Juha Salminen was dominant once again in the tough, red clay terrain of Georgia.
He faces rock, sand, dirt and the best riders in the U.S., but KTM Factory off-road sensation Juha Salminen again made one of America's toughest races look easy. This time it was in soft, red Georgian clay, some dusty sections and mud holes at the Maxxis General GNCC, where he jumped out to the early lead with his teammate Mike Lafferty and Am Pro Yamaha's Barry Hawk trying vainly to keep him in sight. By the finish, Juha had a big lead again, winning the second Suzuki Grand National Cross Country event of his career over 1500 other racers.
"Mike was riding good early, and then I got the pitboard telling me Barry Hawk was coming," said Salminen. "I just try to go the same speed every lap. You know all the tracks are going to be different, but if you're going to ride them, you might as well try to win."
Mike Lafferty had an early lead, and rode to his best finish of the season after battling with Hawk.
The friendly rider from Finland might be winning, but it doesn't even look like he's just cruising out front, looks clean after the race, and even when he's hanging out in the pits he demonstrates a cool demeanor which belies the determined competitor who has taken America's largest off-road series by the throat.
The competition is trying hard to reel him in. Lafferty led early, lost time, and then survived an all-out duel with Hawk to emerge second. Midway through the fourth lap Lafferty tangled with a lapper and went down, letting Salminen get out of sight and Hawk slip pass. Lafferty remounted and set back out for Hawk. As the riders headed out for the last lap Juha had checked out to about a minute lead over Hawk and Lafferty had moved back up to the rear wheel of Hawk for a last lap battle.
"It's never been a matter of conditioning with me," said Lafferty, who is known for sprinting early but has struggled to keep his pace for three hours. "It's just a matter of doing it and breaking through. I always seem to make the wrong decision on the last lap, but today I made good ones."
Former GNCC Champ Barry Hawk was closing on Salminen before crashing.
Lafferty stayed right with him until the four-mile mark then made his move, taking a different line in a tight woods section and getting past him with seven miles to go. When the two made it to a mud hole at the ten, Hawk made a last ditch effort to get back past Lafferty while working through a bunch of lappers, but Lafferty had the better line and Hawk fell letting Lafferty cruise on in for a hard fought second.
Hawk needed to make a run at Salminen in Georgia, but he couldn't get it done. After a bad start he charged all the way up to second, setting up the Salminen versus Hawk duel fans had been waiting for this year. Hawk started inching up, but then he crashed. "I can even count how many times Mike and I passed each other," said Hawk. "I finally got to second and started inching up on Juha. I washed out in a corner—it was stupid. That kind of took all the energy out of me, and that's when I stopped trying to catch him. On the last lap we got to this mud hole and I knew Mike [Lafferty] was there and I had to either get around him or crash trying. I picked a bad line and got stuck."
A seemingly error-free ride brought Shane Watts to the front again, finishing a solid fourth on his KTM 125SX. With two solid finishes in a row, Watts is slowly rebuilding toward his old race-winning pace.
Fifth went to Kawasaki Team Green's Chuck Woodford. He wasn't happy with his ride, but the points put him much higher in the standings than he usually is this time of year. "I just made too many mistakes, and I couldn't get a drive going," said Woodford.
Shane Watts | 
Another victory for Salminen | 
Juha Salminen, Kurt Caselli and the KTM crew |
Meanwhile disappointment reigned through other pit areas. Jason Raines looked to finally have a drive going when he passed Watts and moved into fourth past the mid-way point, but the Am-Pro Yamaha rider lost his rear brakes and had to pit. Similarly, FMF/Throttlehead.com/Kawasaki's Steve Hatch was running up front until he lost the pin in his rear brake and dropped off the pace. His teammate Cole Calkins crashed hard early and broke his arm. FMF Suzuki's Glenn Kearney struggled in the tight, rutted conditions and ended up 12th.
Am Pro Yamaha's Jason Raines
Pro Results:
1. Juha Salminen KTM
2. Mike Lafferty KTM
3. Barry Hawk YAM
4. Shane Watts KTM
5. Chuck Woodford KAW
6. Scott Summers HON
7. Brian Garrahan SUZ
8. Robbie Jenks KTM
9. PA Allen KAW
10. Jason Raines YAM