Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127693
Final Round: Luzerne Park ~ 0\ 0\ ....... ..D ....... I-< Q) E Q) ::o Z 20 BROWNSVILLE, PA, OCT. 30 he 1994 AMA Grand National Cross Country title was decided by one po int on Sunday at the final round of the 12-race series. Team KTM's Scott Plessinger narrowly lost the race to defending champion Fred Andrews, but emerged from the long series as the overall champion, edging Andrews with 155 points to 154. "I felt that the best thing to do today was to forget about the title and just try to win another race," explained Plessinger. "But 1 started thinking about not crashing or anything on the second lap and as soon as 1 thought that 1 fell down. After that 1 just blocked all the pressure out of my mind and tried to win this race." After reeling in early runaway Andrews, Plessinger rode at a race-winning pace, but the stubborn . Andrews was determined to at least win the last round. "Fred was riding a good race," added Plessinger, "I tookit cautious for most of the day but on the last lap I put all I had into it. Fred ju st couldn't be beat today." "I knew I had to win but I was hoping that someone else could run up there with us," lamented Andrews, who surrendered his number-on e plate despite winning more races (four) than Plessinger or anyone else. "My job was to win this race and that was all I could do. Whatever happened wou ld happen beh ind me . I had no control over the title today other than to win and hope for the best" Finishing third behind the two title contenders at Brownsville was Pennsylvania ' s own Duane Conner. Team Mirage 's Tom Norton finished fourth on the fast B'ville track but a career-best third overall in the final '94 GNCC standings. Rounding out the top five on Sunday was Ohio's Gene Onail, who previously clinched the 250cc A class championship for the season. Though the series covers a dozen races, only the best eight finishes for each rider count toward the final championship standings. That meant that Andrews needed to win and Plessinger to finish third in order to tie the KTM rider in points. That would have given Andrews the series win based on the tiebreaking formula of having the most race wins. Unlike some of the other personal du els that have stolen headlines in the series, there was no bad blood between th e two title contenders. " Even with every thing on the line like it was, Fred and I had a good, clean race today," assured Plessinger. "We hit once earlier in the year but I waved at him and he waved back at me and that was pretty mu ch it. Sometimes at races when we were together and the trail came to a tight place we would almost take turns letting one another go, decide it out on the track. I hate to see (Scott) Summers and Fred and them beating on each other but they pretty much drug themselves into it. Now they're going to have to get themselves out of it." The Brownsville course was close to eight miles long and included a total of seven laps for the overall leaders. Lap times hovered around the 22-minute mark throughout the clear, warm day. The trail itself was a mixture of fast fields, tight woods and one long motocross section. Dust became a concern toward the end of the day but did not figure in the overall outcome or the championship picture. Close to 250 riders attended. By Davey Coombs/Photo by Jim Talkmgton Fred Andrews (left) and Scott Plessinger 1 (right) each entered the final round with a shot at the title. Andrews won the race, but Plessinger is the new champ. The riders lined up in the grassy field at the entrance to Brownsville's Luzerne Park in straight lines according to class. The Pro group was the first class to fire off the dead-engine starting line and Honda Of Troy's Tom Carson was the first rider to reach the motocross track, which was being run in reverse direction. Andrews, a former professional motocrosser like Carson, was second, with Pro class newcomer Scott Phelps third. By the time the leaders hit the first tight woods section Andrews was in the lead and pulling away. "I was going as fast as I could because I didn't have any dust or traffic to contend with," said Andrews of his blistering early pace. "Once I caught the dust on the third lap I started to go a little slower because I was afraid of falling, but Scott must have just been pinning it. He was slowly knocking my lead down until he caught me. Then I knew that I was going to have to do the same thing if I crash, 1crash." "I got a fifth-place start and went up into third after a little way," said Con-