Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 00 .... (l) ..0 8 (l) >o Z Yamaha's Ed Lojak captured his third overall victory in a row at the Lead Belt.National. He leads the series by one point over Scott Summers. Summers was leading early in the race before falling during the second lap. He ended up finishing two and a half minutes behind winner Lojak. Lojak (middle left) holds off third place finisher Scott Plessinger (middle) through the first turn. AMA National Champ~onship Hare Scrambles Series: Round 11 Lojak wins Lead Belt National Hare SC'rambles By Arlene Hejlek FLAT RIV ER, MO , ocr. 22 T h r ee-time N a tional H a r e Scr a mbl es Champion Ed Lojak too k his third con secutive overall win at the Lead Belt Na tional / Mis souri Hare Scrambles Series race, hosted b y th e Mi sso uri M udd ers Motorcycle Club. hi Scott Summ ers put IS XR600 H onda in second ove ra ll, a n d wa s followed b y T eam Kawasaki ' s SC Oll Pl essin ger. By .. . 1-2-3 Lo 'ak Summers a nd Pl essin ger a re still locked in a three- w~ y battle for th~ .Ch~m pio ns~i p with o ne race rernammg III th e series. Su m mers said h is pl an was to ge t th e lead early an d take co n tro l. H e d id th at o n th e first la p with a 30 seco n d ' edge over Lojak, who was foll ow ed 20 seco nds lat er by Plessin- ger. Loj ak ca ugh t Summers on th e seco nd lap wh en th e Honda rider cras hed. " I think I mi ght hav e broken m y foot wh en I fell ," said Summers. " It 's been hurting me all day." Neverthel es s, Summer s ca u g h t back up 10 Loj ak a nd ret ook th e lead, whic h he held th rough laps two an d three. Wh en Su m me rs pitted for gas a t th e end o f th e third lap, Lojak moved back in to the lead. "I was following him easy to save m y energy," sa id Loj ak. " Whe n h e stop ped for gas I figured it was tim e to wic k it u p a little bi t." T hey came th rough th e scoring lan es nine seco nds apart going into the fifth a nd fin al lap on th e 15.2mil e co u rse. Yam ah a /M etzel erl Smi th Goggl es/H i-P oim/Tsubakisponsored Lojak turned o n th e gas a nd finished two and a half minutes a hea d o f Summers. " I just go t tired on th e last lap ," sa id Su m mers. " Eddie j ust wore me o u t - he' s in such good shape. He had a go od ride." Bridgestcne/Bel lv'Sup er Tra p p l SCOll USA/ Sports lOwn USA-bac ked Su m me rs en ded up finishin g seco nd overa ll and first pl ace in th e O pen A class. . T eam Green's Pl essin g er wa s bothered by th e flu , which he had been su ffering with for th e past two weeks. " My legs reall y went a way on th e last lap, " sa id Pl essin ger. He fin ish ed four mi nu tes o ff th e pace for th ird overa ll a nd fir st pl ace in th e 250cc A class . Yamaha-mounted Du an e Connor, wh o was sevent h at th e sta rt, worked his way up 10 fourth overa ll a nd seco nd 250cc A by th e end of th e seco nd la p a nd held th at position 10 th e end. T ony Hendon 's Yamaha wa s never far behind Connor. Hendon fini shed fifth overall and third 250cc A. Sixth overa ll and fourth 250cc A was Kawasaki-mounted Jim Sta n field. Chris Ca pl inger sai d he had hi s ATK in th e lead for a while on th e first lap, but lost it in th e tight woods . He battled with Yamaham ounted G reg Surdyke for seven th o ve ra l l. Eve n th ough S urdy ke sto p ped to fix a flat tir e aft er th e first lap, th e two o f th em wer e just seco n ds apart at the end. Caplinger wa s seventh overa ll and second Open A, . and Surdyke ended up eighth overa ll and fifth 250cc A. Ninth overall was filled by Stanley Lojak, who finished first in the 125cc A class. Loj ak was last at th e start, but had his Yamaha out from at the end of th e first lap, and he finished wi th a n eigh t-m in u te edge over the seco nd place rider , Crai g Jones. The 200cc A class winner , Rick Thorpe, was ab le to work his way up aft er a bad start 10 tak e th e lead aw a y from Kawasaki-mounted SCOll Bran stetter, KTM-mounted Carey Stump lost th e lead to Charlie Wi lli ams on the th ird lap but gained it back on the last lap to tak e th e Four-Stroke A class win. Sen io r A T erry Meal er took th e hol esh ot o n h is KTM and stay ed out front to finish in th e top 20 overa ll. ATK-moumed Pa u l Ni chols was second Senior A, from start to finish, while T erry Brumley did th e sa me in third. Charl es Ga lbraith , Wade Summers a nd Gary Doerr were on e, two , three in the Super Senior A division. Kath erine Niel son finished fourt h p lace Super Senior A riding a Kawas aki. Illinois' J eff Sledge finished IOth . overall, whi le claiming th e 250cc B cl ass win. Sledge wa s in th e back of th e pa ck a t th e start but quick ly moved up to ta ke over th e lead a n d hold off SCOll Martin. Sledge fin ish ed with a 45 second edge over Martin , who wa s a wa rded second 250cc B a n d II th overa ll. Carlo

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