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:C Grarid NationalO N R .ยทยท ... . Round 10 R S Cross T Y O SC U :AlIA Co~ntry .sen.es th~ of By Davey Coombs Photos by C.J . Coombs FAIRMONT, WV, OCT. 2 n an event that was more a game of King of the Hill than a cross country National race, Scott Plessinger found himself on top at the end. The KTMbacked rider narrow ly won the 10th round of the series after surviving several assaults on the peak known as Bonner Ridge. Still, Plessinger was just a wheel length ahea d of Tea m Yama ha-Sport Cycles-backed Duan e Conne r. Team Mirage's Tom Norton was third overall at a distance ofjust over two min utes. "It just wasn't worth it," said Plessinger of the steep hil1s that invited the riders to take a risky and often selfdestructive shortcut to the top. "It looked like a good idea to climb at first but I could tell in the end it would be better off going around the easy way all day. I had to try it once, and that almost cost me the race." The steep hill that Plessinger was talking about featured three divergent paths to the top, appropriately named Papa Hill, Mama Hill and Baby Hill. Competitors could choose from any of the three routes, though Papa Hill turned out to be too much for even the elite racers in the field of just less than 200 entries. It was especially destructive for Team Yamaha's Fred Andrews, the defending GNCC Series champ and points leader going into this race, and Team Green 's Doug Blackwell, each of I (Above ) Scott Pless inger moved Into the series po ints lead for the fi rst t ime th is season fo llowing his win at t he Hardrock 100. (Right) Duane Conners had a shot at the win but came up just short for second overall. (Below) Tom Norton was an early leader before dropping to third. ~ crcr..... ~ ..... l-< Q) .g ..... U o 24 Mill whom blew the lead at one point while scaling Bunn er Ridge. Andrews still finished fourth overall ahead of 250cc A class leader Gene Onail; Blackwell was eighth. . A Saturday evening rain shower made the hilly Hardrock course slick and muddy at the start, then it was "just plain slick!' as the day wore on, according to Andrews. The layou t did not include a special-test-style mo tocross section tha t is standard at most GNCC events . The race measured just less than three hours in time while the trail length totaled nine miles per lap. Several long, steep climbs besides Bunner Ridge itself ad ded interest to the run. The first big surprise of the day was the fact that Team Green's Doug Blackwell - the season-long holeshot artist did not make it to the first tum ahead of the rest of the Pro class pack. Instead, it was Plessinger, Conner and Andrews who rou nded the first grassy, righthand turn. At the end of. the first lap, Blackwell held a lead of more than 30 seconds on Andrews, Plessinger and Norton. Throughout the da y lap tim es would grow slower as the tra ils grew slicker and more difficult to negotiate. Mistakes came often for even the top guys. Norton's first slip came early in the second lap. "I passed what I thought was a lapper but it turned out to be Blackwell," said Norton. "I wa s in the lead and I didn't even realize it. I put 25 seconds on everyone by the time we got to the big hill. Unfortu nately, I fell on the hill when I grabbed third gea r and almos t looped out." Trapp ed in the middle of the steep incline, Norton had no choice bu t to point his 125 back down the hill for another run. How ever, Plessinger was also trapped o n th e hill and blocked Norton from getting down. "I had to wait until he got up before I could go down . My lead went from plus 25 seconds to minus 60 seconds." "I tried it on the second lap and I only went halfway up," sa id Pless inger. "I turned around and went back do wn because my bike ju st wasn't hooking up real wel l. I was spinning everywhere. Tommy and Doug passed me when I was coming back down and neither mad e it, but I guess Andrews did." Being the only one of the front-runners to make the hill in one tryon the seco nd lap, Andrews in heri ted th e lead . But just one lap later it was the d e fen d in g GNCC champ Andrews' tum to botch the hill. He tried and failed twice before taking one of the alternate paths, losing at least three minutes in the process . "All the mud was kicked off the track by the fourth lap ," explained Norton. "All of this hard , slick clay was exposed. I ended up falling on the midd le hill and had to take the longest, easiest one for the rest of the day ."