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/127217
Honda XR600 rider Scott Summers captured his fourth overall victory of the season at the Pumpkin Run National Cross Country. Ed Loj ak has won every National Cross Country Championship t it le since it s incept ion eight years ago. In Pennsylvania. Lojak fin ished 17th ove ra ll . AMA Wiseco/Yamaha Grand National Cross' Country Series: Final round , Summers carves out Pumpkin Run win By Davey Coombs MT. MO RRIS, PA, ocr. 29 Kentucky's Scott Summers rolled to his fourth overall victory of the season at the Pumpkin Run Series finale. Summers cap tured the win with a convincing four min ute lead a t th e end of the three hour ru n asOhio's Kevin Bro wn and Yamaha-m ounted . . Du ane Co nner ro de In pursun, 14 The America n H onda /Bridgestone/ Sco tt/ Bell / Ha llma n-bac ked win ner also clai med the O pen A season titl e in th e process by two points over North Ca ro lina' s Steve McSwain . Open A runner-up Tim Shephard was fourth overall with 200cc A class winner G~ne O nail a~!n an impressive top five overa ll fin isher, For Lojak th e race was bittersweet. With the tit le virtua lly in the bag going into th e race th e Hi- Point/ S mit h / A r a i / Metz e Ier / T e a m Yamaha rider hoped to take th e cha m pio nship in style with a last race win. However , a bent rear brake pedal ea rly in the going forced Lojak to rid e conservatively for most of the afternoon. He crossed the finish line as the sixth 250cc A rid~r a nd 17th overa ll, though most Importantly wi th his n inth title in ha nd. T he Pumpkin Ro und was hosted by Hi gh Point Ra cewa y. T he tra il for th e course measured six miles plus a nd was dotted with tight treelined sections and open mot ocross areas. Several creek crossi ngs ga ve some added obstacles to the rid ers, who were also greeted by pe rfect racing weather. T it les were up for grabs in almost all of the a ma teur and expert divisions with cont ingencies for top 10 finishers set to be awarded by seri es sponsors Wiseco, Yamaha; Gear, Scott USA, Boyesen, Klotz, ICO , Loj ak 's, KMX, Krause Racing, Acerb is, Dunlop, Lojaks, and BT Racing. The riders left the grass-covered sta rt ing area and dropped immediately off into a fast field sectio n and th en into the woods. YZ490 pil ot Tim She phard and KTM-mounted Kevin Brown occu pied the top spots wi th Su m me rs a n ea r ly third. Su m mers dispatch ed Brown and then set after Shephard, bu t before he cou ld try a pass Sh ephar d's front whee l wash ed o n a downhill and the big Ya maha rid er hit the deck. That gave Sum mers the lead after the first of 12 la ps with Brown , She p ha rd, Kawasak i-m ounted Scott Plessin ger, and Ara i/Scott/ Pro Action/Lojaksbacked Conner in tow. Loj ak rod e sevent h behind McSwain , wh o was competing on a borrowed motorcycle afte r having hi s G ear/White Bro s./lron Horse Honda sto len from hi s trail er on the eve of th e event. Ohi o 's ' G ar y R oach, Yam aha mounted J eff Murgel, a nd West Virginia 's Doug Blackw ell rounded ou t the initial top 10. Ohio's Gen e Onail a nd YZI25 rider Stan Lojak came into th e last race of th e series nearl y tied in clas s poi nts. After the race, however, the y would ' be comp letely tied for th e 200cc A ti tle, each rid er showing four wins a nd two seconds for hi s best six finis hes of th e series. Onail knotted everythi ng up by winning the last two rounds of the series, including the Pum pkin Run. He a nd Lojak ba ttled early o n with local motocross sta r Sha ne Law son before pullin g awa y for two hours of o ne-o n-o ne racing. Wh en Loj ak fell with two laps to go it ass ured Onail of the win and the tie for th e series cha mp ionship. As of p ress time series officials had not re leased t he fi na l tiebrea king form u la that wou ld decide whether Loj ak or Onail would win the cha mp ionship. La wson bett ered Pennsyl van ia 's -Cra ig J ones a n d Kent uck y's H a rvey Wh it ak er fo r thi rd . . • Summers held o n to the top spot for the next two laps before Brown slipped by on th e motocros s tra ck fo r th e lap three lead. By that time Plessi nger had displaced She phard as the number three rider and soon joined the commotion a t the fro nt of the pack. Lojak had falle n a min ute off of the early pace with the rear brake problem a nd soo n fell into a comfortable pace that would assure him a finishing ' posi tion. Shephard separated him fro m the lead tri o with Co nner providing a shadow for the champ-to-be. Kentucky's CareyStump cap tured the Four-Stroke A tit le by virture of his sixth win of th e year at H igh P o i n t. The Smith /Oury /PBI! Honda of Prestonburg rid er compl eted II laps o n his KTM fourban ger , bettering Honda pilots Tra cy Warrington a n d Charl es Dail ey. Senior A action was head ed up by ATK-m ounted T om Meyers. The Pennsylvanian opened a three minute lead o n H onda rider Alb ert Swager on hi s way to th e day's top trophy. T he series cha m p ionsh ip, however, went to Paul Mich els. Laps four th rough six featured Pl essinger as th e overall leader. The Ohio rider had engaged Sum mers and Brown in a wooded section and took over th e lead while out of sight of th e spec ta tors. The front-runners would remain within seconds of one another unti l the sixth lap, when Brown crashed and was displaced by the cha rging Shephard for third. On th e very nex t la p P lessinger would go down in a mud section whil e lead ing Summers and th en co u ld not free hi s kickstarter in ord er to bring his KX250 back to life. Pl essinger wou ld lose more than five minutes in the process a nd any hope of closing hi s seaso n with an overall victory. Summers inherited th e top spot with Brown on e half minute back. Shephard also had trouble on the trail a nd lost a spo t to Conner , wh o rod e 30 seconds off of Brown's pace. In th e hi ghl y-competitiv e Junior class Ohio's Mik e Frazee piloted h is Yam aha to th e win ove r North Caroli na's Buren Hamrick, who had sewn up the class tit le at the previous race. Frazee a mass ed an eig ht minute lead o n hi s way to the da y's top Jun ior honors while Hamrick held off KTM rid er David Molnar for thi rd. Yamaha rid ers Barry Crone a nd Mike McCarren went four-fi ve in th at divi sion. The last ha lf of th e race prov ed to be anticlimacti c for Summers. The 2 1-year -old seemed to ge t strong as the day progressed a nd eventually opened a five min ut e lead on Brown, who was havi ng his best day of the seaso n at the head of the 250cc A pack. Co nner, whose late season surge has put him into the top three overall in three of the last fou r races, held on to third, just more tha n a mi n u te behind Bro wn . Shephard came ne xt in the overall resu lts, followed in orde r by Onail , Stan Loj a k, Roach , Lawson, Pl essin ger, a nd Stump.