Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ OFF·ROAD AM! Grand National Cross Country/National Hare Scrambles Series: Rounds 2/3 e Scott Summers scored the overall win with a six-minute cushion over his nearest rival. Kurt Hough (121) leads Randy Hawkins (180) early in the race; Hough finished fifth. Summers scores again at Loretta Lynn's By Davey Coombs Photos by R ich ard Balzer and Jay Chittenden HURRICANE MILLS, TN, MAR. 29 or the third week in a row Kentucky's Scott Summers dominated the woods, this time winning the combined National Cross Countryl Hare Scrambles at the Loretta Lynn 's Ranch in centra l Tennessee. The twice-running overall champion in each series ran off and hid from a starstudded field that included factory riders from Suzuki, Kawasaski, KTM, H usaberg and ATK. "I wanted this one really bad, because this is one of th e biggest races of th e year and everyone sends their top guns," said Summers after crossing the finish line nearly six minutes ahead of runner-up . Scott Pl essinger. " Loretta Lynn 's is two races in one, with twice th e points and twice the money up for grabs. With everyone here today it gave me a chance to remind them who the champion is." Not that anyone needed a reminder; Summers also won the GNCC opener in Tennessee a forthnight before Loretta Lynn's and was victorious in the Cadiz, Kentucky, National Hare Scrambles last weekend. Summers is backed by American Honda, Hondaline, AlpineStars, T -Pro, Oakley, Bridgestone, Sprocket Specialists, Tsubaki, Arai , Power Mist, Throttle Jockey, White Brothers and Bloomington Honda. " Sco tt (Summers) just flat took off and left us," said Team KTM 's Plessinger, the winner of th e National Hare Scrambles Series opener in . Texas. "I started out about sixth and made som e little mistakes that dropped me down to 10th or so, but then I calmed down and started moving up. But by the time I moved into second F 14 Scott was long gone. It was hi s kind of track and there was no way I could have kept up with h im . Still, I had a good rid e and I'll take second here any day ." . Finishing third overall behind the Honda XR600-mounted Summers and KTM 250 DIXC rider Plessinger was Larry Ro eseler, T eam Green 's wellknown desert star wh o was making his first-ever appearan ce at the Lor etta .Lynn 's Ranch race. "T h is was a dem anding, cha lle nging race," said Roeseler, who admitted that his th ird-place fin ish , " . . . ma y have been the best ever in an Eastern hare scrambles. I don't get to ride with these guys very often and I didn't have the confidence I needed at the beginning of the race. Bu t each lap I felt like I was going faster and faster; I was only about 30 seconds behind Plessinger. I'm real satisfied with the results." Rounding out the top five overall were Roeseler's Kawasaki teammates Duane Conner and Kurt Hough, respectively. ATK's Frank Keegan, Massaschusetts' Thomas Norton, West Virgi nia's Doug Blackwell, and Sweden 's Jimmie Eriksson were next in the final tally. The 250cc A class victor was Tennessee's Robert Patterson, a Honda rider who also placed 10th overall in the 370 rider field, earn ing him top honors for all non-AA class riders. The Open class winner was Pennsylvania's J ohn Vin cent. Indiana 's Jared Green and Chad Froman claimed class victories in the Four-Strok e A and 200cc A divisions, respectively. Top Vet A (+30) rider was Kentu cky's Scott Martin , wh ile Yam ah a-m ounted J oe Lojak led the Senior gr oup. The large turnout of rid ers who attended the Loretta Lynn's event were gr eeted by a diffi cult, ' log-lined trail th at measured nine miles in length. Even though the facility was hosting a Nati onal-caliber woods event for the 10th year, most of the course was brand new, whi ch meant that fallen leaves and unexposed rocks and roots would be a probl em for the first two laps. But after th e first hour of the three hour and th ree minute-long race the course became ro ugh and somewhat rutted. "T he co urse got kind of rutted but wh en you hav e 370 riders going around a nine-mile track, that's going to h appen ," said Summers: " It was demanding and technical and all that, but at the end I felt physicall y capable _ of ridin g more." The race began on the opposite side of Route 13 from the Ranch and followed the shallow Hurricane Creek under a highway bridge. The riders then headed into the woods for eight and a half miles before coming into the motocross-style pit area that was steep and off-cambered. The pit crews and the scoring barrels were loca ted here. A dead-engine starting procedure meant that the riders would line up according to class in 15 different rows, each of whi ch went off at one m inute i n te rval s. Th e various times are adjusted at the co mpletio n of the event. Twenty-five riders lined in the first AA row, 15 of which were AMA Nati on al Hare Scrambles numbers of 20 or better. Payback for this class woul d go all the wa y back to 13th place, with the winner earning $150 and pl aces second through 13th earning $50 apiece. One notable absent ee was defending AMA National Enduro Champion and '91 Loretta Lynn's winner Jeff Russell, who's recovering from a foot injury suffered at th e Tecate 250 earlier in the month. Team Green 's Kurt Hough raced into the left-hand hairpin first with three-time National Enduro champ Randy 'Hawkins, GNCC '91 runnerup Conner, and Summers snaring the early challenger positions. Ples singer started sixth and Roeseler estimated that he was " . .. outside the top 10." At the back of th e pack were ATK rider Chris Caplinger an d Husqvarna's Harvey Whitaker, who tangled as they exited the corner and fell. Once into the creek Team Suzuki's Jan Hrehor suffer ed the embarrassment of drowning out his Suzuki DR350 in the shallow water and would lose several minutes bringing the four stroke machine back to life. As th e riders entered th e woods Roese ler found himself losing as much ground as he was making up. "I reall y wanted to go faster in the early stages , but it's just too tight and hard to pass here," said Roeseler. "Everyone was just kind of do ing the follow-theleader thing and when I would try a different line to pass one gu y two others would pass me back! " Roeseler's early difficulty was evident in his first -lap momentum, which only carried him to nimh-place after the first 29 minute-long loop. Further up front, Summers moved in on Hawkins and Hough and would inherit the lead after about five miles, then a tricky log section dramatically changed the order of the leaderboard. Conner had displaced Hawkins and

• Cover