Indiana GNCC

I flew out to meet Brian for the last GNCC and help him drive the box van home.  I got into Moline and we went over to Tim Taber, who owns Funmart Cycles, and the garage was full of action.  Wattsy was there with fellow Aussie Kelly Green both getting their KTM's ready.  David Night was there prepping a bike he got from Funmart.  David finished second in the World Championships and Six Days in the 250 class and is no doubt one of the best riders in the world.  Homero Diaz was in town once again visiting from Mexico and checking out the GNCC series.  After some work on the bikes and a little food it was time to have some fun on Friday night so we all got our helmets and went down to the Go Cart track.  Management can't be happy when seven motorcycle races come in ready to thrash their Carts while bashing into each other in some harmless fun.  The Carts were better than most in the indoor track.  The average lap time was about 30 seconds with the average speed right at 30 MPH.  We all got together in a big moto and went for it.  The track had some good tight corners that got slicker halfway through them so you could get them nice and sideways, which wasn't faster but was a whole lot more fun.  15 minutes later and one black flag later everyone had a big old grin on their face and then the bench racing started.  The facilities had computerized lap times and David Night was the quickest by .01 faster than me.  Everyone else was right in there except for Watts who was driving the American lines and making sure to get in everyone's way.  We had to have another session and this time we lined up in order of our qualifying times.  We went out for our warm up lap and were told not to pass.  David was the first one out and right away he started swerving like he was warming up his tires.  However he swapped right off the track on a straight away and stuck it right into the tires.  once the race started it was total chaos.  The track workers were all over the place the first couple of laps pulling people out of the tires and getting them going again.  Local boy Tim Taber won it all but we all had a great time.

The final round of the GNCC series had a lot going on.  The title was still undecided with Rodney Smith just needing a third place finish to wrap up his fourth GNCC title.  Fred Andrews and Mike Lafferty also had a realistic shot at the title and Mike Kiedrowski still had a mathematical shot at the title.  To add a little twist there were a few peons that came out the the final race.  Homero Diaz from Mexico was there, along with David Night from England, David  Fregitue from France, Barry the South African champ who jumped at the chance to ride Brian's 250 instead of Wattsy's 125 he had lined up, and there were also a couple of the GAS GAS factory boys in town.  To add those guys in with the already stacked line up and the perfect conditions it was set up to be quite a race.  When the flag waved it was England's David Night on his FunMart sponsored bike grabbing the holeshot from the inside.  There was a big pileup in the first corner involving Watts, Lafferty, Hatch, and Andy Shae.  Everyone was alright but Andy had to come in and do some repairs to the bike before he could continue.  He led the first couple of grass track corners and got so sideways in the fourth corner right in front of me and just grabbed another gear and was gone.  After the race I asked him about it and he said "no big deal, that how I always do it."   He led for the first little bit before crashing in a creek and breaking his clutch.  Chuck Woodford made it into the lead for a little bit before David Night came back to get the lead.  Behind his was Woodford, Barry Hawk, Fred Andrews, and Rodney Smith.  Lafferty who was involved in the first turn pile up was on a mission and was just about up to the lead pack after the first lap.  Brian was just outside the top ten in the first race on the 300.  David Night rode hard and led the first three laps until he pitted and tried to fix his clutch.  Barry Hawk dropped out with a broken chain, and Rodney and Andrews were fighting it out for the championship.  Rodney made a pass stick on the last lap for the win of the race and the series.  Andrews was second in both and then Lafferty rounded out the Championship podium with a third place finish.  David Night looked very impressive and worked his way back up to fourth after a long pit stop.  Woodford came in fifth followed by Doug Blackwell, Josh McLevy, Mike Kiedrowski, Robbie Jenks, and David Fretigne rounding out the top ten.  Brian finished 12 behind Hatch and in front of Hawkins and met his goal for the season in finishing top ten with ninth overall in the championship his first full year in the GNCC.  We would like to thank Milt and Doug for coming all the way out from Phili to pit for the G Brothers this year.

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