Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

po rt of his wife Angie and his two-yea rol d d a u gh te r Da n ielle, w ho w as th e happy recipient of a brand-new KTM 50 this Christmas. And th e idiosyncrasies d on' t en d the re. In a sport o therwise ruled 'by machinery from th e O rient, Plessinger o p ts for a n A ustri a n -man ufac tu re d KTM. He is the only '94 champion not to ride a Japanese-built motor cycle - another peculiarity that hark ens ba ck to men like Lojak and Hyde. "I think 1 could w in on pretty mu ch any bike . It ' s ju st that KTM' s a good compa ny to ride for . I think they're the , most friendly people to ride for. I feel ,a lot more com fo rta ble rid in g for them than I did with Kawasaki. Wh en ever I talk to th em abou t th in gs, they list en and do something abo ut it." A good exam ple of that u nde rstanding was KT M 's wi llingness to le t Plessinger ride with a conventional Marzocchi fro nt fork, at a time when the offroa d world h a d beco me ena mored with th e rigidity of inverted forks . '1 sta rted usin g them (the Marzocchis) in ' 93, before anybody ever d id, and J(TM di d n 't w ant me to . Bu t I us ed them one time, and they just seemed like th ey worked so much better over the rocks and tree roots than the inverted forks. They' re less harsh an d they seem to flex a lot more th a n th e inverteds d o. The 'b ike's 100 percent better than what it used to be. I think that's had a lot to d o with the be tter finishes that I've had, too. 1 always complaine d to KTM in th e p as t ye ars that they ha d an exce llen t bike, but the sus pension just wasn't as good as th e bike wa s. Now with th ese here, it' s ju st a 100 percent better bike. " The re sult? KTM n ow specs all of their production mach inery w ith Marzocchi fo r ks , a s w ell as Oh lin s shocks . And top ra cers like Smith, Davis, Rand y Hawkins and Ke vin Hines are n o w u s ing conventional forks, desp ite the fact th at their Japanese bikes still come with inverted uni ts. The riders , kno w what wor ks, and are n 't willing to give up any thing to the competition. This win- at-all-costs attitude is so methin g new in the wo rld of off-roa d, bu t is indicati ve of wha t it now takes to be successfu l in the s port. St ill, w h ile enduro and rall y rid ers are consi de red pr ofession als in Europe, the A.MA continues to tr eat off-roa d raci ng on the am a te ur le vel - a fact th a t Plessinger thinks sho u ld change. "I th ink it should be a p rofessional sport; I do n' t think they sho uld conside r it 'a m ateu r anymore. I know anybody can come an d race the event, but we're ma king' just as mu ch money as some of the mot ocrossers out there. I think they shou ld p u t u p p u rs es and d o it that way. But I th in k th ey should lea ve it open to everybody, because that pays a lot of the money for the promoters." One of the rea son s for the new attitude in off-road is the fact that several former motocrossers have mad e successfu l transitions on to the trails - Smith, Da vis an d An drews b eing th e most notable examples. Many traditionalists view th is as negative, but Plessinger, who gr ew up in th e woods, welcomes the stiffer com petition. " I th in k it' s h elp ful ," h e says . " I th ink in fu ture ye a rs it'll b ring more mo to crossers into it, w hich is good, beca use that brings the competition u p ' a n d g e ts m ore of the manufacturers into it. Plus, it makes it more professional." Bu t m o t o cr o s se rs a ren 't so le ly responsible for the increase in professio na lism. Man y also point to longtime off-reade r Scott Summers as a key moti va tor. Summ e rs, a six-ti me N a ti on a l Cha m pion, puts h e a vy em p hasis on public relations, and h as the press cov erage to show for it. Partly due to hi s speed o n a big fo ur-stroke, Summers ha s becom e the most popular off-road rider aro u nd, despi te the fact that h e d idn't wi n a title in '94. Thou gh it can be fru strating to a relatively ignored cham pion, Plessinger is gracious in accepting his lot. "He (Su mmers) pu ts a lot of effort in to it, and he' s in a lot of th e magazines ," says Scott. "H e ha s the tim e to spend with them and he's an .ed itor at hurt. it' s e arl y in the r a ce, because they're not familiar with the course." "Tha t's why I haven' t been ridi ng a whole lot this winter - jus t takin g it easy and d o in g q u i te a b it of tr ainin g, " Plessinger continues. "I want to let my body heal u p and try no t to brea~ anything before the start of the seaso n." Again, the despite the increased competition an d subseq ue n t rise in ri d er contact and injuries, Plessinger still feels th at the good-natu red spirit of off-roa d lives on. "Eve ry bo dy'S s t ill pre tty frien dly, and I get along with everybody ou t ther e. I don't have any body bad to talk abo ut or any thi ng . Probably the two people th at d on 't ge t alo ng are Scott (Summers) and Fred Andrews. I think it's more personal With them . They seem like they're the only two that do n't really talk to each ot he r. I'm good frie nds with Fred, and Ro d ney , to o, even though we ta ngled together. Pro bably the on e that I'm rea lly the closest to is Dirt Bike, so that helps a lot too...! know I'm jus t as fast as he is, bu t he has mo re tim e to put in to the sport tha n I do. He doesn' t have a fami ly to have fun w ith or anything; (laug hs) basically he's just got Fred (Bramblett, his mechan ic)." Injuri es were one of the main reasons Su mmers had an off year - a fact that is literaIly becoming a painfu l rea lit y on th e fa st -pace d hare sc r am b les / cross country circui t. "The speeds that we're riding. and tha t XR weighs 40, 50 more pou n ds than our b ike d oes, it th rows h im d o wn, a nd t h ro w s hi m down h a rd , " s a y s Plessinger. "Before, h e wasn 't ri d ing as fas t as we are now . Now that he's got more competition, he's tryi ng to get away from everybody. It's jus t getti ng h im hurt more . I' ve slowed down a lit tle bit, but basicall y I've gotte n faster (by doing that)." Plessi nge r, too, suffered injury in '94; he raced with bro ken toe s, b u t a fra ctu red ankle kep t him out of the hunt for a th ird Ha re Scrambles title. "I think the s peed s of the riders ha ve picked up . We're going so much faste r th a n we ever have. Back in 'S9 when I won the Hare Scrambles Series you could start a race and yo u d on 't really ride hard until the two-hour mark, and then you really turned it up. Now, there 's so mu ch money into this thing tha t from the start you ' re going 100 percent all d ay. A lot of the time the people that ar e ge tti ng Duane Con ner. I talk to him all the time and every once in a while I' ll go up and go rid ing w it h hi m . He lives in Pittsbu rgh, which is abo ut four hours fro m here. He's prob abl y my best frien d ou t of all the top rid ers." But w he n as ked if he respects any rider more than the others, Plessinger is di plom atic : "I kin d of respect them all, an d I treat the m all abo ut the same. Ou t on tI-ie tra ck you've just to do what yo u can do to win . I don 't go to the race an d ,try to take any body out. I've .never rid den like that and 1 prob ab ly never will." Perh aps th at is b ecau se Plessinger doesn't worry abou t wha t the other rider s are doing. instead opting to conce ntrate on ju st one th ing - winning. His goals for '95 are simple: "I'd like to win both of them (the Hare Scrambles and Cross Country titles). You rea Ily can' t go any further. Once you wi n the cha mpionship yo u' ve just got to keep tryin g to do it aga in . That's my main goal. I'd like to win a few more races tha n I 'd id last year. I won six races, which is the most in one yea r I've ever wo n. But I'd like to win a cou ple more races and then both the,champ ionsh ips. If I rid e like I did at th e e n d of (l a st) se a s o n, it shou ld be ...well, it wo n' t be easy, but it'Il be pos- sible." The end of last season is someth ing ma ny people are s tHl talking about. Ples singer fini shed off th e ye ar on an inc redi ble hot streak, wi n ning four of the last s ix h are scra mbles and cross co u n try rounds. Of the two he d idn't wi n, Plessin ger sa t ou t one and ea rn ed h is title at the other. Can he continue the ' trend? "I thi nk I can. I' ve chan ged a lot of th in gs as fa r as d ie t and trainin g and , eve ry thing . It seems like it started helpin g out a lot at th e end of th e y ea r. I started slo wing down in places wh ere I h ad tried to go fa ste r a nd e n d e d up cras h ing . I w asn't having any cra shes, h ardly, at the end of the yea r. It really help ed out." Winnin g two Na tio na l Championshi ps in one season is a tall order to fill, though Smith mana ged to pull it off last year w hen he took th e Reliability • En d uro an d Hare Scr am bl es crow ns. Plessinger is prob ably smart in concentrating on the Hare Scram bles and Cross Country Series, because the tw o forms of raci ng are extremely simila r - so , alike that s om e thi n k the two s hould be co m bined . Pl ess inger doesn ' t agree, bu t he does have his preferences. Though he has tw o Ha re Scramb les crowns to h is s ing le Cross Cou ntry tit le, Plessinger has ne ver enjoye d the former series' exten ded travel demands, o r the h igh speeds of its Western courses. " It see ms like the Cross Co u nt ry 'Se ri e s is put togeth er a lot better tha n the Ha re Scrambles Series, b eca use yo u've got o ne g ro up of people runnin g the cro ss countr ie s a n d yo u've just go t (d ifferen t) promoters r unning th e ha re sc ra mbles. P lus, yo u ' ve got the banquet at the end of the year. You get a lot ou t of that...But I like running both the series." Tha t enjoyment is what ke ep s Pless ing e r go in g. After all, h e has been at it for a long time - IS years, to be precise. He learned to rid e at age nine, picking it up from h is brothers. , Plessinger started racing after his brother was inju red, and progressed steadily u nt il p ickin g u p his firs t titl e in ' S9 when all of his current riva ls had yet to win a ch ampion ship. No w, mo st of his loca l frie n ds h a v e given up ac t ive lifesty les, leaving Scott to train by himself or perhaps d on h is in-line skates and horse aro un d wit h the teenage kid s dow n the street. He's not getting any yo unger, and with three crowns, so me migh t gu ess that Plessinger would start to lack motiv ation . "I' d like to just see h ow man y (titles) I can win, " says Scott. "I' m not sure how lon g I' m going to race for right now. I kn o w I'm goi ng to ra ce for th e n ext three years, but I'm not su re after that. I' ll jus t h ave to see h'o w thin gs go . I'm still having fun at it right now, but when I stop h aving fun at it, th at's probab ly when I'll hang it up." At tha t point , Plessinger says he' ll probably continue his current job at his fam ily's business, b u t on a fu ll-time io 0\ b a si s. In the meantime, Scott h as n o 0\ regrets. . ...... "I really don't have an y other in terests in any thing, and there really isn' t anythin g else that I'd like to do," he says. ''1'11 always en joy doing this (racin g) more than an ything else . I won ' t regret an yth ing. I've acco mp lished a lot of things wi th in racing. and met a lot of people. It's been a lot of fun ." I:"

• Cover