ha t in clud e d 36 nuvvs O MAV17,2000ยท cue' e Hond a ' s S c ott Su mm ers , S uzuki 's Ste ve Ha tc h , KTM ride r J ame s Tr e tinik a nd a fe w othe rs, a nd th at put Hat ch a n d Summ ers into th e fi rs t woods sectio n nearly dead la st. Watts mu s cl ed his wa y through the p ac k and e m e rge d at the e nd of th e first lap hand l eba ~ to handlebar with Rob bi e J enks , who spe nt a br ief tim e e nj oy in g t h e lead . They passed th rough the barre ls with Watts o ne seco nd b ack , soo n to ta ke ov er th e lea d for th e ne xt two la ps . Kawa s aki 's Andrews finall y had a goo d s t a rt , and lo o k ed t o h a ve a good da y , c ircula t ing in the top five m ost of the race a nd dici ng for t he le ad on and off, depending on th e lap . You couldn' t ju dge actua lly who was "lea ding the race " a t any give n t ime, bec ause th e le ad ke pt c ha ng ing d ra m a t ic al ly . Th e t ig h t n a tur e o f t h e c o urs e ke pt the lea d pa c k to geth er , and an y litt le m ista ke us ua lly saw a great re -shuffling of position s . "It was r e a lly e xc it ing o u t t he re , " sa id An d re ws , "a n d ha rd o n yo u r h e art because when yo u c a tch a lap per yo u re a lly di dn 't kn ow where yo u we re go ing to be ; yo u could go from first to fourthor fourth to first." On t he s e c ond a n d t h ird la p s , Watts was in c ontro l. He fell back on th e fo u rt h lap aft er gass ing , a nd Yama ha 's Dou g Blackwe ll took ov e r th e lead. Many of the top rider s were gassing , a nd Bla ckwell sta rte d fee ling pr essure from fa ctory DR-Z-m ounted Mike Kied ro wsk i, wh o c ha rged pa st a nd led for part of th e la p. Thi s wa s Kied rows ki's firs t e xperien c e a t th e fron t of a GNCC , but it d idn 't la st lon g when he had to sto p for fue l on the fifth lap . By th is t im e, Kawa s a k i' s Paul Edmondson took over th e lea d , afte r dog ging Bla c kwe ll a nd Wa tts for most of the ra c e. Wa tts had m ade a rnis- L ta ke trying to get by Edmondson , a nd wound up on th e gro und . When th ey came around at the end of the wh iteflag lap , it was Edmondson leadi ng, Blackwell in second, Yamaha 's Barry Hawk in th ird , Kiedrow sk i in fourth , Watts in fifth a nd Andrews in s ixt h , and then th e ba tt le b egan . Watts threw it into o ve rdri ve and started wo rking his wa y to th e front , and at t he same ti m e he wa s a id ed by Ed m o nd s o n t anglin g with a lapp er and wr enching h is thumb, kn oc kin g him a lmo s t eig h t min ut e s b a ck t o limp in h o ldin g a h a n dful o f p ain . Bla c kwell wa s back into the lea d and wor ki ng a s h ard as h e co uld , wit h Andrews back a handfu l of seconds . "Whe n Shan e fell down bac k th er e I thought, 'Well , I kno w he 's gonna be comi ng .. .' a nd I was try ing to go as hard a s I could , bu t with four o r five of us all ridi ng togethe r, yo u catch o ne lapper a nd you go right a nd he goes rig ht a nd three or four guys g o by you," s a id Andrews . Sure eno ugh , with less than a half lap to go , Wa tts jumped past Andrews a nd started pu tt ing th e p ressu re o n Blac kw e ll. "I wasn 't rea lly c ru is ing," s a id Bla c kwel l. "I was just tr y ing to prot e ct m y lines, ride smart, a nd don't do a nything s tupi d an d give it to him , but he had a line to the ins ide, a nd I d idn 't kno w it. " Blackwell th ou ght he wa s blocking e ve ry line o n th e d ash to the fin ish , but Watts had o ne little spot picked out , and that wa s a ll he needed. Watts g ot o ut onto th e g ra ss tra c k in the lead and s moked straight to th e finish , taking his fourth win of th e season, o n the fou rth bik e he 's ridd en thi s yea r. Eight seconds behind ca me a disappoi nted Bla ckw e ll, a nd a not he r 30 seconds lat e r And rews a rrived to fill out the pod ium . "I just ca me up a littl e s hort," sa id This round in Kentucky was another GNCC that ran a J unior event on Saturday, after the ATV races. The kids get to ride a shortened course. but it still contains many of the same tough sections that devil the senior riders. They got to ride for an hour and a half, which worked out to eight laps for the fastest riders. Charles Mullins of Fairfield. Ohio, was not only the top Mini Intermediate. he was also overall winner of the race. riding his Honda 80. He was chased into the finish by Cody Calkins of East Sparta. Ohio, and D.R. Atwood of Millfield, Ohio, who arrived a few minutes shy of Charlie's pace. The winners of the Mini Junior class included Thad Duvall, who finished a whole lap a head of his co mpetition, Scott McClure of Thomson, Georgia, and Tyler MacDonald of Marteu, South Carolina. Thad is from Williamstown, West Virginia , and they all rode Kawasakis. Also all Kawasaki-mounted was the Mini Senior class, which was won by Brian Happle of Virginia Beach , Virginia. Brian was followed in by Travis Green of Vinton, Ohio, and Jo nathan Woodford of Southington, Ohio. There were 50 total entries for the J unior races, and they're all revved up to become se nior GNCC riders some day!