Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

l-< V ..0 .o ..., . U Scott Summers captured t hird overall aboard a Honda four-stroke. o ATK's Tony Hendon scored his fourth overall victory of the year by winning the Black Coal National Hare Scrambles in Lynnville, Indiana. AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series: Round 9 Hendon scores Black Coal National win ByKit Palmer L YN NVIL L E, I N, SE PT. 18 ATK's T ony H en don came one step closer towards capturing his firs t-ever National" Championship H are Scrambles numberon e p late after claim ing his fourth overall 24 victory o f the 1988 season, t h is win comi ng i n the tigh t woods of Indiana a t the B1 k C l . ac o~ N a ti onal , hos ted b y the India na / Il li nois/Kent ucky End uro Rid ers. Hendon, who makes his home in Murray, Kentu cky, spe nt the entire race battling back and forth between four o ther riders en route to a 15se cond margin o f victor y over ' Washington Pennsylvania's Duane Conners who was mounted on a Lojak Cycle-sponsored Yama ha YZ250. Third overall went to fourstro ke p ilot Scott Summers from Petersb urg , Kentucky, while fourth and fifth went to H usky-m o u nted Ed Lojak and Yamaha ride r Tim Shepherd " I real ly was n't p ushing m yself that hard," said H endon. " I h ad n o ' bl d 15 d ' pro ems, a n my -seco n pit stops r~lIy ~e1ped. The course was rea lly tigh t in sor,ne pl aces. The~e were handlebar -width trees and ~t w~s pretty stick a t first, beca use It .ra m ed Fnday. But af ter a few laps, the grou nd go t more tac!'y ~?d soon th:~e wa s exce lle nt traction. " . ' It was a rea lly fun co urs e, said Conner s, " and I was pumped wh en I led . It wa s my best race o f 1988, a nd I'm getti ng a little smarter (wi th each race)." " A n y o n e of a bo ut six g uys co u ld 've wo n it," sai d Su m me rs. " It was a great race ." H endon and his Du n lop / Sm ith / Tsubakil An swer P r o d u cts/Ba r k Buster/ Bel-R ay-spo nsored ATK 506 a lso pi cked up the O pen class ' wi n o ver X R600-mo unte.c! .S u m m ers, S hep herd , Ya m a h a ri d er Tom Ehmke and KT M pi lot Tom Eschtruth. With h is w in in In d iana , H en don n eeds to finish ahead of Lojak just o ne more time to clinch the cha mpionship with just th ree rounds rem aining on th e schedu le. Conners, w ho finish ed seco n d overall, claimed the 250cc class wi n over Smith /Hi -Point/M etzel er/ Ara iiTsubaki /Spectro-sponsored Loj~k, H usky's ~ark Hyd.e, Kawasaki-mounted JI m Stanfield and Ho nda rider T im Newe~1. Th e 12;'icc c1.ass ~ Jn went to Yamaha rider TIm Si nglet on, ,,:,ho topped H o n d a- m o ~ n ~ ed Br ia n Wal ker a nd Kawasaki nder Robert Nee ley. David She lly , on a Honda, to pped the 200cc class. . T he race lasted for seven la ps at 9.9 m il es a la p , "h o wever . copro m ot er An dy Stewart said the race was origi nally scheduled to run ni ne laps. "We were going to go ni ne la ps, but i t took the riders longer to co mplete o ne lap tha n we th ought, abo u t 30 minutes, so we had to chop o ff two laps, or we would've run into th e ni ght an d over th e three-and-ahalf hour limi t." H endon.fin ished the race in two ' hours, 52 m inutes and 59 seco nds, averaging 27.4 m iles a n hour. Ra in fro m hurr icane G ilbert th reaten ed to fall d uring th e ~vent bu t wai ted to sprinkle u ntil af ter 5:00 p.m., shortly after th e race co ncl uded. T he sta rt of th e race took p lace o n a huge o pe n field, wh ere the riders ba ttled ' for early posi tions before head ing into th e woods , wh ere th e tra ils became ex treme ly tight an d tech n ica l. Most of th e trail s were run over reclaimed coal mines, up so me small h ill s a nd through pine trees. "Some p laces were so tight, the n it wou ld open up slig h tly th en get tigh t again," said Co n ners. "T here was a m ix o f every th ing - mud, trees, and open fields. It was a great co u rse. 0' . The firs t of eigh t waves - th e 250/ 500cc Experts - saw Ohio 's, She pherd roost h is YZ259 into the lead. H ead in g into the woods wh ere the riders had to go si ngle file, Sh epherd was leadin g the way follo wed by Lojak, Co nn ers and H e n d o n . Shortly into the woods, Lojak took co m ma n d. " It went like thi s for the whole first la p, tra di ng pl aces back a nd forth with Eddie (Lojak) leadin g most o f it, " said Hendo n. Then Co nnors got o n the gas . " I started abou t fourth a nd j us t tried to relax - I was following Lojak, She p herd a nd H endon," sa id Conners. " Eddie wa s leading , a nd then I passed H endon th en T im (Sh ep herd). By th e seco n d lap, I was p ress uring Eddi e a nd he just kind of let me by, an d I led for the next couple o f laps. I was pretty exci ted lead in g." . " For th e' firs t few la ps, I got out th ere and jus t p laye d it carefu l and set a slow pace for everyo ne ," said Lojak. " T he n I wa nted to gas it up to gain a littl e time since I was going to pit after th e fo urt h la p , bu t I got stuck in my groove and co u ld n ' t pick up th e pa ce. So I let Conners by hoping he co u ld pick u p th e pa ce." " After the third la p , I had to p it for gas , because I was ru n ni ng my sm a ller , stock gas ta n k," said Conners. " Edd ie took over the lea d with Tony behind h im. I had to p lay ca tch -u p for th e nex t la p , the n everyone ahead of me had to pit, and I ca ught bac k u p. " H eading o ut into th e fo urth lap, Loj ak was leadin g H endo n , a nd Conners was runn in g third wi th . Sum mers on th e move. Su m mers a nd h is Al Baker 's XR o nl y / Br i d g e s t o n e / T s u b ak i / Sproc ket Specialist/ Scott USA/ PJ IISu perTrap p / Bell H el mets-backed Honda soo n ca ugh t up and pa ssed H end on , tak in g ov er seco n d. Su m mers was pressuring Loj ak until h e had a run-in with a lap ped rid er , which kn ocked Summers back ab out three minutes. " T h ere was th is brid ge over a dit ch ," sai d Summers, "and a slo wer rider pushed me right off th e bridge an d into a six-foo t gu lly. I h ad to ride up th e side of th e ditch th en th ro w m y bik e to th e top while Loj a k an d Hendon (an d Con n ers) rode past. I played catch- up the rest of the race." Du ring th e fifth lap , disaster struck the leader Loj ak, who had H endon close beh ind. " He (Loj ak) went th rough this mudhol e an d hi s bike stopped , or so me th ing. I don't reall y kn ow what ha ppen ed , an d I didn 't stop to ask questi ons," sa id Hendon. " I went through this littl e water hol e a nd it j ust sta lled," sa id Loj ak. " I don ' t know wha t happened. I though t I m ight've fo ul ed a plug, I changed it , bu t it still wo u ldn' t start . I h ad to p us h start it to ge t it going again, a nd four specta tors helped m e push. With ou t th em I wouldn 't have gotte n it go ing." L oj ak lost abo u t five m in u tes, pretty much setti ng th e scene for th e rest of th e race. Bo th Su m mers and Loj ak pl ayed ca tch- u p, while H en don led with Conners close beh ind. R u n n ing th ird was Sh epherd. When th e ra ce reached seven laps, Hendon was still a few seco nds a head o f Conner s, whi le both Summers an d Lojak were on th e move, even tu all y moving in to th ird 'an d fourth. After Loj ak reentered th e race, h e gained rapid ly on th e lead er s, as well as ' Summers. However, both Su m m ers an d Loj ak were una war e th e race was goi ng to be shorte ned by two laps, an d wh en th e chec kere d flag a peared after th e seventh lap , Su m me rs was upset a nd Lojak wa sn ' t pl ea sed , eith er. Lojak th rea tened to p rotest th e race but chose not to a nd settled for hi s fo urth overa ll. " At th e riders meeti ng th ey sa id th e race wo u ld go ni ne laps, or twoa n d-a -half hours if it ra ined," sai d Lojak. " Bu t the p romot ers cu t it to seven laps, wh ich cost me th e race and most li kely th e champ io ns hip as well. It shoul d 've never been cu t off. There is no doubt in m y mind I wo uld' ve ca ught Tony, a nd I kn ow Su m mers wo u ld 've, too . Even if we went eigh t la ps, we still wo u ld've fin ished under the time lim it. I was goi ng to file a pro test but it wou ldn 't h ave done any good - th e AMA a nd I do n' t ge t a long too well, a nyways. And besid es tha t, th ere was n o AM A o fficia ls th ere. I don 't want to be a cryba by, bu t this will probabl y cos t m e th e cham p io ns h ip." Hendon was a little co n fused a t th e fini sh as well. " I wasn 't given th e whi te flag , so wh en I got the chec kered , I really didn ' t kn ow what . was goi ng o n." Co n ners crossed th e finis h line 15 seco nds beh ind Hendon for h is best fin ish f the yea r, wh ile Summers worked up to th ird fo llowed by Lojak . Shepherd rou nded out th e top five. • Resu lts O/A: 1. Tony Hendon (ATK); 2. Duane Conners (Yam); 3. Soon Summ ers (Han); 4. Ed Lojak (Hus); 5. Tim Shepherd (Yam). 125 A: 1. Tim S ingleton (ya m); 2. Bria n Walke r (Han); 3. Raben Neeley( Kaw ); 4 . Scan Spayd (Yam); 5. Mar k Griggs (Han). 200 A : 1. David Shellv (Han); 2 . A rnold Mulzer (Kaw); 3. Brian Stoughton (Kaw). 250 A: 1. Duane Conners (Yam); 2. Ed Lojak (Hus); 3. Mark Hyde tHus); 4. Jim Stanfield (Kaw ); 5. Tim Newell (Han). OPEN A : 1. Ton y Hendon (A TK); 2. Scott Sum mers (Han); 3 . Tim Sheph erd (Yam); 4 . Tom Ehmke (Yam); 5. Tom Eschtr uth (KTM). SR A: 1. Terry Mealer (Cag); 2. Joe Lojak (Yam); 3. J esse Can er (Han); 4. Larry Sti ll (Han); 5. Mi ke Tyner (C·A) . S/S R A: 1. Charl es Galbrait h (Hus); 2. Larry Hayes (ATK); 3. Gary Door (Kaw); 4. Don Hough (Han): 5. Roy Garr en (Han I. 4-STRK A: 1. Carey Stu mp (Han); 2. Garey Hazel (Han); 3. Tr acy W arr in gton (Han); 4 . Charl i e W ill iams (Hus); 5. Don Dunb ar (Han). 200 B: 1. Vince Throckmon on (Cag); 2. Dave Han lage (Cag); 3. Jeff Sledge (Yam); 4. M ike Unger (Cagl; 5. Kevin O'Br ien (Kaw). 250 B: 1. SIeve Ezell (Cag); 2. C.J. Craccaiolo (Han); 3 . Br en Nordmyer (Yam); 4 . Lon W ilk inson (Suz); 5. Ken Joh nson (C·A). OPEN B: 1. Barry Gaston (Hus); 2. J ay Baum en (Han); 3. Edwin Lamb (Hus); 4. G. Bradfield (Kaw ); 5. Rod Thur ley (Kaw ). BUDD Y CLASS : 1. J am es M iller/ Bre nt Holwege r (Han); 2. Paul Shon /Tim Peters (Han); 3. Al ex Boze/ W ayn e Caswell (Yam ). D-OPEN C: 1. Charl es St ill (Cag); 2. Greg Fieldhous (Han); 3. M itch Deim und (Han); 4. Keit h Ober meyer (Yam); 5. M ichael Kramer (KTM).

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