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/127200
Sun Va lley (Idah o) GP overa ll w inner Team Green 's Scott Plessinger fin ished 28 seconds beh ind Loj ak for second overall. Honda XR600-mounted and series points leader Scott Summers finished fourth overall and took the Open class w in at Millville. AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series: Round 9 Lojak cruises to Millville National win By Merle Acord MILLVILLE, MN, J ULY 9 . Team Yamaha's and Lojak Cycle-sponsored Ed Loj ak ba ttled 90 degree tempera tu res and oppressive h umidity to w i n h is first Na tional H are Scrambles this season. After four IS-mile loops that took three hours and IS minutes to co mp lete, th e YZ250WR rid er, Lojak, finished 28 seco n ds 12 ahea d of T eam Kaw asa ki's Sco tt Plessin ger. " I cru ised th e last la p ," said th e former Nati onal H are Scram bles Ch ampion , Lojak. "I was just making su re I didn ' t mak e a n y big mi stak es. I figured some body would ca tch me, but they had to ca tch me .. . the n pass me, a nd toda y I did n' t think th at they could do it." Another fo rme r Nati onal Hare Scrambles Champion. j ohn ny Mar- tin , now a serio us race promoter, laid o u t a IS-mil e loop consisting of a high-speed grass tra ck, tight woods trails, a pair of wat er crossings, plus incorporating the Springcreek's motocross track as part of the loop. At th e riders meeting Martin said the rea lly fast guys will get four laps bu t would stop everyone else at three laps, or two hours (whichever came first) . Lojak holeshot the dead-engine start and led the first wave of the five wave starts into ' the right-hand sweeper and onto the MX track after a 50-yard drag down th e starting ch u te. Plessinger's Kawasaki i n second, half a bike length back, led a knot of riders: Scott Summers, joe Zierman , Du ane Conner s, Mark H yde and Kevin Brown. The makings of a world class pileup occurred at turn one wh en Brown was bumped sideways in th e heavy tra ffic. But Brown kept his coo l a nd kept the gas on a nd snap ped hi s CR250 Honda straight. At th e end of the Iirst loop, 49 minu tes later , Loj ak led th e same kn ot of rid ers through th e barrel s. . " I figured at the beginning of the race I was going to win ," said Lojak, " I was able to stretch it out. I got lost but got back on the trail and was able to ca tch right back up. I rod e behind Plessinger for a long tim e then I got aro und and I just rod e in Summers. The logged-out sec tio n s were dangerous if yo u wandered off the trail , but I thought the motocross track was supe r. I liked th at double uphill jump, But I was glad we didn't hav e to go another loop - I was just hanging on." Summers, with a quick gas stop, was first out of th e p it area at th e sta rt of th e second loop with Lojak _ a nd Pl essin ger a few seconds behind foll owed. by Brown, Connor and Zierman, Brown event uall y lost the coola nt in hi s CR2S0 and dropped out. Connor succumbed to the heat early in the third loop. " I lost almost three minutes at the start of the third loop when I fouled a plug," said Plessinger. "Then I just cruised for the next two laps, I didn't know how far out front Eddie was . When I caught and passed Summers on the last lap I began to feel better. Then I did a midair pass on Zierman back on th e grass track and I was starting to get pumped. If I had known how close Eddie was I would have pushed a little harder, but I don 't knO\t- if it would hav e made any difference, I was really feeling th e heat. " Pl essinger mad e good use of th e spri ng fed creek a t the finish barrels but on ly after a minor altercation with the scori ng crew. Pl essinger dropped hi s bike right in th e middle of th e scoring lane a nd was staggerin g off for a cooling bell y flop in Spri ngcreek. The score rs wanted him to move hi s bike and Scott co uldn 't co ncen tra te on any thing but the cool water. ISDE team member Zierrnan finished third overa ll, 38 seconds off th e pace. "T he heat didn't bother me that bad ," said Zierrnan. "For the first time I used one of those turbofans in my helmet and it really worked. Aside from the cooling effect my glasses didn't fog over and in this kind of heat that is a big p lu s. I was abo ut 12th off th e line but at the end of the mot ocross track I was in fifth and it wasn't until the last lap that I mov ed into second. That's when I caught Summers, and wh en he oversho t a comer, I went a ro und