T
With more
riders than evea at the GNCC hces,
the Racer
Produ.tions
c.ew beean lengthGnint
the courses to alleviate lapp€d traffic. The Loret-
ta's course ran a full 14 milec, and the festest
rid-
ers did six laps, That means that Salminen com-
pleted
84 miles in three houB and four minute6,
which is an exremely fast
pace
for an East Coast
woods
race.
Barry Hawk (above)
feh so sick after the race
that he had to get an lV from
track-side medics,
and even that wesn't
enouSh. He went to a local
hospital and had to
8et
1500
ml more lluid
before the docs would let
him
go home- "liust
had a massive headache,
but
I wasn't
cramping
up," Hawk said. "l slept for
a fe\./
hours,
and I
telt like my old self
4gain."
Whrle Hawk was in
the hospital, he was
ioined
by Al4A Enduro
Champion Mlke l"aflerty. wfio was severely
dehydrated and needed an w as w€ll. tefferty
still tinished seYenth overall.
So how did the lead
pack
manage to stay with
Juha
Salminen eart in the ra.e? No one is sure.
"l'm
not
sure what the difference was today,"
said
third-placed Glenn Kearney.
'lt's
a lor easier
when
you
can see him, because
you get
to see
the lines
and don't second
guess yoursell
There
were
a
lot
of
lines
out there, and we
got
to see
what he did. That makes
it easier"
Bary Hawk's retum to form was
a
welaome
relief
after struggling eart in the
season.
'Actualy,
I
started to doubt rnFelf after Nonh Carolina"
said Hawk about a
race where he
finished
eighth.
'On
the wa/ home, I started
thinkint,
't4an
this i5
terrible. \ry'hat am lgoing
ro
do? l'm probabb/
not
going
to get any offers from anyohe to ride next
year."'
But after I got home, I started thinkir€
about the bike. and what I can do to mak€ it work
beter And rhat s when l finally wasn't in a panic
anyrnore. Once ltot back imo the groove and
calmed down, I realized things weren't so bad."
t
Two-time AMA
National Ha.e
Scrambles
Champion
,ason
Raines
(left) returned
to th€
GNCC
sccne at Lorret-
ta's-asaspec-
tator. After
breaking his leg
twice in the last
year,
he's llnally
walking
without
crutches.
Raines
says
he's
tingly,
Loretta's, save the l6t-lap
hung close to Salminen in a
Mullins.
about five weeks away from gelting
approval to
to
riding, and he hoP€s
to
be
racing aSain by the
summer.
"Ri8ht
now I seem fine if I'm
iust
stand-
in8, but my leg is bsically like
a stick. lt doesn't
do an),thin8!"
Smith and
other
-
where Salminen
race
would
pr-:ll
a big early lead and never look
back
-
this tinre he had reason to look back.
CYCLE NEWS
.
MAY IO, 2006 6rl
I
aaa
Bri
Sqlminen
linish-
o
Eorry Howk
gove
it his
on his loes en roule lo
a
i;
