Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127155
Wi B ~ .... v ..0 .o ..., u o W inner Davey Coombs (88), Craig Jones (642) and Mike McCarren (10) fight for the lead at the start of the 200cc A class' race . Kentucky's Scott Summers. who rode a Honda XR600 four-stroke. scored his first-ever National cross country overall victory. 1988 AMA Wiseco/Suzuki Grand Nalional Cross Country Series: Round 8 Summers scores Mt. Morris victory By Davey Cooms Photos by Gary Plessinger MT . MO RRI S, p A, ocr. 2 Kentu cky 's Sco tt Summ ers scored ' an unprecedented overall win on his XR600 Honda four-stroker a t the eigh th round of the National Cross County Series in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. Sum me rs powered h is th u m per to the first-ever overall win by a fo ur-stroke mach ine in th is 12 seri es. He was followed in th e fin al tall y by Open A wi n ner Tim Sh ephard , top 250cc A rider Kevin Bro w n, North Carolin a Ho nda pilot Steve McSwai n , and YZ490 rid er Stan Lojak. Class wi nners at the event incl uded Fo ur-Stroke A leader a nd 200cc A rider Da vey Coombs (bo th o f w ho m cli nc h ed their series class titl es), Sen ior A J oe Lo ja k, Open B points lead er Barry Gasto n , a nd Sen ior B rid er Ala n Brutto . Also finishi ng a t th e fro nt of the ir d ivisions wer e Kentucky's Paul Mich el s (J u nior clas s), Super Senior wi nner R ich Ka rr , Pen nsylva ni a 's Bria n Tremblay (250cc B), 200cc B leader Robert Tominell o , Masters wi n ner Johnny Lee, a nd Hond a- mou nt ed Ha rvey Wh it ak e r . Fo u r -S tro ke B). . T h e ( winners in Sunday morn in g 's Youth class race were BT Racing/Team G reen /Scott rid er Da vey Yezek a nd 125 pilot Ernie Va sil. The ci rcu it for th e eigh th ro u nd o f th e series was spread O U I across th e grou nds of High Po int Raceway. The co urse co nsisted o f sever al tight woods sectio ns dotted by so me fast field riding a nd a o ne m ile trip aro u nd th e motocross tra ck. In fu ll , th e path m easured seven miles with la p times a vera ging 15 minutes. T he riders set o u t for the three hour ru n fro m seven d ivided class ro ws, T he dead engine sta rt meant that classes wo u ld lea ve at 30 seco nd interva ls, with th e 250cc a nd Open A d ivis io ns leading fro m th e front row . Yamaha-mounted Kevin Brown pushed hi s LSC/ ASC /Mai er/ Dunlop / Sm ith -backed YZ250 into th e lead as the referee threw the fir st gr een flag , follow ed by Loja k, series poi nt s lea d er Scott P less i n g e r , McSwai n , H on da -m o u n ted R ic k Kresi c ,. a n d CR500 p il ot Ke ith Rodgers. Left nea r last o n th e start wa s Sum mers, who mi sfired o n th e firs t kick. In d iana 's Kevin Co nd o n , the 10Pranked Jun ior class rider in th e series, led h is divisio n th ro ugh th e ope n ing mot io ns , but by th e end of the ru n it was Ca n-A m -mou nted Paul Mich els out in front with two minutes to spare on runner-up BarryCrone, a Pennsylvania: KTM rider . H onda-mounted Alb ert Swager rode hard at the en d , two more m inutes back with West Virginia 's Gallie Ward leading Condon across th e line in fourth. Fo ur-Strok e A ace Ca rey St u mp racked u p h is seventh wi n of th e series wit h a nimh overa ll per fo r.m a n ce, w h ile Ya mah a rid er 'J oe Lojak pi cked u p another Seni or A first p lace fin ish . Lojak bett ered West Virg in ia Ka wasa ki rider James L igge tt a nd Mar yland AT K pi lo t Mike Parks in posti ng th e class wi n. T he stage was set when Summers exited the woods at the end o f th e first la p in fir st p la ce. H e h ad recovered immedi at ely from hi s poor open ing posi tion o n th e Bridgesto ne/ AI Baker's X R's O n ly/S uperTrapp/ Ha llman/PJ l/Sp o rts to w n USA-bac ked Ho nda a nd W ;.lS no w sitti ng two seco nds up o n Sh ephard. Brown rode IO seco nds back in th ird wi th Plessinger a nd McSwain filling in from th ere. For two laps Summers a nd Sh ephard would stay close in an effort to pu ll away from the pack, a nd indeed by the th ird lap the new third -place rider, Pl essin ger, was nearl y 40 seco nds back. Kawasaki-m oun ted Robert Torn inella opened up a first lap lead o f o ver 15 seco nd s on Pen nsylvan ia 's J eff Lauth before the leading co ntender was a ble' to close the gap fo r a two-way fig h t. Tomi ne llo a nd Lau th stay ed together for n ea rl y a n h our a n d a half before th e lea der wa s ab le to slip a way for good. La u th chec ked in a t th e fini sh four minutes beh ind Tomi ne llo with R M 125 rider Du ane Sprouse, West Virgin ia 's J oe Far ber, a n d Oh io ·H o n d a rid er Rob ert McC lell and ro u ndi ng o u t th e top five. . In th e 200cc A class Kawasakimo unted Da vid Fallas took co ntrol of the race ea rly with BT .Racin g/ Sco tt/Wiseco-backed Davey Coombs and YZI25 p ilo t Cra ig J ones. Fall a s slipped before th e fir st la p was .co m p lete, a llowing Coombs eno ugh room to make a n ea rly brea k from J ones a na go o n to cla im th e win and cli nch the 200cc A Nat ional titl e. Fallas was still in seco nd at th e finish, as well as 10th overa ll to Coombs' seventh, w h ile J on es ma intai ned third. Pen nsylvania IT rider Donal d Bigl ey p ut hi s Yama ha in fourth with Cagiva 's Mike McCarren fifth. One hour into the race Su mmers began clearing o u t on Shephard , stretching h is lead to 50 seco nds after five laps of th e 13·l a p ru n. On the n ex t la p u n ev en p it s to ps put Su mmers a nother fu ll mi n ute a hea d, whi le Bro wn mai ntai ned the 250cc A lead a nd th ird overall beh ind She p hard. P lessin ger was pos ti ng fourth o n hi s Smith/ Maier/ Du nlop/ Ts ubak i/ O' NeaIl Wor ks P erf ormance KX250. McSwa in was fifth o n the Ba rr 's Cornp/Sco u -spo ns ored Honda wit h Lojak chasi ng sma ll·bo re leader.Coom bs for six th. Ohio 's Barry Gasto n picked up hi s seco nd O pen A class win in th e last th ree ro u nds o f th e ser ies with a plus. five minut e wi n over Yam aharno u rued C layto n Sales, th e seco n dranked rider in th e di visional sta ndi ngs be h ind Gas to n . Maryl and H usqva rn a rider Andy Ken dl e was th ird wi th fellow H usky pilot Rob ert Seese fourth. Kent u c ky's Mike Payn ter clocked in a t th e chec kered flag with th e number five rid e. Pennsylvania 's Brian Trembla y acco u ntd for th e 250cc B win wi th a five m inute lead on ru nner-u p Richar d Brya n a t the end of three hours. Kentu cky H o nda rid er Barron Allen wa s giving the class leaders all they wanted for 10 laps before hi s H onda faltered wit h engi ne trouble. After leadi n g that far Alle n was a hard-luck 12th at the end, wh ile Yamaha -mou nt ed Ma rk Salapow, KTM pi lot J a isson DeR oche and Ohio 's Schlereth ro u nded o u t th e firs t five. H arvey Wh itak er moved another step closer to the Four-St roke B series title with a two mi n u te High Point win o n h is H onda , wh il e Kevin H owser rod e hi s H onda XR to seco nd place. Summers evened o ut hi s lead o n Sh ephard a t two minutes for th e next two laps, checki ng in after eig h t lo o p s sti II 120 seco n d s a b reas t. Pl essinger, h owever, had pi cked u p the pace and was soon past She p hard and goi ng after th e leader. On th e very n ex t lap , h o wever , P lessin ger had to p ark h is ride in th e pit area for a five m inute look at a broken