Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

wh o led th e initial stages o f the race, ran ou t o f gas before he co uld ge t back to th e pits. Twenty-five minutes lat er Ru ssell and Na ylor co mp leted the fifth o f seven laps dead even. Summers had reco vered from his lap-three follies to hol d a steady third, o ne m inute behind the lead du o. Hen don a nd Conner , both of whom had been nea r th e top 10 for most o f the run, began ma king up ground and positions. H endon held fourth with Conner two minutes back in fifth . " My suspension was working really bad a t the beginning," said Conner . "I had to.~top a nd get it adjusted before I lost too much gro u nd, but it cost me two minutes a ny way. I never reall y go t a cha nce to ge t in th ere a nd fight for the lead ." The climacti c point o f th e race occurred just aft er Na ylor and R ussel l checked in for the final lap. In th e pit area sweeper, Naylor rolled to his left and waved Russell into th e lead. Nay lo r would lat er adm it th at Russell 's constant dogging of him was on e reason for th e mov e, but he had more than one motive. " O n th e first lap I bent my shifter preuv good a nd it was hanging do wn quite a bit. All da y long it would jump around in th e gea rs until I finall y go t it stuc k in th ird. After I let J eff by I just rod e behind him a nd wat ched what he did. He fell a co u p le o f tim es a nd we would have lill ie co n versa tio ns as we go t togethe r. It was fu n. It was fair racin g." As for hearing th e loud Iour-str ok er beh ind him th e whole last lap, Ru ssell said, " Dave Coombs (series promot er) ought to hav e a sou nd chec k for th ose things. Tha t ca n get real a n noy ing o ut there in th e woods, especia lly now th at th ere's two o f th em up front (Nay lo r's ATK and Summers' Honda)." In the end Ru ssell was able to ge t so me lapped riders betw een h imse lf and Nay lor and used th e opport u n ity to sprint away from th e challe nger. He scor ed th e win wi th 36 seco nds to spa re whi le Naylor, Summers, Hendo n and Conner ro u nded out the top five in th e AA class a nd th e overal l. T he rest of .the to p 10 overa ll included Fran k Keega n , Blackwell , Tim Shepherd, Jo nes and Lojak, respectivel y. The 200cc A class was led practically from start to fin ish by KTM 's Thomas Norton . T he Massachuset ts rider, who is not an AA-r .lled hare scra m bler, was forced to start on th e third row, two minutes beh ind GNCC cla ss rival s Craig J ones a nd Stan Lojak. Thou gh Norton won th e 200cc A d ivision by over eigh t minutes. he cou ld no t ca tch Jones a nd Lojak a nd was forced to settl e for t h ir d-p lace G NCC class points. " It' s hard to sta rt back o n th e th ird row wh en th ose guys are u p front," said Norton. " I had to pass a lot o f riders from the o ther two ro ws a nd som e o f th em fall down or get stuc k and you end u p taki ng bad lin es. Pennsylvania 's Ro bert T ominell o fini shed seco nd in th e class while Illi nois' J eff Fredette fin ished thi rd. As for Jones a nd Lojak, th e two rode tog eth er all day long before Lojak suffered a flat front tir e lat e in the race. Jones ca pitalized to take ninth overall, o ne m inu te ahead of 10th place Loja k. In the 250cc A class West Virgin ia 's Dou g Blackwell put in a n inspired perform ance, climbing high into th e AA ranks on hi s way to a n eig h t· minute win in th e class. He ended up seventh overal l. Class newcomer Brian Keegan scored seco nd in class, with Yamaha-mount ed Farrell Smith notching third. AT K-mounted SCOll Martin was the on ly Open A rider to put in the full co m pleme nt of seven laps. H is effo rts paid off wi rh a class win. Ro na ld Palerno, th e defending overa ll B class cha m p io n, was seco nd with Kenneth J ohnson just 15 seconds back in th ird. Mich ael Cornell nailed the Fourtro ke A win wi th a bo ut 90 seco nds to spare o n runner-u p Ha rvey Whitaker. Ten -ti me Nat ional Enduro C ha mpio n Dick Burleson made a ca meo series a ppeara nce aboard a H onda XR 600 and went away wi th third in the class. Davey Coom bs scored th e Junior +25 class win, cl imbing u p into 14t h overa ll. Pennsylvania's Da vid Sa nti not ch ed seco nd in the class wi th fell o w Yamaha rid er J ohn Vin cent p laci ng third. Georgia 's Bryan Adams p laced a spot h ighe r than Coo m bs in th e overa ll tally o n hi s wa y to th e Vet A +30 victory. Adam s bet tered Yama hamo u nte d Rick Kresic by seven minutes, whil e West Virginia 's T ommy H arris took third. . . Pennsylva nia 's Joe Loj ak a nd Georg ia 's T erry Mealer co ntin ued th eir two-man Senior A +40 du el in Ten nessee. Loj ak pi cked up hi s seco nd win o f th e year over Mealer but with j ust 30 seco nds to spa re, KTM rid er J oseph Hull held th ird at th e finish . In th e Super Sen ior +50 gr oup, pr erace fa vorite Harry Gr een lee looked lik e a winner until he cra shed o u t lat e in th e ru n, br ui sing so me rib s a nd tweak in g h is back, Husqvarna rider Ch arl es Galbraith pi cked up th e slac k to win th e cla ss over Dave Coo m bs, Sr. a nd Donald Harl ess. ~ Resul ts 3. 5. 7. 9. ...... ..... .... 0..

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