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R ound5: Mule K National icker PessinJjer shows'em in Missouri lil § ~ i:; ~ .. ~ KTM's Scott Plessinger pulled out the stops at the Mule Kicker National Hare Scrambles. The former champ passed Rodney Smith early In the race and never looked back, finishing with more than two minutes to spare over his nearest rival. By Davey Coombs KAHORA,MO,jULY17 o r m e r AMA National Hare Scrambles Champion Scott Plessinger earned his first win of the 1994 series with a twominute dusting of the 330 rider field . Plessinger, piloting a KTM 250 with ' 95 suspension components, grabbed the early lead from current . series point leader Rodney Smith and never let go. "I just wanted to go out and see how hard I could push it," said Plessinger, a native of Ohi o and the NHS series champ in 1989 and '92. "It seems like I'm always following someone all the way to the end and then trying to pass them. Today I just wanted to get away fast and stay away. I have nothing to lose because I've more or less lost my shot at the overall championship. So why not just go as fast as I can for three hours and get myself in better shape?" In the end, Plessinger was just short of two minutes clear of Smith and a further minute and a half ahead of thirdplaced Scott Summers. Rounding out the top five overall were Kawasaki KX2OD-mounted Tom Norton and Suzuki's off-road icon Randy Hawkins. The Mule Kicker National Hare Scrambles was produced by Midwest Motorsports and the trail was a wellreceived mix of woods and fields. "The track was pretty nice at first but then, with the weather being the way it was, and with so many riders on the track it started to get hard packed, almost like concrete," said Norton. "But F it was a good mix - about five miles of trees and about five miles of fields. I guess the average speed was around 26 mph." Norton added that though the track got a little dry towards the end of the day, "the first lap was the worst because everyone was together. after that it was okay." "It was a good track, especially the grassy sections," said Smith, who lives in Northern California. "That part had some moisture at first, but then it got kinda dusty, kind of hard-packed. Overall, it was a really good track. It had a bit of everything." Smith and Plessinger shared the holeshot while Norton suffered his usual poor start, due to a power disadvantage. "I usually go wide and just sweep the first comer since the 125 starts so slow and I'm usually the last one off the line," said Norton. "But the 200 has been firing like a champ so I went for the inside. The start was 50 yards long into a u-turn and we had 22 riders on the front row. When the flag went up I was in the pack, getting banged on both sides. Hawkins was on my right and went down in the comer. I went from the front of the pack to 14th out of the first comer. If 1 had went wide 1 would have swept right by the pile-up." "1 got the holeshot and was leading but 1 made a mistake on a hill," said Smith, the current AMA Nati onal Hare Scrambles Championship Series point leader. "The bike stalled and Plessinger got by me. 1 think a piece of barbed wire got caught on my brake pedal something slapped me and the bike stopped. After that it just didn't work so good. All da y long it bothered me , as if the brake was heated up or something. My mechanic said that the rotor is pretty discolored, so maybe it was sticking all day long ." Plessinger led Smith in to the motocross section on the completion of the first lap. Much to the surprise of the spectators, Plessinger was still leading former MX GP: contender Smith as they completed the section. "I followed Rodney for about four miles until he stalled and I passed him," said Plessinger. "He stayed right there for the rest of the first lap. After we took off out of the barrels 1 decided 10 try and put some time on him, and at the end of lap two I had 15 or 20 seconds on him. I was up to about 45 seconds when he gassed up on lap four . But three miles out 1 got in to about 10 lappers, and I think he closed right in. After that 1 pushed as hard as 1 could until the end and pulled out about two minutes." "I probably could have passed him in the motocross section back on the first lap, but we had a big lead on everyone else and 1 just took it easy," said Smith . "Unfortunately, 1 made some more mistakes in the trees and he got away from me. I still had a good lead over Summers ." Smith thought about pushing it and going after Plessinger for the win, but decided against it. "I didn't need to push after Scott because he's really out of the championship picture. I needed to keep Summers and Norton behind me, and I was thinking about what happened at last year's Pennsylvania race." On a similarly hot day last season, Smith suffered severe dehydration and spent several weeks in recovery. "You know, for once it was easy," said Plessinger, who lists KTM, MSR, Arai, Tsubaki, Duralube, Smith PowerBar, EBC, Bridgestone, Sprockert Plus, Ceet, KK Cycle Supply, WP, Acerbis, Renthal, Boyesen, Twin-Air, Slick 50, Pro Choise, Enduro Engineering, SSr Design, Tech Lube and Wiseco as sponsors. "We were using '95 suspension and the bike was working well. That makes me consistent." . "Lappers kind of became a problem at the end," said Smith. "1 would catch four or five guys at once and then wouldn't be able to get by them. They said I caught Plessinger at one point, that I was within 10 seconds. I d idn't even see him. Besides, I was content with second, because I actually gained points on everyone except Plessinger, who has already used three throwaways. Norton and 'Summers were the ones that I needed to beat." 01 Mule Kicker Nati onal Kahoka , Missouri Results: July 17 OVERALL: I. Scott Plessinger (KTM); 2. Rodney Smith (Suz); 3. Scott Summers (Han); 4. Thomas Norton (Kaw); 5. Randy hawkins (Suz) ; 6. Steve Leivan (Yam); 7. Jason Dahners (Han); 8. Eric Mashbir (HuS); 9. Leigh Letellier (KTM); 10. Matt Stavish (KTM); 11 . Mi'e Sampson (Kaw); 12. Kurt Foster (yam); 13. Mark Martin (Hon); 14. Dennis Murphy (Han); 15. Gary Barber (Suz); 16. Kelly Geotz (Hus); 17. Phillip Converse (ATK); 18. Martin Kohlmeier (KTM); 19. Darryl Galhan (Han); 2ll. Kenneth Yount (Yam). Upcoming rounds Round 6 • South Edmeston. NY Round 7 - 1019 Silver City, Idaho an