Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127552
~ CROSS COUNTRY AMA WisecolYamahaIYokohama GNCC Cham ionshi Series: Round 6 e Ha rry Greenlee ('Zl) slid through the ruts to earn the Super Senior (Plus-50) win, T erry Cun ningha m (3) led johnny Robbins (173) and Doug Blackwdl (5) at the start. T eam Honda's Scott Summers earn ed his fifth overall victo ry of the season. Factory KTM rider Je(f Russell sp lashes through one of the many stream crossi ngs . Summers again at Boye rs100 By Davey Coombs Photos by C.]. Coombs BOYERS, PA, ~L4.Y 1 7 o r th e fifth tim e in six races, T eam Honda's Scou Summers stepped into the winner's circle as th e victor. The latest success for th e 24year-ol d Petersburg , Kentucky, residen t came at the Boyers 100 in north ea ster n P en n syl va n ia , wh ere Summers overcame a late start , a sunbaked track and a ta lented field of cha llengers to add to his series points lead. Second overa ll a t Bo yers was Ka wasa ki-m ounted Du a ne Conner, wh ile reig n ing AMA National Enduro Cha mp io n j eff Russell placed third in his fi rst GNCC fi n ish o f the ' 92 " ca m paign . ATKIGear/ShoeilSmith/ Mo tul- spo nso red Frank Keegan was a seaso n-high forth overa ll, whi leWest Virgin ian Doug Blackwell settled into fift h at the finish . F 16 " The plan comi ng into the seaso n was to win as many races as possi ble in the early part of the series," said Ameri can Honda, Ho nda li ne, AXO , Oakl ey, Arai , T-Pro, Camelbak, T subaki, Wh ite Brothers, Sp rocket Sp ecia lists, Po wer Mist, .T hro ttle j ockey, Bridges tone and Bloo mington H ond asponsored Su mmers after th e th ree ho ur run . " Honda primarily wa nts me to reta in the Cross Country and th e National H are Scra mb les titles. I wou ld like to go to th e ISDE and try so me ot her things later in the year, so I' m tr yin g to ge t myself a sma ll cus h ion o n the rest of the field in case I hav e to "miss som e races dow n th e road ." T he Gran d National Cross Co untry series isa 13-race tour in wh ich a rider's best ni ne fin ishes count . With a ll six races factored i n at th is poi n t, Summers has a lead of 24 points over team KTM's Scott Plessin ger, 11 9-95. Pl essinger DNF at Bo yers a fter a spec tacu lar late-race cras h left hi m in the care of course paramedi cs wi th injured ribs. O ther class winners in Pennsylvania were BT Ra cing/Yokohama -backed Robert Tomine llo in the 200cc A class, Oh io' s Gene Onail in th e 250cc A ranks, American Suzuki's Mark H yde in the Four-Stroke A group , ATK rider Richard Moyer in th e Open A race , and Kaw asa ki-moun ted j eff Mur gel in th e Vet A class. T he Boyers event was once a mainstay o n the GN CC cir cuit but was dropped from the schedule a few years back. After a change of ownership th e event was picked up aga in last year but suffered a mid-race snowstorm. Series organizers gave the event an ear ly sum mer date th is tim e aro und, and everyo ne was rewarded with a sunny, dry day with tempera tures in the mid-S us. The rock y cou rse mea sured approxima tely 10 mil es per lap , and ha d plenty of tight woods to offset the various stri p mines and tra m roads that dissected the layout. Regardless of the weather, th e da y started un der a cloud of co n troversy when Summers missed the start. Local officia ls ar ranged for the riders to parade down the mai n strip of tow n before going to the grass y start ing area of th e race. Summers elected to ride his practice bike in the parade and was late in rea lizig tha t the front brake was not fun ctio n ing on his race bike. "A fter th e parade everyone went to the sta rt ing li ne wh ile I went back. to the pi ts to get my race bi ke," said Summers. "T he front bra ke needed bleedi ng and we had every th ing apart when the referee gave the two-minute warning before the sta rt. We never got the brak e fixed bu t we had to go. Then th e bike wo uldn 't sta rt because I flooded it and they had to push-start , me." T im e ran o ut o n Su mmers before he made it to the sta rt ing line and the gr een flag d ropped o n the first row of Pro class riders. Sum mers raced down an em p ty pit ro w a nd across th e starting lin e j us t a few moments behind th e Pro field and entered the woods at the back o f the pa ck. Still, some of his rival compe titors felt that Summers had an unfair advan tage in that he did not begin th e race with a dead-en gine start, even though he was behind everyo ne else. No o fficia l protest was filed a fter series officials deter m in ed that Summers had no advan tage and that the vo luntary parade was partially to blame. Dp fro nt , th e lead po sitions were shared by T eam Gr een's Terry Cunni ngham and Conner, Plessinger and johnny Robbins. The first lap ran approximat ely 26 minutes, and was led by Plessinger wh en comp leted. Cunningham was a close second on a Kawasaki KX250, whil e Conner held third on sim ilar eq uipment . Summers recovered qui ckl y fr om hi s neardisastrous start a nd was fourth at the com pletion of lap o ne, wh ile Russell held fifth. " T h e cross country series is not the focu s of my efforts th is year so I tried to not mess up any of the contenders," said Ru ssell , wh o admitted to waving Summers by o n the firs t la p. "Scott's been winning a ll of th ese races so 1 figured it migh t do me some good to wat ch him for a few laps. 1 have to adm it, for a guy ridi ng a 600cc fourstro ker, he sure th rows tha t thing around easily enough." Ru ssell , ra n ked fo urt h in 1991, ente red o n ly one ot he r cross country event pr ior to Boyers, and injured his