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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127188
KTM's Mark Hyde (10) and Scott Plessinger (3) battled for the lead at 'the start of the Brown Jug 100 National Ctlampionship Hare Scrambles. AMA Wiseco/Yamaha Grand National Cross Country Championship Series: Round 3 Plessinger captures Brown Jug 100 win By Davey Coombs Photos by Gary Plessinger and Larry Bell BROWNSVILLE, PA, APR. 16 Ohio's Scott Plessinger overcame early leader Scott Summers in the last hour of the Brown Jug 100 to win the third round -of the championship series in Brownsville. The Dunlop/Maier/PJ-l/ Renthal/Tsubaki/Smith/ ' R . /Wh' B / JJ s acmg He ros. Team Green-backed ~les- 14 singer scored his second straight Brown Jug 100 overall after ~tting past Summers and then holding off the late charge of defending series champ Ed Lojak. The Yamahamounted Lojak maintained second overall ahead of Open A winner Summers, both Einishing two minutes behind Plessinger in the three hour run. Fourth overall was Nonh Carolina's Steve McSwain, while Ohio YZ490 rider Tim Sheptlard rounded out the top Eive. Sixth ov~ll was ~c A winn~r Gene OnaIl, .who pIck~ up hIS second class WIn of the senes. Stanley Lojak was next on a YZ125. Filling out the first 10 overall was Pennsylvania's Mark Toole, KTM-mounted Joel Jenkins, and BT Racing/ Wiseco/Gear's Tim Coombs. The Four-Stroke A class was won by Harvey Whitaker, while North, Carolina's Buren Hamrick made it three-for-three in the Junior division. In the Senior A ranks ATK pilot Tom Meyers captured the class win. The Brown Jug 100 was competed on an eight-mile long course that twisted its way through Luzerne Park in the middle of Brownsville. The layout included numerous 'stretches oE woods tied together by short sprints across Eields that once made up a golf course. Also out on the trail was one thickly wooded uphill climb that became all but impassable after the Eirst lap, wheri dozens of the 260 riders entered $'ot ' stuck at the same time. Some qUIck alterations by the ground crews kept the hill intact, but many oE the riders would have their troubles on it throughout the afternoon. The 250cc and Open A classes took to the first row oE the starting field for the dead-engine flag start, and as expected it was one of the big-bore machines at the head of the pack when the green flag dropped. The CR500 of McSwain led the way, followed by West Virginia's Davey Coombs, KTM America's Mark Hyde, Plessinger, Lbjak and Tim Coombs. Summers was back in sixth on a XR600 Honda thumper, but by the end of the first 19 minute lap he would be holding third behind McSwain and Lojak. Plessinger checked in after one lap in fourth with Toole fifth, 'Coombs sixth, 'and Kawasaki-mounted Gary Roach seventh. Halfway into the second lap the lead trio came upon the uphill climb that was by now crowded with B class riders. The bottleneck caught all three oE the top riders by surprise, and by the time they made it to the top of the 200 foot climb Summers was in the lead. The hill's most serious early casualty was KTM pilot Duane Conner, who dropped off the right side of the path and would lose several minutes on the leaders trying ,to get his machine back on the main path. Further back at the head of the 200cc A class Onail and Pennsylvania's Jeff Lauth were battling for the clasrtead, while Ray Niebel and Stan Lojak battled for third. By the fifth oE 10 laps Lojak would be up to second but Onail's 10-to-20-second cushion remained intact all the way past the checkered flag. Yamaha· mounted Craig Jones would occupy third at the finish, five minutes behind the leaders, with Lauth and Niebel finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. At the end of the first hour Smnmers had put 30 seconds on the pack and looked to have an inside line on a third straight major woods win, having won the Tennessee and Kentucky events in succession coming into the 'Brown Jug. Lojak, in turn, had another half minute on third-place Plessinger with McSwain flanking on the big Honda. In their shadows came Hyde, who has had a resurgence in the past month of National competition. However, shortly into the third loop Hyde got ,off hard on his KTM. "I was right behind Scott (Plessinger) going, down the hill and all of a sudden this log jumped out and ,bit my front wheel," joked Hyde later. He would soon exit the race completely. Plessinger, made a run at the top on the next lap and moved past number two Lojak, getting to within 10 seconds of Summers in the process. Lojak picked up the pace as