GNCC Rnd 1, Gilmer TX: Spoiler

External Since: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 221

Man, that was the most impressive piece of riding that I have ever seen in
my life. I can't even comprehend what it must be like to ride at the speeds
that most of the pros were riding yesterday. The top 5 riders ran nose to
tail at nosebleed speeds for 3 straight hours. They rode so fast that I
swear the only thing missing was a streamer of flames out the back. Simply
unbelievable.

We left Keith's house at 6:00AM in a light drizzle and the weather report
predicted a 70% chance of rain throughout the day. It didn't sound too
promising but we were going no matter. It was me, Keith and Keith's 9 y.o.
son, Jacob. We found the Barnwell Mtn riding area without too much trouble
and got there just before the start of the morning amature classes. It
looked like the rain was going to hold off so we strolled around looking in
vain for Brian Jahelka but couldn't find his Topeka Harley trailer. We
watched the start and then took off hiking to scope out some good spectating
areas. Not far from the start was a nasty uphill that had a rock ledge about
1/3 of the way from the top. It seemed there were no good lines, just some
that were worse than others. We sat and watched the carnage there for a
while then moved on around the course to where it entered some really sweet
single track. Damn that part looked like fun and Keith and I were kicking
ourselves for not entering in the amature class. The terrain was a lot like
WUDI, sorta rocky but with just enough dirt to tease you into riding over
your head. We hiked probably 2-3 miles of the course before heading back to
the start. We sure didn't want to miss the Pro start.

Waiting around for the start I spotted the Suzuki team manager standing off
to the side just a few feet behind us. I knew that somehow he was connected
to the guy who used to write for Dirt Bike magazine but I wasn't sure if he
was the same person or a relative. He was friendly even though I'm sure he'd
heard this question about a million times. The funny thing is that now I
can't remember what he said. I think he's Mike Webb and the magazine
columnist is his brother, Tom Webb. Or vice versa. But I knew he was just
wishing I'd go the hell away so after jabbering like an idiot for a minute
or two I slunk back to my spot by the start. Then is when I realized that
everything I thought I knew about riding fast suddenly seemed very, very
miniscule. When that flag dropped the field of 36 pros took off in a cloud
of dust and noise and I just stood there in awe. For the record Mike
Lafferty took the hole shot but it was absolutely incredible how fast those
guys took off. They were to the second corner in the amount of time it
normally takes me just to get my feet back on the pegs. Somewhere around the
middle of the pack someone went down and there was a huge pile up but by
then the front runners were long gone. One poor sucker went wide but in the
dust didn't see a rock about the size of a kitchen sink. His rear tire hit
it and sent the bike one way and the rider went flying in the other
direction. He got up and kept riding but damn, that had to hurt.

From the start we hiked over to the big uphill where we had been earlier.
Pretty soon we could hear the leaders coming and jeez, just the sound of
those guys made your hair stand on end. WFO all the way around. In moments
they came by; Hatch, Kiedrowski and Rodney Smith, nose to tail. They ripped
past so fast they almost sucked the oxygen away. Right behind them was Jason
Raines and Ryan Hughes. Hughes' front fender was pointing straight up and
the shoulder guard on his chest protector was flapping loose but he was
hauling major butt. My appreciation for Ryno just clicked up another couple
of notches. This hill where the amatures struggled so much wasn't more than
a speed bump to these guys. While talking to some of the folks spectating we
heard of another hill closer to the finish that was supposed to be much
worse so we set off in search of it.

Along the way we spotted the cameramen for the Speedvision program. It's not
nearly as glamorous as I expected. Just a couple of kids with fancy
camcorders. They had some locals running them around on bikes and ATVs and
they'd move from one vantage point to another just ahead of the leaders. We
noticed a couple of times they showed up too late and the leaders had
already gone by.
We found another nice hill climb but it wasn't the Big One. But we sat for a
couple of laps watching the lines of the Pros and the A-riders.

If it makes you feel any better, even the A-riders looked slow and spodely
comparatively. There was a nice smooth inside line with just a little bit of
a rock ledge toward the top, or there was a line straight up the middle that
turned the rock ledge into a jump, and then there was the far outside line
that was like a wall. If the rider didn't have enough speed he'd slide down
the wall and hit square onto the face of the most vertical part of the
ledge. One guy did that and it was the most ugly metallic clunking sound
I've ever heard. When the freight train came through they were going so fast
that they rode that outside wall line like it was the banked oval of a
NASCAR race. Criminey these guys were flying. By now the lead had changed
and MX Kid was in front, followed at various times by Smith, Hawk and Hatch
and now Ryno was right there with 'em. They had what seemed like about a 4
minute lead on the rest of the field.

We set off hiking again and followed the course around to "The Hill". At the
bottom of the hill was small creek that had about 4 lines across it. Then
there was a short flat that gave a good run at the hill itself. This thing
was long and it was steep and covered with loose rocks and a lot of big
roots that ran from one side all the way to the other side of the trail. Two
laps from the finish the leaders came by and their teams were pointing out
the best line across the creek. They blasted through and up the hill and
were gone...just that quick too. Hughes was just a moment behind them. He
slowed momentarily when he saw everyone pointing at the line across the
creek and then he just pinned it. It was awesome. He blew through the creek
and hit a small whoop just on the other side which launched his KTM about 4
feet into the air and about 25 feet down the trail. He practically landed on
the hill. No one else did that.

By now Shane Watts and Jason Raines were out of the race and we didn't know
why, but we knew that this last lap was going to be awesome because you
could cover the top 5 riders with a blanket. They were riding to win and
nothing less was going to do. The hill was only a few turns from the finish
so it was going to be now or never. Pretty soon you could hear 'em coming
and it sounded incredible. They were still wheel to wheel and WFO. Smith was
leading, followed by Kid, Hawk, Hatch and Hughes. Everyone stopped breathing
as Hawk actually tried to pass Kid on the uphill. They were side by side at
the top, Kid on the right and Hawk on the left. Hawk's line put him dead
center onto a rock ledge that was near vertical and Hawk's YZ launched at
least 6 feet into the air...sideways. And they disappeard over the crest
just like that, side-by-side, with Kid at ground level and Hawk flying way
overhead. The crowd erupted in a huge cheer. Hawk gave it all he had but
this time Kid hung tough and didn't let it get away from him.

They finished in that same order: Smith, Kiedrowski, Hawk, Hatch and Hughes.
Only 4 seconds seperated the top three. That's pretty amazing when you
consider that it was a 3 hour race. After the race was over we walked around
the pit area. Never did find Brian Jahelka and never saw him during the race
so I have no idea what happend to him. I saw Shane Watt's exhaust and
realized why he dropped out. It looked like you'd run over it with a
Peterbuilt. There was a crowd of people taking pictures of the back of
Hughes' bike and it was because every knob on the center rows were gone.
Every single one. The only knobs left on the tire were the ones that stick
out on the side and they didn't look too good either. My other hero, Scott
Summers, finished a very respectable 8th place. His tires still looked good
BTW, but he had a raging burn on his neck where he got clotheslined by a
vine. Ouch! He's one tough hombre. Still, my hat's off to Ryno. 5th place in
his first ever GNCC is pretty damn impressive. If you EVER have a chance to
go see these guys ride you need to do it.

Now, if I can just finagle my way to an outdoor National. Before I leave
this world I want to see RC and Bubba on the gas at a real race and not that
SX shit either. I mean a real race on a real track with real terrain. Anyone
going to Washougal this year?

Everett

External Since: Feb 17, 2004 Posts: 418

"txmxrider" <txmxrider.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<101ucjckp460hc8.DeleteThis@corp.supernews.com>...
> Man, that was the most impressive piece of riding that I have ever seen in
> my life. I can't even comprehend what it must be like to ride at the speeds
> that most of the pros were riding yesterday. The top 5 riders ran nose to
> tail at nosebleed speeds for 3 straight hours. They rode so fast that I
> swear the only thing missing was a streamer of flames out the back. Simply
> unbelievable.

When they post the results on the website go look at the lap times.
They usually run within a few seconds lap after lap after lap. I think
that is totally amazing.