Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ CROSS C U T YAMA Wiseco/Yamaha/Yokohama Grand National Cross CountrySeries: Round 7 ONR ~ An estimated 45,000 spectators watched, and som e even lent a helping hand at the 17th running of the Blackwater 100. Series points leader Duane Conner (8) finished second overall and first 250cc A. Summers b to lasts Blackwater 100 w in By Da vey Coombs P h o tos by C . J. Coombs "I 10 DAVIS, W V,jUNE16 t took five years to ge t this one and it feels great!" said Ken tuc ky's Scott Summers after clinching th e overall trophy for th e 1991 Blackwater 100, o ne o f Ameri ca 's to ug hes t o ff-roa d races . The 24'year o ld Su m mers, th e defen d in g Grand Natio na l Cross Co u n try a nd Na tio nal Defending Cross Country Champion Scott Summers scored the overall win. Ha re Scra m bles Series Cham pion, domi na ted th e notor iou sly tough Blackwat er race from th e first lap o n. H is wi n n ing tim e of fou r ho urs, 40 m in utes and 46 seconds gave him a sixm inute lead o n runn er -up Du an e Conner, th e 250cc A class win ne r and the cu rrent points lead er in th e 1991 GNCC Seri es. " I was in a sta te of di sbelief go ing in to th e c h ec ke re d £lag, " sa i d Sum mers, wh o is backed thi s year by Ameri can Ho nda , HondaLin e, O ak ley, PJI , Bridgestone, White Brothers, Sp rocket Spec ia lists, Tsu ba ki, Camelbak , Fredette, Maier, CTI, Ara i, Pow er Mist, a nd Bloomingt on Honda. "I was rea lly paranoid th at so me thing would happen to ruin it, but my bik e worked grea t the wh ol e way th rough . Th is was a to ugh one." . Four-time Blackwater 100 Cham- pi on Mark H yde scored a n upset o f so rts wi th hi s th ird -place o ve ra ll fin ish , wh ich was good eno ug h for th e to p O pen A class trophy. Team Green sta blema tes Dou g Blackwell a nd T erry C un n in gha m fin is hed fo u rt h a n d fifth , respectively, ou t of a record field o f 55 1 motorcycle rid ers. The event also drew a reco rd n u mber of spec ta tors to th e free-ad mi ssion event. The Alpine Fest ival , th e local com m u nity organizat ion, estimated th at 45,000 people inva ded Davis for th e weekend event, One ho ur into the race the lead ers mad e th eir way to the infa mous Route 93 River Crossin g (home o f th e Mud Fleas). Co n ner had stretched hi s lead to JUSt over a minute but running second was Summers. Both riders negotiat ed th e creek and ensuing 20foot climb wit h litt le troub le. In fact, it wasn 't until Tea m Gr een 's Larry Ro eseler , wh o was 65th o n th e sta rt lin e bu t had mov ed up to 24th a fter a n hour, that a nv rid er had tro ub le negotiating th e people-packed river, Wh en Roeseler fell near th e top of the bank both bike and body were pulled to th e su m mit by th e spectators a nd the Ca lifornian was quickly back in th e race, Roeseler, a four-tim e.vetera n of th e Blackw at er, comp leted j ust o ne lap this time after suffering stee ring problems wi th his mac hine . After th e race he vowed to retu rn again nex t yea r in hi s qu est to becom e the first Ka wasak i rider ever to win the Blackwa ter 100. Team ATK's Ed Lojak, a former Blackwa ter wi nn er (' 89) was also out of the race early o n when he crashed in a ro ck sectio n, The eig h t-tim e GNCC Champion suf fered a twisted kn ee a nd reti red before the co mpl etion of the first lap. . Before passi ng th ro ugh the ba rrels to regi ster h is first lap, Co n ner sto p ped in the pit s for a rea r tir e cha nge. " I picked up the fla t goi ng up Cabin Mountain beh ind Kurt Hou gh ," said th e ear ly lead er, " I sti ll kept a good pace a ll th e wa y to th e pits but th en Su m me rs pa ssed me as th ey worked on th e bike . It blew m y m ind because he start ed so far back. I kn ew th en he was go ing to be to ug h to beat." KT M' s Pl essinger a lso passed Conner before th e barrels a nd appeared to ' be on hi s wa y to another GNCC top three pe rforma nce. U nfortunately, h is mot orcycle drowned o u t in a river crossi ng a nd ended hi s da y before the co m p letio n o f lap two. Pl essinger 's teammat e, Oh io 's J eff Russell , inherit ed th e numb er three spot a fte r start ing o u t 16th, but in th e next river cros sing, he dropped his KTM into the wat er. " I flew th rou g h th a t cross ing the first tim e with nrrprobl em s a t all," said a di sa ppointed Russell afterwards. " O n th e second la p I went th e sa me wa y across but so meo ne kicked up a log a nd it was floating just under the surface. It was hed m y front end o u t a nd I sp las hed it , big time." Russell lost 25 minutes ge tt ing his bike go ing again and eventually fini shed 14th overa ll. Three other riders making waves of another kind were ATK's Frank Keega n a nd KTM riders H yde a nd last year's winner Norton, riding a l25cc KTM. Keegan sta rte d seventh bu t quickl y moved up int o th e top five for a th ree-h our run with the leaders. How ever, Keegan drowned ou t on the third lap a nd was forced to retire. H yde a nd Norton both mov ed up into th e top 10 befor e th e end of the first lap. H yde was co mpe ting in o n ly hi s seco nd major race for th e year after having retired at th e end o f th e '90 season. The most prolific Blackw at e winner ever was sho wing th e GNC regulars that he still kn ew a thing 0

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