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AMAlWisecolYamaha Grand National Cross Country Series Round 1 3: Scarec ross GNCC By Fred Andrew s got go ing when things got tough at the Sc arecrow GNCC In Oh io . He prevailed in wet, co ld and j ust plain m iserable conditions. M IKE N ICHOLS URICHSVILLE, OH, OCT. 8 '' i f awasaki Tea m Green /And rews Jt- Ka wa s a k i Racing-backed Fre d in th e second ha lf of the s e a son , finishing in the to p five the la st e ight rou n ds . Andrew s, a form er GNCC Series number- on e p la te ho lder, s till calls it a "di s appoint ing se ason ," but the resident of nearby Salem, O h io , Andre ws was thrill ed to p u ll o ff a GNCC win in what is effe ct ivel y his hom etown ra c e. "You a lwa ys want to do we ll whe n yo u've g ot friends and fa ns coming o ut to wa tc h," s aid Andrews afte r the co ld ru n . " B u t I'm n ot s u re h o w many of th e m a ctu all y s tuck it o ut until th e e nd . I kn ow that if I had had a choice I p rob ably would ha ve pre fe rred som epl ace a little wa rm e r. " Andrews topped a cold , mud -cov e re d pa ck of off-road races to win the S carecrow GNCC at Uhrichsville , Oh io. Andrews dodged , d ucked and evaded everything that the c ompetition and Mother Nature cou ld throw a t h im , incl ud ing fre ezing te m p e ra t ure s , ra in, sn ow and, at one low point , blinding ha il. "T h e re we r e so m any lead c h a nges out th ere that s om etim es it was hard to ' tell who wa s winning , " Andrews said , when a ll was said and done . "I' m just glad it wa s me o ut front at th e end." After a s low start to the 14- ra c e series , And rews h a s be en o n a roll 46 OCTOB ER 25 , 2000 ยท cue I e n e vv s Not on ly were th e 300 -plus rid ers put to th e test bu t s o wa s th e Ra c e r Produ cti on c re w th a t had to cont inu all y mod ify and som eti m es re ro ut e the 10-m ile -a -lap racecou rse as th e wea the r deteri o rat e d . The Pros were set loo s e with the wa ve of the g reen fla g , a n d it was S t ev e Hat ch a boar d h is fa c tory Suzuki o ut firs t wit h th e ho le sh ot. Aft er th e co m p letio n o f la p o ne , Hatch had fall en to 2 2nd p o sit io n aft e r e nc o u nte ring p roble m s . Yama ha 's Ba rry Haw k took com ma nd and led a c lose ly k ni tted pack into t he woo ds t o b e g in t h ei r s e c o n d lap ar ound the 10 -m ile course . Suzuk i's Rodn e y S mith was c ruising alo ng in s econd pl a ce u nti l h is bik e be g an c u t t in g out. Smit h nursed his b ike into the pits a s h is tun er Rodney Ha rris began search ing for t h e problem . It d idn't tak e h im lo ng to d is c over that mud had blocked the bike's fu el tank v e nt t ube, starving the bike of fuel. Onc e the vent tub e was cleared, Smith was back a nd c ha rgi ng . Mea nw hile, Smith's teammate Mike Kiedrowski had taken over the lead wit h KTM' s Mike La fferty and Ha wk in hot pursuit. At this point, o n ly a min ut e and a half sepa rated th e top 15 riders as they be g an th ei r la p- th ree journey. T h at la p pro duced th e t h ird d iffere n t le a d er of t he r a c e , as Ka wasa k i fut u re s tar Ch uc k Wo o d fo rd , who had sta rted out th e ra c e in 2 1 s t place , was ou t in fron t and moving. His tea mmate , And re ws , was now running in second pla ce , followed by Ha w k , KTM 's S h a n e Watts , a nd Yamaha's Do ug Black we ll. At t h is poi nt, all of t h e riders , except for Hatc h , pitt ed fo r fuel. His decision not to pit s ho t him up from 11 th to first place. Hatch 's time out in front, howev er, would be s hort-li ved , as a slippery tree root c a us e d Hatch to g o down whil e negotiat ing a slick downhill sect ion . As he fought to upr ight his b ike , seven riders h ad ridden past h im . And things did n 't get an y better for the Suzu ki rid er a fte r he got go ing aga in. Ha t c h did manag e to p u ll b a ck tw o m ore p o sit ion s befo re g ett in g hung up a m o n g a g roup o f st uc k riders on a muddy hill. By the time he rode back down the hill to m a ke a second - and s uccessfu l - a ttem pt, a b un ch m o re rid ers rod e p a st hi m and h e wa s now ba ck in 14th. And he wasn 't happy about it. The normally mild -manner Ha tc h vented wh en he c a me into t he pits to refu e l. La p fou r soo n c a me to an end a nd y et a d ifferent n am e wa s le ad ing the wa y - Shane Watts . Bu t lik e a ll of th e o the r le ad ers be for e him , Wa tt s ' lu c k wo ul d run o ut. He fell vic t im to the frigid te mperatures , pulled o ut o f th e race a nd headed b a ck to t he pits. Aft er a ll, he ha d a lrea dy wrapped up t he G NCC t itle weeks earler, so why s uffe r a ny lo nge r? Befo re he got ba c k to th e pit "Wa tts y " c o u ld n 't wa it to g et c o mfo rtab le again and pu lled in t o a s pectator 's camps ite t o wa rm hi s ha nds over a welco med ca mpfire . Th e col d wea t her a lso go t t he best of Woodford . His ha nds a nd fingers g ot so c ol d t hat he co uldn't m ove th em anymor e and he he aded for the warm th of the p its . Th e mud - co v e red r ider s were happy to s e e the wh ite fla g to s igna l th e final lap o f m is er y , a n d none wa s hap pier a bo u t t h a t than Andr e ws , th e n e w leader . Bu t Andrews kn ew th at he wa sn 't "out of the woods " just ye t. As it turn e d out , And rews lost the poi nt after getting hung up on a hill. That 's when his teammate, Pa u l Ed m ond s on , drove around h im to ta ke over the le a d . Me a nwhil e , Hatch was ta king o ut his a nger o n the trai l and s ta rting to gain ground on the frontr unn e rs . Up fron t, with the win o n th e line, E dm o n dso n le d Andrew s o n to t h e motoc ross sect ion of the c o u rs e . At o ne point , t he Br it t urned to see whe re A ndrews was and, at that very momen t, Edmon d s o n b o bb le d a nd we nt ove r t h e ba rs, allowing An drews to take ba ck the lead. An d rews , th is tim e , had no int en t ions o f givi ng it up this tim e , so he ope ned up a 30 -second c us hion in the s ho rt time remai n ing and scored the wi n th at nobody seemed t o wa nt: Edmo ndso n settled for sec ond , making it a Kawasaki Team Green 1-2 swee p . Amazingly , Hatch climbed from eig hth to th ird by th e time it was a ll over. Fo urth place ended up going to Blackwell, followed by Robbi e Jenks, Jim Jarrett , Randy Hawkins , Ja s on Ra ines, Lafferty and Brian Ga rrah an. CN Scarecrow G NCC Urichsville, O hio Results:October 8, 2000 [Round 13 of 14J Q /A: 1. Fred Andrews (Kaw); 2 . Paul Edmon dson ( Kaw) ; 3 . Steve Hatch (S uz) ; 4 . Doug Black well (Yam); 5 . Robbie Jenks (Yam) ; 6 . Jim Jarrett (Suz); 7. Randy Hawkins (Suz); 8 . Jason Raines (Yam ); 9 . Mike Lafferty (KTM); 10. Brian Garrahan (KTM); 11. Patrick Garrahan (KTM ); 12 . M ike Kiedrowski (Suz); 13. John Bennett (Yam); 14. Guy Giroux (Suz); 15. 'p Barry Hawk (Yam ); 16. Chuck Woolford (Ka w): 17. Shane Watts (KTM) ; 18. Rodney Judson (Suz); 19. Thoma s Kelley (Kaw) ; 20 . Joel Dengler ( Hus).