AMA/Wi s e c o / Y amaha Gra nd National C ros s Country S erie s
Rou nd 1 0 : Hardrock GNC C
B y P AUL CLI PPER/TRAIL RI DER
M AGA ZINE
(Above) Yamaha's Doug Blackwell
captured h is second GNCC victory of
the year .
FAIRMONT, WV, AUG. 27
_ or t he seco nd t im e th is s eason ,
Yamaha' s Doug Bla c kwell rode a
ca reful, ca lculati ng race in na sty con ditions, a nd collected the lion's s ha re
of the purse in the e nd . The Yamaha backed rider turn ed a holeshot into a
race -lo ng good p osition , and fought
off series points le a d e r Shane Watts
on the last lap for h is second win this
ye a r.
It was a w in th at c a m e a s th e
re s u lt of careful lin e selection and
even more ca ref u l rid ing , since this
was the eig ht h G NCC ru n s o far in
mu ddy, ra in y co n di t io ns . T h e
Hardrock co urse was originall y e nvis ioned b y th e late " Bi g Da v e "
Coom b s as a repla cement for the
Bla c kwater 100, which , in its time ,
wa s deservedly billed as "The World 's
To ughest Race ." Covered with sli p pery sedimentary roc ks, and la id out
a cross th e s p ine of two huge h ills ,
Hard roc k is leg endary for three na sty
uph ills that go by many names , but
are usually billed as th e Papa , th e
Mama , and the Baby hills . Actually ,
52
SEPTEMBER 13, 2000'
0:
U
0:
th ey 're all th e sa me hill, just differ ent
ways to get to the top . The Papa is
the shortest in dis tance, but also the
steepest. Th e Mama is th e usual line ,
but very tricky. The Baby is just that,
e a sy , but a m uc h longer wa y up the
hill.
"The Big Mama h ill de c ide d it o n
the las t la p ," Bla c kwe ll sa id. "Actua lly, I ha d pu lled ahead of S ha ne a nd
had m a y b e five or s ix seconds on
him , a nd I lost concentration and fe ll
dow n like a n idiot. He caught me and
got by , a nd I got ba c k up a nd stayed
with him u ntil we got to the Mam a
hill. He went le ft a nd I went kind of up
t he m idd le , same wa y I had be en
go ing all day . I wa s loo king ov e r, trying to ga uge where he wa s , and I saw
I was go ing to co me out first, so tha t
was th e differ enc e to da y. "
Blackwell go t the holes hot a nd led
t he firs t la p , wit h Ka wa s a k i' s Fred
Andr ews r ig ht b ehind. Andr ews
mov ed up a nd took over the lea d for
lap s two a nd thre e , but couldn 't hold
•
e
n
e
'IV
S
(Above) Series
leader Shane
Watts didn't
win, for once,
but still
finished
second.
(Left) Paul
Edmondson
couldn't get on
track i n the
West Virginia
mud.
