Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Doug Blackwell chased runner-up Steve Hatch before fading and dropping out of the race. position, jus t one second beh ind Plessinger at the barrels. For several laps Plessinger and Brown remained in dose quarters, Plessinger using hi s off-road skills to excel in the woods while the 20year-old Brown controlled the faster field and motocross sections on hi s Honda CR250. But even as Plessinger and Brown engaged in their personal duel, Blackwell, Hatch and Norton all stayed within striking distance. Hre ho r, third in the year-end cross country rankings, quit the race when he gambled and lost on the capacity of his fuel tank. While tryin g to make three la p s withou t a gas stop, Hrehor h it empty about a mile from his pit crew. Athens Sport Cycle teamma te Tim Shep hard also ended his day premature ly when he snapped a chain one lap after Hrehor ran out of gas. In fact, as the leaders checked in to complete the sixth lap close to the twohour mark, Blackwell raced up to second with Hatch shad owi ng him for third . Plessinger was still with in range as the fou rt h-fas tes t rider a t th e two-thirds mark, but Brown was starting to lose a litt le steam. By the end of the next lap Brown had slowed considerably, allowing second-place Hatch to build a cushion of nearl y three minutes on him while he occupied the sixth overall pos ition. One of those "Sportsman of the Year" occurre nces took place on the sixth lap when Plessinger go t hopelessly en tangled in some barbed wire along the trail. H atch, seeing that Plessinger might be in danger, s topped to help h is riv al free h im sel f from the fence. Blackwell als o sto pped to check the situation and then wa ited un til Hatch re-entered the ra ce before proceeding. Ples singer himself got back into the race before No rton and Brown could catch up . "I know Joel and Fred Andrews pr etty well and I've been keeping up on how Fred ' s been doing in th e w ood s this yea r," sa id Brown, who had just returned from a supercross in Tokyo, w here he finished third in the 125cc main event. "I wa nted to come 'out and see how I might d o against these guys. This might be the nex t thing I get into after ano ther season or two of pro motocross and supe rcross." Brown could be pl ea sed with his sixth-overall effort. Before he became tired in the closing stages, a top-three ov erall finish was not ou t of th e question. Brown was fortunat e to out-las t at leas t one of the GNCC regu lars. Blackwell see med completely fatigued after tw o ho urs of close raci ng w ith . Pless inger, Brown and the others. With two laps to go, he departed the race and called it a season as the fourth-ranked rider in the yea r-end stand ings. Up fro nt Summers w as in a zo ne, finding the right lines a nd the right places to pass the ba ckmarkers as he la pped them. He finally accepted the ch ec ke red flag as the overall winner with three and a half m inutes to spare on Hatch. Pless inger was another two minutes back in third, crossing the finish line just one second ahead of a rapidly closing To m Norton . Sharpless, the 250cc A class winner, rounded the out the top five overall ahea d of Brown. ~ Results 01 A: 1. Scott Summers (Hon ); 2 Steve Hatch (Suz ); 3. Sco tt Plessinger (KTM) ; 4. To m N orton (Kaw); 5. Blair Sharp!ess (Suz); 6. Mike 8rown (Ha n); 7. Brian Keegan (Yam); 8. Shawn 8rell (Yam); 9. John Vinrent (Yam); 10. Robert 8enno>tt (Kaw); 11. Todd Morain (Yam); 12. Barry Hawk (Suz ); 13. Jeffrey H up p (Ka w); 14. Kevin Hull (Ya m) ; 15. Cu rtis Bardonner (Ya m) ; 16. G regory Rzepli ns ki (Yam) ; 17. John Scha effe r (Han); 18. Ron ff Palermo (yam); 19. Je Goss (Soz); 20. Darryl Kuenzer (Yam). Scott Plessinger rode to a st rong lhi rd overall finish, and placed sixth in th e final po in t st andings. PRO: 0 / A. Scott Su mm-ers (Hon); 1. Steve Hatch (Suz) ; 2. Scott Ple ssinger (KTM); 3. Thomas Norton (Kaw ); 4. Michael Drown (Hon ): 5. Dou g Blackwell (Kaw). 250 A: 1. Blair Sharpless (Suz); 2. Brian Kee ga n (Yam); 3. Todd Morain (Yam); 4. Jelf Goss (Suz); 5. Brian Hess (Kaw). OPEN A: 1. Sha wn 8re11 (Yam); 2. John Vincen t (Yam); 3. Ron Palermo (Yam ); 4. Ca rl Ennis (Yam); 5. Daniel Palermo (Yam). 200 A: I. Robert Bennett (Kaw); 2. Curtis Bardonner (Yam); 3. Jel l Lauth (Kaw); 4. Daryl Conner (Kaw); 5. w). Steven Gordan (K.a VET A: 1. Darryl Kuenzer (Yam); 2. Mike McCarren (Yam); 3. Wesley Miller (KTM); 4. Joel Baker (Yam). 40+ A: 1. Terry Mealer (Yam); 2. Ronnie Hale (Soz). SlSR: 1. Harry Ceeenlee (Yam). O PEN B: 1. Adam Karlski (Hen ); 2. Neal Singleton (KTM); 3. [),lVi Gait.m (Hus); 4. Jess Conway (Hus); 5. d Martin Sprecher (KTM). 250 B: 1. Jelfrey Hupp (Kaw); 2. O int Bardonner (yam); 3. Jam es Rodgers(Yam); 4. Darius Lattea (Yam) 200 B: 1. Kelvin Hull (yam); 2. Rob Thompson (Kaw); 3. Paul Chaney (Kaw); 4. Jared Smith (KaW); 5. John Lenard (Hen) 4-ST RK 8 : 1. Barry Hawk (Suz ); 2. John Sha ffer (Hen); 3. Daryl Gait.m (Hen); 4. Ralph Thorn (Hen); 5. Charl es Dailey (Hen ). VET 8: 1. Gregory Rzeplins ki (Yam); 2. Steve Cooke (Yam); 3. Mark Allman (Kaw); 4. Darrell Harley (Hen); 5. John Stran ge (Soz). SR B: 1. Butch Rose (KTM); 2 Tom Parfitt (Yam); 3. Robert Cox (KTM ); 4. John Thom pson (Hen ); 5. Shelby Murray (Yam). . SlSR 8: 1. Donald Harless (Yam); 2. Daniel Freeland (HlL<); 3. Ted Shortridge (Kaw); 4. Geral d Cox (Hen); S. David Sand ers (Kaw ). 200 C: I. Sco tt Fontaine (Kaw ): 2. Joh n Bennett (Soz); 3. Gre gory Stallard (Soz); 4. Jerem y Ha nna h (Kaw); 5. Robert Moon: (Soz). . 250/0rEN C: 1. Tony Taraborrel li (Yam) ; 2. John McDona ld ; 3. Theod ore Za k (Ya m); 4. James Hayes (Hon); 5. Brian Moore (Kaw) . TRAI L: 1. Travis Rouse (Suz); 2. Michael Winslo w (Yam); 3. Steve Strange (Hus); 4. Kenneth Lauer (SU2.); 5. John Fisher (KTM). AM A G RAN D NATIO NAL CROSS COU NT RY S ERI ES FINAL S ERIES STAN DIN G S: I. Fre d Andrews (155/4 ); 2. Scott Summers (149 / 3); 3. Jan H re hc r (148 /2); 4. Do ug Blackwell (137); 5. Thomas No r to n (126) ; 6. Sco tt Plessinger (101/3) ; 7. Tim Shephard (101); 8. Gene O'Nail (92); 9. Cra ig Jones (87); 10. Blair Sharpless (80); 11. Gary Roach (61); 12. Jell Lau th (60); 13. Duane Conner (57); 14. Owain Miller (56); 15. 8 rian Keegan (55); 16. Todd Morain (55); 17. Robert Bennett (SO); 18. Daryl Conner (43); 19. Ron Palerm o (40); 20. Jell Murgel (37). 11

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