Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Motocrosser Keith Johnson scored the overall victory at the final National Hare Scrambles of the year. He f inished inches ahead of Plessinger. AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series: Final round Lojak loses battle, Plessinger wins war' By Steve Tower Photos by Paul C lipper/Trai l Rider Magazine WRENT H AM, MA, NOV. 12 Twenty-two-year-old Scott P lessin ger from Hamilton, Oh io, captured his first National Hare Scrambles Championship title after taking second place a t the series finale in Wrentham. Hosted annually by th e King Philip Trail Ride r s this year's even t attracted ' . nearl y 600 nders. Team G reen / Smi th /Hi P oin tsponsored Plessin ger finished second overall for the da y, comi ng th rough the finish lin e glued to the rear wh eel of race win ner T eam Green / Du nlop/ AXO -spo nso red Reit h J ohnso n from Pem brok e, Massachuset ts. Plessinger a nd J ohnson com p leted the nine la p event in two ho urs a nd 45 min utes. Race winner J ohnson, a local and Nat ional mot ocross rider , took over the lead on th e th ird lap a fter hav in g to kick h is bike five times a t the dead engine, hands-in-the-ai r sta rt. After ta kin g over th e lead, J ohnson spe nt the rema inder o f the race keeping dista nce betw een himself a nd a hard cha ng ing group o f National riders. Co m ing into th e series' fin al race onl y two points sepa ra ted the top th ree riders. T eam Yamaha/Met - · zeler / Srnith-s po nso red Ed Loj ak led th e series by one point over Ameri can H onda /Sportstown USA /Thor / White Br os .lM ai ers Mf g /PJ II - Sprockets Sp ecialty-sponsored Scott Summer s, who was follow ed by Plessinger on e point back in third. Never had th e Hare Scrambles Seri es been so close going into the final ro u nd, a nd a lt hough th e highl y anticipated Lojak, Su m me rs, Piessinger battle never really materi al ized, th ere was eno ug h ac tio n to keep local har e scra m bles fans sm iling for weeks. The e. ent s ta rte~ at 9:00 a.m. with v !he Nationa l race first fol low ed lat er . m t~e a fternoon ? y the nOVICes. ~he Na tion a l was a five-wave start with the 250cc a nd Open As start ing o n the first row. No rid er had a ny ~Iear ad vantage from the start a nd it took the better pa rt o f the f irs t la p to sort things o u t. T he first rider th rough the barrels was local motocross rider David Rudn icki, aboard a uzuk i RM 250. Ru dnicki had bu ilt up a 20second lead o n -the rest of the field whi ch he managed to hol d on to for th ree la ps befor e falli ng back wi th mechani cal problems. J ohnson , meanwhile, had go tten off to a terribl e start af ter ha ving to kick hi s Ka wasaki five times to ge t it ru n ni ng. By th e time the pa ck hit th e woods o n the fir st lap J o hn son was in 30th place wi th p lenty o f riders in fro nt o f h im to ge t by. J ohnson sai d after the race, " I had been practi cing m y one- kick starts a ll week , but wh en the flag dropped it just didn 't ha ppen." It took J ohnson three laps to ca tch Rudnicki wh o a t thi s point was beg inning to fall off the pace. Behind J ohnson th e Plessinger/ Summers/Lojak battle was start ing to heat up and at the end oflap five the three riders all pitted together to refuel for what seemed to be a terrific push to th e fini sh . On th e sixth lap di saster struck the Summers' team. Whil e go i n g throu gh th e ti ght woods sectio n Summer's XR600's gas cap came off and soa ked his legs, ches t and o the r " sen sitive" areas. Summers even tua lly sto p ped to ta ke Scott Plessinger captured his f irst-ever National Hare Scrambles Championship after f in ishing second overall in Wrentham, Massachusetts. a bath at a water hole he found in the woods. After the race Su m mers sa id, "It was just too pa inful ' to contin ue," a nd wh en as ked how he felt 'a bo u t the way the series ended; Su m mers sai d, " I' m glad to see Sco tt (P lessinger ) win , he has worked hard a ll seaso n a nd d eserves to wi n th e cha m p io nsh ip." Whi le Su m mers was suffer ing fro m h is misfortune, Loj ak a nd Plessinger were pushing eac h o ther III an effor t to ca tch J ohnson. By th e ni nt h a nd fin al lap th e race had come do wn to a three-way battle for th e lead with J ohnson holding a 10 second adva ntage over second pl ace rider Plessinger foll owed closel y b y a hard cha rgi ng Loj ak. At the end it was J ohnson tak in g the win with Plessinger bumping his rear wh eelas the two passed th rough the barrels for th e ninth and final time. Loj ak fini sh ed in third, 10 seco nds ba ck with no rear brake. Lojak's rear brake had faded during hi s last lap charge and ruined hi s cha nces for a no the r N at iona l Ch ampionship. After th e race Loj ak sa id , " I a lways wait until the end o f th e race to reall y turn it up , I was making m y move whe n th e brak e went a way ." Fou rth overall we n t to Denn is Decker who fin ish ed first in the 1"25ct A class. Decker started wit h th e seco nd wave, two minutes behind th e first wave, but still managed to ma ke up the ti me a nd pass a ll b u t th e top th ree riders. Fifth o verall a nd first in th e Open class went to Don G rahn. Almost a lways voted as New Engla nd Tria l Riders (NETRA ) " best" ha re scra m bles co urse , th is vear's track had a lot to live up to, ~nd it did. T rail boss Ron Ryan a nd h is gro up of Kin g Ph il ip Tra il Riders p u t together 7.1 miles o f the best hare scra m bles co urse th ey cou ld. The sta rt area was in th e first o f th ree "fields" whic h sent rid ers up a long grassy front stra igh ta wa y, into a nd throu gh so me fast sweeping turn s before entering the toughest threemi le long woods section. From there riders were led out onto th e second " field " wh ich included a 70 mph stra igh taway , lots o f turns a nd a rutted mudhole whi ch sen t mo re th an one rid er over th e bars. . After field number tw o, ride rs head ed back into a nothe r woods sectio n before entering th e third a nd best field o f the co urse, 2.2 miles of grass track style motocross racing with a few sur p rises thrown in made th is section o f th e co urse a favori te spot for spec ta to rs. The fin al push to the barrels incl uded a one -thirdm ile lon g seri es o f S turns to help - sprea d o u t riders a nd pr event bottlenecks at the barrels. After th e day's raci ng many riders were hear d praising th e co urse a nd the professional way in whi ch it had been laid o ut. Firs t overa ll in th e 200cc A class went to Mike Ca rlo n on a Kaw asak i KDX. After the nice Ca rlon sa id, " My bik e's suspens io n just doesn 't have it o n th ese ro ug h mot ocross style tracks." First overall in th e Sen ior cla ss was Paul Mich els aboard a ATK 406. Michels, a contender for the Sen ior Ch ampionship sa id a fter the race, "The se guys put o n a grea t event, it' s a ni ce way to end th e season." Trail boss ROll Ryan wanted to giv e special thanks to the Wrenth am State School for the use of their land, and also thanks to all th e volunteers and King Phi lip club members wh o helped mak e this year's event such a success. • Results C-125: 1. Philip Tedesco: 2. Phil Lem ere J r.; 3 . Todd Smith. C-200: 1. M ar c Thgr r ien ; 2. Gene Garn eau; 3 . Dan Hayes. C-250: 1. Kris McNamara: 2, Todd Ely; 3 . Je rry Reese. . C-OPEN: 1. Danny M orr is; 2. Scott Evans; 3 . Brad Ma ine. C-4 ·S TRK: 1. M ark Freitas; 2. Tom Schou : 3 . John Gallant. JR : 1. W es Clark e (Yam): 2. M ark Ritch (Hon); 3. James Kell y (Cag). MINI : 1. Jo h n Cahill (Suz): 2. Paul Rose (Suz); 3 . Ti m Cah ill (Suz). A -125: 1. Dennis Decker ; 2. Nathan Manel (Suz); 3 . Jack Hazelwood (Hon): 4 . Lee Pellet ier (Hon ); 5. Ron Petrucell i ( Ka w~. A -200: 1. M ike Carl on (Kaw); 2. Craig M iller (Kaw): 3 . Steve Wall (Kaw) . A -250: 1. Ke ith Jo hnson IKawl; 2. Sco tt Pless ing er (Kaw); 3 . Ed Lojak (Yam); 4. Duane Conner (Yam); 5. Robert Weber. A ·OPEN : 1. Don Grahn: 2. Lee Helhwe ll; 3 . Chri s M cG irr (Hon ); 4 . Bob Bennett (Hon); 5 . Dave Gunn (Hon). A -SR: 1. Paul Michels (KTM): 2. Peter Ruggerio (KTM); 3 . AI Desrosiers (Suz); 4. Dave Kelly IKTM) : 5 . Joe Lojak (Yam). A -5 /SR: 1. Dav e Fitzgerald; 2. Jerry Shinners (KTM). A -4 ·STRK: 1. Pat Wolf (Hus); 2. Paul Wilton (Yam). _ B-125: 1. Karl Backlund; 2. Robert Judson; 3 . John Day. 8 -200 : 1. Tim Jonelis; 2. Kevin Soboleski; 3. Den nis Byrnes. B-2 50 : 1. Jeff Sledge; 2. Joe Palumbo; 3 . Howard Kane; 4. John M ci ntyre; 5. Rick Horton. B-OPEN: 1. Brian Maranda; 2. M ike Hines; 3. Dean LaMontague. B-SR: 1. Denis Br issette ; 2. Clau de Leonard ; 3. Joe l Lepley . B-S/ SR: 1. A I Carniani; 2. Roger Schu ltz; 3 . Toni M oores. B-4 -STRK: 1. Paler Collins; 2. Cris Crispin; 3 . Joel Phelps. 0 / A : 1. Keith Johnson (Kaw); 2. Scan Plessinger (Kaw); 3. Ed Lojak (Yam); 4. Dennis Decker ; 5. Ron Grahn; 6 . Lee Halliwell; 7. Duane Conner (Yaml: B. Robert Weber; 9 . Dan Kelly (Yam): 10 . Scott Brot hers (Cag),

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