Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eCROSS COUNTRY e 1990 AMA Wiseco/Yamaha/Yokohama Grand National Cross Country Series: RoundS Nine-time Grand National Cross Country Champion Ed Lojak (1) finished third at the Birch River National. Winner Scott Summers continues climbing closer and closer towards the top of the series points standings with his fourth National Cross Country win of the year. S ummers pulls off Birch River win By Davey Coombs 24 BIROI RIVER. WV, SEPT. 9 portstown USA's Scott Summers continued his rampage through the eastern woods with his fourth overall win of the Grand National S Cross Country Series at Birch River. Summers, who is backed by American Honda, Bridgestone. : PJI , Sprocket Specialists, SuperTrapp, Maier, Camelback, T subaki, Whi te Bros., Fredette, JT Racing, and Spo rtstown USA, bettered T eam Yamaha's Jeff Russell by just less tha n four minutes o n a d iffi cul t ei g ht -mi le- pe r-Ia p course. In the process Summers was able to establish h imself as a contender in the overall series points standings. ationa l Cross Ni ne -ti me Grand Country Champion Ed Lojak was th ird overa ll with series contender T im Shephard fourth and Mark Hyd e fifth overa ll. . Th e HiPoint/Be l-R ay /Dunlop l Power Mi st -b acked Ru ssell wa s awarded the first place trophy in the ' 250cc A cla ss, while Ohio 's H yde scored th e Open A win after Summers was moved out of the class results as th e overall vietor. Pennsylvania 's Stan Loj ak won the 200cc A division and Honda-mounted Forrest Stark topped th e Four-Stroke A class. Yam aha rider Ted Fischer was the Junior +25 leader, . while Vet A series front-runner Rick Kresic topped his class. Joe Lojak was th e Senior A winner. The Birch River 100 was making its ·debu t on the G NCC sched ule as th e eighth round of the 1990 series. The approximat ely 150 rid ers in attenda nce seemed qu ite pleased with the challenging course that featured some of th e steepest climbs the series has seen th is year. One hill claimed so many rid ers in Saturday's ATV race that orga ni zers were forced to put in an al ternative path for Sunday's threehour bike run. Even th ough the secondary route was nearl y two minutes longer, almost every rider in 'the race, including Summers, had to journey to the crest of the hill at least on ce on th e easier path. When the riders left th e grassy open area for the start of the run it was Ed Lojak out in front on a Smithl Arai l Tsubaki/Metzeler-backed YZ250WR Yamaha. Summers, Russell and local favorite Doug Blackwell gave early chase until the riders engaged the big hill for the first time. All at on ce Lojak, Ru ssell and Summers were off their respective machines and pushing for the top as the pack closed in. " It was the weirdest thing," said Summers. " We were all there pushing together, trying to beat one another to the top, and no one could seem to get over the top." It was Summers that finall y mad e the grade first and his early advantage measured a quick 15seconds on Lojak. Shephard moved by Russell before the barrels to ho ld th e third overall position after the first 20-minute lap while Hyde rode in front of Team Green's Duan e Conner in the number five slot. Stan Lojak picked up the 200cc A class win with a solid 75-second lead on upstart Kawasaki rider Robert Tominello. Series front -runner Gene Onail battled with Tominello for the ea rly lead until difficulties on the seventh lap sent hi m out of cont en tion. Tom inello led Lojak until the last lap before the Yam ah a YZ1 25 rider was abl e to get up enoug h steam to overtake Tom inell o and pull out a late lead. On ail managed to hold on to thi rd with Suzuki rider Michael Burk bettering Dirty Harry 's rider Dave Fallas [or fourth. In th e Four-Stroke A class Forrest Stark p u t in ni ne of 10 laps to top fellow Pennsylvania n Tracy Warri ngton for th e class win . Kentucky's H arvey Wh itaker finished third. Joe Lojak's Senior A win was an eightlap feat tha t came at the expe nse of Georgia Yamaha rider T erry Mealer. Once into the lead Summer would never be headed on his big XR600 Honda Iour-banger. His lead would stabilize at two m inutes-pl us after the second lap and on ly Rus sell would come close to mounting a charge. On the eigh th lap Summers approached the big hill at speed only to find himself face-to-face with a lapped rider coming down the hill on an aborted attempt for the top. Summers lost his momentum and becam e stuck on the hill, but with six minutes to spare he had time to po int his bike back down the hill and use the altern ate route. Rus sell, who made th e climb, was back up to within two minutes of the leader as they started their last lap. Russell 's late- ra ce attack on Summers' position ended much the way it began. In stead of Summers having difficulty on the last lap climb, Ru ssell was met by disaster in the form of ano ther downed rid er. T he tie-up and strugg le to th e top cost h im two more min utes and allo wed Summ ers to coast in for th e overa ll wi n. Ru ssell recovered to beat Lojak to the lin e by a safe distan ce and th us seal up the day's 250cc A class victory . Shephard was next with Blackwell finishing a convi nci ng fou rth on his Kawasaki KX250. Mar tin Kehlmeier ro unded ou t th e top five in the 250cc A class. Hyde was making time on Open A con tender Matt Sp igelm yer all da y and was abl e to establish himself in th e top five overall in th e process. Spigelm yer finished second in th e class on a KTM with Honda rider Robert McClelland and KTM riders Charles Rogerson and Dayton Biser following. Ohio's Ted Fi scher secured the Junior +25 first place trophy with a nine-lap showing. Donald Bigley placed his ATK in second with Yamaha rider Mark Mehuron following. In the Vet A ranks Rick Kresic won another round, this time with a nine-minute cushion on ATK rider Paul Michels. Mike McCarren piloted a Yamaha to third, and North Carolina's Harry Greenlee became the first rider to clinch a 1990 National Championship with another Super Senior class win. Yamaha rider Donald Harless was second in the +50 class. Amateurs Pennsylvania's Brian Kegan upset

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