Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

finished Hardroc k in a stro ng fourth p lace o ve rall . He wa s follow ed in by GNCC ve t e ran Ba rry Hawk , who c ouldn' t get any fa rth e r forw ard than fifth , to the d isappointm en t of his man y lo cal fans . Edm o nd son a nd Smith were s ixth an d se ve nt h , a nd Robbie Jenks , J a son Raine s and J im Jarrett finish ed ou t the to p 10 . eN Hardrack &NCC Fairmont, West Virginia Results: August Z7. ZoaD [Round 1D of 141 O/A : 1. Doug Blackwell (Yam ); 2. Shane Watts (KTM); 3. Fred Andrews (Kaw); 4. Chu Woodford ck (Kaw); 5. Barry Hawk Jr. (Vam); 6. Paul Edmondson ( Ka w) ; 7 . Rodney Smith (Suz ) ; 8 . Robbie Je nk s (Yam) ; 9. Jason Raines (Yam) ; 10. Jim Jarrett (Suz); 11. Jamo Boano (Hon); 12. Randy Hawkins (Vam); 13 . Scott Summ ers ( Hon ); 14. M ik e Kiedrowski (Suz) ; 15. Joel Dengler ( Hus); 16 . James T retinik ( K~M.) ; 17 . John Bennett (Yarn): 18 . Charlie Legzdins (Hon) ; 19 . Steve Hatch (S uz); 20 . Mik e Sampson (K T M) ; 2 1. Du sti n M or gan (Yam ) ; 2 2 . M ichae l Lafferty (KTM). AMA/WISECO/VAMAHA/DUNLOP/ IMS/MAXXIS/ MSR/KLOTZ/F MF/LAEGER GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRV SERIES POIN STANDINGS TS (A fter to of 13 rounds) : 1. Shane Watts (183/5 wins) ; 2. Paul Edmondson ( 140/ 2 wins) ; 3. Barry Hawk Jr. (136); 4. Doug Blackwell ( 133/2 wins); 5. Fred Andrews (12 6. Steve Hatch (l I B); 7. (TIE) 0); Rodney Smith/Chuck Woodford (108); 9. Jim Jarrett (95); 10. Robbie Jenks (93). o nto it in the s lippery roc ks a nd d icey uph ills . "Ye a h , I g o t b it b y the h ill, " h e said. "I've got nobody to bla m e b ut m ys e lf. Th e se gu ys were go ing good , but I wa s on it, I wa s going fast. I got bac k in the lea d on th e two -lap bo a rd a nd I was c ha rging, bu t there were so m any rocks out ther e you nev e r real ly kn ew what was going to happe n. I h it a loo se ro c k wit h m y ba c k e nd and I fe ll down , Doug and Sha ne both p a s s ed me an d I fig u red , 'W e ll, I'll just try to ca tch the m.' So I floor ed it, caught back up to them a nd thr ew it away righ t he re on the white flag la p , a nd that was p rett y much the end of m y day . I didn't wa nt to gi ve up , I kept on goi ng, but th e s e guy s rode a good ra ce , and I' ve go t no excuse bu t m yself." Th ere was th e usual rac e for th e win , but at th e same time all th e marbles were ou t o n th e ta ble , bec a use including Ha rdr o ck th e re were o n ly five ra ce s left, a nd the points to ta l is starti ng to really matter. Going into Ha rd rock, figuring the p o in ts and su b tra c ti ng the throwaw ays , Watts held the overall le ad bu t was u nder con sidera ble pre ssure from Ka wasaki 's Pa u l Edm on d s on fo r the seri e s t itle , w ith Ro dn ey Sm ith a nd his Su zuki also in somew hat c lo se con te ntion . This put t he pressu re o n Ed m o nd s o n , an d so me beli eved it wa s t h e Brit ' s da y , si nce he is the most ex perie n c e d mud rider on the c irc uit. But it didn 't turn out th at wa y. Edm ondson s e emed to be fighting for co ntrol most of the da y , a nd ci rcula t ed in a dismal sixth or seventh p lace , fina lly finishing in sixth . Smith a ls o ha d a la c kluste r da y , but he al so a ppe a re d on a n unusual b ike for him, a com p lete ly tric ked ou t DRZ four-stroke. He rod e strong and confident, but couldn' t brea k into th e lead group . He had a go od start on th e DRZ, fourt h pla c e on th e firs t lap , but fell ba c kwa rd a fter that, finis hing seve nt h . His te a m mate s fa ired s im ila r luc k, with Steve Hatch gett ing a ba d st a rt a n d circ u la ti n g a ro u n d 10 t h be fore crashing a nd bending his rear brak e ro t o r , and DRZ p il ot Mik e Kied ro ws ki strugg led in th e s lip p e ry stuff until he finally finished 14th. With his riva ls m ired in the p a ck and clear s ky with in his re ac h , Watts tried movin g out front, bu t cou ld n' t hold on to the le a d. "I was tak ing it e a sy tod ay: Wa tts sa id . "It wa s p re tt y tricky o ut the re; the g uys kept falli ng ove r so I ke pt m oving up a posit ion at a time until , on the last lap , I was in first pla c e . I thin k m a y b e I was rid in g a bi t too conse rva tive to win, but Doug rod e a fanta stic ra c e and des erves t his win. He h a d th e good line goi n g u p the hill! Ma ybe I wo uld h av e do ne better had I walked down ther e a nd se e n it, b ut I'd ne ver been he re before a nd I (Above) Blackwell (8) nailed the holeshot and pretty much ran away with It. IRl ght) Fred Andrews at one point led until falling. He ended up th ird overall . did n 't know what to ex pect. I p icked the wro ng line ea rly, ha d a littl e tro u ble going up. I wen t left after that all the time. It looked like it m ight have been faster to the right , but I figured it wa s better to be safe tha n sorry a nd get up t he hil l. I' m in a p o s ition to wra p up the cha m pionsh ip , s o I fig ured a second place is bette r tha n a DNF." At t he e nd it was Blac kwe ll, Watts and Andrews in tha t order , a nd they were p le nty g lad to be do ne with the rugged Ha rd ro ck conditions . C huck Woodford did a gr eat jo b in h is first Pro -class race , after wra ppi ng up th e A 250cc class o n h is Ka wa s a k i, and apparently raced a couple of New England events this summer, and then abruptly took his bikes and parts back to his spons or and announced he'd be hanging up his helmet. B R IEFLY. •• O n an intern ational note . Italian National Enduro Champion Ja rn o Boa no came to the Hardrock to try out GN CC racing. sponsored on a C R250 by Shenandoah Honda. Beano - who has numerou s top ISDE ftnishes to his credit. as well a top five finish in this year 's World Championship Enduro Serie s - conquered his race nerves and explored the course quickly but carefully, finishing a respec table 11th overal l. Rumor has it he was just getting his "sea legs - before he com es back and attacks at the next round. so we 'll be loo king for him in Millfield. Ohio , on September 1Othl KTM pilot M ike LaHerty had an unusual day . He started really we ll on a 400 SX four-stroke . hitting the first tum in the top 10. but later dropped from the scoring mysteriously. " I laid it dow n real quick in one tum. got back up and got going. and I didn't know it but I punched a hole in my igni· tion cover,- he said. " It started shooting oil out. but then it quit on one uphill whe n I think the ignition got fouled . It started again later, so I don 't know what I did to it. - When his bike stopped. he pulled over and went back on the course to help a rider who had brok en his leg. starting a rash of rumors in the pit s that Lafferty had broken his leg! Things got all sorted out when he re-appeared on his feet again. M issed in the pits at Hardrock was RER Mot or Ci ty KTM rider Josh McLevy, who has been attending the GNCC races for the past few seasons with mixed luck. At t he pre-break GNCC In Brownsville last June he tangled wit h another rider on the motocross sect ion of the track , cras hing bad and knocking himself unconscious. This is aft er work ing through a hydration problem he'd been having for years . as we ll as various ot her freak accidents that com bined to demoralize his whole racing effo rt. He c In spite of the miserable conditions. 654 ri ders signed up at Hardrock , including 254 ATV riders on Saturday afternoon. Local Yamaha ATV hotshoe Chad D uvall won the four -wheeler race overall. A Youth race on Sat urd ay afternoon drew 46 entrants . and J oshua Gaitten of New Straitsville, Ohio . was the first rider across the line in that race. Scott S umme rs has been on and off the injured list for the past year . and told us that things still aren't right inside the leg he broke last year. Following Brownsville. doctors removed two screws near his femur, trying to find the source of severe pain that keeps him off the gas. but he was less than enthusiastic about the results of the operat ion. "That didn't do it. I don't know where the pain is coming from. but I've got anot her new docto r and we' re waiting for results of a CAT scan they did on my leg this week.- In spite of all his troubles, Summers still gated and raced at Hardrock to the delight of his fans, and finished 13t h overall. In the absence of Chuck Woodfo rd, who has moved up to Pro . the top finish in the " A " clas s was up for grabs. St epping Into his place was KTM rider Andy Shea of Hamilton. Ohio. The Sunday morning " C " . Super Senior and Women's class race was the property of Rick C lax ton, riding a eRE in the Sp ort sman class. Jennifer Shultz of Salt Rock , W est Virginia. took the win in the W omen's class. and Terry M ealer once again dominated the Super Senior class. In Saturday' s Youth race, 46 kids battled a shortened course for a shot at a trophy. Thad Duvall . son of ATV race winner Chad Duvall. was the top finisher in the Mini Jr . class. Joshua Gaitten came through as the overall winner and tops in the M ini Inte rmediate cla ss. and Travis Green was the best rider in the Mini Sr. class. ue I e n e _ S • S EPTEM BER 1 3. 2 0 0 0 53

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