Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eHARE SCRAMBLES AMA WisecolYamahaIDunlo Grand Nat'! Cross COlin Series: Rnd. 12 ~ By Davey Coombs Mr. MORRIS, PA OCT. 3l. e w ly-cr ow n ed Grand National Cross Co un try Champion Fre d And rews was ted no time in proving tha t he d ese rved th e nu mber one plate by winning the High Poin t GNCC on Halloween. The 27-year old from Sal em, Oh io, paddled through three hours of mud, sleet and snow on his way to his fourth overall win of th e 1993 se ries. Team Green's Doug Blackwell and Andrews' Yamaha teammat e Jan Hrehor rounded ou t the top three overall in what man y of the competitors felt was the toughest race of the seaso n. "That was my statement race today," said A ndrewsafter the mis erable run was ove r. "I wanted to show everyone w ha t I'm capable of. It was crummy, cra p p y weather and I didn 't hav e to come but I wanted to go out and win. I N (Above) One round after clinching the title, Fred Andrews runs a stop sign on his wa y to another overall win at th e cold and snowy High Point National. (Righ t> Doug Blackwell (2), Jan Hrehor (3) and Fred Andrews dice off the start. (Below) Keith Roger (35), Brian Keegan and Jeff Mu rgel (14) led the 250cc A clas s off the line. 18 was hop ing Scott Summers would be here so we could have a nice race together but I g ue ss he d ecided he doesn't need to come anymore since he can 't win the title." Andrews and th e ab sent Summers have had bad blood between one another for most of the seaso n, culminating in the p revious round's on-track run-in that left Summers without rear brakes and And rews with his first off-road championship. Pennsylvania's Jeff Lauth, the 200cc A class winner, scored a career-high fourth ov erall and Craig Jo ne s, the 200cc A class series po ints leader, finished fifth overall. An unexpected snow storm hit th e so u th wes te rn Pe nnsylva nia track th e morn ing of th e event a nd m ad e fo r extreme conditions all day long. The 7.5 miles pe r lap course was sa turated an d muddy, and the riders quickly beca me cold and wet. The attrition rate was the highest in recent series history. "This was the muddiest race ever for me," sai d Andrews. "Motocross, cross cou n try, w hateve r. If th is would have been a p ro m ot ocr oss race, everyone w ould have been at the rid ers meeting cry ing an d w hi ning abo u t the conditions; they might not even have had it. When you come to this race you'd better b e rea dy to r ide co me hell o r high water." Ironically, the 1993 GNCC Series saw its first-ever race cancellation when "Blizzard of '93" made it impossible to get into the Dallas Ricker Complex in Tennessee, in March . "You could hardly see out there," said Team Husqvarna's Duane Conner. "If you got behind someone they would throw so much mud and water back in your face that you'd lose yo ur goggles right away. Then the snow and water got in your eyes and it was a lot to deal with ." Series organizer Dave Coombs entered the event in the Super Senior +50 class but carried a radio on his belt to let the referee and course marshals know of any course changes that may be required due to the adverse conditions. The firs t reroute was called in from a steep u phill near a powe r line . vwhich had became impassable halfw ay thro ugh th e firs t lap of the race. The Andrews crew carried their own walkie-tal kies, passing information abo ut troubl e spots and the condition of th eir rid er' s burb ling en g in e back to th e p it crew . Andrews himself was not wired to anyone. Andrew s' day didn't sta rt ou t great as hi s bi ke faile d to igni te in the momen ts leading up the start of the race. After 15 or 20 kicks he finally got the col d Yamaha running, just in time to shut it back down for the dead-engine sta rt. And rews had much less trouble getting his machine started whe n the referee's green flag flew bu t the holeshot nonetheless went to th e Kawasaki of Blackwell. "At first there was a lot of traction out there, which surpri sed me, but then the track deteriorated quickly because of the rain and snow," sa id Andrews, wh o is backed by Yamaha, Pro-Circuit, Smith , Answer and Andrews Racing. "There was water running down the middle of every hill because of the weather. The lines changed every lap; they even had 'to cut out some of the hills. It was rugged all right." Andrews stopped in his pit area while leading after one lap to let his people know that his bike was still breaking up badly. "I passed Blackwell in the second corner but then on the next hill the bike sta rte d sp uttering agai n and it d idn't stop the whole race," said Andrews. "I don't kn ow if I go t wa ter in the gas or something like that but the sp utter never stopped." Plessinger lost a couple of spots when he stopped in his own pit area for goggles a fter a lap, allowing Co nner and Hr eh or to go past him. Many felt that Plessinge r, the defe nding AMA National Hare Scrambles Cha mpion, was a shoein to win s uch a m ud dy race. Bu t the

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