Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ OFF·ROAD AMA Wiseco/Yamaha/YokohamaGNCC Series: Round 7 ~. Scott Summers (Left) Scored his sixth overall win of the AMA Na tional Cross Coun try series in Millfield, Ohio. Summers may clinch the championship next round. Summers squeaks out Burr Oaks win By Davey Coombs P h oto by C.} . Coom bs ' H 22 MillFIELD, OH,JU:-iE7 onda's Scott Sum mers moved o ne step closer to wha t most likely will be hi s fifth AMA National Ch ampi onship title in the last three years by winning th e Burr Oaks Na ti on al Cr os s Country in breath-taking fashi o n over Suzu ki' s Jan H rehor. T he two friendl y rivals raced across th e finish line just half a bik e len gth apa rt, with Czechoslovakia's Hreh or ending up on the short end. Ohio's own J oel Andrews p laced third overall for the second tim e in the ' 92 se r ies a boa rd a Pro-Circu it/ An sw er / Andrew s-b a ck ed H onda CR250. T eam Gr een teammates T erry Cunni ng ha m a n d Dou g Bla ck well rounded o u t th e to p five o vera ll, respectively. The 24-year-old Summers, defend ing Na tio na l Cross Country and Hare Scra mbles Champion for the past two years. has no w pos itio ned h imself to clinc h hi s thi rd-straig ht GNCC ti tle. needing ju st an eig h th -place or better finis h at o ne of the last five ro unds, but Su mmers says he does n't wa nt to wait that lon g. "T he Blackwat er 100 is the next ro und of the series (June 21) and I would lik e to wra p th is th in g up there becau se it's such a prestigious event," said Summers. Onl y a rid er's best eig ht finishes count towards the o verall in th e cross count ry seri es. Besides hi s six overall wins, th e Honda X R600-mounted Summers has a second-pl ace finish . "If someone had told me that I would hav e a chance to clinch th e seri es aft er eigh t races I wou ld've never beli eved it!" Other class winn er s includ ed Kawasaki -mounted Jeff Lauth in th e 200cc A class and local woods sta r Gen e On ail in the 250cc A group. Yamaha rider Tommy Harris scored his first Open A win of the year at Burr Oa ks, whi le Kaw a saki KX250 ride r J eff Murgel topped the Vet A class for th e second round in a row . The Burr Oaks race was organ ized by JTM P ro m o tio n s, a co mpa n y formed by cu rrent AMA Na tio na l Enduro Ch ampion J eff Ru ssell and lo ng-time cros s co untry co mpe tito r Tim Shephard. (Neither compe ted in this year's even t.) The nine-mile-per lap trail was situat ed o n the Russell famil y farm 15 mil es north of Athens, Oh io. alo ng with the land o f several o ther friendly neigh bors. After a nig h t of rai n leading up to th e run, the tra il was tacky from start to fin ish, a welcom e cha nge from last year's lat e su mmer dust bowl. The fairly tig ht tra il on ly broke down at one point; a creek cross ing needed reroutin g after three laps of frustrati on for the 230rider field. The 14-rider Pro class was the first to en ter th e grassy start a rea a nd the lead er off of th e dead- engine start was G NCC n umber-two Duane Conner. T he Pennsylvanian raced ah ead of Team KT"l' s Scott Pl essin ger and Ind ia na 's J ohn n y Ro bbin s as th e pa ck weaved through righr -to -Ief t sw itch bac k. T ow ard th e back of th e p ack wa s Cunn in gh a m , who ca n usu all y be co unted o n for a top-th ree start. " I was a little under-powered off the lin e today, becau se I chose to ride a 125 rather than th e 250 I normally ride," said Cunningham. "I've been having troub le with dehydrati on and I thought that today it might be better , if I rode a smaller bik e. But th is is the bik e I won the (O hio) Qualifier o n, so I know tha t I can still be competitive with a 125." Cunningh am was sho rt ly up to the lead fray, a popular pl ace af ter the first 20-minu te lo ng lap . In close order rode Cu n n ing h a m, Conn er, Blackwell , Sum mers, Ro bbin s, Andrew s, an d Hrehor. Plessinger su ffered an earl y fall in a rock section while contending for the lead, and dropped as far back as 17th before completing lap one in the eig h th overa ll po sition. Conn er 's time at the front was limited. A cra sh on the grass track section while finishing the second lap left the T eam Green rider ou t of th e race and angry; a steel pole lining the trac k had jammed into Conner's chest , causi ng eno ugh damage to keep h im from getting back into the race. At that point Blackwell becam e the primary target for th e pa ck, as he took over the lead reins and established a quick adva nta ge of 10 seconds aboard h is Answer/ T G / Bell /S m i th /Ts ubak U unsta r-eq ui pped Kawa saki , KX250. Cu nning ha m held off a hardcha rg ing Robbins for second, while Andrews overtoo k Summers for fourth. " I wasn ' t trying rea l hard to get the lead in the beginn ing beca use I kn ew th at I wo uld need my energy later in the da y," said Summers, wh o in fact did not hold th e lead a t the score barrels until th e sixth o f seven laps. " O n da ys like this th e mu d can weig h my bike down and really wear me down, but it ended up being a muc h better trai l a t the end than I thoug ht it wo uld be." As for Hrehor, the Suzuki pi lo t cru ised off of Summers' flank for much of the first half of the race. Andrews did likewise for a short per iod of time, bu t after three lap s. he p icked up his ow n rhyth m and for ced Blackwell to surrender th e lead . Cunningh am cont in ued his early slide and lost four spots back to sixth after Andrews, Su mmers, Hrehor and Rob bins freig h t-trained pa st the four-time National Enduro Ch ampi on , Cunningham. Plessinger .was also on th e ga s. but on th e third lap. he disappeared from the score sheets after a massive endo al on gside Summers. " con (Plessinger) was tryin g to pass me as we raced across thi s field, but he go t off the mow ed part of th e course and hit someth ing that was hidden in the weeds," said Su mmers of Plessinger's crash. " He actually passed me in the air witho ut hi s bike, becau se I was alrea dy slo wing down for th e woods. It was a trul y awesome crash." P lessinger, said in the pits after the race that he will call it a seaso n and tak e a break for th e upcom ing birth of hi s first child. T he KTM ride r was th e 1989 AMA Nat ion al Hare Scra mbles Ch ampion and the on ly rider to beat Summers so far in the '92 cross cou nt ry to ur. At the end of the th ird lap, Hr ehor stopped fo r gas . That mea nt tha t anot her pit stop would be -necessary for the Suzuki rider when the white flag £lew , a fact not lost o n Sum mers. H o wever. whe n Summ ers himself went into the pi ts after the fourth lap for his lone fuel stop, Hrehor passed him for the lead. By th at time Andrews seemed to be losing h is strength and was n o longer o n th e lead pace. Lik ewise for Robb ins and Blackwell , both of whom sli pped beh ind fourth pl ace Cunning ha m. The last two laps becam e a two-m an battle as Su mmers and Hrehor raced awa y from everyo ne. The 28-year old H reho r was compe ting aboa rd Suzuki teammate Rand y H awkins' Suzuki RMX250 practice bik e. as his standard DR350 four-s tro ke was in transit to Washi ngton for an upcoming ISDE Qua lifie r. The Czech was pu shing th e mu ch sma ller 250 to the limits against Summers' po werful XR four-ban ger and the cro wd was loving every minute of the show. " It was reall y stra nge tha t the fans would be cheering for J an after what happened in th e supe rcrosses with (Fre nc h ma n) J ean-Mi ch el Bayle," joked Summers lat er in the winner's circle. " I guess that everyo ne just loves a good race no matter wh o's involved, and there hav en 't been a lot of those this year." The battle for th e win ultimately came down to the last lap and the half mile-long grass track before the checkered £lag. , "I know that Jan is lik e the w orld cham pion o f grass racing and that he would be going for it once we go t to the fin ish, " said Summers. " I tried to start my sprint with a mile of tight woods left befor e the grass track an d I had abou t eig h t seconds o n him when I brok e from the trees." That was almos t not eno ugh as the Suzuki rider charged up ,to Summers' roost with just a corne r to go. H is lastgasp ru sh for the £lag fell a half bikelength sho rt and left him sliding into the barrels on the gro und. Summers later admitted that he did not see ' or hear Hrehor and that he almost blew the win; Hreh or h im self was disappointed even with his cross cou ntry career-best second overa ll. " I reall y wanted to win today to show everyone that I can do it in th is type of event," said Hreh or, "T o come so clos e (to win ning) but to lose is disappointing." Andrews scored th ird ove ra ll at a defi ci t of five a nd o ne half minutes. Cun n ing ha m was anot her 30 seco nds back but still two mi nu tes ahead of Blackw ell , who no w hol ds third in the GNCC standi ngs with 92 points. Su m mers hol ds 139 poi nts, while Plessinger has earned 95 despite two stra ig h t DNFs. Robbins fin ish ed sixth in th e Pro class as well as sixth overa ll and remai ns o ne of just two ride rs to fin ish in th e top 20 overa ll in a ll seven events , th e o the r bein g Summers. T ommy Harris started the season competing aboard a Yam aha WR250 in the Vet A class, but th e GNCC number 13 pl at e-h o lder has sin ce switched to th e O pen A cla ss and a 500cc ma chin e. The co m b ina tio n worked in h is favor a t Burr Oaks, as Harris scored the Open A class win by four minu tes o ver Lojaks/OBY/ Onea llFMF-ba ck ed Ron Pal ermo , wh o is the series points lead er. Onail' s 250cc class win pu t him on the same level as Summers - six win s i n seve n tries. T he Gea r/ Classic Cy cles/ Maier / AG V-b a ck ed ride r climbed all the way up int o the sevent h overa ll positi on and beat Indian a's Shad Ricketts by th ree mi nutes for the class win. Race Tech/ PJ II Maier/ Yok ohama 's Eric Davis placed thi rd on th e da y. J e££ Laut h's 200cc A class victory was th ough t to be a ca reer first. Th e Kawasak i rider mo ved up into the 10th o verall pos itio n and in the process improved his cha nces of catchi ng class po ints leader Rob T o min ello in the rankings. T om in ello pl aced th ird at Burr Oaks with Indiana 's Ch ad Froman sp litting th e diff eren ce between the two Pennsylvan ian s. It was payback tim e in the FourStro ke A class for Indiana 's Bob Sloan. The Honda rider lost th e Sta teLine GNCC when the ignition went dead on h is Honda XR250. This tim e it was Mark Hyd e's turn for a sim ilar early departure while leading, aga in a result of a faulty ignition. Hyd e's stoppage and Sloan 's victo ry came o n the heels of an em barrass ing incident for earl y lead er Jared Green; he had to quit after his pit crew poured gasoline int o his lap at the halfway po int. West Virgi-

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