Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GOFF·ROAD AMA WisecolYamahalDunlo ~ Grand National Cross Count Series: Round 8 Fred Andrews padded his points lead by sco ring his third win of th e series. It's Andrews again in Ohio By Da vey Coombs LAURELVILLE, OH, AUG. 29 hen off-road Nationals take place in Ohio, it's come to be exp ected that an Ohian will win. And that's exactly what happened at the National Cross Country rac e in Laurelvill e. Pro motocrosser Fred Andrews, the off-roa d ra ce ro ok ie who is the current se ries poin ts leader, took his place amo ng the eli te d efenders of the Bucke ye State's off-road r acin g honor - rid ers like Nati onal Ha re Scrambles Champ ion Sco tt Pl es s in ger, fo u r-ti me National Enduro Champion Terry Cunningham, and former enduro champ Jeff Russell with his third win of the serie s. Yamaha YZ250-mounted Andrews ou tlasted three-time National C ross Country Cha mpion Scott Summers on a hot an d dry Sunday afternoon to extend W 28 his GNCC points lead to 36 points ov er Yama ha teammate Jan Hr ehor, who finished third . "They said the first National tha t I won in Florida wa s too fast, then they s ai d I won the Blackw a ter because it wa s too hard," said And rews of his critics . "No one thou g h t I could wi n against Summers and Jan (Hrehor) and these gu ys in the woods, which is exactly w hat I did to d a y . This gi ve s m e incentive for the rest of the series." Andrews , 28, is sponsored b y Yam aha , Andrews Cycle, Wiseco, Spo rts Cycle Racing, Boyesen, Pro-Circ u it, Answer, Dunlop, Ac e rb is , Ma xima, 100 %, Smith, Shoe i, Ho m b res, Hammerhead Graphics, Moose Racing an d Works Enduro Racing. It was the first time tha t the Laurel Rid ge Riding Club hosted a National cross country championship even t and app roxima tely 230 riders attended. The co urse, la id out by Vic a nd Scott Ely, . featured eigh t-mile loop s, including several fast and open spaces to counter the much mor e technical woods sections. With the sun beating down all day long th e h ea t in d e x was high a n d rider fat igue p layed a pa rt in the race; temper atures hovered around 100 degrees throughout the three-hour long race. "The heat rea lly d id n't bother me at all, which su rp rises me," sai d Andrews. Andrews played a cat-and-mous e game with Sum mers, allo wing the big Hond a pilot a wide berth in the earl y stages of the race, then pouncing on the leader as the a fte rnoon wore on. He passed Summers just aft er the halfway po int and then kept a sho rt but comfortable d istance betw een him self an d his pursuer all the way past the checkered flag. In the end Andrews carried a lead of 11 seconds into th e winner's circle. Summers in turn led C z ech im port Hrehor by jus t more than three minut es. Summers was making hi s return to the GNC C s eries after miss ing the Blackwater ro und in June due to broken wrist. "My wrist d idn't really bother me," said Summers. "I jus t basically go t tired after about two hours. I tried to hang in there but Fred was jus t slowly reeling me in. I tried to pass him back in a couple of places, but th e fie lds were so dusty it wa s hard to see. I couldn 't see Fred to try and pass him." Doug Blackwell was the ea rly leader on h is Kawasa ki KX25 0, a n d he led Summers, Andrew s, Te a m Mi ra g e ' s Tho ma s Norton , Hreho r a n d Duan e Conner throughout the first lap , which took approxima tely 19 minutes to comp lete. But Blackwe ll d idn't have his best stuff at La u re l Ridge and Su m m ers reli eved the 22-year old Team G reen rid er at the po in t before the second lap w as ove r. And rews and Norton - winner of the Thu nder Ridge National Har e Scramb les la s t m on th - a lso p a ss ed Blackwell, who later h ad gas oline spilled onto hi s lap and leg s during a fran tic pit stop. "I p assed Doug in the woods at the beginning of the second lap but Fred had a hard er time getting around him, so I put some distance on him th ere," said Sum mers. Summers a nd An drews both soon slipped away from Norton and the rest of the field, turning the race into a twoman duel before the crossed flags came out to mark the halfway point. Shortly th ereafter, Co n ner d ismissed hi mself from the race following a big-tim e crash . " I let Scott by the second lap an d he held me off fo r hal f the track, " sa id Andre ws. "Then he waved me back by. I think we were both just kind of chec kin g th e co u rse o u t a nd ga ugi ng one ano the r 's speed. Then h e went by me again and actually sta rted pulling away. I d idn't think that 1 was going to be able to catch him again at that po int." But while Andrews was fo llowing Summers thro ughou t tho se early lap s he was ta king stock of the situ ation. "The track was really tight and rough and 1 don' t think his bike was ha ndling that go od ," said Andrews. "I think he w as fin e with the wrist and all tha t. He's been riding some big races. I thin k he was g oi ng as fas t a s he could tod ay. Maybe this track wasn't built for a bike tha t big." "T he trac k d efinitely wasn't suited for my bike," said Summers, who com pete d a boa rd a Ho nda XR600 fo urstroke. " It was a very easy course - not real technical - per fect for a mo tocross bik e." After a slow start H reh or attached himself to Norton 's roos t and the two of them engaged in a d ay- long battle that wa s not decided until the las t lap wh en Hrehor passed N or ton 's gasping 125 for th ird overa ll honors. But everyo ne 's focus was on the lead d uel. "Our gas stops were uneven," sa id Andrews. " I stopped for gas w hen he didn't have to, so he go t away. The n I got insp ired for a few la ps and caught back up to wher e I was only abo ut six or seven seconds behi nd him wh en he got gas. I had to stop again but this time 1 could see him." This s ig h ting oc curred with th ree laps to g o . By the t im e they ca me around to get the 2-lap boa rd Andrews wa s in the lead. "I passed him a mile from the end of the lap," sa id Andrews. "I cau ght him, dog ged h im a n d passed him on an uphill. He tried to ram me, .so I hit the brakes. He did it aga in in another corner and I h it the brakes again - he went right over the bars, which was pretty cool. 1 figu red I better get going while he was on th e ground, but I got behind some lapped riders and he caught back up and I had to try so mething else." "When Fred passed me it was a real su rprise," said Summers. "The hill was ve ry sil ty a n d dry a n d th ere wasn't much tra ction a t the bottom. He ran inside of me and that really caugh t me off gu ard . It w as a great move." As for th e ra m/ bra ke check, Summers sai d, "We were both going for it; there was nothing d irty abo u t it." The n e xt d efens ive stance that An drews ass u med was go ing extremely slow th ro ug h the ti ght w ood s, th en opening it back up when they got to the d us ty fie ld sec tions. He also admitt ed dra gging h is fee t and a imi ng for th e d eep est "puff" berms in a n effort to keep Su mmers behi nd him in the dust. "I tried to pass him in the ravine on the last lap because he was sitting there trying to pass a bunch of la ppers," said Summers. "Bu t Fred heard my engine or so methi ng and surged out of h is li ne in to mine. That was really the only place wher e I had a ch an ce of passin g him . The woods were too tigh t; the open stuff was too dusty." In the end Andrews' game plan land ed him in the w inner's circle as Summers failed to ever regain control of th e race. He fini shed just 11 seconds behind the Yamaha pilot but was himself more than three m inutes clea r of third -p lace H rehor. Andrews now has 132 p oints in the series, while runner-up Hrehor ha s 96, and there are five races left in the series. "I th in k I' m th ird in the sta ndi ngs now, so wha t I need to do is pretty simpl e: beat Fred an d Jan fr om h ere on ou t," sai d Sum mers . "They co un t th e best eig ht sco res and I have no th rowaways left, so there's no more room for erro r for me." Bare Br o s ./ MSR- b a ck ed Dwai n Miller emerged the wi nner in the 250cc A class th e checkered fl a g fell. Kawa sak i-mou n ted Miller, 24, of Bristol, Virg inia, came out on top of a race-long ba ttle w ith Brian Keegan, defending class champion Gene Dna il, and Tod d Morain. Onail appeared to be in control of the race when he led MiIIer pa st the white flag with a lead of 10 seconds. Un fortunately fo r O nail , h is motorcycle b egan to s p u t te r as dirt clogg ed his air filter. Onail was unable to com plete the fina l lap. Miller in turn nearly lost the lead when Keegan made a fierce cha rge in the closi ng moment s of the race and gained a full two minutes on the cru is ing Mi ll er. Keegan eve n tually crossed the finish line 19 seconds shy of th e leader , w it h-Mor ain a furth er five minutes back.

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