Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I I I T I ! I T The Spanan GNCC track was soaked with ovemight rain and that led to one ofthe toughest races in years for the Youth and Morning race competitors. Many riders struSSled to complete just one lap of the slick course. Former pro Andy Shea won the morning overall ridin8 in the Sportsman Class, The Racer Productions crew added in seven miles of new sinSle-track trail for the afternoon race, and by then, the track had dried out iust enough to lead to treat racing. I T I t t a to do it and catch the fleeing Yamaha duo halfi,1/ay through the three-hour race. And then it was on. "l gor the holeshot,'' said l'4ullins, who netted $100 from Rocer X for the feat. "We got into the single track and it was tough. lt wasn't 'rode in' yet. lt was tough and lwanted to wait for rhe next lap when you could read the trail. You want- ed to be careful because of the rocks and stufl I made a mistake and Barry got by me. Then luha caught us and we went back and forth all day. lr was fun. lt was probably the most fr.rn I had all year." ''l got a pretty good start and I was out rhere battling with Mullins," Hawk said. "lt seemed like lwas a little faster in the tight stufl but when we would get to the open stuff he was faster. I wanted to get ahead of hrm in rhe tight stuff so we could hold that lead over.luha, but he caught us. Once he did, I think we picked up the pace a little bit: we went back and fonh." The back-and-fonh battle lasted all the way to the finish, as Salminen, Mullins and Hawk came charging toward the finish after three hours of racing each other within a few bikelengths. Salminen topped Mullins by iust two seconds, with Hawk only inches behind them in third in a near photo finish. "lt was a good race.'' Salminen said. "lt was probably the best race we had all year. I'm satisfied.'' Mullins' second-place finish was a pop- ular one with the fans, since the 2o-year- old rookie only lives about 45 minutes away from the track, iust over the Ohio border Mullins has shown amazing speed this season, and now he's working on closing the races out strong. ''l wasn't as neryous on the last lap," said Mullins, who admitted he 8ot nerv- ous while leading late at previous rounds. "l was trying to stay calm. I had a couple of spots picked out. There were some uphills and stufl but it was hard to pass. There was a lot of single-track. I tried, but Juha rode a great race. I just want to thank the fans. I had a lot of fans out here and they really helped keep me motivated today." Hawk had not only won the previous GNCC round, but also topped races in a variety of off-road series' during the off- weeks. He wasn't happy to see his streak come to an end. "l'm sure this makes it good for the spectators and TV and stuff, but l'm not happy with third," Hawk said. "With two laps to go, a lapper stopped in front of me. He made me fall over and I fell into l'1ullins, too. I thought, 'Well there goes .luha.' BLrt we ended up running him dovr'n again. I've said it before - but it's like the draft in NASCAR - you have to be at the right place at the right time. "On the last lap, there was a section before we got out into the open," Hawk said. "l had passed Juha there before, but on the last lap a lapper kind of cut me off. I iust couldn't get the drive. I know he wasn't goinS to let off there at all none of us were going to let off! I tried to run the inside on !lullins riSht at the flnish, but he got me." The close battle was made more amazing considering that muddy tracks usually don'r lend themselves to great rac- ing. But Salminen said the tight course lay- out made it work. "Some parts were really soft, but other parts were iust hard lines," Salminen said of the muddy track. ''lt was really difficult at parts. On the single- track, I would look back and they were stuck right on me. There was no way on a track like this that you could build a bi8 gap. I just tried not to make mistakes. The funny part was. the last uphill on [the coursel was the hardest part. You could take the best line and lappers could be there and you could get stuck. So you had to wait with the lappers to make sure you could get through it." While just seconds separated the front three, another big battle loomed for fourth. lt was ultimately won by Paul The Spanan GNCC also counted for points in the AHA National Hare S€rambles Series. fil'4's RobbieJenks and RER Motorcity's Nathan Kanney came into the push Kearney alonS- Both Aussres admit that mud isn\ their specialty. battlins for the points lead, but Jenks edges ahead, thanks !o his ltfth- place finish. I .t Briefly... CYCLE NEWS JUNE 28, 2006 59 (Below| Borry Howk hod o run-in with o lopper while rhosing Solminen. (Righr) Poul Whibley keeps gerdng slronger ond itronger o5 lhe GNCC SerGs Progre55e5t Five-time GNCC Champion Rodney Smith is down with an injury a8ain. This time Rodney crashed praaticint at home and broke h's hand. Doctors say he will be out four we€ks. but Rodney is hoping to nurse the iniury along so he can race the next round o[ rhe series, the Pans Unlimit- ed Wisp GNCC, in two weeks. Smith's FMF Suzuki reammate Glenn Kearney struSSled in the muddy conditions and ended up eighth. He had help from fel- low Ausralian Shane watts, who lost a whole lap repairing his brakes. waats pulled ba.k on to the track a lap down and helped I Monste. Ener0/Pro CircuiVKawasaki's Fred Andrews was runnint in the top ten early and seemed poised fo. a run inside the top five until he ran into brake troubles of his own and had to drop our ofthe race. I ta t

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