Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott Plessinger was holding the lead on the last lap of the race. but the Can-Am rider crashed. handing the win to Lojak. Stan Lojak took the overall victory at round three of the AMA National Cross Country Series. the Spring Fireball. AMA Grand National Cross Country Series: Round 3 Lojak scores Spring Fireball "win By Keith Biddle Photos by Bill Frehs T ARENTU M, PA, APR. 26' Stan Lojak carried on a .family tradition Sunday when he claimed the overall victory at the Spring Fireball round of the Grand National Cross Country Series. Lojak bagged the win after strong ch a ll en ges from Yamahamou n ted Duane Connor Fred , . Hoess, a nd race-long nval Sco tt Pl essinger. Nearl y 300 riders atten ded th e 'ra ce which was produ ced by Worl dSpor ts in conj uncti on wit h t he ' Fa w n T o wn sh ip vo lu ntee r Fire Dep artment. T he first wave of dead engine sta rters fea tured th e 250cc a nd O pen Ex perts wi th perennial fa vorite Ron Lojak blasti ng into the lead fro m a n unusual grid position, nearl y 50 yards away from th e res t o r hi s competi tors. Loj ak Ielt that h is spot would allow him to strai gh ten o u t the ro lling left-handed fir st turn. The stra tegy wo rked, though Huskymoun ted hotshoe H oe ss was th e leader a t the end o r th e first loop. Stan Loj ak , moun ted on a Yam aha, wa s next, followed by 250cc A rid ers Connor, Pl essinger , Kawasaki pilot Da ve Fall as, moonlighting motocrosser Da ve . Santi, and Sa tur day ' a fte rnoo n m ountain bike race winner Tom H arris. The trails used in th e event proved to be ex tremely cha lle nging af ter a week or wet wea ther, desp ite th e efforts by the Sunda y suns hi ne to dry th e course o~t. The co ~ b ina tio n of tough , .Y~t rideable trails kept th e co mpe tition close and th e racers sa tisfied. Proof of the ri der's sarisfaction co uld be found in the 250cc B class, where 26 riders out o r nea rl y ' 60 finish ed wi th in a lap of the winning Loja k in the th ree-hour race. Besides ear ly lead er H oess severa l ot he r riders took turns at the head of th e pack before Lojak iced th e win. Connor , Plessinger, and Ron Lojak each mounted a charge .to the front o r th e pack, while Fall as, H arris and Santi kept everyone honest wh ile staying within str i king di stance. Kentucky's Scott Summers, ano ther m ountain bike co m pe ti to r, a lso engineered an excep tio na l ri de on his Four-Stroke H onda , event ua lly win nin g hi s class while scoring fourth overa ll. La te in the race th e conditio n o r .th e track began to improve, a nd the resultin g close co mpe ti tion saw Martin Daubert wi n th e 250cc B class by a mere 10 seconds over No rt h Ca roli na 's Buren H amri ck. T he H onda tr io o r Mike T rea d wa y, G regory Pa yn e, a n d Ji m Mi ller Martin Daubert claimed the 250cc B class win. ended up 3-4-5. In th e Junior class T om Marchese piloted his Dirty Harry 's KTM to th e first place prize, narrowly defeating a fatigued John Ayers and Don Cannon. In the Open B class Paul Michels ra ced his Can-Am to the win over Kev in Condon and Yamahamounted Glenn Schaffer. Thomas Mershimer topped a field of nearly 50 200cc B riders with Paul Mu ckl e a nd Kawasaki-mounted Buddy West rounding ou t the top three. J ohn Kubl i and Johny Lee each earn ed th e distincti on of putting an entire lap o n th e rest of the rid ers in their res pec tive cl asses. The KTMmoun ted Ku bli bested Alan Wilber a n d J ames Va ndenberghe in th e Senior B clas s, while Lee top ped David Mitchell and J ohn Buka in the Su pe r Sen ior Bs. Troy H arrington raced hi s H onda to th e Fo ur-Stroke B win ahead or Husky pilot Mike Dinger and Ma rk Niggemyer, wh ile Ch a rles Zarnick won the Masters class over Bill Hartsell a nd Paul Kru mmel. Ben H amrick was the kin g or the 200s. The West Virgi nia woods master too k th e 200cc Expert win o ver J im Maltba by nearl y nine min utes. Donald Bi gl ey, Forrest Star k, and Mike McCarren rounded o u t th e top five. Joseph Hull was ano ther o ne lap winner, bestin g th e Sen ior A class by a full cir cu it. Trouble-p lagued H enry Sta nkiewicz was second with Mik e Pa rks third. J on J ohnson from Ohio was the Super Senior A winner with Ronald Rose rive min u tes back and Dave Coom bs third. Final lap dra ma saw Stan Lojak leave the scoring barr els with a n over tw o m inute lead o n Pl essinger. Un believa bly, th oug h, just before th e fir st of two chec kpoints on the IO m ile tra il Plessin ger blasted in to th e lead. The two wen t neck a nd neck th rough the woods for severa l miles until Pl essin ger Iell while negotia ting a difficult section. This allowed Loja k to overtake the fiesty Ca n-Am p ilot o nce and for all a nd earn yet 30 seconds back at the flag wi th second Open A Tom H arri s th ird - overall; followed by Summers, Connor (seco nd 250cc A), Ben Hamrick, J oe Lojak (th ird 250cc A); Ri ck Claxton (fourt h 250cc A), San ti (fifth 250cc A), and J ohn Vin cent (th ird Open A). " My heart really fell when Scott passed me at that checkpoin t," said a relieved Stan Lojak after the race.' " I followed him for a while but I just couldn 't seem to gain any ground. If -necessary I was planning a high speed in the field leading into the finish line barrels or even jumping the main road down by the checkers. But he ended up falling before I had to try anything crazy, so I just kept it up to the £lag." • Results . 0 1 A: 1. Stan Lojak (Yam). OPEN A: 1. Stanley Lojak (Yam); 2. Tom Harris (Yam); 3. John Vincent (Hus~ 4. John Rutherford (KTM); 5. M ichae l Locker (KTM ). 250 A: 1. Scotl Plessinger (C-A~ 2. Duane Conner (Yam ~ 3. Joseph Lojak (Yam~ 4. Rick Claxton ( H u s~ 4. David Sant i (Yam). 200 A : 1. Ben Hamrick (Kaw ); 2. Jim Maltba (Yam); 3. Donald Bigley (Yam); 4 . Forrest Stark (Vam ); 5. M ike McCarren (Yam) . SR A: 1. Joseph Hull (KTM); 2. Henry Stank iewicz (Hus ); 3. M ike Parks (KTM ); 4 . Edwin Brailsford (KTM). S ISR A: 1. Jon Johnson (KTM); 2. Ronald Rose (Yam); 3. Dave Coombs (Hon). 4 -STRK A: 1. seen Summer (Hon); 2. Carey Stu mp (C-A ); 3. John Gallagher (Hus); 4. Cullen Hormes (Hus); 5. Randy Step henson (Hus). JR: 1. Thomas Marchese (KTM); 2. John Ayers (Huus); 3. Terry Shankle (Kaw); 4. Don Cannon (Yam); 5. Steve Zatezalo (Hus). OPEN B: 1. Paul Michels (C-A); 2. Kevin Condon (KTM); 3. Glenn Schaffer (Yam); 4. Randy Mans berger (KTM); 5. Sam Dyke (KTM). 250 B: 1. Martin Daubert (Hon); 2. Buren Hamrick (Hon); 3. M ike Treadway (Hon); 4 . Gregory Payne (Hon); 5. J im Miller (Hon). 200 B: 1. Thomas Mershimer (Yam); 2. Paul Muckle (Yam); 3. Buddy West (Kaw); 4. Brian Mershimer (Yaml; 5. John Petrilla (Yam). SR B: 1. John Kubli (KTM); 2. Alan Wilbert IHus); 3 . James Vandenberghe (Yam); 4 , James Seiben (Yam); 5. Charl es Lester (Yam). S ISR B: 1. Johnny Lee (Yam); 2. David Mitchell (KTM); 3 .John Buka (Kaw); 4. Lee Kesselr ing (Yam); 5. Roger Rhoades (C-A). 4-STRK B: 1. Troy Warrington (Hon); 2. Mike Dinger (Hus); 3. M ark Niggemyer (Han); 4. M ike Johnson (Hon); 5. Ray Huth (Hon). MSTR: 1. Charles Zarnick (Yam); 2. Bill Hartsell (Yam); 3. Paul Krummel (Hon). 0 1 A: 1. Stanley Lojkak (yam); 2. Scott Plessinger (C-A); 3. Tom Harr is (Yam); 4. Scott Sumers (Hon); 5. Duane Conner (Yam)1

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