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fast enough pace to retain fifth overa ll,
his best score of the season.
"There was a lot of passing going on
out there," said Summers of the early
mix. "I really didn't want to get into the
lead until the last few laps. It was really
close all day long, but 1 figured it was
go ing to come down to th e last laps.
None of us were really riding full pace
through that first hour and a half."
" It was a really tight track with a lot
of roots and a lot of off-cambers ," said
Andrews, who is bac ked b y Answer/
Pro Circuit/Smith / Ace rbis /Endu ra.
"The faster you tried to go, the harder it
seem ed to be. 1crashed a bunch of times
today."
"Everybody was right there," sa id
Plessinger. "Any one of us could have
won. We had a hell of a rac e going.
Lapped riders were kind of terrible, so 1
guess that mad e it even mor e wild ."
The 'ba t tl e for the lead involvin g
Summers, Andrews, Plessinger, Conner,
Hat ch and Norton never wavered over
the course of the first two hour s. But as
th e trail grew rough er and the traffi c
slowe d down, the lead pack starte d to
brea k up . Hatch , the cu rrent AMA
Na tional Enduro Series points leader ,
wa s impale d in the shoulder by a stiff
tree branch. Conner made a costly mistake on a short hill and seemed to lose
some of his steam in the last hour.
"It was pretty hectic out there but it
was fun," said Hatch, who dropped all
the way back to 20th overall after h is
mishap, "No one could really run away
with it so we were all racing around
together. After 1 caught that stick in my
shoulder, 1 thought 1 might be better off
to tone it down a little and not get
myself into any more trouble."
Norton's earlier endo (and subsequent power loss due to a smashed
pipe) took away too much momentum
for him to stay with the front-runners.
The Thor/Moose Racing/FMF/Brakingbacked Norton also had a dust-up with
a lapper (for the second race in a row),
and only lost sight of the lead battle as it
entered the closing stage.
"Scott (Plessinger) and Fred were the
gu ys out front after the other guys started peeling off," said Summers, who was
still just out of the lead picture after his
foot peg change. "With about three laps
to go they must have both got stuck
behind a bottleneck, because 1 cam e
around and the y were jus t clearing
out."
"I had a pretty good lead towards the
end, probably 25 seconds," said
Andrews. "I was trying to run but 1
caught a root and crashed. They got
back up to me. We were all so close
together the whole time. This has to be
the closest race the GNCCs have ever
had:'
As they rode under the white flag,
(signaling one lap to go) Andrews was
first, Summers second and Plessinger
third, all three wheel to wheel to wheel.
As they circulated the special test section, Summers took an inside-out stab at
Andrews and nearly put the Yamaha
rider into an oak tree . Andrews held his
line on the outside berm and maintained
the lead as they started into the last
woods section.
.
"I was right there until the last lap
when 1 smacked my foot on a stump,"
said Plessinger of the incident that finall y cost him any chance of w inning.
"Fred was right in fr on t of m e and 1
didn't see the stump. It took m y foot
right off the peg and that was it:'
"There was some bumping out there,
but every time we were going the same
d irection," said Summers. "It was rea l
aggressive riding, but there weren't any
problems at all:'
(Above) Scott Plessinger (6) was also involved In the dramatic fin ish but
had to settle for a close third behind Summers and Andrews. (Right) TIm
Shephard scored the Vet A class wi n.
"I did the best 1could, but 1 came up
a little short," said Andrews. "Second is
not bad, but 1 would've liked to have
won. Scott rode a .g reat race and he
deserved to win. But it' s a long season
and 1 think if 1can finish in the top thr ee
every time, I'll win."
" I wa s close again, but just no t
enough," sai d Plessinger, w ho, like
Andrews, resides in Ohio. "I had a good
ride but a bad last lap. Those tw o were
riding real good at the end and they got
the breaks. 1 guess Summers got the last
br eak . My time will come."
(N
Whiskey Ridge GNCC
Sharpsburg, Maryland
Results: May 8, 1994
O/A: 1. Scott Sum mers (Hon); 2. Fred Andrews
(Yam); 3. Scott Pless inger (K1M); 4. Tom Norton (Kaw) ;
5. Duane Co nner (Yam); 6. Craig Jones (Kaw) ; 7. Terry
C un n ingha m (Ya m) ; 8. Gene Onail (Kaw); 9. Daryl
Conne r (Yam); 10. Steve McSw ain (H on) ; 11. Tom
Carson (Hon); 12. Tim Shephard (Yam); 13. Jeff La uth
(Kaw); 14. Micha el Burk (Kaw); 15. Darryl Kunezer
(Yam); 16. Scott Phe lps (Yam); 17. Shawn Brell (KTM);
l B. C urtis Bardonner (Yam); 19. Jeff Murgel (Yam); 20.
Steve Hatch.
PRO 01A: Summers; 1. Andrews; 2. Plessinger; 3.
No rton; 4. Du ane Conner; 5. Cunningham.
OPEN A: I. Brell ; 2. Ca rl Ennis (Yam); 3. Andy
Kendle (KTM); 4. Sta n Tissue (KTM); 5. Greg Holden
(K1M).
250 A: 1.