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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542394
After three hours
of
racing,
Salminen cruised home with
his sixth win in a row in the GNCC series, some l5
sec-
onds ahead of Hawk, while Mullins limped home in
third
with a badly cut forearm suffered in a last-lap crash.
For Salminen, the win was routine.
"lYud
races are always touSh: lt is
just
a
matter
of keep-
ing the balance right," Salminen said.
"l
made a couple of
mistakes during the race, but not the
big ones that I rhink
everyone else made. Three hours is a long time in
the mud,
but that
is
my
iob,
and it is
iust
another race."
Prior to the race, the Missouri countryside had
been
bone dry and in fact,
just
two weeks before
the event, the
Southern Missouri Off-Road Ranch riding area had been a
dust bowl. However, six inches
of
rain
the week before and
an all-day rain on
Saturday
left
the course
[and
the
pits]
a
quagmire.
A
good
start would be important, and it was
Salminen
who
collected
the
$
100
RacerX Holeshot Award.
Hawk had
been
pinched
off at the start and had been forced
to remove his
goggles
in the mud, but hooked up with
Salminen
as the
pair
worked their way
toward the front.
Kearney, who came into the
event
sitting in
second overall in
the series
points
standings, was
the
next
to have
problems.
His
day took a turn for the worse in a water hole.
'At
about nine miles
out, I went through a water hole
and hit a
submerged rock. I went
over the bars, and the bike and I went
under. ltried to start the bike, but it had watered out," Keamey
said.
"l
worked for the next
hour with no tools trying to
ger
it
going
and ended up njnning
back to the
pits
to
get
what I needed.
I
was wvo laps down when I linally
got going,
so I was
just
tying to
salvage some
points."
It
wasn't long after that before
Voase
and Andrews
took each
other out,
leaving
flullins alone out front. From there, Mullins took
charge of things and held a comfortable lead until Salminen caught
and
passed
him toward the end of the second lap.
On
lap three,
Hawk
caught up with Salminen and Mullins, as the three riders
pulled
away from the rest of the field.
"l
caught up to
Juha
and l'4ullins for the last few laps, and it
After riding
the Hissouriround of the Nation-
al Enduro S€ries
the weekend before, Irlike
Lafierty el€cted to spend
the entire week
preceding
the Showtime
GNCC
race
in the
Show Me state.'Junior" spent seveial
days
practicing
and testing at Cadwick, a local off-
road riding
area, where he worked on setup
for his
GNCC bike. Laffeny
prefeB
to ride
the KTM 400
EXC in the Enduro events and
the 450 XEC for
the GNCC races.
'Endu.os
are a little
bit tighter and the 450 is
just
a litrle
too much,
plus
the
wei8ht of
it
tends to
get
to
you
after
a
period
of time," Lafferry said.
"The
GNCCs are a little
bit
more
wide open,
and
),,ou
can use that little-bit-more
power."
Laff€rty is also
one of the riders who is start-
ing to use a slipper clutch for
off-road rac-
int.
"Once
I srairted
usinS the rlipper clutch, I
wouldn't
go
back," teffGrty said. "lt
iust
takes
away a lot of the weidt, and the enSine brak-
ing
is so mu