Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Riding a Honda XR600 four-stroke. Ken tuckian Scott Summers finished th ird overall at the Sand Flea 100 . He won the Open A class. \ Suzuki-mounted Kevin Brown 't ook the overall victory at the opening round of the Grand National Cross Country Series in North Carolina. AltA WisecojSuzuki Grand National Cross Country Series: Round 1 Brown jams to Sand Flea 100 win By Davey Coombs Photos by Brooke Summers and Coombs SAN FO RD, NC, MAR. 6 Ohio's Kevin Brown scored the overall win at the opening rou n d of the Grand National Cross Country Series, the event being the Sand Flea 100. The Suzuki-moun ted Brown bested Cagiva Nort h Ame rica 's Mark Hyde and Kentucky H onda ace Scott Summers in the fin al tally after come-from- 10 beh ind cha llenger Ed Loj ak dropped his H usky ride in a wa ter hazard. T he Pen nsylva nia pilo t a nd defen di ng series champ rebounded for fourth overa ll with yet anothe r O hio woods wizard, Ka wasa ki -m o u nted Scott Plessinger, rounding o ut the top five. Th e Dunl op /Ma ier/ Arai / Answer-backed Brown wa s participa ting in North Carolina aboard a privateer Suzu ki o u tfi tted w ith ora nge p lastic. His wi nn ing margin over H yde, mounted o n a prot otyp e 250cc WRK Husky, measured just over one minu te and 15 seconds. Hyde's rid e was good for the 250cc A class win after Brown' was moved o u t of the resul ts as th e overall winner. Summers, aboard an XR 600 thumper, racked up the Open A class win whi le North Caroli na Honda rid er Greg Irwin posted th e 200cc A win. Other class champs included Four-Stroke A wi n ner Corey Stump, Seni or A champ Ed Bra ilsfor d and J uni or leader Pau l Michels. Open B winner Ba rry Gas ton and 250cc B leader Ray Owens led the way in the Ama teur divisions with B. Thorn (200cc B), T racey Warri ngton (Fo ur-Stroke B), Steve McSwain (Senior B), Ch arl es Hyd e (Masters), and H ar ry Green lee also pi cking up class wi ns. The co urse for the Sand Flea 100 meas ured ap proxi ma tely 14 miles and incl ud ed near ly 10 m iles of virgin trail.. Average l ap times ra n near the 34 minu te mark, with th e second lap 30:17 of Summers co unt - ' ing un offi ciall y as the fastest lap of th e day. Overall, the riders seem ed q ui te p leased with the Sand Flea course that co mbi ned several ,difficu lt wat er crossi n gs w ith lo n g stretches of tight woods. This year 's even t was the second cross coun try ro u n d ho sted b y p romo tor Ken Cameron and his crew. T he riders lined up according to class wit h the officia ls flagging off each division a t one minute interva ls . .Ya m a h a -rno u n red Stanl ey Loj ak led the O pen A pa ck a t th e drop of the gree n flag but a t th e first creek cross ing Summers moved his H ondali n e/Sup erTrapp /Sp o rtstown U.S. A.lTsu ba kiiAI Bak er 's XR 's Only H onda into the lead . Brown took co nt ro l of the second wave of 200 and 250cc A riders with P lessin ger , H yd e, Loj ak a n d Yamaha -m ounted Dua n e Co n ner also ga ting well. A mix-up by th e leaders short ly before the first checkpo int saw a pproximately 10 rid ers overs hoot a right-ha nd corner off of th e po werline and vaulted H yde into th e class lead . Some difficulties la ter in the lap saw H yde fall off of the lead pace a nd back into fourth beh ind new leader Buren Hamrick, th e defending B class cha mp , Brown , and Lojak . ATK-mo unted Ra y Owens follow ed No rt h Ca rol i na' s R ichard Wagn er for more than a lap before acq uiring the 250cc B clas s lead, but o nce o ut front Owen s was able to bu ild a co nvincing margin on the rest of th e pack and take the class . wi n un ch a llenged. With Wag ner dropping out on the fourth of six laps, New J ersey H onda pilot Daniel May was ab le to fill th e n umber two spo t with KT M riders Allen Sha ffer and j aisson Deroch e, and Pennsyl- vania 's Dan iel Suppa ro unding o ut , the first five. In the Sen ior A class KTM's Ed Brai lsford ra n un contested for the wi n whi le Four-Stroke A winner Carey Stump topped North Carolina H onda rider Tommy Ashl ey and Oh io Hu sqvarna pilot Jo h n Gall agh er. , . A cha nge up front saw local hero Steve McSwain gain th e overa ll lead fro m Summers a nd Loj ak and build nearl y a o ne- min ute lead before the en d o f th e fi r s t lap. Summer 's bli st ering second la p sa w h i m recover th e lead a nd put an additional two minutes on the Honda -mounted McSw ain . Hamrick joined ea rly casua lties T om Harris (bro ken co lla rbone) and Jim Maltba o n th e sidelines sho rt ly after com pleting lap o ne in the lead of th e 250cc A class, lea ving th e top spot in tha t class to Brown. Lojak, Pl essinger and H yde filled in the spots behind him as th e racers clo sed in o n the halfway mark. In th e 200cc A class North 'Caro lin a's Greg Irwin took over the lead fro m front-runner Davey Coombs a nd began to battle wit h Pennsylvani a Kawasaki rider Dave Fa llas for th e class win. The two ra n within a minute of one another throughout the race, but Fall as lost hi s shot. a t th e win wi th a two mi nute push-out from a last lap creek cro ssing. Beh ind Irwin a nd th e BT Racing/ Gea r/ KMX-backed Fallas came Ohio 's Joe Krivesti , Pennsylvan ia Hond a pilot Craig J ones, and North Carolina's David Ashl ey. In th e 200cc B class Gea r Racewear's B. Thorn pushed hi s YZI25 Yama ha to hi s first-ever win. Thorn was trailed by fellow West Virginia riders Ya m aha-mounted R o na ld Ca nt ley and H onda rider Joe Farber. Ken tucky's But ch G line and Kawasaki rider Robert Tominell o ra n fo urth a nd fifth . Sum mers led th e overa ll charge through th e fo urth lap, but tro ub le on the trai l forced th e thumper pi lo t in to th e pits before lap five for a new front wheel. Bro wn a nd Loja k bo th moved by wi th Brown ho lding a 20 second lead. Before the end of the loop th e Hi-Po int/Smi th /Spectro /' Metzeler-backed Lojak would reel in Bro wn , on ly to throw awa y hi s sho t

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