Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ HARE SCRAMBLES AMA National ChampionshipHare Scrambles Series: Round 7 e The popular S un Va ll ey Grand P rix util ized t he mun icip al park in downtown Bell evu e for the start o f the race. ATK's Ron Naylor co llected his fourth- ca reer victory at the Sun Vall ey G P , which was th e seventh ro u nd of th e AMA National Cha m pions hip H are Scra mb les Series. R u nner-up J oe Zierm an made it an ' ATK sweep. finish in g just over 15 m inutes behind hi s tea mma te. Na ylor. Naylor finds fourth Sun Valley GP victory The Sa tu rda y rac e was disasterous for defendi ng Nationa l H ar e Scram bles Ch ampion Scott Pl essinger. The factory KTM p ilot ra n into a rock h idd en in th e dust at top sp eed and was th ro wn in to a barbed-wi re fen ce. Summers. who im mediately stopped a nd cam e to Pl essinger 's aid, said, " I sto p ped a nd put him (P lessinger) o n my bike, rod e him back to wh ere we exited th e pa vem ent and dropped him off wit h some race o fficia ls. 1 rnust've g iven u p a hundred position s, but it 's obvious wha t is more importan t." P le ssin g er ' s in j uri es inc luded a separa ted shou lder, a broken co lla rbone a nd a n k le, lacerat io ns a nd a slig h t co ncussio n. H e was flown back to hi s home in Ohio th e day foll owing th e rac e wher e he is now restin g co m forta bly. Pl essinger said he will sit o u t the rest of the seri es, even if he' s ca pa ble o f riding th e last race o f th e series in Sep tember. Meanwhile, Ya maha's Ed Lojak , th e ser ies points leader , headed th e pack By Mike Thuleen B ELLEVUE,!D, jU ~E 30/j uly I ort hern C ifornian Ron Nay lor, al a board an ATK 406, ra n wild a t th e US A Spo rts ' Su n Va ll e y Grand P rix Nat ion al H ar e Scrambles, by win ning with :10 inc reda ble ISminute mar gi n over ru n ne r-u p j oe Zierrnan. The wi n marked Naylor's fourth SVGP victo ry o f h is ca reer, as he won th is race in 1985, '86 an d '87. N Benefitt in g fro m two m iscues by T eam Green's Larry Roeseler, Zierman mad e it a n ATK sweep of the firs t two overa ll pos itions. Despite sto p p ing to help a n in jured rid er. H onda 's Scott Summers thumped his bi g-b ore XR600 to third overa ll , nipping a n ecsta tic Dave Po rter, who rod e o ne of his best races o f h is ca reer. but was soo n passed by ATK's Greg Ziuerk opf, Na ylor a nd Roeseler. Na ylor a nd Roeseler, now battlin g for th e lead, were di cing in tensely, trying to ou tbra ke eac h o the r, divi ng int o th e tight street corn ers. Then a ll o f a sudden Roeseler went dow n. " G o ing into a left-ha nder into th e dirt, I tri ed to o u tbra ke Ron , b u t the fro nt end tu cked under," said Roeseler , " 1 got passed by every AA rider." Na ylo r inherit ed an uncontest ed lead, wit h Ziuerkopf, Lojak , Zierma n a nd Roeseler charging hard in th e d ust. T he next grou p of riders off th e start was led b y fo ur -ti me d ef endin g Nati o nal H are & H ound Champion Da n Smith with Ren o' s Dave Po rter ' in clos e pursuit. " I nail ed a seco nd pl ace sta rt behind Sm ith, " said Porter , wh o was riding _a Suzu ki. " Jo h n Niel sen (off th e next row ) p as sed m e o n th e fi rst b ig downhill , but 1 go t back by him. Then he got me in th e last tree sect io n. 'I passed h im back, again, on th e road comi ng bac k to tow n going th rough a wat er cros sing." Po rter a nd Niel sen battled it o ut co n tino usly th rou gh th e next two la ps. Smith, however, had p u lled a way a nd sliced th rou gh the dust a nd held th ird overa ll behind Naylor a nd Zittkopf by th e end of the first lap . ~ There were ot her rid ers moving up th ro ugh the pack in th e treacherous du st and 95 degree tem peratures. ".I got a real good start and passed everyo ne in m y row in the firs t tu rn ," sa id Wa shington 's Da vid Rh odes, wh o sta rted o n th e fourth row . " I ca ug ht Nielsen a nd just cr uised in the dust." Col orad o' s Fri tz Kadl ec wa s also o-n th e move and was b usy pi cking off riders, ru n n ing nea r the top 10 by th e end o f the first loop. H eadin g 'i n to the seco nd lo o p , Na ylor held more th an a n eigh t minute lead o ver Zi t ter kopf, whose ATK developed a fla t tire soon aft er. Seven m inutes later , S m i t h thu ndered through th e p it a rea, th en th e ga p between th e rid ers narrowed as Lojak, Zierrna n , Porter, Ni elsen and Rhod es cha rged into the seco nd go-arou nd. Wo rking ba ck up th roug h th e pack was Summers wh o was running 13th o vera ll, while Roe seler was running a surprisi ng ly lo w 18t h. " I got lost," said Roeseler, " I went up a ca nyo n three mi les until 1 got to a roa d crossin g with no co u rse markings. 1 had to go a ll th e way back to th e co urse. Nay lo r co nt in ued hi s ex traord inary lead, now stretched ou t to more th a n 10 m in u tes over th e second p lace rid er , Smith. Lojak was running th ird about 30 seco nds behind Smith. H owever, Lo jakI r id e was interup ted with 'mecha nica l prob lems . "I passed Sm ith in the pits, but m y front br ak e mast er cylinder locked up a nd my Lack brak e just was n 't eno ugh. By th e tim e 1 go t every thi ng fixed, 1 was way back ." Loj ak eventua ll y fin ished a la p dow n in 69th o vera ll. Lojak's p rob lem s li fted Zierrna n into third overa ll wit h Zit terko pf o n ly IS seco nds behind. Nie lsen and Po rter kept th eir battle goi ng as th ey ca me through di cin g for fifth. " I cou ld reel him in through th e woods sectio ns, but he'd pull a wa y o u t in the o pe n, " said N ielsen. Kad lec, meanwhil e, m ov ed in to sevent h , but like Loj ak , ran into mech anical difficulties. "J ust ca ll me Mr. T est Rider ," sai d Kad lec. " I brea k th e weirdest stuff! I was j ust riding conserva tively - bu t still fairl y fast - when m y throttle tu be bro ke! 1 only had six riders in fro nt o f me."

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