Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ CROSS COUNTRY AMA Wiseco/Yamaha/Yokohama GNCC Series:Round I e Doug Blackwell (5) beat Duane Conner (2), Kurt Hough (122), Scott Plessinger (10) and Terry Cu n ningham (3) to the first turn. P lessin ger leads eventual winner Scott Summers after the firs t lap. Summers triumphs in Tennessee By Davey Coombs Photos by Paula Thorn GREENEVILLE, TN, M 15 AR, ent u cky's SCali Su m m ers, the two-time AMA Grand Nati ona l Cross Co u nt ry Series Ch am pi on, began hi s 1992 titl e defen se with a masterful win a t th e Vo lunteer 100, The Am er ican H onda -backed XR600 pi lo t held a lead o f nearly arninute on T eam Green 's T erry Cunningham a fter two a nd o ne- ha lf h ours o f racin g a t th e Da llas Ri cker Sports Complex, KTM 's SCOII Pl essinger , th e winner o f th e season -ope ni ng AMA National Ch am p ionship H are Scramb les Ser ies ro u nd, was third overa ll. Fourth p lace went to series new comer Kurt H ough , K 10 who rode a Ka wasa ki, while Suzuki 's th ree- t im e N at io n a l Enduro Cham pion Rand y Hawk ins fin ish ed . fifth overa ll. " I ca me here ho ping to start the series wi th a win like last year and it worked o u t grea t," sa id Su mmers , who in cl udes Honda lin e, Sprocket Specia lties, Oakl ey, Bridgesione, Wh ite Bros ., Tsu ba ki, Bloom in gt on H onda ; Ara i, Pow er Mi st, T -P ro , AlpineStar a nd T hrottle J ockey among hi s list of sponsors. " I a lways try to p ut m yself in position to wi n and if it ha p pen s, i t h a p p en s. Wh en Terry (C u n - ni ng ha m ) and Scott (P lessin ger) made their mi stak es today, I was the re to pick up on th em ." . One o f th e mistakes 24-year-o ld Summ ers was referri ng to was a costly fall for Pl essi nger tha t occurred on a steep hill just before the halfway ma rk . After th e aborted climb Plessinger had to right himself by rid ing back down th e ro ck y. tree-l in ed h ill a nd sta rt fro m th e bottom. Pl essin ger estima ted th a t he lost " a t lea st a m in u te tryin g to get to th e top." Cunningha m's d ifficu lt ies were p it relat ed . After lead in g th e ent ire 2 14rid er field for the first fou r o f eig h t laps, the 33-year-o ld O h io woods vetera n lost too m uc h tim e in a n errorfilled pi t stop. " We just had a mix -up wh en I ca me in for fue l," ad mi tted Cu n ni ngha m, who is su p ported by MSR , Sco tt. EK Ch ai n, a nd Pro Circuit. " My brother was h e lp i ng me i n th e p it s th is weekend a nd we were n' t thi nk ing o n th e sa me level as to when exactly I wo u ld be sto p p ing. It was j us t o ne of th ose things tha t ha p pen ed ea rly and wi ll no doubt be wo rki ng ou t before the sea so n goes much further. " As the sea so n -o pen in g rou nd o f th e G NCC Seri es , which has ex isted si nce 1978, th e 2nd An nua l Volunteer 100 hosted so me of th e top off-road racers in th e na tion. Severa l new twists hav e been a dded to th e seri es, including shorte n ing th e minimum time of eac h ro u nd to two and a half ho u rs, 30 minutes less tha n last year. Also , a new Pro class was added fo r Nationalca liber expe rt s. T his division , o pen to accom p lish ed rid ers and a ll engi n e d isp lacem ents, pa id a $500 cas h purse w i t h th e to p e ig h t p la ces be in g a wa rded. N ine o f the to p 10 riders in the final overa ll tall y were regi stered in the l-l-rider P ro class, the exce ption bei ng seven t h p la ce C h r is Smi th, wi n ner of th e 16-rid er Open A grou p. T h e Pro cl a ss co m petitors were placed on th e fir st of 10 sta rting ro ws th at left th e line o ne minute a part. Fina l times we re adj us ted a t th e end o f th e run . T he fir st rider to ignite from the dead-engi ne d, g reen flag start wa s Doug Bla ckwell , la st year's series top newcomer. ' Defending 250cc A class cha m p Duane Conner , Cu nni ngha m an d MSR /Rentha IlDunlop/Bel-R ay- backed Kurt Ho ugh also go t goi ng q ui ck ly, givi ng Kawasa ki th e firs t fo ur positions a s th e pa ck made a q uick loop of ih e Dall as Ricker motocross track. Pl essin ger held fifth o n his KTM Am e r i c a l Ara i I 1'1e t z e I e r l M S R '1 eq uipped 250 D /XC with Team Mirage 's Tom N or t on fo ll owi ng . Summers wa s back in th e pack, where he was joined by th e Suzuki duo of H aw kin s a nd J a n H rehor. " I ' m not used to this kind of start, so I figured I wou ld let everyone sett le in a nd pick it up aft er th e start ," said H awkins. " O nce we got into th e woods everyth ing set tled down a lilli e an d I started moving u p. T he n Jan cras hed and I sto pped." Hreh o r, a native of Czechoslovakia, was making 'h is seco nd-ever appeara nce in th e GNCC series , h avin g fini sh ed third overa ll a t a ro u nd lat e la st year. But th e Ame rica n Suzu ki rider cras hed hard o n th e first lap wh en . h e got cr oss-r u t ted o n a rain-dam aged tram road . Hrehor d id a spec tac u lar endo right in front o f Su m mers and H a wkins. " I was wat ch in g hi s bik e cart whee l, tr ying to mak e s u re it di d n ' t bounce ove r in front o f me, an d I ended up hitting th e same rut a nd a lmost went down a nyway ," sa id Su m me rs. The H onda pi lo t co ntin ued on b u t Hreh or's Suz uk i tea mma tes H awk in s a n d Mark H yde eac h sto pped to check on th e Czech's co nd i tio n. H rehor su ffered a co ncussio n a nd d idn 't res ume the race. " I ended up playi ng medici ne ma n a ll day," sa id H yde after th e run. " I took care of J an a nd got back into the race , b u t th en late in th e race Steve McSwain crashed righ t in fro nt of me. H e was out in the mi ddle of the track a nd no one co u ld see h im when th ey were co m ing up th e track. " Willia m Reger, 200cc B class co mpeti to r, a lso sacrificed hi s cha nces for a hi gh finish by sto ppi ng to assist McSw ain , wh o su ffered a brok en l eg~ At th e en d of th e first six mil e-lon g la p , which la sted 22 minutes a nd 30 seco nds, Cu n ni ngha m led P lessin ger by six seco nds with Summers all th e way up to th ird over all. H ough was next but, li ke Hawkins, th e Indiana rid er was ha vin g trouble adj us ting to th e GN CC pace. "I ro de end u ros a lmost ex cl us ively la st yea r," said ' 26-yea r-o ld H o ugh . " It 's hard goi ng from hav in g short, fast sectio ns with resets a ll day long to one fa st, a ll-ou t th ree-hou r ru n. Pl u s, enduro rac ing doesn ' t have the mass start a nd la p ped riders like th ese do . It will tak e some gettin g used to but 1 should do a ll right." Be h in d Houg h cam e McSwa in , Norton, ATK-mou nt ed Fra nk Keegan , Blackwell , H a wk in s, Swedish Husa berg rider J imm y Eri ckson , a nd eig h ttime GNCC cha m p Ed Loja k. Du an e Con ner, a Team G reen rider who took Summers to the fina l rou nd before narrowl y lo sin g the '91 ti tle, was a ll th e wa y back in th e 23r d overall positio n . " I ro de th ird for most of the first lap bu t th en 1 mi ssed a co rner a nd went o ff th e trail, " sai d Co n ner. "Tu rns ou t the re was a deep hol e the re a nd m y bike dropped a lmost co m p letely ou t of sigh t. It must have . taken me five m in u tes to lift th e bike ou t." Ind eed , Co n ne r ca me through a lm o st fi ve . minut es b ehind Cunningham . Further ba ck wa s Ne w J ersey's Chri s Smith, wh o led th e Open A cla ss virtuall y from sta rt to finish. The Husqvarna 360 rider was th e on ly rider in th e gro u p to co m pe te a ll eig ht laps. H e mi ght have found stiffer co m pe tition in class runner- up J ohn Vincent, h ad th e Linem an Cycle rider no t spe nt

• Cover