Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Junior class w inner Buren Hamrick (139) leads Ve lmer Hu ff (1 8 4) and the rest of the pack near the start. Scott Summers took his third overall win of the series w ith a threem inute ma rgin over runner-up Steve McSwain . AMA Wiseco/Yamaha Grand National Cross Country Championships: Round 9 Summers wins Hardrock 100 By Davey Coombs Bl NNE R RmG E, WV, OCT. 8 Ken tucky 's Scott Summers p lodded his way to h is third overall win of the 1989 AMA Wiseco/ Yamaha Cross Coun try Series at the rain -s?a~~d H ardrock 100 in.Bunner R idge, W est Vi rg i n ia . Summ ers a r me d with a While Bros .~ p repped Honda XR600 ca p · . LUred .lh e over~ I I Win. b y. a 12 thre~-mlllute m.ar~1Il a fter flghl1l!g off North Carolina s Steve !\IcSwalll for the bett er part o f the three hour . run. Ohio's Gen e O nai l was thi rd ove ra ll with O pe n A r ider T im Shep ha rd a n d d e ~en di l~ g Grand Nat iona l C ha m p io n Ed LOJa k ro u n.d ing o u t th e to p five. Wllh Su m mers tak in g hom e th e o vera ll h on ors, -McS w a i n wa s boosted in to the top spo t in th e O pen A ~ivisio n .. Ya!nah.a Motors Corp.! Sm ith / Ara i/ Hi -Po in t-bac ked Loj ak was the 250cc A class winner with Ya maha YZ 125-m oun ted On a il ~arn i ng . top 200cc A points via h is nnpressive overa ll show ing. Ano ther Ken tucky four-ban gor. Ca rey Stu m p, won the Four-Strok e A class wh ile AT K pilot T om Meyers picked u p the top trophy in th e Sen ior A ra n ks. T he Ju n ior class winner was Buren H am rick, seven th overa ll o n th e day. I.n th e overa ll cha m pio ns h i p pom ts chase, Loj ak lead s th e series with 1.18 po i n ts, foll owed b y M.cSwaln w l~o h as 110. Lo j ak c ll .n che~ the 2:>Occ class Ch ampionship with tod ay's wi n in th e 250cc class. To cl in ch the ove ra ll cha mpio ns h ip, Loj ak need s to fi n is h seventh or bet ter if McSwain win s the final race overa ll. T he re are 10 races to the en tire series a nd the best six fin ishes co u nt in the fin al o verall a nd class stand ings . Th e Hardrock 100 was ma king its debut ap pea ra nce o n th e Nat ional C ross Co u nt ry sc he d u le . T he event, nam ed a fter Co lo ne l H ard rock ~unn e.r , was a co m m u n ity effo rt involv ingth e Sage brus h Roundup , Bunner Ridge residents, and Ra cer Produ ction s. A s ix - m i le lo op throu gh steep and a t tiAofl:s rocks tre w n wood s wa s o r igi na l ly planned for th e rid ers but unseasonably co ld a nd wet weather meant for co ns tant cou rse adjus tme nts o nce th e race was u nd erwa y. " I' ve got to gi ve th e co urse ma rsha lls cred it," sa id Su m mers after th e ru n. "Someti mes wh en th e track has to be cha nged everyo ne ge ts a ll mi xed u p a nd lost. These people did a good job movi ng us aroun d the boulenecks wit hout leuin g anybody tak e a rea l, rea l short cu t." O ne h un dr ed and fifty riders were o n ha nd at the start of the race tho ug h o nly abo ut two score were still circula ting whe n Summers too k th e chec kered flag. As the first rows of Open A a nd 250cc A ride rs p repa red to leave the dead-engi ne start ing line one rider was conspicuo us ly a bsen t. Eigh ttim e ser ies cha m p io n Ed Loj ak was fouling o ne spa rk plug a fter ano the r ba ck in th e p it s befor e Yam aha Su p po rt techni cian G reg C ua do r found th e elect rica l p robl em . Bv that tim e a ll o f th e other classes had left th e start ing area and Loj ak was 150 rid ers behind th e leader. McSw ain , H onda rid er Keith Rodgers a nd Summers were th e men a t the front o f th e pa ck, weaving th eir way through th e brand new trail s. After shedding Rod gers, McSwain a nd Su m mers sped awa y together towards th e tra ck's cen terpiece. a massive hillcl imb with three differen t tr a i ls fo r asce n d i ng -i t. As McSwa in moved towards th e middle path Summers a ttem p ted the right face of th e 300-ya rd roc k-infested climb. Sum me rs mad e th e grade and was able to ope n a slig h t lead o n McSwain as they com p leted th e first lap in 29 m inu tes. KTM-mounted Gary Roach was hold in g o n to third wit h O hio's Mark H yde fourth and Shep hard ridi ng fifth. Both Roach and H yde wou ld drop out of the competition after just o ne lap , as wo uld Kawasak i-mo u n ted co ntender Scali P lessinger. In the Senior A div isio n, Meyers and AT K cou nterpart Paul Mich els engaged Ya mah a p ilot Joe Lojak ~nd H onda -mo un ted Albert Swager in a fo ur-way fig h t for th e win. !\I .eyers see~ed most adept to th e slippery trails and ended u p winning by just over five m in u tes. Mich els ended th e da y in seco nd , whic h was eno ug h for him to clinc h th e class titl e with one ro u nd rem aining o n hi s Mai e r/ G ear/V ent s G o gg les/ Sprocket Spec ia lists ATK. Loj ak was third a t the flag. As the rain began fa ll in g harder at th e end o f the first hour, Summers kept com ma nd of th e race, leading McSwain into th e barrels by 40-p lus seco nds. Su m mers again used th e hi llclimb to pad hi s adva nta ge, th ough th e next tim e arou nd he opted for th e eas ier a lterna te ro ute. She p ha rd was holding third o n the a ir-coo led YZ490 with 200 A contender Sta n Loj ak fightin g hi s wa y up to fourth , just seconds a hea d o f class rivalOnail , Loj ak a nd Onail have made a virtual two- ma n sho w o f the small bore class th roughout th e season and . ca me into th e H ard rock 100 virtuall y deadl ocked at th e top o r th e points ~ha rt _ On Su nday th e two com pe tu ors sped away from th eir class op po ne n ts in a o ne-a n-one battle for the points advan tage. Onail would co me o u t o n top a t the Hardrock after Loj ak suffered a mid-race slip in a mud bo g th at co st him se vera l minutes. Pennsylvan ia 's Craig J ones would fini sh th e day in third with Su zu k i- mo u n te d M ichae l Burk foll owing. Summers was sti ll stre tch ing his lead aft er th e third of six laps. T he Am eri can Honda /Bridgestone / Scott/B e lli PJ - l / Ha l lma n / Su p er Trapp /Mai er /Jung le Design / Fredett e Racing/Tsubak i/Sprocket Sp ecia lists/White Bros.!Sportstown USA-bac ked front-runner was now more th an a minu te ah ead of McSwain's H onda CR500. Sh ephard clocked in three minutes lat er in the third overa ll position with Onail a no the r three turns o r th e clock behind, Ed Loj ak , wh o was for ced to tak e th e roos ts o f every rider on t~ e track , had suffered hi s way in to ninth o vera ll but was sti ll four minutes behind the 250cc A lead er, Ohio Honda rider Bob Ellis. H amrick was in co nt ro l of th e Junior class chase a nd mo vin g up into th e overa ll top 10. His lead after two hours was a lready past th e 10m inute mark as th e wet -wea ther specialist spe d a way fro m hi s class ri val s. His lead wo u ld contin ue to grow a ll the wa y through th e chec kered fla g. Hu sqvarn a rid er Jim Kalleker would occ u py th e number two spot a t th e fini sh with Yam ahamounted Mik e Frazee grabbing third a head of Mik e McCarren a nd KT M rider David Molnar. In th e Fo ur- Strok e A d ivis ion, Carey " Moose" Stump raced a KTM thumper to the wi n by com p leting five fu ll laps. The Smith/Ou ry/PBII Mod ern Tire-backed rid er bettered fellow Blu egrass racer Harvey Whitak er and Ohio 's Ch arl es Dai ley. As th e race wore o n many of the co m pe ti to rs began to drop out, (Co ntin ued to page 33)

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