Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ CROSS COUNTRY 1991 AMA Wiseco/YamahaIYokohama Grand National Cross Coon!!l' Series: Roond 5 I Aaron Hough (124) scored his second straight GNCC ove.:all victo ry. Points leader Duane Conner finished second, 16 seconds behind Hough. • Aaron.Hough scores WinterPlace WIn By Davey Coombs Photos by Jeff Barnhart FUTTOP, WV, MAY 1 2 r 18 eam .Grecn 's Aaron Hough, wh o sco red hi s fir st-ever National Cross Coun try overa ll win at the last ro und in Brownsvill e, Pennsylvan ia, scored hi s second overall victory of the seaso n a t the Winter Place ski resort. H ou gh led ano ther Kawasak i T ea m Green 1-2-3 sweep, as Du an e Co n ner a nd fou r-ti m e Natio nal Enduro Champion Terry Cunningham crossed the finish line second and thi rd, respectively. KTM 's J eff Ru ssell , again , was the first no n-Kawasak i-mo u nted ride r to ta ke the checkered Ilag, finishing .Io urth overa ll, while Ru ssell 's teammat e Steve McSwain ro unde d o ut the top five. Defend in g series cha m pion Sco u Su mmers aga in su ffered a setback in his q uest for back-to-b ack cross country titl es. Wh ile conte ndi ng for the overa ll lead, Summers submerged his big Hon da XR600 fo ur-stroke in a bog sectio n and could not get the bike restarted. Hough scored the win with a 16- second lead on teamma te Conner. But even with the WinterPl ace win , H ough o nly advances o ne spot - n inth to eig hth - in the series point sta ndings. Co nner leads th e field wit h 81 points, whi le Cunningh am is second wit h 75 po ints . Ru ssell is third with 72 to tal. J oinin g winn er H ou gh o n th e rostru m was 200cc A class winner, defe nding National Enduro Cha mpion Ran d y H awk in s, who was making a cameo appearance aboard a Suzu ki RM125. " I' m ridin g the l25cc class in the ISD E Quali fier Series," said Hawkings. " I'm here to get some practice goi ng fast o n this bike and to help get my thumb back into shape." Hawkins finish ed eig h th o vera ll after battling back and forth wi th class series po in ts leader Tom Norton, wh o fini shed second in class. Nearl y 250 riders took to the slopes of WinterPlace for a run that man y considered the best of the series so far. T he three hour-long race took place on a rugged six mil es-per-lap tra il that featured what one would expect from an eas tern ski resort: steep climbs, fast ro lli ng h ills, tight wooded areas, plenty of rocks, and, as Summers and Russell unfo rtunately found out, so me surprisingly deep swam p-bo ttom sections. La p tim es for the leaders hovered arou nd the 19 minute mark for most of the dry and hot run. Ho ugh began the race th e same way he's sta rted the last three - o ut in front, He grabbed the holesh ot in the first row , dead-en gine, 25OcciOpen A start. ATK's Ed Lo ja k, back on the circuit after a six-week layoff with a bro ken wrist, was second with West Virgin ia 's risin g cross count ry star Dou g Blackwell, KTM's Scott Plessinger, Sum mers, Ru ssell and Conner filling in the next few spo ts. Hough wou ld surre nder the lead a sho rt tim e late r. " I heard Summers come up beh ind me so 1 thou ght tnat 1 would let him set the early pace," said the Scot ti Yoko/ Bel-Rayl Acerbis/Dunlop/Tsubaki /Pro Circui t/Stoughton Racing- backed Hough. " Ed Lojak also went by me but he crashed a short time lat er." . Lojak was victi mized on the second lap by some downed logs and bent his rear brake pedal around the foot peg in the fall. H e tried straightening the pedal, but it ended up snapping off in hi s hand. H e would lose an entire lap as a resu lt and fini shed outside the top 20 overall, After Lojak 's departure Summers maintain ed his lead with Hough shado wing in second with Plessinger, Cunningham and Blackwell in tow. Conner was next, followed by Russell, Yamaha-support rider Tim Shepherd and 'Cap linger. As the race wore on Hough and Summers were trading off the lead at regular intervals. Cunningham was soon up to third with Conner fourth. How ever, Conner was losing time on the leaders. After just three laps he was more than two minutes back. " I tried to pa ce myself early and not make any mistakes," said Conner of

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