Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ ~ 0 u (J) > z z w ...., 0 z « w " a:: w 0 <.0 00 O"l (J) w - ~ « ...., > '" 0 ~ (J) O"l l- ...... .... 0 :I: CL 0. -< Geoff Ballard thought he had won the race but didn't realize that Lojak had snuck by him while pitting on the final lap. Ed Lojak collect his second win of the AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch. AMA/Wiseco National Championship Hare Scra'mbles Series: Round 3 lojak wins at loretta lynn's By James Derek HURRICANE MILLS, TN, MAR. 23 Eddie Lojak guided his Husqvarna to the overall win at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch in the third round of the AMAIWiseco National Hare Scrambles Championship - Series. The Pennsylvania rider took his second overall win of the series when Australia's Geoff Ballard mistakingly 8 coasted to the checkers on the last lap thinking he was the race leader. "I moved by Ballard right after the white flag while he was still sitting in the pits," said Lojak. "I don't even think he saw me." Ballard's pit crew admitted afterward that they did not realize Lojak had moved by until after the Can-Am rider left the pit area for the final go-around. Tony Heridon, John Martin, and Randy Hawkins rounded out the top five overall slots, while Tom Buckles, Jeff Fredette, Jeff Dawson, John Fero, and Jeff Smith each collected a class win. The National event was also the second round of the Wiseco 100 Miler Series and was run in conjunction with an AATVA National Hare Scrambles Series race. In all, the Ranch played host to nearly 500 com- petitors during the weekend. The Dave Seville-designed course provided riders with a contrast of tight woods and fast straights, laid out in a 10 mile loop. The course proved fast early on, but once traffic cleared and riders settled in, the track became extremely rough and rutted. Ballard pushed his Can-Am to the lead at the stan of the evenl. Riders we.re placed in six starting rows with the green flag dropping at one-minute intervals. The riders raced down a 1oo-yard stretch before funneling into a sharp hairin. Fifty yards across a meadow the pack faced a short creek section. The water was not deep, but proved to be hazardous for I 25cc A winner Dawson. "I started midpack and hit that creek a bit fast," he said. "I got a mouthful of the stuff. I didn't drown out in it, but the bike sputtered a ways before I got things sorted." Four-Stroke winner Buckles also had trouble on the starl. "I got a bad kick on my Husky, so I was the dead 'last rider in my wave on the start," said the Indiana thumper pilol. "But by the .end of the first lap I was in front of the rest of the class." Ballard was paced by Michigan's Mike Keen and North Carolina's Steve McSwain up fronl. Ballard and Keen soon diced themselves into a 20-second lead at the barrels when the pack completed lap one. The duo hit check-in one second aparl. Keen had problems on the second loop and fell out of the top 10, while Ballard finished the lap one minute and 10 seconds in front of McSwain, Hendon, Blair Sharpless, and Fritz Kadlec. Lojak picked off riders after an outside position on the line left him near lasl. He came around the barrels in sixth place. Class winner Fredette moved into an early lead in the 200cc A division, but was overtaken on die third goaround by Yamaha-mounted David White. The IT rider had picked up a minute on Fredette during the second lap, and shot by on the rough uphill that led into the pit area. Fredette tried to stay with White, but soon found the Virginia racer too quick to keep in sigh l. "I tried 10 keep an eye on him, but the rougher the track got, the more I realized that my suspension was too soft," said the Hallman/J ones/Sierra/ MelZeler rider. By the fifth lap White had moved a full two minutes away from Fredette. Dave Coombs (Hon) had moved into an early lead in his first-ever Super Senior class National. He was chased by eventual winner Smith for a lap before Smith motored by. Coombs moved back into the lead during the next circuit but lost the lead for good to Smith during his third-lap pit stop. At the end of the loop, Ballard had stretched his lead to one minute, ~O seconds. When the Can-Am crew mistakingly cross-threaded Ballard's gas cap after a fuel-up, nearly 20 seconds were losl. Ballard spent almost a full minute on the side of the track, but the delay was not as detrimental as Lojak's strategy to forego a pit stop which went all but unnoticed. The Husky rider had estimated that his bike would be able to go 40 miles on a tank - the exact distance of four trips around the 10 mile course. Lojak's gamble paid off on the next lap with a lightning-quick gas stop that left him just ~5 seconds behind the Australian. Lojak was positioned to make a run for the checkers, just three laps away, while . Ballard would require another stop on lap six. Behind the front runners, Hendon turned heads when he roared into the barrels in third overall on the fifth lap. The 250 Yamaha pilot· passed John Martin and Mark Hyde, and made up 20 seconds on the leading duo. The Kentucky rider later said he and Martin had a great battle going through the fourth and fifth laps until Manin dropped his Can-Am and fell out of contention. Hyde's effort had been hampered from the start by a damaged rear brake. As Ballard and Lojak raced toward the final lap, Buckles, White, and Smith continued to lead their respective classes. Buckles had put 20 seconds a lap on second place Scott Summers, although he was slowed by a backedoff clutch adjuster. White continued to pull away from Fredette; leading by over three minutes on the white flag, while Kent Stanley and Pat Flynn fought over third. Smith's lead over Coombs had reached two and a half minutes.. John Fero came through' the barrels on his Can-Am at the white flag a minute and a half up on second place Dick Burleson in the Senior A class. Burleson had kept his 500 Husky in front of Fero's 250 for the first two laps, but Fero led the class in the later stages of the race. Dawson overcame his early dip in {continued to page 27)

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