LAFFERTY TAKES HIS FIRST GNCC WIN–APRIL 8

Rnd. #4 GNCC Series
Cross Anchor SC 4/7/02

Surprise Surprise! Mike Lafferty finally vaulted to the top of a GNCC Championship event with a huge win in the South Carolina round of the series. Along with Mike came a duo of new generation riders who also made their way to the top of the GNCC series, Robbie Jenks and Jason Raines.

Warm temperatures and sunny skies were the order of the day as Rodney Smith grabbed the hole shot with Lafferty and Jenks close behind. Smith soon bobbled letting Lafferty and Jenks get by and take off, pulling out a 20 second lead on Smith, Hawk and Raines. As the lead duo settled in to a good pace Raines came to the front while Smith and Hawk suffered from crashes on the third of a six-lap race.

Lafferty would lead the way out of the pits after refueling about 10 seconds ahead of Jenks and Raines who had put about a minute and a half on Kiedrowski who was in fourth position. Heading out on the final lap Lafferty still held the front spot followed closely by Raines and Jenks, all of whom had run away from the pack by about two and a half minutes. A couple of mud holes would come into play when Raines stumbled in the first one letting Lafferty and Jenks turn it into a three way fist fight. Then Raines hogged into the second one letting Lafferty completely get away and Jenks get by. From there they would just ride around and finish in that order.

1) Mike Lafferty                            KTM
2) Robbie Jenks                             YAM
3) Jason Raines                             YAM
4) Mike Kiedrowski                 SUZ
5) Fred Andrews                            KAW
6) Barry Hawk                                 YAM
7) Rodney Smith                             SUZ
8) Randy Hawkins                      YAM
9) Cole Calkins                                 KAW
10) Doug Blackwell                      HON