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·:· C O SCOUNTRy:·····::.:. '. Round 2: Manchester State Forest
RS
' ...
,1994 ~MA Grand National Cross Countiy5erieS.
Team Mirage's Tom Norton finished third
overall on a 125cc KawasakI.
dejected Summers. "It started ge tting a
really lose feeling to it and I couldn't tell
if it was a problem with the bike or tire,
or what. I looked down and the tire w as
completely spinning off the rim ."
Summers was fortunate to be wi thin
a mile of th e pits when he realized the
situ ation, and was ab le to n urse the bike
ba ck to the pits for a tire change. But the
d amage was done and Summers could
n o t ma ke u p the difference between
h im self and the leader. Andrews u ltim atel y cross ed the finish line with a
lead of nearly three minutes.
a
Manchester State Forest
Sumte r, South Carolina
Res ults: March 13, 1994
made steering impossible. He quit the
race, allowing Team Mirage's Norton to
ta ke his place in th e top three, though
with a m uch greater gap between Norton and th e Summers-Andrews ba ttle
compared to where Davis had once
been .
"I was doing fine and feeling comfortable but I caugh t a stu mp or a tree
root or something and it jus t pitched the
bike over sideways an d on top of me,"
exp lained Blackwell of his DNF-ind ucing crash. "I hurt my hip and my ribs a
li ttl e but I th ink I'll be o ka y." Blackwell's temporary roommate Orrvik also
qu it the race after the painful build-up
of blisters made co n ti n ui ng virtu a lly
impossible.
"They a re faster th an I imagined,"
said Orrvik of Summers and Andrews.
"I've read about them in the magazin es,
bu t I d id no t know they cou ld go so fas t.
I am also im pr essed by how long th ey
can go this speed:' Orrvik's stay in the
U.S. will last into April before he heads
back to Euro pe.
As the two-lap boar d was coming out
Andrews broke from the woods, free of
Summers' p resence. The Honda ri der
had b lo w n his rear Moose tube apa rt
after more th an tw o hours of heavyd u ty po und ing .
No rton q uietly crossed the line as the
third ove ra ll rid er and top 125 of th e
day. He then found himself an ice pa ck
for his injured arm.
"I hit a metal stake in one of the cor ne rs of the motocross track on the very
last lap ," said Norton. "I came in a little
too close a nd sm ac ked myself o n the
a rm b ut that's o kay. I'm rid ing good
and smart and I' m really happy abo ut
how the se ason is go ing so far. I even
head-planted a tree on the firs t lap and
th ou ght, 'I'm all d on e for the day: but I
kept going. Actually, I ough t to pu t this
ice on my neck because it's st ill killing
me."
"My teammates had to pull off and
the old man had to keep goi ng," joked
Roeseler in front of his Kawasaki teammates. :' Rea lly, it was a to ugh race. I
pumped up early but th en I got in to a
groove and loosened up. After that I just
rode hard until the finish."
The lead battle between Andrews
and Summers looked like it wa s going
to go down to the last lap.
"We were having a good race:' said
Andrews. "Neither one of us was go ing
to give an inch. I thought it would come
down to the last la p , but then he ju s t
kind of d isappeared. I knew something
was wrong, so I p in ned it and never
loo ked ba ck: '
"The tube just too k a dump: ' sai d a
Gordon(Kaw).
4-STRK A J. Daryl Gaitan (Hon); 2. David Black
:
(Hon);3. Ralph Thorn (Hon); 4. Rodney Judson (Hon);
5. Barry Hawk (Suz).
VET A, I. Phillip Lemere Jr. (Hon); 2. Rick Wiles
(Kaw);3. GaUieWard (Yam); 4. Robert Mam as (Hon); 5.
Jefl Murgel (Yam).
SR A 40+: 1. Terry Mealer (Yam); 2. Alan Brutto
(Kaw) ; 3. John Gallaghe r (KTM) ; 4. Dav id Dehne r
(Yaw);5.Joseph Loiack (Yam).
S/S R A: 1. Ha rry Greenlee (Yam); 2. Druce Triplett
(Ho n); 3. Dona ld Harl ess; 4. F. Hammond (ATK); 5.
George Yount (Ho n).
OPEN B: 1. Tren t Bart olotti (Yam); 2. Elmar Kruza
(KTM ); 3. David C aitan (Ho n) ; 4. Ma rt y Sp re che r
(KTM); 5.James St hier (KTM ).
o
200 B 1. Jared Smith (Kaw); 2. Mark Gaither(Kaw);
:
3. Jim [arret (Yam); 4. Joh n Ben ne tt (Ya m); S. Jo seph
Ham or (Yam).
250 8 : 1. Todd Davis (Kaw); 2. Jam es Rodgers
(Yam); 3. Dari us Lattea (Yam); 4. John Shaffer (Yam); 5.
Ken Cordray(Suz).
4-STRK 8 : 1. Ba Barne (Hon); 2. Mark Marti n
rry
s
(Hon); 3. David Brow n (Ho n); 4. Timothy Ha rmon
(Hon);5. PaulSloop (Hon).
VET B: 1. Donald Bigley (Ya m ); 2. Steve Cooke
(Yam) ; 3. Ra n d y Man sberg er (KTM); 4. Ja y Deroche
O/A: 1. Fred Andrew s (Ya m) ; 2. Sco tt S u m m ers
(H an ); 3. Tom m y Nor to n (Ka w) ; 4. La rry Roes eler
(Kaw); 5 . Scott Pless inger (KT M) ; 6. Ke lb y Peppe r
(KTM); 7. Steve Hatch (Suz ); 8. Gene Ona il (Kaw ); 9.
Steve Arthur (KTM) ; 10. Scott Phelps(Yam); 11. Craig
Jones (Kaw ); 12. Phillip Le mere Jr . (H o n); 13. Da ve
tree with his head and fell over on top of
me," said Andrews of an early incident
in the woods. " I drop ped from second
to almost last. But it 's ro ugh out there
and I was able to move right back up : '
Blackwell and visiting Swedish pilot
Ulf Orrvik broke from the woods after
one lap as the fourth and fifth-place ride rs, fo llowed by a long string of AA
class riders. Bringing up the very rear
were Suzuki teamsters Randy Hawkins
and Steve Hatch.
"I came around a fast tum and Terry
Cunningham was just laying there in
th e middle of the track," said Hawkins.
"I w as in the top six or so, but I knew it
was more im porta n t to check on TC. I
guess I had th e red cross on my bike.
You hate to see a buddy ge t hurt. It's no t
w orth th at: '
Cunnin gham's acciden t marked the
secon d time in the race that Hawkin s
had stop ped to che ck on a fellow rider.
Hatch had d one an endo and snapped
the visor from his helmet when he landed in th e sa n d . H awkins sto pped to
check on his teammate be fore continuing. Hatch remounted and rode hard for
the res t of the day to salvage seventhplace poi nts.
"I was tryi ng to run a s h ard as I
co ul d in th e fas t sections, bu t I could
hear Su m mers catching u p in the slow
sections," sa id And rews. "I figured I
w ould run as har d as I could in the fast
sections and the n res t in the slow sectio ns and try to see what he w as doing."
Andrews a dded that Sum mers
passed him once, but then slowed to let
him ba ck by be fore one pa rticularl y
tight sec tion. "When he di d th at I pulled
over, too, but he w oul dn't go before me.
So I thought, 'O kay, if we're gonna p lay,
then let' s play: I went as slow as I could
through the trees a n d th en ju st hit it
when we got to another fast section .
Hell , he wa s sti ll there:'
Further back Danny Hamel's d ay
ended early when he swapped out in a
secti on of whoops.
Th e th ree leaders co n tinued to s tay
together w hi le stretch ing their lead on
everyo ne else, but at the halfway point
the gro up lost Davi s as a m ember.
"I cra shed twice," sa id Davis. "First
time I hit some trees and got off, so I just
brush ed myself off and got back in the
race . Second time I was just starting to
pick up speed w hen I hit something and
cart-wheeled right out of the race. ¥y
hea d w as all d ingy and my b ike was
laying up in th is tree. .A fter I p ulled it
down I just sa t there J or a m in u te and
go t myself together:'
Davis started again but was eventually fo rce d to reti re - a cr ushed pipe
250 A, I. GeneOnail (Kaw); 2. Scott Phelps (Yam);
3. Dav e Gunn (Yam ); 4. Fran Halligan (Yam ); 5. Steven
Gunn (yam); 14. Gary Roach (KTM); IS. Shawn Brell
(KTM) ; 16. Jell Lauth (Kaw); 17. Rick Wiles (Kaw); 18.
(Yam); 5. RandyFink (Yam).
SR B, J. Butch R (KTM); 2. Barry Lee (Yam); 3.
ose
Richa rd May (Yam); 4. Robert Cox (l