Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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; CROSS COUNTRY Illinois Cross Countty ChW~ionshi~ _ e Four-time Ill inois Cross Country Champion Jeff Frede tte was second overall. Overall winner Aaron Hougb successfully looks for the higb lin e throu gh Rock Creek. Hough outlast 'emat Morrison By Merle Acord M ORRISON, IL, ocr. 20 ea m Green 's Aaro n H o u g h blas ted 125 miles of open fields, tight woods and deep wa ter crossin gs in five hours an d 57 minutes to sco re th e o verall win a t th e 16th running of the Ill inois Cross Country Ch amp ionship race. Hough , ridi ng a Kawasaki KDX250, beat out runnerup, nine-time ISDE gold medalist J eff Fredette, a four -time wi nner of the even t. T he start was a 200-yard drag rac e across an open field into a left-ha nd sweeper. The riders then swu ng in a la rge half circle bac k to the start lin e in front of the spectators and another lo ng drag to th e start of a short two mi le loo p . Tim Taber grabbed the Expert class holeshot in the dead- engine start ahead of Phil Converse. However, Taber lost the front end in the loose, sandy, open field, wh ile making a high spee d lefthan d sweeper and did his first head plant of the race. Converse inherited th e lead, followed by H ough, motocrosser J unior J ackso n and ATK 's Ro n Naylor, whi le Fredette was back in th e pac k, saving his energy for a last-loo p charge. The course was a three-loo p configuration, wi th a 45. mi le second loo p which was ridden twice. T " O ne of the hardest parts of this race was breaking trai l," sa id wi n ner H ough. " We kept switc h ing back and forth wit h th e lead before gas . T ha t was abo u t the middle of the first loop. Naylor had about 10 seconds o n me, but he lost a chain or someth ing and I saw him al on gside of the trai l, and then I never saw h im th e rest of the da y. " I was th ird or fo urt h off the line, and about midway through the first 45-mi le loo p , I decided I'd better get ou t fron t" and build up so me ki nd of lead, so I could tak e it easy if I had to, " added Hough . "So I worked real hard o n th e fir st loop and no t q uite so ha rd o n the second loop . O n the second loop, I had about a two-minute lead a t the third gas stop." R un n er-u p Fredett e . sa id , " T h e sh otgun start took me by sur prise an d I was dead last off th e lin e; I j us t had to keep picking guys off. They would make a little mistake here and there, and I took adva ntage of it." Third overall Converse said, "I took over the lead at the start whe n we came around the barr els and Tabor crashed. Then Nay lor passed me right after we started the first short loop. But I caugh t and passed him back wh en we go t back in the peat bog s. " I waited for the last loop and then gave it everyth ing I had, thinking I m ight ca tch Fredette," added Converse. " I have beat him a co up le of tim es at the National Har e Scrambles, bu t no t today. I cou ld n' t close o n him." " I go t h ung up in some wir e o ut th ere," said Naylor. " T he back fender j ust go t chewed off by a .bunc h of wire that was wra pped around the hub. It also wh ip ped me on the back side pretty bad . I was going thro ugh a field wide open wh en that thing started whipping me. I fina ll y got sto pped and cu t it o ut. At tha t tim e I was leading and, when I go t back riding, I was a bou t four minu tes down on Aaron. I caug h t up to wh ere I had h im in sig ht a coup le of tim es, then I hung my foot on a root and twisted my kn ee bad and that was th e end of me for this day." Kaw asak i-moun ted Larr y Sullivan fini shed fo urth overa ll, cross ing the checkered flag two minutes behind Converse. Su ll iva n , wh o usually nai ls the holesh ot, said, " I had a bad start. I did n 't think Charley (the starte r) wo u ld shoot th e gun standing o ut in front of the li ne like he did, I was a littl e nervous and had to kick a bou t three tim es. T ha t .p ut me somew here at the back of the pack. . " I was getti ng tired in the first loo p ," cont in ued Su llivan . " It seemed lik e we were in th e wood s forever. With all th e leaves on the gro und the trail was very hard to follow in tha t first loop, an d it was impossible to set up a rhyth m. We were tak ing turns braki ng trai l th rough the first. loo p. On the second loo p, the trail wasn 't too bad, and I was a ble to make up some ti me." Althoug h J ackson fin ished o u tside the top 10 overall, he ga ined some respect for himself a nd for mot o- . crossers in general from the off-road racers. (Mo tocrossers have a repu tation here of blitzing for abo ut an hour then wi p i ng o u t o n a tree ). Jac kson drowned o ut in the first cro ssing of Rock Creek, which dropped him fro m ' first to last in th e Expert class. Next, J ackson ran out of gas, but he never q ui t and finished the race in seven hours flat. " I had a lot of fun, but I h it Rock Creek too hard o n' the first loop and th a t ' s wh y I d rowned o u t," sai d J ackson. "The rest of the day I slowed down." AT K rider Dan Wan cket finished fifth overa ll and first pl ace in the A class, plus collected double points and clinched the ICCRA Fall Series A class cha m pionship. Ben Sh afer was a front-runner before falling off the pa ce with leg cram ps, a n d h e event u a lly fin ish ed si xth overall. Ro n Wh ippl e, who fini shed second i n th e A cl ass, sa id, " I foll o wed Wan cket for a long time, then he kicked up a stick and I hooked it in m y brake pedal. When I got going ag ain Sam was go ne. I had the ho lesho t, but I j ust can 't seem to pu t it together here." :' Ryan Moss didn 't hav e any trouble putting it all together, as he won the 200-250 B class. Gl en Fuegen , who finished second in the 250cc B di vision said, " I was leading th e B class at the end of the first loop , but th en l.endoed i n a dit ch, and by the tim e I had collec ted m yself I was in th ird . T hat fa ll took a lot out of me. I was tir ed already and tha t just ' abo u t did it for me.' .' Despite getting stuck in the mud o nce, Ray Poston scored the Super CN Senior class victory. . Resul ts EX: I. Aaro n Hou g h ; 2. Jeff Fred eu e: .3. Phil Convers: 4. Larry Sullivan : 5. David Puchari ch. A: 1. Sam Wandel; 2. Ro n Whipple; 3. J eff Go ss; 4. Geo H Mell inger; 5. Gary Peterson . SR: 1. John Hossman: 2. Steve Hardine: ~ . Gle n Kno x; 4: . Mark Homes: 5. Bob Ma th es. S/SR: 1. Ray Poston; 2. J ohn Cygnor : 3. ' Bill Devore; 1. J o hn Lyo n; 5. Dan Kon icke, R 250ยท P LUS : I. Ton y Robi nson; 2. Glen Fuegen : 3. Lloyd H aas; 4. Kerry L iabl e; 5. R ich Bu rman. B 200-25ll: I. Ryan Moss; 2. j eff Daugh ty: 3. Robert Flan acan : 4. Patrick Hartma n ; 5. Ban Lask ye. T R: I. AI Craven ; 2. Mark Will son; 3. Too Wi lli am so n ; 4. C h uc k C u nnin gham; 5. G ar y Hamilton .