Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542396
Briefly... The lt$seco lohn Penton GNCC was held at Sunday Creek Motocross Park, just outside ofthe Ohio University colleSe town ofAthens. Weather is always a factor at this event, but after rain all week, the skies were clear for most of the weekend. Dust was not a ractor, but there wene some maior mudholes on the technical course. Also, the Racer Productions track desiSners laid out a "Penton" section, whiah was a tight, technical old-school trail. Shane Watts has been getting stronger as the year goes on, made even more impres- sive since muddy races su(h as The Penton used to be his downfull, "l'm iust doing this so more people Wllgo to my website, shanewatts.com." was all \ry'atts would say after the race. The race is named efter John Penton, the American who first imported the KTH motorcycle to the United States in search of a better trail bike. KTl.4 made the most of it by hostin8 "youth day," where they presented T-shirts and medallions to all 106 GNCC Youth Races. And the overall youth win wa! taken by a l(TM rider, Cory But- trick. The two-hour morning race was also won by a KTM rider, well-known GNCC campaigner l'4ark Hyde. Seven-rime AltiA Na(ional Enduro Champ- on Mike Lafierty tore his ACL a( (he pre- vious GNCC in Missouriand will be out for the rest of the GNCC season. However, "Junior" is hopinS he can tough it out and still battle for his eiShth enduro title. SCR Suzuki rider D.R. Atwood finished I lth overall and won the 250 A class, mak- in8 him top amateur for the day. CYCLE NEWS JUNE Z, 2006 39 "Second is okay, but l'm really disap- pointed in my ride," said the Finnish l0- time World Enduro Champion. ''l found everT mudhole in the course! I was stuck three or four times, and it was really bad not small ones. I was really stuck. I was half a minute behind, and I caught them, and I got sttrck, and I would catch them and get stuck again. That was basically how my whole day went: go fast, get stuck, go fast, get stuck again. lt was my fault. I was making the bad decisions." Still, Salminen was able to use his speed to recover from those bad deci- sions and continually get back to the front. But like the previous nvo rounds of Suzuki GNCC Racing, Salminen has found major competition at the fronc ofthe pack in the form of Hawk and his young Am Pro Yamaha teammate, Charlie l''lullins. ln fact, at one point it looked as if it could be lvlullins' day to get his lirst win, but once again a bi8 crash sent him reeling - although he was able to recover for a podium finish. "lt was the most spectacular crash I've ever seen in my life," said Hawk of the Mullins wreck, "l figured if he wasn't dead he would have multiple broken bones. For him to get up and linish third is pret- ty incredible." Apparently, Mullins crashed when he hit a stump on a superfast downhill. With his Y2250 pegged in fourth gear, Mullins rode the front wheel before Soing over the bars, and witnesser claim he must have ragdolled downhill nearly 80 feet. Somehow he was able to recover and col- lect third, although he wasn't in the great- est mental state when it was over: "l dqn't know. I don't remember much," said l'4ullins of the crash. ''l just remember the start, and being around BarD/ on the motocross track. That's all I a f;; (Above) Solminen's eight-roce win rtrcok wor finolly pd to o holt in Ohio. (lch) Chrir llullins put in q 5trong ride for rhird. b..-----r.I .q-' I .i E q l:- ,T 7. n :l \ t \a '\.;o -r .E a, t I \ :.1 . ,a- 1 l.r ,/' jr.i-