Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AM! Wiseco/Yamaha/Yokohama Grand National Cross Coun!!l' Series: Round 10 CROSS COUNTRY G ~ ..-----------= Scott Summers (left) won his sixth GNCC event this season and now needs just one top 10 finish in the two remaining rounds to clinch the championship. Summers soars again at Forest Festival 100 National By Davey Coombs ELKINS, W , OCT 7 V . Or the six th time this season , Kentucky's Scott Summers battled back the best cross country riders in the nation to take the overa ll win by three minutes at the Forest Festival 100. T he race was Sum mers' fourth straight win in the Grand Nat ional Cross Co untry Series and gave him the inside track on the overa ll series title. Summer s, wh o -is also the Nationa l Hare Scrambles Champion, needs just one top 10 finish in the two G NCC rounds that remain to take the number one plate away from defending champ Ed Lojak. Pen nsylvanian Lojak followed Summers across the finish line with Yamaha teammate J eff Russell , Kevin Bro wn and T im Shephard rounding out the top five overall. The event marked the first time that th e Forest Festival run has been included on the GNCC tour. The race was held in conjunction with a large community festival in centra l West Virginia and shou ld become a regular stop on the circuit. The course was a diffi cult six miles-plus path with lap times going past the 26-minute mark. After an open-field, dead -en gine start, the riders ma de their way into the Appalach ian forest wi th Lojak sharing th e lead wit h Shepard wh ile Brown and Ru ssell also rod e toward the from. After one fu ll lap, Russell was th e pack leader with KTM 's Steve McSwain shad owing him. Just beh ind McSwa in were Sum mers, Lojak , Shepard, Bro wn and Gary Roach. McSwai n's chances for the overa ll win su ffered heavily on lap two wh en the North Carolinian brok e part of his exhaust system and then lost a chain. He dropped all the way back to 12th overall before returnin g to the top 10 a lap later. F Also o n th e bum lu ck list was R ussell , who snapped off his fro nt brak e lever in a fall and found himself down in 10th p lace a sho rt tim e later. A pit stop for a q uick fix p u t h im back on the trac k in 15th place. At tha t timeLojak was back up into the lead wit h five seconds to spa re on Sum mers an d a ris ing Kevin Brown . Shepha rd and Mark H yde were also running in the top five as the threehour run neared the 50-minute mark. Summers, Lojak and Shepard hit the third-lap barrels in formation, but before heading back into th e trees Lojak was forced into th e pits to chan ge a punctured rear tire . The ch a n ge add ed two m inutes to Summers' lead and allowed him to make the breakaway that would see him rid e alone out front for the next two hours. Shepard, who fell off th e pace on lap three, followed a recovered Lojak and Brow n into the next check, th e th ree of them nearly three minutes behind Summers' arr ival. At the five-lap mark Summers' lead had fallen off to just less than two mi nutes as n ine-time GNCC champ Lojak made a midrace das h towards th e leader. But Summers responded to th e run on hi s positio n and secu red a four-m inute lead within the next two laps. Brown was holding on to third, four minutes behind Lojak. Shepard was ano the r m inute back , while H yde battled Rus sell to possession of fifth. Roach an d McSwain were next in the overall line wit h 200cc A class leader Gene Onail making a run beh ind the m for ano ther top- five overall p laci ng. As the race went into its fin al stages , Su mmers ma intained a steady threemin ute lead over Lojak and crossed the Defending GNCC champ Ed Lojak led at one point, but a punctured rear tire forced hi m to the pits for a change an d he dropped two minutes behind at the fmish. finish line aboard his American H o n d a/ Sp o rtst o wn USA- backed XR 600 after three hours with tha t lead intact. Lojak clai med second overall and the 250cc A class win while Russell displ aced Brown and H yde in th e late stages for th ird overall. H yde led th e rest of the Open A class on his KTM as McSwain , Matt Spi gelmyer, Ch arl es Rogerson a nd Robert McCl ell a nd ac co u nted fo r seco nd th rou gh fifth in th at class . . The year-long battle for th e 200cc A titl e between Onail and Stan Loja k took a turn in Onail's favor when Loja k broke a brak e peda l wh ile rid ing shotgun to his ne mesis. The in cident caused Lojak to lose valuable time on the leader an d opened the doo r to Onail 's sixth class win of the seaso n. Crai g J ones and Robert Tominello sp lit the differen ce between Onail and Lojak in the final results with J ohn Vin cen t ho lding on to fifth at th e fini sh. Carey Stump took th e Four-Stroke A .class victory with a seven -minute lead on runner-up Tracey Warrington. J oseph Lawson was third with H arvey Whitaker an d Forrest Start tra iling. In the Senior A class T erry Meale r put win number six in th e boo ks and opened some brea thing room on race and series runner-u p Joe Lojak in th e points chase, . Tommy H arr is put in eight co mplete laps to garner his fifth J u nior Pl us 25 win of th e year and distance himself further away from his cha llen gers in the points chart. Michael Cornett ran second at the ch eckered flag with Ted Fisch er holding off Donald Bigley and J im Kallek er for th ird. In the Vet A class Rick Kresic secured h is sevent h win of the seaso n and cli nc hed th e series cha mp ionship on h is Yoko hama/BT Racing H ond a. J ohn Sherry and Gallie Ward were second and third with David Molnar a nd Mike McCarre n rou nding out th e top five. North Car olina's H arry Green lee kep t his unbeaten streak togeth er at 10 straight after wi nning the Super Senior class over Don Harl ess. Greenl ee's year-lon g winn in g streak saw h im clinch the class cha mpionship two races ago. Ronald Pal erm o joined Green lee as a '90 class champ when he picked up h is eighth 250cc B class win of the season. Palermo a lso put a lock on the new Yamaha to be given away to the l:1'I top B rid er of the.series. Resu lts O /A: J. Soon Summers (Ho n); 2. Ed Lojak (Ya m); 3. Jdf Russell (Yam); 4. Kevin Brown (KT M); 5. Tim Shephard (Yam ); 6. Mark H yde (KT M); 7. Gary Roa ch (KT M); 8. Stove McSwa in (KTM ); 9. Gene Onail (Ya m); 10. Craig J on es {Kaw ). O PEN A: J. Mark Hyde (KTM ); 2. Steve McSwa in (KTM); 3. Mall Sp igelmyer (KT M); 4. Charles Rogerson (KT M); 5. Rober , McClelland (Hon). 250 A: J. Ed Lojak (Ya m); 2. Jeff Ru ssell (Yam ); 3. Kevin Brown (KTM); 4. Tim Shepard (Ya m); 5. Gary Roa ch (KTM). 200 A: I. Cene Ona il (Ya m); 2. Cra ig Jones (Ka w) ; 3. Robert Tomi ne llo (Kaw); 4. Sta n Lojak (Ya m); 5. John Vincen , {Ka w), 4-STIlK A: I. Carey Stu mp (H o n); 2. T racey Warringt on (H o n); 3. J oseph Law son (Ho n) ; 4. Ha rvey Wh itaker (Hon); 5. Forres t Stark (Ho n). J Il: J. T ommy Harris (Ya m); 2. Michael Co mer, (Yam); 3. Ted Fisch er (Ya m); 4. Donald Bigley (ATK); 5. J im Kallekcr (KT M). VET A: J. Richard Kresic (Ho n); 2. J ohn Sherry (Kaw); 3. Gallie Ward (Yam ); 4. David Molnar (Yam ); 5. Mike McCarren (Yam ). SR A: J. Terry Mealer (Yam ); 2. Joe Lo jak (Ya m ). SI SIl: J. H arry Green lee (Ya m); 2. Donald Harless (Ya m ); 3. Ern est Huffman (KTM); 4. John Baker (KT M); 5. Clifford j o nes (Kaw). OPE. I B: I. Douglas Mill er (Han ); 2. Da vid " Bartlett (KTM ); 3. Daniel Palermo (H o n ); 4. Rick Nowak (H o n); 5. Allen Nelson [Hon]. :!SO B: I. Ronald Palermo (Yam); 2. Brian Keegan (Yam); 3. Jeffrey Copas (Ho n); 4. Mike Busch (Kaw); 5. Thomas Manintt:k (Hon). 200 B: I. Dua ne Sprouse (Sw ); 2. T imoth y Aretz (Yam); 3. Mickey Fr.iOtz(Hoo); 4. David Black (Kaw); 5. Ma lt Aubc:le (Kaw). 4-STIlK B: I. Ri ck Par sons (Hon);·2. Don Bohn (SUI); 3. j am es Sta nley (Hon) : 4. Mark Niggemeyer (H on ); 5. Lawerence Black (Hon). VET B: I. Troy Sch lereth (Hon); 2. Fra nk ) an och a (Sw); 3. Sam Forres ter (Yam ); 4. Harold NIch ols o n (KT M); 5. Max Burns ide (Sw). SR. B.: l. David Gillia n (Han); 2. Peter Geirher (Ho n) ; 3. David Deh ner (Kaw); 4. Richard Scott (Yam ); 5. Dennis Zinz (KT M). NOV: I. Randy Fink (Hen ); 2. Jeff H ebb (H o n); 3. Rick McCo rm ick (H o n ); 4. Gn:gory j on es (Kaw); 5. Annon Co llins (Suz). AMA G RAN D NAn ONAL CROSS COUN TRY CHAMPIONSWP PO tNT STANDINGS: I. Jeff Russell (141); 2. Ed Lojak ( 159); 3. Scou Su mmers (137); 4. T un Shephard (127); 5. Mar k H yde (tI 8); 6. Gary Roa ch (103); 7. ~e O na il (100); 8. Stan Lcjak (87); 9. Doug Blackwell (85); 10. Dua ne Co nner ( 68~ 17

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