Kit Palmer | March 8, 2004
After finishing third at the Palatka GNCC and winning the Alligator Enduro earlier in the week, Am-Pro Yamaha’s Jason Raines capped off his Bike Week swing with another win at The General GNCC in Washington, Georgia, yesterday.
Raines pulled out a huge lead and had “…one of those days where you just can’t do anything wrong,” he said. Even losing his rear brake on the last lap couldn’t slow him down.
A tremendous battle raged for second and third. After three-hours of racing, five-time GNCC Champion Scott Summers and SCR Yamaha rider Robbie Jenks emerged from the woods side by side. Jenks and Summers cut inside and outside of each other in the final grass-track section, and then collided in the last turn, where Jenks ended up on the ground. Summers stayed upright and took second.
“I’ve never been excited about just getting on the podium before, but this is a real personal victory,” said the Parts Unlimited/Moose-backed Summers. “I’ve been through a lot over the last four years, and I’m happy to reward all the companies who had faith in me to get back up here.”
Jenks collected his first podium in over a year with third. “I don’t know what it was today,” Jenks said. “I didn’t even have a good start, but I was able to get to the front.” Fourth place went to FMF Suzuki’s Doug Blackwell, while fifth went to he teammate Mike Kiedrowski.
FMF Suzuki’s Fred Andrews and Throttlehead.com/Kawasaki Team Green’s Steve Hatch battled all day and finished sixth and seventh overall, respectively.
Defending series champ Barry Hawk, who won Palatka, struggled with an illness. He ran with the leaders early but ended up eighth.
Kawasaki’s Chuck Woodford and Cole Calkins rounded out the top 10 overall
Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor
Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.
