Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eCROSS COUNTRY AMA Wiseco/Yamaha/Yokohama Grand National Cross Country Series: Round 12 ~ Defendin g G NCC champ Scott Sum mers scored the H igh Point National victory. Duan e Conner was the runner-up, but he still has a good sho t at the G NCC title. • Summers advances with High Point vIctory By Davey Coombs P hotos I!y C.]. Coom bs MT. MORRIS, PA, ocr. 20 onda 's Scott Summers moved to the top of the Grand National Cro ss Count ry 'Series p oint sta n d i n gs by w inning h is fourth GNCC even t of the season, at High Point Ra ceway. After ch asi ng Kawasaki T eam Green 's Du an e Conner in the standings since the th ird ro un d of the series, Summers can now a££ord to finish just o ne spot be hi nd Conner in the November 10 season finale in Greenvill e, Ten nessee, to clinch hi s second consecu tive G NCC titl e. The ever-steady Conner pos ted his fifth secon d-p lace finish of the series and needs to end the seaso n wi th a stron g fin ish if he hopes to beat Sum mers. Conner sti ll leads the series sta ndi ngs o n gr oss points, wh ere the best nin e of 13 fin ishes co unt towards th e cha mp io ns h i p . But Summers sho uld 'be able to drop o ne of hi s four previous DNFs, whic h would allow him to overco me Conner in net po ints for th e title. The o n ly rem aining co n ten de r for the GNCC cro wn , former National Enduro Ch ampion T erry Cunningham, finished fourth overall and needs poor final round finishes by both Summers an d Kawasaki teammate Conner in order to take the title. Filling out the top five overall at H 32 High Point were Suzuki 's Czechoslovakian import J an Hrehor, who finished third and n earl y ove rtoo k Conner at the finish , and KTM factory rid er J eff Russell , wh o finished fifth overa ll. Class winners in the fina l tally incl uded Conner in the 250cc A class, Kawasaki-mounted Steve McSwain in th e Open A group (Sum mers was removed fro m th e resu lts as overall champion ), Massach usetts' T o m Nor ton in th e 200cc A group and Honda XR250-mo u nte d Gary Roach in the Four-Stroke A class. The High Point Raceway woo ds course was fast, wit h severa l open field sectio ns and two short excursio ns onto the mot ocross track used for the 125/ 250cc Nati on al MX. The eight- mileper-lap trail also feat ured man y offcambered forest sectio ns and a di££icult, mil e-long jau n t a long a maze-like path of tight trees. T he race lasted just over three hours and 10 mi n utes. Approximately 175 riders atten ded th e event and were fortunate to have a cool and sun ny day for the penultimate ro und of the series. ' MSR lTeam Green /Dunlop/Scottbacked Cunningham emerged fro m the first row of 250cc and Open A class riders with the holeshot. Summers, Team Green's Doug Blackwell, KTM Scott Pl essinger, ATK's Ed Lojak, and Conner fill ed out the top positions. Further back was Russell, series new comer Chris Smith, ATK pilot Frank Keegan, and Hrehor. " I was in the lead by the fifth turn," said Su m mers , wh o made sho rt work of Cunni ng ha m. "l out-braked Terry go ing into a hairpin from th e o utside: A long straig h taway came at the exit and I j ust o ut-po wered him down th e stretch. I' m not usually co m fortable leading a t th e start of th e race because it seems like I never get good starts anyway . I ma de a who le bunch of mistakes early. Once I sett led down and q ui t tryi ng so hard I was able to get away from the pack. My mechanic Fred (Bra m blett) always tells me that races can't be won unti l th e last lap . I was ju st trying too hard at the beginning." At the com p letio n of the fir st Igminu te-long lap, Summers held an II second advantage on Plessinger, who seeme d to be co mp letely recovered fro m the back injury that slo wed him after, he won rounds eigh t and nine of th e series. Conner, Cunningham, and Lojak rounded out th e top five. Hrehor was back in 10th, ci rcu la ting the trail in the shadow of Russell. " I don't think that he understood wha t kind of race this was," said Russell of GNCC first -timer Hrehor. " You go fast in th ese races from startto-finish. Jan knows me from the (National) enduro series and I think he figu red that I could help him with th e pace, but it's just all-ou t the whole way here. I was having a tough time gelling m y act together and we were both way back . After ab ou t an ho ur hi s mechanic jumped o ut (on the track) and told him to ju st go for it. " By that time Hrehor was in ninth, two places beh ind Ru ssell bu t nearly three minutes o££ of Summers' frantic pa ce. Fo ur laps into th e 10-lap ra ce Summers held a lead of o ne minute, 20 seconds on Conn er , wh o h ad di spl aced Plessin ger for the runner-up spot and was an eq ua l distance ahead of the KTM . Cunningham was fourth, while Ru ssell positioned himself in fifth, still shado wed by Hrehor and McSwain. . By thi s time Hrehor was bleeding under hi s helmet when a rock kicked up by T im Shephard's Yamaha caught the Czech sq uare in th e nose. By the end of the ra ce Hrehor had two blackened eyes and what appeared to be a broken nos e. T he second fastes t four-stroker o n the track besides Summers' big XR600 was the Honda XR250 of Gary Roach , who leads the class in the po int

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