Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Wis e co/Ya rn aha / Dunlo p / IMS/MSR/ FM F/ Klotz/M a x xi s / L a ege r Gra nd Nat ional Cros s Cou n t ry S e r ie s R o u nd B : Boyers G N C C Shane Watts this t ime used a KTM 300ElXC to win another round of the Grand National Cross Country Se ries, this time in Boyers, Pennsylvania. SHANE WATTS TAKES HIS FIFTH WIN ON HIS FIFTH BIKE S T O RY A N D PHO T O S B Y guys' ." P A UL CLIPPE R/ T RAIL R ID E R M A GA ZI N E BOYERS, PA, JUNE 4 TM uberpilot Shan e Watts onc e again topped the GNCC field , a nd on c e a ga in ga ined the top spot on a d iffe re nt b ik e , thi s ti m e a cle arl y stock 300 E/ XC. Wa tt s built from a n unusua lly good sta rt to ta ke the lead e a rly in the first lap , and kept co ntrol t h ro u g h most o f t h e s ix la ps of a mu ddy, demand ing course . "I got a pretty go od start for once, a nd jus t like everyone e lse I fell ba c kward s a nd forwards all th e time ," sa id t he KTM/ MS R/ Suo my / S c ott/Mic h eIin / FMF -spo nsore d Wat t s . "Co m e down to th e la st la p -a nd-a -half to go, a nd I go t into the lead . I thought, Well , it' s time to get to wor k and see how th e se boys a re go ing , be ca us e I wa s jus t cruis ing around trail ing the gu ys at tha t t im e . The y a ll seemed to be going pretty ha rd , and I figure d , Let 's s e e how fa r I ca n go in thi s stuff . I think I proved to everyone th a t I can go in m ud p re tt y good; I ca n ride a 300 pretty good, so that's five su per wi ns on fiv e d iffe re nt m ac hin e s when 's it go nna sto p? " K 36 JUNE 21 , 2000' cue Rob b ie J en ks ' Ya ma ha t oo k th e ho le sh ot, wit h J osh McL evy ' s KTM close behind , but Watts came off the line in fourth , rathe r than his usual ba ck of th e pa ck sta rt, and im m e d iately went about the task of moving to the fron t. Suzuki Off- Road's Rod ney Sm ith was lea ding th e pack for the first la p , looking strong a fter recu. perating fro m his thumb inju ry , b ut Watts still slipped by him before the sc o r in g chu te . E d m o n d s o n c am e through in third , looking a lot m ore comfortable than he wou ld admit. "It was re a lly hard o ut the re , first ra ce ba ck from injury and stuff," he sa id. "It was a real ph ysical track , a rea l tec h n ical t ra c k - lots of ro ots , lots of rut s - it was def initely a technica l co urse. But we 're br ou ght up on thi s type of s tuff ba c k ho me , jus t a little bit mo re rain, tha t's al l." Edmondson s ta yed up front to officia lly le ad two o f th e laps , but th e le a d c ha nged constantly ev e ry la p. It would be Sm ith , Edmo ndson , Watts o r Ya ma ha -rider Doug Bla ckwell in th e front at a ny give n turn, depending on the severity of the mudh ole befor e it. "Yo u' d come t o th es e mudh o le s , a nd yo u c ou ld go in first and. come ou t last - yo u ne ver knew," sa id Fr ed And rew s , who spent the beg innin g la ps fa lling back as fa r as eighth. "It wa s ge tt ing p retty gnarly out th ere. Th ings we re happening s o qu ic k , you n ev er kn ew wh ere y o u wer e . Fi rst Watts was ah e ad of me, th en I wa s a h ea d of him , then I pass ed Paul , th en th ey passed me, Doug Bla ckwell passed m e , Rodney passed me . You ju st n ev e r kn ew where y o u w e r e go ing to be bec ause you'd com e to a ba d spot a nd p ick a lin e , and hope yo u r line was bette r than the ot he r • e When it stops is up to Watt s , bu t we have a sneaking suspi cion tha t it won 't stop un til the Ironma n GNCC in Oct ob er , a nd th e s er ies fina le . S e cond p lac e w ent t o a h ar d cha rg ing Pa u l E dm on d s o n , no st ra nge r to m ud fr o m hi s Brit ish up bring ing . Edmondson , who co unts Ka wa sak i T e am Gree n , Sh o ei , a nd Alpin sta rs a mo ng h is m ajo r s po nsors , sta rte d well a nd clawed his wa y up to le a d th e seco nd lap b efor e be ing hea ded by Wa tts a nd forced to sett le fo r s e c o n d p la c e . Th e la s t p o d iu m pos ition we nt to Edm on dso n's te a m. m a te Fr ed An dr e ws , who ha d been d istracte d by h is wife bir t hin g twin s th e week befor e , a nd who fough t a n u p- and -d o wn b attl e a ll day be for e fina lly sq ueak ing into third . Th e racers we re treated to a co urs e th at was .ge nero us ly dou s ed with rain on Friday a nd never had e no ugh time to d ry. It's a s itua tio n that ha s been a ll-too com mo n th is yea r, and wit h ver y s hort s ections a s the ex ception, the Boyers c ourse wa s mu d from one e nd to the othe r. Weath er for the day wa s be autiful , th o ugh , su nn y a nd in the 70 s for most of th e ra ce . n Ie vv s "I fell do wn a couple of times , just li k e e v e r y o n e e ls e, " said Watts . "E verybod y had th e ir problems o ut there . I just kep t fo cu sin g o n the c he c ke red flag - tha t's when th e ra ce finis hes , a nd not halfwa y thro ug h , so I just ke pt pushing a lo ng . I got int o a la t e p o s it io n t here near th e e n d; I rea lly hu mped it then. I wa s ha ving a litt le troub le wit h the b ig g irl th en ; I wished I ha d th at e lectric starter fro m th e 4 00 four -s tro ke ." As time tic ked away in th e s ix-la p race , attrition sta rte d to tak e its to ll. Most of all th e bad finishe s we re th e res ult of m ud - e ithe r getti ng stuc k, or s liding out a nd c rashing - o r watering o ut in th e c reek cross ing. The first out wa s Jos h McLevy , who s lid into a t re e o n th e first la p a n d p o s s ib ly b rok e a bo ne in h is fo ot. Gas Ga s' Bla ir Ber s ano went thr e e laps before runn ing into trou ble , a s d id Suzuk i's Mik e Ki ed rows ki. S c o tt Summ e rs sta rte d in m id -pa c k , but went ba c k wa rd fro m there, s uffe rin g fro m le g p a in from the rod in his fem ur. Every tim e he put his foot down , it h urt , a nd toda y was not the day to go da b- less . S um mers o nly finis he d fou r laps , as d id Suzu k i' s S te ve Hatc h , who su ffe red unspe cified mud pro ble ms . Th e c o n s t a n t c h a n gi ng of the gua rd up front left room for Andrews to m ove in to p osit ion , and h e was th e re by th e fourth la p . "It took me half the ra ce to get going, and whe n I ca ug ht up to t he s e guys, the y we re going slower t h a n I th ought t hey were ," Andrews sa id. "Whe n I ca ught up to them , they started p icking up th e pace. I thought I could hang with Pau l and th ose guys , but I m essed up once , and I knew on c e Shane got in the le ad he was goi ng to put th e ham mer down . He started getting a way , and Paul s ta rte d pic king it up , a nd I started tryin g to stay with Pau l. I just didn't ha ve m uc h s t re ng th left, a nd the n I ha d to start figh tin g Rodney off. He m an a g ed to k e e p Sm ith be hi nd him , alt ho ugh he m igh t be lie ve it was a m ira cle . The y sa id I wa s wheel ying th rou gh th e c reek c ross ing and jumping up th e o t he r s id e - t ha t was becaus e m y arm was pumped up and t h e throttl e w a s s t uc k o n. It was tough , it was a lo t tou gher t ha n I tho ught. I wish I c oul d hav e been in a li tt le bit b ett er s ha pe . I' m pr ett y happy with getting third ." Smith held on for fourth -pla ce points, followed at a distanc e by J im Jarrett 's Suzu ki, which had spe nt the race s lowly working its wa y up from a ninth-pl ace start . Kawas aki -mounted 250cc A-class ride r Chu c k Woo dfo rd increa sed h is points lead in that categ ory by finis hing s ixt h overa ll, right in fro nt of Barry Hawk 's Yamaha . Doug Blackwell finished eig hth ove ra ll a nd seventh Pro , and Pro riders Jason Ra ines and Rod ney Judson filled out the top 10. "I only had on e prob lem wit h the 3 0 0 , a n d th at's t o o mu ch p o wer! " said Watts on th e podium . "It wa s ge tt ing aw a y fr o m m e . Oth er th a n that , I was riding right, thanks to my p it c re w tod a y , Th oma s a nd Nick. It was th e ir first tim e doing it toda y , a nd th e y did a re all y good job ." Did Watts ha ve fun a t Boye rs? "I don 't kno w, it wa sn 't that bad to day a bit of m ud ," he said . "I wa sn 't th inking a bou t it , though . I wa s a mi llion m ile s a wa y , think ing a bout th ing s 1 probably s houldn' t be talking a bout!" Wa tt s st ill ho ld s t he p o in ts lea d , with 15 1 po ints to Ha tc h 's 118 ( uno fficia ll y ) . Bla c k w ell is third in th e po ints a t 1 14 , followe d by Edm ond so n at 1OS , and Ha wk at 102 . eN Boyers 6NCC Boyers, Pennsylvania Results: June 4, 2000 PRO: I. Shane Watts (KTM); 2. Paul Edmondson ( Kaw); 3 . F red A ndrews ( Kaw ) ; 4 . Rod ney Sm ith (Suz): 5. Jim Jarrett (SOl): 6. Barry E Hawk Jr (Yam); 7. Doug Blackwell (Yam) ; 8 . Jason Raines (Yam ); 9 . Rodney Judson (O-G) ; 10. Robbie Jenk s (Yam). OPEN A : 1. Dave Gunn (Han) ; 2. J eff Murgel ,( Ya m ) ; 3 . J oh n Vi n ce nt ( G·G); 4 . Matt hew Spige lmye r (KTM ); 5. Nor ma n Feth (Yam) . 250 A ; 1. Chuck Woodfo rd (Kaw); 2. Andy Shea (KTM) ; 3. Richard Lafferty (KTM); 4 . Daniel Beck (GG) ; 5. Bill A tkinson (KTM). 200 A : 1. Cole Calki ns (Kaw) ; 2. R J Bennett (Yarn); 3. Chris Gallt (Kaw); 4. Jo shua Kn app (Kaw); 5. Brett Zofchak (Kaw ). 4 ·8 A : I . Ronn ie Bumfield (Suz) ; 2. Curt Wilcox (Suz) ; 3. Vance Earl (Suz); 4. Dariu s Latt ea (Yam) ; 5. Marty Michels (Hon) . VET A: 1. Tony T arabo rrelli (Yam ); 2. Rich ard Burb ick (G -G) ; 3 . J eff rey Hur sh (Yam) ; 4 . Davi d Santi (Yam ); 5. Davi d Bittne r (Hon) .

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