Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Stan Lojak takes his Yamaha YZ490 to a sloppy overall win at round three of the AMA /Wiseco 100-Mile Hare Scrambles Series. AlfAjWiseco Joo-Mile Hare Scrambles Series: Round 3 Stan Lojak gets first Fireball 100 win· By Larry Bell T AR ENTU M, PA, APR. 20 Stan Lojak pulled out all the stops and put on an impressive' woods riding display in taking his Yamaha 490 (Hi-Point/Rocky/ Smith Goggles/Spectro/Lojak Cycle Sales) to victory as he wrapped up th e overall win in the Fireball 100, round three of the AMAIWiseco 100-Mil e Hare Scrambles Series . 20 Lojak had a winnin g ma rgin eft: a lmos t two m inutes o n Bob Elliott a nd hi s KTM 250 (Di rty Harry's/H iPo int Racing). Trail in g Elliott by nearl y si x m inutes was Paul Lemon and h is Charley Cycle Sal es-supported KX250. Craig Martin (H usqvam a) a nd J oe Loj ak (Yama ha) ro u nded o ut the top five. "The pressure was on me to win," : said an ela ted Stan Loj a k sh ort ly a fter h e claimed h is first Fireball 100 win. The pressure h e was referr ing to was that no one had ever won th e Fire ball ex cept Ed Loj ak , Stan ' s brother. La st year, Stan was runnerup to Ed; this yea r Ed was hobbling aro u n d th e pits and di dn 't co m pe te, due to a knee injury. " I wa nted to keep the name here," Stan added. Lo jaks are hometown rid ers a nd ta ke much prille in th eir dominance o Cthe race . The noon start of th e three-hour race had the Experts o f th e 250cc A a nd Open A classes starting the race. . The res t of th e field started at one- m in ute interva ls. The open field start led th e riders to a bo b-and- wea ve line bet ween th e trees until they h it the tightl y wooded tra ils of th e Pennsylvania m ountains. Top fin ish ers covered seven laps o n th e IO ile co u rse. -m T eam H uskv m ember Fred H oess pulled th e ea rly lead over Loj ak a nd Elliott, although it was o n ly by a few .seco nds, and th e trio swa p ped th e top slots for the fir st h alf of th e race. H oess tHusky/'Aut oli te/Bel-Ray/ Aceel / Sm ith / H us ky Products ) had a brief flirt wit h th e overall wi n until h e ra n out of ga soline in th e woods. " I had a good lead until I ran o ut. Another rider gave me eno ugh (gas) to get back. I pitted and th en took o££ after th e front-runn ers . I started to reel them in when the other problems hit," he added. The other probl ems . started when he ban ged th e exhaust wh ich in turn hit a radiator hose ca us ing a rupture a nd lo st fluid. Before it co u ld sei ze, a no ther rider stopped for a quick repair a nd a spe ctator donated wat er. La ter in th e rac e, H oess threw hi s cha in , derailling hi s hopes for th e overall slot . " I wanted to use th e Husky Products pipe on th e n ew bike (five miles o ld) because it has better midrange and KTM-mounted Bob Elliott was second overall . first 250cc A atthe Fireball 100; Paul Lemon finished second in the 250s. more ground clearance. Guess it just didn 't work too well today," he added . Stan Lojak took th e lead for good . o n th e fifth lap and h ad a different stra teg y for the race. "He tired h im self out. He kept falling down. I figured he would tire himself out sooner th an h e did. He d idn 't p ace himself, " said- Lojak. " T h e bike ran great. Onl y problem I had was when I got stuc k o n th e last hill on th e la st lap. A lot o f g uys got mi sdirected on th e m ountain sectio n. I used my h ead and let everyone wear th ernselves out, " he grinned. Elliott and his KTM were having problems with the difficult and diverse terrain while trying to get put front. "The first three or four laps we wer e swap pi n g , then I fell in a creek bed and Stan got by me and put a halfminute on me," Elliott said. " It took me a whil e to get goin g beca use I was ti red . I started running good again , but it was too lat e," Elliott sa id. H e added th at he is going to co ntin ue to run th e 100 m ile series to ga in experience for th e Na tio na l har e scra m bles. The real sleeper o f th e race was Lem on an d h is KX250. H e maneuvered past slower traffic and one-lane mud lines plus had a badly slip p in g clutch to come from six th place on lap th ree to finish third. Lap three was th e ap p ro xima te halfway point o f th e race. It 's important because most riders began to pit for fu el. Except Lemon. H e's been running en d uros o f late a nd had ins talle d an IMS four-gallon fuel ta n k which he figured was good for about 125 miles. Even with average speeds hovering around th e 20 mph mark, h e had no fear of runn ing out, pitting and losing time; Lojak 's final pit stop was around 27 seco nds . But the extra fuelcouldn't prevent th e slipping clutch. whi ch iro n ica ll y start ed at about the midpoint. Ri ch ard Karr dominated th e Super Senior class from sta rt to finish on his KX250. " Da ve Coombs a nd I have fo ugh t for years, and this year we both moved up in class. I d idn't fall at all. We all had problems with the bottlenecks and lapped riders," he added. Karr downpl ayed th e fact tha t h e h ad just got o u t o f th e hospital following a bout wi th pneumonia and wa sn 't running a full capacit y. Coombs ch allen ged briefly before slowing his pa ce as a result of three broken ribs resulting from a fall at a nother hare scra m bles. Dave Fallas, 1985 l25 cc National Hare Scrambles cha m p ion , showed up and eas ily rode away with the 250cc A win on hi s H i-Point/M] Racing/Bob Thomas Kawasaki-supported KX125. " I just got married and I want to tak e it eas y for a while." he said. " T h e on ly problem I had was a hot clutch which started to act up about the fourth lap," he added. Lee Lazel y (KT M) had the lead for the first three laps of the Open B class, but could only hold the charges of Bob Ellis a nd John Vincent until th e fourth lap, when Vincent took th e point. But Vin cent could not fend o££ Ellis, and when th e flag fell , Ellis took th e cla ss win. Average lap tim es for th e first few laps were in th e 24-m inute range. As th e weather an d the co urse condition deteri orated, lap times dropped to around 26 minutes. • Result s OVERAll: 1. Stln Lojlk (Ylml; 2. Bob EIliOll IKTM); 3 . Paul Lemon (Kaw); 4 . erlig Mlrtin (Husl; 5 . Joe Lojlk (Ylm ). OPEN A: 1. Sten Lojl k (Ylmt 2. Crlig Mlrtin (Hus); 3 . Jeff FilCher (Ha n); 4. Robe Toole (Han); 5 . Greg Holden (KTMI. 250 A: 1. Bob ElliOll (KTMt 2. Plul Lemon (KIW); 3 . Joe Lojek (Ylm l; 4 . Fred Hoe.. (Hus); 5. Devid Slnti (Ylm ). 200 A : 1. Daye Falla. (Kaw ); 2. Ben Hamrick (Vlm l; 3 . Don Bigley (ylm); 4 . Kent Stlnley (KIWI; 5 . Ron Lojlk (Ylm ). 4 ·STRK; 1. SCOllSummers (Han); 2. Amos Ben· nell (VIm); 3 . Albert SWIger (KIW); 4. Carey Stump (C-AI; 5 . Tom Hlrmon (Honl. SR A: 1. Hank Stankiewicz (Hus); 2. J im Woj_nis (Yam); 3. Scan Wolfersberger (KTM); 4. Garrett Hetch (Vaml: 5. Edwin Brailsford (C-A). SS: 1.Rich KI" (K!l.w); 2 . Hlrry Greenlee (Honl ; 3 . Dl vl Smith (Han); 4:-OlvI Mitchell (KTM); 5. Roge r RholdesIC·A). OPEN B; 1. Bob Ellis (Veml; 2. DIve Bert le n (KTM); 3 . John Vincent (Hus); 4 . John Campbell (KTM); 5. Lee Legely (KTM). 250 B; 1. Gig ROlch (Kawl: 2. DIn Sagath (ylm); 3 . Kurt Lolbech (KTM); 4 . DIve Molnlr (KTM); 5 . Ken Stobert (Ylm). 200 B: 1. Forrest Stark (Yamt : 2. Tom Marshimer (VIm); 3 . Mlc Burnside (Ylm); 4 . Stuart Donaldson (Klw); 5 . John Petrille (Ylm ). SR B: 1. John Kuble (KTM); 2. Joe Hull (KTM); 3 . Mike Dugan (Yam); 4 . Richard Scon; 5. James Van- denberghe (Ylm ).

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