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high-pitched scream of Norton's 125, as
well as Hatch's 250. "Once 1 managed to
catch up to those guys, it was apparent
th at both Smith and Summers weren't
going as fast as they could," said Norton. "So 1 decided to ju st stay on the
same pace as them, to conserve some
energy for later in th e race . 1 actually
managed to ge t in front of Summers a
couple of times but couldn't make anything stick. "
After 19 minutes, the leading quartet
of riders reappeared with Smith leading
Summers by a scant one second, while
Norton was still ahead of Hatc h. Once
on to th e motocross course, bot h Smith
and Summers increased their lead by
ab out five or six seconds over Norton,
but he quickly gobbled the lead duo
back up as the riders en tered the tighter
and wooded portion of the race course.
Soon after, Norton began putting distance on Hatch. "I was a little aggravated with myself, especially after 1 had
gotten such a good start, and that's half
the battle at one of these events," said
Hatch. "My forearms started pumping
up in the first four laps and the harder 1
tried to use my clutch and brake, the
worse it seemed to get. It sort of subsided later in the event, so 1 was able to
pick up the pace a little bit but, by then,
the leaders were long gon e."
Smith soon began trying to break
away from the pack, but to no avail,
because Summers matched his pace.
At the halfway point, onl y a few seconds separated the lead duo - Smith and
Summers. Trailing some 37 seconds was
Norton who, in turn, enjo yed a much
bigger advantage o ver Hatch.
Plessinger, meanwhile, had climbed
back into fifth.
Not long afterwards, Norton began
dropping off the pace after crashing and
feeli ng the effects of a cold, th en
Plessinger backed it down a little bit.
"Towards the end of the race, my back I •
started to really hurt from the constant
poundi ng of the cou rse," said
Plessinger. "I also managed to somehow
jam my Ii ttle finger and tha t sta rted to
make it difficult to hold on. Once all the
aches and pains started in, I figured I'd
just hang onto m y fif th-position and
decided to let Hatch go. I really can't
complain though ; considering I almost
called it a day after all my crashes dur- .
ing the opening lap. I gave it everyt hin g
I had until my bod y said 'eno ugh.?'
Smith's bid for the win ended on the
seventh lap when he tang led w ith
another rider on a muddy hill. "I was
trying to sneak by a lapped rider when I
slid down into him and his bike fell on
top of mine," said Smith. "The bikes
became stuck together and it took me a
while to get going again."
Smith's misfortune gave Summers a
commanding lead that he would easily
ma intain to the fin ish. Second p lace
ended up going to Smith, followed by
Norton, Hatch, Plessinger and Mark
Avard.
a
NatJonal Hare Scrambles
South Edmeston, New York
Results: August 7, 1994
O/A: 1. Sco tt Summer s (Hon ); 2. Rodney Sm ith
(Suz); 3. Tom Norton (Kaw); 4. Steve Hatch (Suz ); 5.
Scott Plessinger (KTM); 6. Mark Avam (Hus); 7. Leigh
Letellier (KTM); 8. Eric Mashbir (Hus) ; 9. John Oechsle
Jr. (Kaw); 10. Barry Hawk (Suz); 11. Steve Leivan (Yam);
12. Martin Kehlrneier (KTM); 13. Mark Peacock (Hus);
14. Scott Rich (Suz); 15. Jeff Kirchner (Kaw); 16. Richard
Bryan (KTM): 17. Kevin Borts (Yam); 18. Kevin Kendall
(Yam); 19. Da ryl Ga ita n (Hon); 20. Brent Osb urn (Hon).
AMA NA TIONA L CH AM P IO NS H IP HAR E
SCRA MBLE SERIES POINT STANDINGS (After 6 o f
9 ro u nds): 1. Rodney Smith (153 /3 wins ); 2. Tom
Norton (I2l); 3. Scott Sum mers (97/1 win); 4. Scott
Plessinger (71); 5. Eric Mashbi r (65) ; 6. (TIE) Randy
H a w kins (1 win)lJaso n Da hners (46); 8. Ron Na ylor
(39); 9. (TIE) Leigh Letellier I Pal Garrahan (35).
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 7 - Silver-Cily, idaho, October 9
Round 6 - Millfield, Ohio, October 23
SINCE 1HEUNl'IED srA1R3 ~ ffiIX Fn