Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.- Duane Conner pi loted his Yamaha YZ250 to a th ird overall. It .came down to the wire, and it was Ed Lojak capturing the Devil's Ridge w in and the National Hare Scrambles C'ship over Kevin Brown . AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series: Final round Lojak captures titl.e in Devil's Ridge . By Davey Coombs RALEIGH , NC, OCT. II Team Husqvarna's Eddie L ojak closed out the 1987 AMA National Hare Scrambles Championship Series with the overall victory at Devil's Ridge. The win also allowed the Pennsylvania cross co u n try ace toclaim the 250cc National .. . C? amplOnshIp as well , WIth hIS Husky teammate, Mark 22 H yde, cli nc hing the 500cc title. H yde was not on hand in North Carolina as he is still recovering from a brok en wr ist suffered in the Pol ish Six- Days, bu t his previous scores maintained his lead through the series finale. Other riders claim ing A class ti tles, though un official at press time, were 200cc A win ner Sco tt Wolfersberger , Four-Stroker Sco tt Sum mers, Sen ior cha mp H enry Sta nkiewi cz, 125cc A rider Eldon Keen , an d Su per Seni or A winner J eff Smith . Foll owing overall winner Lojak home a t Devil 's Ridge were Can -Am m ounted Tony H endon, Loj ak's .shop tea m mate Du a n e Co nner, H onda-mounted Su mmers, Ohio's Kevin Brown , and a nother H usky fast guy, New j ersey's Fred H oess. Class winne rs in North Carolina included Lojak a nd Summers (250cc and O pen A, respectively), David Shell y in th e 200cc A ra nks , 125cc A winner Steve Genter , Kentucky H onda pilot Carey Stump in th e Four-Stro ke As, Sta nk iewicz, and Super Senior A winner H arry Greenlee. Amateur class winner s were Open B rid er Timothy Terry, 250cc B p ilo t B ur~n H amrick, .~ I~nn Foster Rector In the 200cc.BdiVISIOn, Four-Stroke B leader KeVIn Ho wser, Seriior B rider J ohn Ku bli, West Virgini a 's J ohny Lee in th e Super Sen io r B, Mas ter's winner Charles Hawk, and T eam DNF's Don Cannon in th e J uniors. Going int o the fin al round, Brown ma intai ned a slight points lead on Lojak a ndall Brown needed, if Lojak won, was a second p lace a t Devil's Ridge. Bu t late in the race , whil e ru nning second and being pursued by H endon, Brown and -:a lapped rider tan gled, sending Brown into a tree an d breaking his H onda 's fro nt brake. Brown ·finished. fourt h . T he Devil 's Ridge course proved to be a fast one. In corpora tin g the mo tocross tra ck wi th the nearby woo ds, th e promoters were able 10 put together a trail that measured approximately five miles in length, wit h lap ti mes for the leaders running near 12 minutes. Overa ll, the ri ders seemed to be in diff erent to th e course, depe nd ing on ho w they felt ab out tra ils th at were mor e open as compared to the ones used at the o th er facilities on the circuit. Wh at th e track may have lacked for some was more th an made up by th e fine Atlan tic coast wea ther that greeted the participants. Warm and cloud- less skies made the rid e a comfortable o ne throughout. . The riders left the starting area for th e three hour event in waves, with the dead-engined 250cc and Open A riders leading the way. Hondamounted Brown made it to the scoring barrels first, followed 30 seconds later by Hendon, Lojak, and Amateur National Motocross Champion Robbie Neeley . Open A leader Summers was next. The Kentucky H onda pilot ' h ad put away the Thumper titl e a round earlier and was gaging his talent with an Open A rid e in th e final race aboard his XR600. Pennsylvania's Craig Seifert put his Yamaha into the early lead in th e Jun ior class , w ith Husk ymounted Lee Hermansen 10 seconds down after a lap . Cannon was all th e way back in ninth after the first loop , and it was not until the eighth lap th at the Yamaha-mounted winner moved into the lead , repl acing H erm ansen a nd Seifert. In all Canno n wo uld complete 13 laps to the overall winner 's 15. H e was followed in the class sta nd ings by Seifert , CanAm ri der Mic hael Paynter, Huskymount ed Marty Strouse, and H ermansen. Brown con ti n ue d o u t fr on t, though H endon was soon cu tting into the large early lead th at the H on da ri der had 'earn ed, and Loj ak was rig ht o n the conte nder 's tail. Wh en th e three hit the ba rr els for the fifth lap check the count between first and th ird was just five seconds. Summers cont in ued to lead the Open A class, wi th Ya maha 's Stan Lojak two mi nu tes down in secon d. Beh ind him cam e No rt h ' Caro li na na tive Steve Arth ur an d Pen ns ylva n ian J o hn Vin cent . In the 200cc A class Kawasaki' s Ben H a m ri ck and Wo lfersberger were giving Shelly all he wanted until Hamrick dropped compl etely o ut of th e race while lead in g the fifth lap . Fro m th ere Shell y and Wolfersberger went o ne-on-one , swappin g th e lead fight up until the chec kers . Shell y was the man on top a t that time, wi th Wolferber ger just 30 seconds back in a close runner-up spot. O n the seventh lap Lojak moved int o th e lead for th e firs t time , putting 10 seconds between hi mself a nd H endon. But on th e very next lap Brown moved back into first and added five ticks on Lojak. H endon was still clo se, while a few more seconds back ca me Conner, who was . starting to make his presence felt. Greenlee had completely wrapped up the Super Senior A win by this time. Early ' 125cc A leader Greg Erwin had fallen off the pace by the eighth lap, a nd H onda-mounted Steve Genter was soon making his move. Genter took over at that point a nd would stretch his ride into a 15 lapper, besting Kenneth Gillum and Tommy H ouston in th e process. David Fallas a nd H enry Snuggs rounded ou t the first five. . ! Stump's Four-Stroke A win saw the big Kentucky racer take a lap one lead all the way home. Stump was challenged by Honda riders Charles Dail ey and Chris Walton, but by the final check he was four minutes up. His four s tro ke counterpart Summers was having an even better . day at th e top of the Open A ranks. Summers challenged for the overall lead past the one hour mark, then . backed off slightly in . order to preserve his class win. . Stan Lojak, Steve Arthur, KTM-mounted John Rut herford , and John" Vin cent clocked in behind the fourth overall Summers in the Open A final count. Stankiewicz moved into the Senior A class lead early in the day and was never removed from that top spot. KTM's Joseph Hull and Michael Reyno lds, aboard an M-Star were close throughout, but neither could match the frontrunner 's pace. Those three held down the front positions at the finish, wi th Mike Parks and Peter Watkins stayi ng in the front five after three ho urs . Rector's 200cc B win did not come q uite so easi ly. Starting out just barely in the top 10, Rector began displacing riders early, and it wasn't u ntil two laps from the end that he reeled in Ka wasaki p i lot David Davies, who attached himself to Rector 's rear fender. At the flag the leader's lead read exactly two seconds, Rector's win being the closest first prize of the day . Brown's lap eigh t pass of Lojak would be the lasttime any rider got in th e Husky tough guy 's way. On the very next loop he displaced Brown 'and began turning u p the pace. It was at this point when Brown said he collided with the lapped rid er, giving Hendon second and Conner third. The mi shap cost Brown th e cha mp ionship title. By th e 13th go- around ','Fast" Eddie was a minute up, with Hendon second. At the checkered flag Lojak 's lead read just over 60 seconds o n H endon , and the Nati onal Ch ampionship was his . Conner, Brown, and H oess, ro unded ou t th e 250cc A top five. • . Results OPEN A: 1. Searl Summers (Han); 2. Stanl ey Loj ak (Yam) ; 3. Steve Arthur (Hu s); 4. Joh n Rutherford (KTM); 5. John Vi ncent (Hu s). 250 A ; t . Edw ard Lojak (Hus); 2. Tony Hendon (C-A); 3. Duane Conner (Yam); 4. Kevin Brown (Han); 5. Fred Hoess (Hus). . 200 A ; 1. David Shelly (Han); 2. Scott Wol fers berg er (Kaw); 3. Ben Hamrick (Kaw ). 125 A : 1. Steve Gente r (Han); 2. Kennet h Gillum (Han); 3. Tommy Houston (Han); 4. David Fallas (Kaw ); 5. M ike McCarren (Yam). 4 ·S TRK A ; 1. Carey Stump (Han); 2. Charl es Dail ey (Han); 3. Chris Walton (Han); 4 . Hen ry Sn uggs (Yam). SR A ;: 1. Henry Stankiew icz (Hus); 2. Joseph Hull (KTM); 3. Michael Reynolds (MST); 4. M ike Parks (KTM); 5. Pet er Watkins (Yam). S/ SR A ; 1. Harry Gr eenlee (Han). OPEN B; 1. Timothy Terry (Han); 2. Farr ell Smit h (Hus); 3. Pau l Michels (C-A); 4. Grego ry Bun n (C· A); 5. Kevi n Condon (Han). 250 B: 1. Buren Hamrick (Han); 2. Craig Brooks (Han); 3. Jim M iller (Han); 4. J effrey Wright (KTM); 5. Michael Saravall i (KTM) . 200 B: 1. Glenn Foster Rector (Hon); 2. David Davies (Kaw) ; 3. W illiam West (C-A ); 4. David Kendrick (Kaw); 5. George Pollard (KTM). 4 -STRK B: 1. Kevin Howser (Hon); 2. Mi ke Ding er (Hus); 3 . Tracy Warri ngton (Hon); 4. Mike Jo hnso n (Han); 5. Ma rk Niggemyer (Han) . SA 8 : 1. John Kubli (KTM); 2. Steve Mc Swain (Han); 3 . Darrell H'illiard (Han); 4 . Fredrick Hut h (Hus); 5. Richard Scott (Han). S/SR B; 1. Johnny Lee (Yam); 2. F. Hammo nd (Hu s); 3. Will iam Miller (Han); 4 . Roger Rhoades (C-A). MS TR; 1. Charles Hawk (Yam); 2. Bill Hart sell (Yam). . J R: 1. Don Cannon (Yam); 2. Cr iag Seifert (Yam); 3 . Michae l Paynt er (C-A); 4 . M arty Strou se (Hus); 5. Lee Hermansen (Hus) . .

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