Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott Plessinger was the 250cc A class winner with a second overall finish. He crossed the checkers approximately five minutes behind Lojak., Defending National champ Ed Lojak won his first cross country of the year at t he Spring Fireball National. He led most of the race. AliA Wiseeo/Suzuki National ·Championship Cross Country Series: Round 4 Lojak dominates Spring Fireball By Davey Coombs Photos by Gary Plessinger TARENTUM, PA, MAY I Hometown hero Ed Lojak captu red the Spring Fireball WIn with a dominating .three-hour attack. The H i-Point/Spectro/ Smith Metzeler-backed Lojak took an ' early first lap lead away from Oh io's Scott P lessinger and went on id Ii ld b to beat ~h e 275 n er Ie. ,Y . nearly five mmutes. Lojak s 30 and Four-Stroke A winner Carey ?lUmp. Am.ateu.r class champs inc luded j unior pilot Albert Swager, Team Export's Ricky Clemence (Open B), Barr on Allen in the 41 overall win marked the fourth time rider 250cc B class, Pennsylvania's in four series races that a different Jeff Lauth (200cc B), Four-Stroke rider has finished in the top spot. winner Tracy Warrington, Senior B Rounding out the top five behind leader Steve McSwain, Super Senior the Tarentum, Pennsylvan ia, resident '" . -Rich ard Karr , and Masters rider John <,: & were the Smith/Maier/O'Neall ~ Fischer! In ' the rYouth classes BT. . Works Performance-sponsored PIes- ' eRaci ng/Tea m . Green rider Davey i singer, Kentucky Honda hotsho r Yezek topped the 85cc whil e SuzukiScott Summers, opening round mounted -Dave. Brown ' bettered the winner Kevin Brown, and O hio 125s. Husqvarna pilot Mark Hyde. , The Spring Fireball is annually Joining Lojak at the trophy presone of the most popular events on entation were class winners Plessinthe cross country schedule, and this ger (250cc A), Summers (Open A), year's race was run in near-perfect Senior A leader Joe Lojak, West weather. Rains earlier in the week Virginia's Davey Coombs (200cc A), had turned Saturday's ATV National ' into a survival test, but event organizers p ut to~ether a 10 mile loop for Sunday's bike race that used very little of the ATV trail. Lap times for the three hour race measured right around 23 minutes for the top A class riders. When the first row of 25Occ/Open A racers left the line fro m the deadengine start it was Pl essin ger nabbing the holeshot on his KX250 with the Barr's Comp.-backed Steve McSwain Jr., Ed Lojak, Yamahamounted Stan Lojak, and Pe nrisylvania 's David Jones' .following. Summers was at m id pack, while Answer / Arai /Dunlop /Works Performance-backed Bro wn was in the 35th position at the back of the pack. Brown had trouble getting the RM250 to ignite on the first few kicks and left the line 10 yards bac k. Kentucky's Carey Stump blasted his XR600 Honda into the lead at the drop of the Four-Stroke A flag and immediately began to open a lead before a fall on a tight hill dropped him down a few spots. Stump recovered to lead at the end of lap one and went from there all the way to the checkered flag. CanAm-mounted Da vid H all was nex t, followed by Ohio riders Charles Hawk and Charles Dailey. . Yamaha pilot J oe Lojak was also a fast starter, pushing his YZ into the lap one Senior A lead. Maryland's Mike Parks gave chase on his ATK from there, but Lojak would lead the way throughout the three hour run. Parks ran second with Husky rider Frederick Huth and ATK-mounted Tom Meyers finishi ng fourth : Kawasaki-mounted Jeff La uth and Yamaha rider Thomas Mersh imer led the way at the end of the first lap of 200cc B racing. Pen nsylvan ia's Robert Tom inello hel d third early, but late in the race Da n Sagath moved up from a midpack start to earn that spot. La uth and Mershimer were out of reach by that time, and it was La uth who would finally pull away from everyo ne for a comfortable win. ' Beh ind Mershimer and Sagath came Tominello and series pomts leader Be Thorn. At the head of the pack Lojak maneuvered his H usqvarna around Plessinger going down the second steep drop three m iles o ut, and by the time the lead riders made it to the lap one check it was Lojak by 30 seconds with Plessinger, the PJII Tsu baki /S uperTrapp/ Al Bakerb ac ked Summers, Hyde, and McSwain following. Bro wn was up to sixth , KTM-mounted Joel Jenkins seventh, and Lojak's-backed Duana Conner, Weaver's-sponsored Sammy Bosnic, and O hio KTM pilot Wally Wi lson rounded out the top 10. Lojak maintai ned his lead through the next la p , though Plessinger kept the leader's gap at 30 seconds until Summers moved by for the number two spot, Summers a nd Plessinger would take turns in the runner-up spot for the next few laps while Lojak began to sneak away. Conner became the first casualty of the day when he pi tched his YZ250 on one of the steep downhills, losing his front fender and bending all of his controls in the process. Stan Lojak also found trouble early when he dropped his 490 Yamaha in a rocky section, bending his front disc and falling out of the top 10. Lojak, wh o was married on Friday evening before the Fireball, eventually go t organized enough to move into fourth at the fin ish with an eighth overall ride. Honda-mounted Davey Coombs led the early going in the 200cc A class before Dave Fallas, a member of the Gear/ KMXlBT Racing Team, went by to lead the firs t two laps. Befo re the completion of lap three Fa llas dropped his KXI25 in a tigh t woods section, allowing Coombs to slip by and take the class win o n his Benetto n/ BT Racing CR 125. Fallas suffered another fall on the final lap, allowing Pennsylvania Yamaha pilot Ed Thompson to move by for second. Fallas recovered for third with IT Yamaha rider Donald Big ley and Cagiva-mounted Mike McCarren rounding out the top five. P a rt-ti m e m o toc rosser , R i cky C lem e n ce avenged a runner-u p , finish at the thi rd ro und of the series two weeks earlier by dom ina ti ng the 26 ri der Ope n B class. Clemen ce teamed with Yamaha-mounted Clayton Soles for a Team Export sweep of the first two trophies. Husq varna ri der Barry Gaston was three minutes behind Soles in third while West Virginia's John Sherry and Weaver's

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