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Team KTM 's Mark Hyde swapped the lead with Conner on the final loop, but ended up second for his best showing this year. Pennsylvania's Duane Con'ner took his first overall win of the season at the 2nd Annual Buckeye Grand National Cross Country. 1989 AMA WisecojYamaha Grand National Cross Country Championships: Round 8 Conner conquers Buckeye GNC By Da vey Coombs Fil e Photos by Coombs WAT ER FORD, OH, SEP T . 17 Team Yamaha's Duane Conner beat out KTM's Mark Hyde in a furious late-race sprint to the finish line to win the 2nd Annual Bu ckeye GNC. The two cross country vetera ns switched th e lead . .. p o s i tro n twic e on th e last 30minute long lap before Conner 16 took over for good with less th an 10 mi n utes to go . . . It was th e fIrst. overa ll Win o f th e se:a~on for Washington, Pen.nsy.l varn a s, Co n ne r an.d bo?sted him Into th e top 10 sta nd in gs In th e race for th e 1989 AMA Wiseco /Y amah a GNC titl e. It was H yde's best showin g o f th e: seri es as wel~ and likewi se moved him forward In th e pomts cha se. Finishing third overall on th e day was Kawasaki-mounted Scott P lessinger with Open A winner Tim S~ephard a nd KTM pi lo t ~oel j en kins ro u nd ing o ut the top Iive. With Conner moved out of th e resul ts as overa ll wi nner, H yd e step ped f? rwa rd to a<;cept th e 25~cc A class fIrst-pI.ace prrze a lo ng with fell ow class Winner Sh ephard. Stan Loj ak ca p tu red th e 200cc A class win while Harvey Whitaker p icked up th e top Four-Stroke A tro phy. ATK rid er Pau l Mich els was th e Seni or A winn er whil e Yam ah a -m ounted Mik e Frazee scored th e Jun ior class victory. Adverse weather co nd itio ns lead in g up to th e event made for an extre m ely difficult ride for most of the ra cers. A tight and slippery tra il left th e ISO-plus National co m pet- ito rs search ing for tracti on throughou t th e three-hour ru n, though the expected Sunday afternoon rains n ever m aterialized. Th e Bu ckeye G NC was organized by th e Pioneer Mot orcycle Club. The co mpetitors lined up in rows acco rd ing to class wi th eac h group leavi ng th e starti ng a rea at one m in ut e interva ls. The co m b ine d 250cc A an d Open A riders left th e line first wh en th e green fla g flew, foll ow ed by th e 200cc AlSenior AI Four-Stroke A line a nd the n the vario us am a teur divi sions. After so me in itia l lead cha n ges, H yde emerged as th e first -lap leader with Pl essinger just six seco nds ba ck in seco nd. T en seco n ds lat er overa ll series points lead er Steve McSwain rode th ird with Co n ne r two ticks back. Title co nte n de r Scott Su m mers was n ext aboard th e bi g White Bro s. XR600 Honda thumper. Lo jak and G ene Ona il were on ce aga in ha ving it ou t for th e 200cc A class lead . Their year- lo ng riva lry for the sma ll bike tit le ha s tak en th em away from th e rest o f th e co n ten de rs' while they themselves remain virtua lly even in p oi nts. Loj a k took th e advantage at the Bu ckeye w he n Onai l fa ltere d o n the trail a n d comple ted o n ly three la ps of th e ru n. Lojak also had h is troub les, spen ding five mi nutes stuck on the hi llclimb, a short tree -lined climb near the track's centerpiece that gave the riders fits throughout the afternoon. Lojak recovered soon enough to maintain his lead over the 200cc A runner-up Dona ld Lee Atkinson. Michael Burk raced to th ird wi th John Weigle coming across th e lin e in fourth. In the Four-S troke A class Whitaker dominated th e run. "It was a good technical track ," said Whitaker af ter the ru n . "There was rea lly no pl ace to rest out th ere." Wh itaker com p leted five laps o n h is way to th e win whil e Charles Da iley and Carey Stu m p were seco nd a n d th ird , respect ivel y. Paul Michels a nd T om Meyers pl aced th eir ATKs a t th e top o f th e fin a l resu lts for the Senior A class in one o f th e da y's closest battles. Michels crossed the chec kered flag just 20 seco nds ahead of Meyer s after th e two spe nt the entire af ternoon riding in o ne a nother's shadows. J oe Lojak added to th e acti on by finishing just 60 seconds further back. In th e always-competitive Junior clas s Mike Frazee pi cked up the top trophy with a con vinci ng six-lap effort. The Athens Sports Cycl e rider maintained an early lead all the way ' through the checkered flag, bettering cl a ss runner-up Joe Kalleker b y severa l minutes. Chris Schaffer was third with David Molnar and Mike McCarren rounding ou t th e first five in th e cla ss. At th e top o f th e heap H yde and Pl essinger took turns leading the way as th e co u rse began to detenorate after th e first full lap. The hillclimb became increasingl y difficult a n d on th e third lap it would claim McSwain. Whil e running sixth McSwain go t stuc k on th e hill for severa l minutes and in th e dela y fell co m p letely out o f con tention. On the very sam e lap Summers got off in a wooded secti on an d banged h is head well en o u g h to ca ll it an aft ernoon. And just ' one la p -la ter McSwain's prime co n ten der for the overa ll tit le, T eam Yamaha 's Ed Loj ak pulled ou t of th e run with a banged -up h and, a nother vict im of the tough tra il. As th e DNF list grew, so did th e number o f riders m oving up into th e lea d fra y. T im She p ha rd replaced Lojak after the fourt h lap as the fourth- p lace rider and soon had hi s sights set o n Pl essin ger and Conner. Wh en th e white flag came o ut to begin the sixth and final lap, Shep hard had di sp la ced bo th riders a nd was hol d in g on to H yde's fender in an effort to ta ke over first. H o wever , j us t a mi le into the la st go-a rou nd Co n ner was ba ck in seco n d p lace a nd again app lying th e pressure to leader H yde. As Shephard fell off of th e pace and lost another .. spot to Pl essi nger, Conner began wo rking on Hyde, forcing an error whe n th e for me r multi-time hare scra m bles cha m p sta lled h is KTM in a slow co rner. Conner moved pa st him but th en found him self str u gg ling to co nq uer th e hillclimb. H yde out-m aneuvered him a nd retook th e lead spo t but Conner wa s qui ckl y ba ck on h is roost. Th e two riders th en came to another tr ick y climb, this one with a pair of p aths to the top on either sid e of a line of trees . H yde and Conner scrambled tow ards the summit, each on h is own line, and at the top it was Co nner by a wheel. H e outgunned H yde to the next