Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Kurt Houg h, from In d iana, pilo ted hi s Kaw asak i t o second overall. Tony Hendon was the overa ll w inne r at the combined Nationa l Hare Scram bles and Cross Country Series at Lo retta Lynn's D ude Ranch . AMA National C'ship Hare Scrani blesj WisecojSuzuki Grand Nat'l Cross . Country Series: Rounds 2-2 Hendon wins big in Tennessee By D avey Coom bs Photos by Greg Gillette and Bill Frehs H URRICANE MILLS. TN . MA R. 2fi In o ne of the closest N a tio n al H are Scrambles races to da te ATK-mounted T ony H endon topped Ka wasaki 's Ku r t H oug h a n d 345 other riders to win the L oretta L yn n 's Du de Ranch ro u nd of th e Cham pion sh i p Ser ie s. Fo r Ke n kv' H d I ,. , tl~ C )< S e~ on, t re wi n was I11S seco nd 111 as many ro u nds 20 o f th e hare scramb les title chase, having stormed to the seri es o pe ne r win in Florida four week s ea rl ier. T he Lorena Ly n n 's event was round two of th e Cra nd Nat io nal Cross Country Series. In T ennessee, H en don overtook ea rly lea ders Ed Lojak and Kevin Bro wn, th en ran down H ough lat e in th e ra ce to record hi s second career Na tional win. Hough had ac tua lly crosse the line ahead d of the ATK pi lo t, b ut H en do n h ad a o ne-mi n u te sta gger \0 work with follow ing a second row start, H endon made it to th e checkered fla g with just 10 seconds to spare o n th e refe ree 's sto pwa tch . Fo llowing H en don and Hough in th e first five overa ll wer e Du n lo p l I\Ia ier/Arai l Answer-backed Brow n. Mi sso uri H ond a rider T' i mo rhy N ewe ll, a nd Ka w a sak i-mo un red SC O ll P lessinger. C lass winn ers includ ed Nor th Caroli na 's Steve McSwain J r. in th e Open A class (a fte r H endo n was m oved o u t as th e o vera ll win n er ), Ind ia na 's Hough in the 250cc A ra n ks, Ka wasa ki pi lo t Kent Sta n ley in th e 200cc A clas s, 125cc A winner Ro bb ie Nee ley, Four-Stroke A .c1 ass wmncr Carey Stump, a nd Senior A win n er T erry N ea ler , Am at e u r wi n ners in clu ded teve i\1t"Swa in Sr. in th e Se nior B class, Or. Charles H yde in th e Masters ranks, Juni or cha m p Bu ren Hamri ck. Open B wi nner Barry G aston, 250cc B leader Su-ve Ezell. Ka w asa k i-rnou n ted 200c.- B w in ne r William Ba rkl ey. a nd Four- troke B Tracv \\'alTin /?;ton . T he sta rt area in corporat ed a large field across th e hi gh way a nd rha t worked down int o a long but sha llow creek-bed st retch. The 250cc A riders were rlu- fir st to be flagged off. w ith the O pen A. 125/200cc A, a nd the n:s l o f th e classes goi ng off a t o neminute int erval s. Ca g iva -mo u ru ed Aaro n H ou g h was ih« [irst rider int o th e wa ter at th e sta rt o f th e 250cc A class. T he Ind ia na ride r wa s foll ow ed closel y by Lojak a nd Brown. whi le P lessinger, Kurt H ou g h. Newe ll. and Kaw as ak i rider. Jim Sta nfi eld sca ttered a mo ng the top 10. TIlt' 125cc A /200cc A lin e was led by BT Rccing vAcerb is-backed Davey C..oombs with Team G ree n's Neeley a close second. On lap th ree of th e race. just past th e halfway mark. Ka wasa ki's Jeff Fredett e moved by hoth ride rs fo r th e lead a nd loo ked in co n tro l o f th e class, but a lat e cha rge by Neel ey gave th e North Carolina ride r hi s seco nd series win in as man y 125cc A o u tings. Loui sia na's Tim Si ngleton, BT Raci ng 's Dave Fal las, and O hi o Ya ma ha rider Joe Krive sti rounded o u t th e top five. Coom bs, co m pe ti ng in th e 200cc A cla ss. led the class the en ti re ra ce until losin g hi s sea l a mi le into the last la p. T he st ead y Ken t Stanley kept thi ngs togethe r long eno ug h to m ove bv and claim th e class win. Behind Coo m bs ca me Indi an a 's Arnold Mulzer, West Virgini a 's Buddy West. a nd H onda-mounted Dav id Sh elby. Wh en the l ' a rio na l class leaders raced int o th e specia l test secti on a t the end o f la p o ne i t was Brown o u t front with j us t three seconds 10 spa re o n Lojak aft er run ning a plus-28minut e loo p . H o ug h wa s a nothe r 30 seco nds ba ck with New ell au his roos t. Traffi c h ad co s t H en d o n nearlv a no ther 50 seco nds . but at th e check he was up to sevent h overall and fir st O p en A bi ke , th o u gh Zie rma n was cl ose a t h and . Brown led the way th rou gh the next la p . cu u i n ga mi n ute off o f h is o peu ing lap pact' a nd adding 10 scron ds o n Lojak. H oug h also held stead y. tho ug h he los t a few more ya rds o n th e Iroru-runners after ca tch ing up 10 so me ea rly lap pers. H end o n 's movem ent had h im ' u p to fifth . th ough he too lost tim e o n Brown and now sat tw o full mi n ut es o ff o f h is added stagger. Troub le o n th e trai l dropped Zierman comp letely o u t o f th e top 10, allowin g i\1c wain to tak e hi s place as Open r\ run ner-up. In th e Masters class Dr. Charles Hvde a nd H o nda-mo u nt ed Charles H awk engaged o ne a no the r in a racelong bail ie that saw th e two fina lly cross th e finish line just 10 seconds apar t - Papa Hyde O U I fro nt . West . Virgini a Yamaha pi lot Bill Hansell captu red th ird spot in th e 50-andOv er div ision. By la p three th e diff icu lt co urse began to feel th e effects of a week en d o f rar -ing a n d th e trai ls be cam e ro ug her ' a nd tough er. Husqvarna mounted Mark H yde. runner-up at he \\'i seco /Suzuki Cross Coun tr y eries o pe ner in No rt h Ca ro lina, pu lled o u t o n lap two w it h a blow n shock. Sco tt Summers' H onda XR ca ug h t a rock in the back end a nd th at for ced th e th u mper pi lot O UI. Early O pen class leader Stan Loja k d ropped o u t temporari ly with a smashed p ipe, as did earl y 250cc A leader Aaron Hough. U p front. Ed L ojak reeled in Brown 's Suzuki and ca me th rough th e check 20 seco nds up. H ough was no w nearl y I:20 back with He n do n a nother 50 seco n ds back. Newe ll ra n fifth a fte r post in g a 3 1:30 mi nu te lap. Wh en the leaders cam e into th e special test sec tio n a t th e end o f lap four Loja k was now here 10 be see n. Th e Hu sky rider had lost a set' o f sw ingarm bu shings out o n th e trail a nd co u ld not keep th e cha in o n hi s mount. Brown th en regained th e lead a nd in her ited a shorte ne d 30-seco n d lead on H ough. Whil e in th e pits for hi s onl y stop Brown co m p la ined to hi s crew abo u t 'a so re th ro at and headach e th at wa s s lo wi ng him co ns ide ra blv. H e wou ld lead one more lap, l-iis ga p o n H ough dropping a ll th e wa y down to j us t six seconds. _ The whi te flag ca me o u t for th e front-runners a t th e co ncl usio n of the fifth lap with Brown enjoying hi s last lead. Hough was o n hi s ro o st, a nd a sch edul ed p it sto p was passed up in hopes of shak ing He nd on. wh o was now runnin g within the stagger a t .') Oseco nd s back . Newell co nti n ue d to ha ng tough two minutes off of H end on' s p ace whi le P lessinger fina ll y wor ked hi s way back into thi ngs in fifth after 'ea rl y tra ffic a nd troub le left him p laying catch-upmost o f th e afte rnoo n . teve Ezell captured th e 59-rider 250cc B class win with just four seconds to spare o n Ohio's St eve Gifford. The H o nda-m o u n ted Gifford ran close to the from o n lap o ne, bu t lap s two and three saw Ezell mo ve out up fro n t w h ile Giffo rd held founh. On lap four Mi ssouri 's David Mi in ch carne a ro u nd o u t front with Gifford now second a nd Ezell back to th ird. But on th e lap that co u nted m ost Ezell moved back into th e lead a nd sealed u p the win wi th just fo u r seco nds to spa re on Gifford. Miin ch held on to th ird wi th Pennsvlvania 's Budd v Norton a n d H o n da -mo unted Carlo' Cracchiol o rounding o u t th e top five. Earl y in th e final la p H ough moved a ro u nd th e struggljng Brown a nd began a last lap ch arge that he had h o ped wo u ld pull h im away fro m th e rapi d ly clos ing H en don. Hough ca me out o f the ' woods fo r th e fina l section w ith IW O la ppers fo llo win g , but wh en the sto pwa tches measured 50 seco nds H endon bro ke fro m th e wo ods an d m ade a go at the ch eckered flag. Already across th e li ne. H o ug h co u ld o n ly sit a nd watch fo r a mi sta ke bv H endon tha t wo u ld never oc cur. The official rime of arr iva l left H en don wi th exac tly 10 seco nds to spare. Bro wn ro u nd ed the barrels a no ther m inute do wn w ith N ewell p lus- three minu tes back. Plessinger finis hed next, with Misso u ri's Jim ta nfield sixth overa ll a nd McSwa in seve nt h. Roun ding o u t th e top 10 o verall were Oh io Yamaha pilot G en e O'N ail , Pennsylvania 's Duan e Co n ner , and Georgia Suzu ki pi lot Brya n Ada m s. • Res ul ts O/A : 1. Tony Hendon (A TK); 2. Kun HoughIKaw); Kev i n Brow n (Suz); 4 . Timothv Newell (Ho n); Scan Plessi nger (Kaw); 6 . Jim Stanf ield (Ka w) ; Steve McSwain (Hon ); 8 . Ge ne O'N ail (Vam); Duane Conn er (Yam l; 10. Bryan Adams (Suz). OP EN A : 1. Tony Hendon (A TKl; 2 . St ev e McSwain (Hon ); 3 : Joe Zi erman (A TK); 4 . Ti m Shep hard (Varni ; S. Tom Esch'rut h (KTM ). 250 A ~ 1. Kurt Ho ugh (Kaw); 2. Kevi n Bro wn (Suz): 3 . Ti mot hy Newell (Hen] : 4 . Scan Plessin ger ' (Kaw); 5. Ji m Stan fi eld (Kaw). 200 A : 1. Ken t Sta nley (Kaw); 2. Davey Coom bs (Ha n); 3 . A rn old Mu lzer (Kawl; 4 . 8 uddy W est (Kaw) ; 5. Davi d She lly (Hon). 125 A : 1. Robert Neeley (Kaw ); 2. J eff Fredene . (Kaw) : 3 . Tim Sing leton (Yam) ; 4 . David Fall as (Kaw) ; 5 . Joe Kri ves ti (Yam) 4 ·STRK A : 1. Car ey St ump (Han); 2. David Love ll (Hon); 2. Cha rli e W illiams (Hu s): 4 . Donn ie Dunbar (Honl; 5. Char les Dailey (Ha n). SR A: 1. Ter ry Neater (Cag); 2. Joseph Loja k (Vam ); 3 . Clair Parlin (Vam); 4 . Larry Still (Kaw) ; 5 . Paul Bloyer (Han I. S/S R: 1. Char les Galbrait h (Hus) ; 2 . Em mett Cox (KTM); 3 . Harr y Green lee (Kaw); 4 . Ronal d Rose (va rni; 5. Don ald Hough . 3. 5. 7. 9.

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