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AMALHi-Poinf National Hare Scrambles Series: Final Round Lojak wins, takes title at Loretta Lynn's By Dan McCauley Photos by C.J. Coombs and McCauley HURRICANE MILLS, TN, NOV. 13 Team Husqvarna's Ed Lojak charged to the overall win in the final round of the National Hare Scrambles Series held at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch and earned his second consecutive AMA/Hi-Point Grand National Hare Scrambles Championship crown. However, Lojak had to wait three days Ed Lojak garnered hi••econd consecutive National Hare Scramble. title by taking the overall win in the final round of the serie•. Mechanical woe. dropped Kevin Hine. back to second overall. 12 SEllaTRA Enduro Champion Darryl Kuenzer fini.hed third. for the title win to be confirmed. A tabulation error in the AMA's scoring breakdown led to the title being awarded to Kevin Hines, who finished second overall for the day, in post-race ceremonies. Upon double checking and retabulating each rider's five best scores in the nine event series, Lojak came out on top, 126 points to 124 for Barry Avery. Hines dropped to third in the final standings with 123 points. Can-Am factory rider Darryl Kuenzer and Barry Avery took third and fourth overall in the event, respectively. At the riders meeting, organizer Dave Coombs asked one of the forefathers of oH-road riding, john Pen-" ton, to address the 161 competitors. Penton's speech gave encouragemen t to the riders ready to test their skills for three hours on the eight-mile course. The start was held in a large grass field, with riders immediately being funneled into a shallow creek section before heading onto the actual course. ""{he Open and 250cc Experts started together first, followed by the other classes at one minute intervals. Can-Am's john Martin, who finished second in the National Enduro Championship standings this year, was the first rider into the scoring barrels where riders were checked onto the course, with "the pack" right on his rear knobs. After 20 minutes, the leader began his second go-around. However, it wasn't Martin. In fact, few recognized who the new front-runner was. It was Tony Mitchell, and he was really blazing his way around the hilly course on his 1984 Husqvarna 250 water-pumper. Although Hines got a poor mid-pack start, he had worked his way into second ahead of Lojak and Martin. Martin pitted to straighten a bent rear brake pedal. Mi tchell led through the stan of lap three. When he stopped for gas, Hines jumped into the lead, chased by Lojak, Martin and Kuenzer. Stoney Mitchell, Tony's brother, had taken the holeshot in the 200cc ranks but was passed by Hi-Point's jack Penton. Riding a Cagiva 200, Penton had built up a comfortable lead. A real battle was going on in the Senior class with KTM-mounted AI Z;iH.lI. tryil1g ~q .hQld.~rr Husqvarna rider john Fero. Hines led going into the fourth lap until his pit stop to refuel and Lojak and Martin blasted past. By the fifth circuit, a true dogfight had developed between leader Lojak and Hines. Martin and Kuenzer were dicing for third, and Avery was running back in fifth, some five minutes behind the leaders. Dropping all the way back to sixth, Mitchell rode out of the woods with his bike's silencer in his left hand. After repairs, Mitchell returned to the action, although his chances of winning had been shattered. At the start of the sixth lap, Hines came through the scoring barrels in the lead, with Lojak nowhere in sight. As Hines maneuvered through the off-camber grass track section, Lojak came out of the woods in second, 15 seconds behind. Mitchell wasn't the only rider experiencing diHiculties, as mechanical problems began to hamper many other competitors. Martin broke a chain, repaired it and dropped back to fifth behind Avery. Kuenzer, a two-time SE&TRA Enduro Champion, was doing an outstanding job holding third over· all while riding with a flat rear tire, only three minutes oH the pace. Mounted .on a 1983 Husqvama 430 WR, Hines was beginmng to stretch· out a lead on Lojak on lap eight. With only one lap remaining. gas crew chief Buck Fox held out a pit board for Lojak which indicated he was a minute and 10 seconds behind. With the National Championship on the line, the finish was guaranteed to be heartstopping. Spectators and pit crews gathered around the finish line, waiting anxiously to see who would win. Much to everyone's surprise, Lojak blasted from the woods and to the finish linefirst for thewin. . Lojak informed everyone that Hines had broken a chain a few miles back, so no one knew for sure who would finish second. After four minutes of waiting, Hines came charging in for second. Kuenzer, who rode the last two lap with a flat rear tire, took third, with Avery fourth. "Kevin was riding really good today. At one point he came up on me and I let him around," said Lojak when it was all over. ''I'm glad a Husky won the championship," added Lojak, who receives support from Jones Goggles, Hi-Point Racing, Bel-Ray and Izumi Chain. At the time, Lojak didn't know tlfe titlewinning Husky was his.