Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·.H R C A B E:· A ES R M L F'Ina1R d BI ackC 1N t' 1 AMANationalCharilpionshipH!lreScrambleseries oun: . oa alona • ,, Photos by Jim Talkington .... OJ "S OJ > o z 10 LYNNEVILLE, IN, NOV. 6 h ate to see it (the National Hare Scrambles Series) come to an e n d , " s a id KTM's Sco tt Plessinger af ter winning the Black Coal Na tiona l Ha re Scrambles. "I'm on a roll ." Tha t ver y we ll could be the understateme nt of the year. Ple ssi nger, the re centl y cro wned Gra nd Na tional Cross Cou ntry Champion, has been on a ter ror as of late, wi nning just abou t everythi ng in sigh t. Had it not been for an ankle injury early in th e off-road season, Pless inger co u ld very well ha ve been this year's Nationa l Ha re Scrambles champ as well, instead, he had to be satisfied fi nishing second to Team Suzuki' s Rodney Smith. And that isn't any thing to be asha med of, either . Technically, Smith clinche d the series title two rounds earlier but that didn' t mean an ything to Plessinge r. He wan ted to en d the year go ing ou t on top, an d d id so b y wi n n ing th e Black Coal N ati ona l H a re Scra mb les, th e fi na l National HS on the AMA calendar. But th e w in d idn't come easily, as Team Su z u ki 's Ste ve H atch, an other rider on fire as of late, gave Plessin ger a I ru n for his money . Ha tch , the newly crowne d Na tio na l Enduro Cha mpion', was the ea rly leader in the two-and-ahalf-hour race, bu t when it was all ove r, Plessinge r was in the all-important position at the checkered flag - first place but not by much. Hatch crossed the finish line no less than 10 seco nds behind Plessinger . " It was a great race," said Plessinger. "I h ad a fun time r id ing with Steve; I d on 't ge t to rid e w it h h im m uc h . We we re hollerin g at each other, having fun. We were close but never rammed into each other or anyt hing like tha t." The fina l eve nt of the year was hosted by the Kentucky Enduro Rider s, and th e co u rse co nsis te d of 9.2-m ile lap s, most of whi ch had the competitors tra versing on top of tall ridges on nar row trails. Mu ch of the course was laid out on a mini ng area, and rain for the p revious tw o days - and up un til two hours prior to th e sta rt of the race - left the course soft and rutted ou t. As the race wo re on, careful line-choosing wo uld be an impo rt factor in tu rning in fast laps. Plessinger go t the ju mp at the start of th e ra ce, but his early lead wou ld not last for long. . " I pull ed th e h ol esh ot," sa id Pless inger, "bu t I oversho t a tu rn and Shad Rickets and Steve (Hatch ) go t by me. Then, my bike was runn ing a little lean, so I had to sto p and crank the air screw to richen it up a bit. That's when Randy (Hawkins ) go t by me." App roxi m a te ly a mi le later, Plessinge r reele d in a n d p a ss ed Haw k ins, a n d as th e .ra ce w o re on, Plessinger moved in on Hatch and soo n h ad co n trol of second p lace. Th e tw o ride rs then beg an di cing back and forth for the lead . "One lap I'd lead, the next lap he'd (Hatch) lead," said Plessinge r. "We really weren' t going fu ll tilt, but we d id set a g o od p a ce a n d pull e d a w ay from eve ryone else . Norma lly, if Rodney (Smith) and Scott (Summers) are there, we'd race all out from start to finis h." The tu rn in g point in th e race came two lap s from the finish . " I was in th e lead an d h e (Ha tch ) s ta ye d righ t b ehind m e, " sai d Plessi nger. "My crew gave me the tw olap s ign, bu t Steve didn 't know th at (how many laps were left) so he didn't know to start pushing it. Going into the last lap, I had abou t 10 seconds on him and I started riding as hard as I could . It wasn't u nt il ge tting the white flag did he know we had one lap left." At th is point, Plessinger lo ok ed to h a ve th e race w o n, tha t was unt il a lapped rider decided to start racing with Scott Plessinger (2) grabbed the holeshot, while Steve Hatch got a soaking. Plessinger went on to take the win. the lead er. "Abou t tw o miles fro m the finish, a lapped ride r tried to race with me," said Plessin ger. " I co u ld n' t ge t b y a n d I could hear Steve coming . He caught me but he wen t too ha rd into a ravine and lost the front end." Plessinger finally got around the lapper and wo uld take the checkered flag a p p roxi m a te ly 10 seco n ds ah e ad of H atch. Haw kins, who pretty mu ch ran alone in third all day, finis hed abo ut a . minuted behind Hatch. Jason Dahners, aboa rd a Honda, finished fourth, while Tea m Mirage's Tom Norto n had a tou gh time in the horsepower-robb in g soft di rt on hi s s ma llbore Kaw asaki. Finishing sixth overall was Yamah amou nted Mike Sampson, w hile 250cc A class winner Tim Ta ber, on a Ho nd a, finished seven th . Rounding out the top 10 o vera ll w e re Ste v e Lei van, Le igh Letellier and Open A class winner Chris Caplinge r. Sha ne Nalley was the top B rid er, while John Hamilton topped the C class di vision. IN

• Cover