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/127717
.' .. ·IN R IE 1994 Grand National Cross Country Champion Scott Plessinger TE V W By Chris Jonnum Photos by Jim Talkington ot lon g ago , har e scrambles and cross country rea lly were amateu r s ports. Of th e top riders - talen ted as they were - almost all mad e their pri mary livings ou tsi de of racing, and for the most part pu rsu ed their "hobby" on weekends only. This should in no way de tract from the feats of past heroes such as Ed Loj a k a n d Mark H yd e, wh o b ot h manage d to w in Na tional Championships while holding down jobs and rais ing famil ies. But the fact is that amo ng con temporary titl e contenders, such an approach is becoming increa singly rare. A t Da yt o na Bike Week, Scott Plessinger will begin the defense of his fi rs t G ra n d Nat iona l Cross Country Cha mpionship at the series opener in Ocala on March 7. And he'll be embarking on that mission in a much different m a nner than did ' 93· cham p Fr ed And rew s, or '92 title holder Scott Summ er s. Bot h of those riders - p rob ab ly Plessinger's biggest competition - rep resent wh at many are referring to as the "new b reed" o f o ff-ro aders - a b reed that competes not onl y for fun, but for mo ney as well. Jus t take a look at the race rs wh o took the o th er off-road Natio nal titles last year. Hare & Hou nd Cha mp ion Danny Ha me l, Endu ro Champion Steve Hatch and Ha re Scrambles / Reliability Enduro Cha mpion Rodney Smith all concentr ate on racing fulllim e, as d oes ISDE Top Am e rican Ty Davis. And of that group, only Smith is ma rried . But Plessin ger , who has resi d ed in Hamilton, Oh io, for all of his 27 years, lives for othe r things besides motorcycle racing. At a time when much of his competi tion arriv es at th e race sites up to two weeks early to practice on the local terr ain, Plessinger typ ically shows up a day or two before the green flag drop s. Our ph one discussion with Scott took place 11 days before the Hare Scrambles o pene r in H oll is ter, California, and wh ile Summers and Smith were already pr acticing at the race site, Plessinger had ye t to leave his Oh io home, explaining simply, "I've go t things I've got to do here." Among those things are squeezing in several hou rs a da y at his family's bu siness, Hamilton Rental Cent er, and perform ing all of his own bike maintenan ce - neither of which is a common pastime for his competition. "I've always like d wo rki ng on th e bikes, a nd I do n't fee l co mfo rtable w hen eve r somebody else does all th e work on the bike," Pless ing er says. "I kno w wha t I've done; if some th in g breaks then I can' t blame some body else for what hap pened. I blame myself." On race d ay, however , even Scott accepts a bit of ou tside assistance, usually from h is brother Gary a n d h is mechanic Jeff Copas. But you could say tha t Plessin ger 's team extend s fur ther than that. Whereas most of his rivals are "swinging singles," Scott has the su p-