Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ _ ____ AM_A_N_ati_oD_alC_h_ampionship Hare Scrambles Series: Round 8 HARE SCRAMBLES e ; Scou P lessinger scored his first win of the season at the Thunder Ridge National. Scott Summers challenged P lessinger on the last lap but came up short. Plessinger pounds Thunder Ridge National Pl essinger shows off the num ber one trophy following his hard fought win, By Michael Snyder "I SOUTH EDMONSTON, NY, JULY28 jus t wanted to beat Summe rs," said KTM factory -backed rider Sco tt Pl essinger foll owin g three hou rs of rac ing at the T h under R idg e Nat ional , held on ly a few miles fro m th e Una d ill a Valley Sports Center in upstate New York. Pl essin ger accomplished his goal but not without thwarting a last- lap, last-turn cha ll enge by th e recentl y cr o wne d Nat ion al C ha m pio n, Sum mers, wh o cli nched the ti tle at th e last round in Missouri. "Going into th e last la p , Summers got ahead of me before the (sco ring ) barrels," P lessin ger said of the close fini sh . " I passed h im bac k u p one of the hills in back and p ut a lO-second lead over h im . He caugh t me a turn or two befor e the checkered flag , so I j ust banzaied th ro ugh the trees a nd p ulled away fro m h im a lit tle u ntil th e .Iin ish." KTM 's Tommy Norton was the third rider to cross the fin ish lin e, though at a good distance beh ind the leaders. Rounding o ut the top five were ATK rid ers Ron Nay lor a nd Frank Keegan, respectively. T he co urse was locat ed right ne xt to the Thunder Ridge mo tocross track a nd util ized th e woods adjacent to it. The riders rode a part o f th e MX track before shooting into th e woods across a road. The first lap to talled 8. 1 mi les, while every la p thereafter eq ualled 7.6 miles. Hot weath er a nd hum idity took s its toll o n the 160 riders tha t sho wed up to do battle, in cludin g Team G reen 's Duane Conner. " I had moun tain -bik ed around the co urse yesterday and I guess it too k a lot o ut of me," said Conner. " I go t a real bad start but put in a co up le of fast laps and started to ca tch Norton. After tha t I just go t tired and I co u ld n' t even sta nd u p." Conn er ' s teamm a te, four- tim e National Enduro Ch ampion T err y Cunn ingham, was a no-show a t the T h u nde r R idge National , a s wa s ATK's Ed Lojak, wh o was nursin g a n aili ng knee he injured a t th e Black wa ter 100 last June. T he race go t off to a roc ky start wh en , i n Summer s' words, " T h e organizers just told us one minu te to go a nd th en the flag ger went to look at his watch or something, twitched hi s wri st a nd everyone took off wit h me sitt ing there. I had j ust kill ed my engine and put m y goggles o n . I th ou ght of staying there but decided to tak e off, I was dead last. I had to work m y butt off to ca tch u p. " Getti ng th e -jump was No rton , who blasted into the lead with P lessin ger g lued to h is rear fender, as they fun neled into th e woods section. " I got beh ind Tommy o n the first la p and decided th a t I ' didn' t want to tu rn it up too soo n ," said Pl essin ger. " So I wa s co ntent to fo llow him a ro und. " My bike was really beatin g me u p prett y bad ly so I sto p ped o n the first lap to adj ust my fork and shock," said Plessinger. " I grabbed the lead o n th e second o r th ir d la p , a nd I k ne w Summers would be ri ght there, so I turned up the pace a litt le." Su m me rs did indeed catch u p to th e new leader , as they began to battle for the wi n . . "The co urse was a ro ugh one , it bea t you the wh o le time," said Pl essin ger. " It was whooped o u t wi th a lot of tree roo ts. T here were p laces where I co uld pull a way from Su m me rs ; but he wo uld make up for tha t o n the do wnhills, usin g the four -stroke's engine breaking ins tead of his wheel bra kes." It was a dogfigh t down to the fin ish , with P lessinger nipping Summers at the checkers. " I had to keep tell ing myself that I a lready have this titl e sewn up, so I origin all y deci ded to let Pl essinger go a nd try a co nsiste nt a pproach ," said Su m mers. " T ha t went o u t the window wh en I had the opp ro tu nity to win th is race. I was th inkin g that I co u ld sa ve so me energy by following Ples singer, bu t wh at happen ed was , my bike's air filter was almost entirely clogged wit h dirt. It got really bad on th e last co u p le of laps. Wh enev er I would chop o r sh u t off the th rottle, it would bog then catch at the most in opportune time, it was interesting. In fact, that' s wh at ha p pened in th e last turn , which ca used me to go wide a nd miss ou t o n a bid for the wi n. I mi ght no t ha ve passed hi m anyway , but it wo uld' ve mad e for an even mor e exci ting finish ." Norton landed thi rd bu t was almost docked a la p for runnin g into a scor ing ba rrel and knocking it o ver during th e race. " I came in a little hot on one of the laps and hit a barrel," said Norton. " It was an accident and I didn't hit a nyone , and besides, the barrels were a little closer together than they normally are at so me of the o the r events." As for th e rest of the race, Pl essinger sai d, " It was a fun race an d I had a good day. The three of us (P lessi ngers a nd Summers) were together for the firs t three laps. We were swa p p ing the lead back a nd forth, bu t I had to p it o n the th ird lap, so I lost the two of the m. It was hard to ge t back o n th at pace by myself. My bike was screa min g, I was pulling Pl essinger o n so me of the uphills. H e let me by a t o ne point, ma ybe he go t sick of hearing me behind him !" Fourth overall Nay lor , said, "This is the fart hest east tha t I' ve ridde n . The terrain was very technical, lot s of offcam ber tu rns and tight. I' m not very fami liar with this type of terra in . I crashed o ver so me tree roots o n the first lap, but I go t u p a nd stra ig htened out everyth ing. After th e nex t co u p le of la ps, I started to ge t the hang of it. Na ylo r's ATK teamma te Keegan sco red fifth a head of Ethan Goodrich. Suzuki support rid er Steve Hatch u sed the da y as practice for th e Czechosl ovakian International Six Da ys Enduro in September. "S uzu ki told me to take it easy and not ge t hurt here," said H atch . "So I CN was just cruising arou nd." Resul ts 0 / A: 1. Sco tt P lessinger (k 'TM); 2. Scott Summe rs (H en) : -!. T om m y Norton (KT M ); 4. Ron Naylor (AT K); 5. Fra nk Keega n (ATK ); 6. Ethan Goodrich (KT M); 7. Steve Ha tch (SUl ); 8. Sco tt P helps (H us}; 9. Mark Scha ch tler: 10. Gr eg Holden . AA: I. SCOlI P less in ge r, 2. Scott Sum men; 3. Tom m y Norton. l~ A: 1. Jason Ha nes: 2. Thomas Co le. 200 A: 1. Gene Thurman; 2. Patrick Calhoun. 250 A: I. Steve Hatch : 2. Scou P hel ps ; 3. Mar k Scha ch tler . O PEN A: 1. Dou glas Stephens: 2. Sco u Mart in : 3. Ro n Wh ip ple. . 4·STRK A: I. Pal Anderson; 2. Don Bohn; 3. Harvey whi taker. VET A: I. J el! H on o n ; 2. Mike McCarren; 3. Scou Snyder. ~ sa A: I. Ri cha rd Dal y; 2. Ro b Tho m pso n; 3. Wade Summers. S/ SR A: I. Rob Capl inger: 2. Char les Galbra ith ; S. David Fitzgerald, 125 B: 1. Chris Fi rt h: 2. Ken Kuber: 3. Steve Meu rs. 200 B: I. Ken neth Young : 2. Sco tt Bru nn er; 3. J im Ryan . 250 B: I. R ich Bryan ; 2. Ru ssell Weist: 3. Walt er Bell . OPEN B: 1. Harold Brown: 2. Mike Mel iski: S. Jeff Co nsed en . SR B: I. Joe Arcest: 2. Gar y Brown: S. Ted G ra bowski . VET B: I. Roger Bilt hartz: 2. La rry Man ser; S. Byron Can no n. 12S C: J. Da le Kober: 2. Earn est Sir oi s J r.; 3. Ch r is . Belles. 200 C: I. Mike Lyo ns; 2. Steve Burt; 3. Do mi ni c Sileo. 250 C: I. T ra vis Hen ry: 2. Rich a rd Hen ry: 3. Rich Cooley. . O PL""I C: 1. Joe Misk o: 2. Ala n Stell ma n : 3. J oh n Du nn J r. 25

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