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/127190
Honda-CR500-mounted Steve McSwain. from North Carolina. finished second overall and claimed the 500cc class victory. Defending National Cross Country Champion Ed Lojak captured his 10th career Fireball 100 overall win with four minutes to spare. AMA WisecojYamaha Grand National Cross County Championship Series: Round 4 Lojak jams to Fireball 100 win By Davey Coombs Photos By larry Bell and Coombs TARENTUM, PA, APR. 30 Hometown hero Ed Lojak captured his 10th career Fireball 100 overall win with a fourminute victory in Tarentum. Team'Yamaha's Lojak led every lap of the three-hour event on his Metzeler/Hi. A . S . h b k d Powt/ r~l/ ~l! - ac e. YZ250WR 10 pIcking up hIS second win of the series. He presently tr~il~ North GaroliI!'a's Steve McSwam m the overall pomts ; standings by eight points, 71-63. The' Gear Racewear/Barr's Comp.lWhite Bros.llron Horse/Honda-backed McSwain also had a good day at the Fireball, placing second overall and claiming the top Open A trophy in the process. Rounding out the top. five overall were Ohio's Gary Roach, KTM America's Mark Hyde, and Honda-mounted Kevin Brown. Also accepting first-place A group trophies was Kentucky four-stroker eXlraordinaire Garey Stump, Junior class series leader Buren Hamrick, and Senior A Joe Lojak, giving the Lojak family a .750 batting average on the day. (Youth class rider Josh Lojak missed out on an 85cc win by two places.). The Fireball. !OO was run under perfect race conditions; a rainy Saturday followed by blue skies on race day made the II-mile course dust free. Two tight and steep hill sections were constantly bottle-necked by riders of all calibers, but the rest of the course was for the most part clear and quick. A total of 268 riders attended the event, which has been heid by Racer Productions in conjunction with the Fawn Township VFD for the past 10 years, twice a year since 1987. Also on hand were approximately 2000 spectators. The riders took to the line for the 12 noon drop of the green £Jag in dead-engine rows according to class. Honda CR500 rider Keith Rodgers led the Open 250 A charge into the first right-hand tum with Brown, Hyde, Lojak and round three winner Scott Plessinger following. McSwain was a short ways back with Tim Coombs and Yamaha YZ250 pilot Duane Conner giving chase. _ Halfway' through the first lap things began to tighten up among the leaders. Rodgers made a slip on the trail and dropped out of the top five while McSwain moved up into the lead fray. The North Carolinian passed Lojak through an open area, but once the riders came to the course's steepest downhill, Lojak let it all hang out. "He just gassed it at the top and went by me, Plessinger and Hyde at the same time," said McSwain. Lojak kept his momentum up through the first check, leading Plessinger in by 20 seconds. When the 200cc A class gated it was Stan Lojak up front on his Yamaha, but before the lead lap was completed Ohio's Gene Onail was into the top spot. Lojak would trail the 21-year-old Onail for four laps before getting stuck on one of the track's notorious hillclimbs. Lojak took advantage of the stranded Onail's misfortune and pointed his ride towards the checkered flag, evening their series rivalry at two wins apiece after four rounds. Kawasaki-mounted Rob Tominello was third on the day with part-time motocrosser Ray Niebel and Lojaksbacked Craig Jones rounding out the top five. As the race for the overall neared. the one-hour mark Brown fell off of the pace. "This was the first time I've raced since I hurt my back in Tennessee," said Brown, who cracked a vertebrae at the series' second round. "I figured that if I didn't fall my .back would not bother me. Of course, I fell and it really took the wind out of my sails. " Brown's lap two fall was matched on the next loop by Conner, who got off hard on a downhill after going by Hyde for fifth. He pulled out of the race shortly thereafte!. With Brown on cruise control and Conner out, the stat 'sheet after the third of seven laps read Lojak by one minute over Plessinger with McSwain just five more seconds back. Hyde, Brown, .and a slow-starting Roach rode past next in close order. As Lojak continued to lead out fron t McSwain and Plessinger battled back and forth for the number two spot. After the fourth of seven laps, however, Plessinger fell drastically off of the pace, clocking in more than a minute behind McSwain, two more down on Lojak. By the end of lap five Plessinger would be out of the race completely with handling problems on his KX250. That allowed Roach to take over the third-place position with Hyde and Brown 15 seconds back. Roach's move into third caught both Hyde and Brown by surprise; neither knew where he was until the race was over. "I missed his name on my pit board after the fifth lap," said Hyde. "And then on lap six I stopped for gas and nobody mentioned it. d That allowed Roach to ride unnoticed and unchallenged through the rest of the event. ,. Garey Stump captured his second Four-Stroke A win of the series with a convincing plus lo-minute win over Honda-mounted Kevin Howser.