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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127778
·O Grand NationalD. Country Series . Round 2: Hickory;North Carolina FF.·R A Cross O AMA Del By Davey Coombs Photos by Jay Chitten den HICKORY NC, MAR 24 , o r the second time th is y e a r Ame rican Honda-mounted Scott Summers crossed the line in front of Kaw asaki Team Green's fast man Ty Davis in a str aight-up cross coun try race. This time Kentucky' s Summers bettered California's Davis - an d Suzuki's Steve Hatch - in Hickory, North Carolina, with a nother frenzied las t-la p sprint to the finish, just as he did at the season-o pener in Ocala, Florida, earli er this month. "This was a big one," sa id Summers after the epic three-wa y battle that wasn 't d ecided un til the very end. "To beat Ty once was a gre at achieveme nt - beating him two times in a row is even better." Also nearl y knocking off Davis was Suzuki' s Steve Hatch, who was in contention for the wi n until the very en d . While Davis follow ed the cha rging Summers' fast XR600 across the finish 19 seconds behind, H atch was just two tick s beh ind the runner-up. Round ing ou t the top five in North Carolina we re living off-road legend Randy Hawkins, who captains the Suzuki off-road team, and Team SCR Yamaha's Duane Conner, who hails from southwestern Pennsylvania. "Scott got me again - what else can I say?" said Dav is, 26, after the run. "He rode reall y well a nd I' m reall y imp ressed . The first two lap s Scott jus t h on ed it ou t o n th at p ig. I co u ldn ' t believe it! 1was just going, 'Wow:" "Ty was riding good himself and he's learn ing every time he comes back here for an East Coast event," said 27-yearold Summers. "I was impressed with him . I didn't think he woul d even finish in th e t op fiv e tod a y . I fig ure d Plessinger, H a w kin s a n d Andrews wo uld be in there :' F .. -. :- 0.... -< 6 "I just had an outstanding day bu t I wish I could have got those guys at the end, " sai d American Suzuki-b ac ke d Hatch. "I just need to get by the lappers quicker in the last laps. Scott's really good at that and he's really smart, too. He put one ove r on Ty and I on th e las t lap . I guess you learn some thing in every race and you just have to keep improving." The 356-rider Hickory eve nt marked the secon d ro und o f th e 199 6 AMA Wiseco / Yama ha / Du n lop / Answer / Braking / Acerbis Grand National Country Series and w as organ ized by Ra ce r Prod u ct ions a n d th e Mid-Ea st Ha re Scra mbles Association. Th e relatively short track was a little bit on the ro cky a nd d usty sid e, though a few cree k cross ings with soft ban ks made for some good spectating. It was a warm , su nny d ay. "My str ategy wa s to get away ea rl y, a nd I did th at ," said Su mmers . "I got myse lf a 3D-second lead at the end of the second lap. I knew th at lapped riders would p lay a big part at the end of the race because the track was so small , and I wanted to get people between me and everyone else. Then I got in to a big bottlen eck and I go t stuck, and th at really b umm e d m e out because I spent so mu ch energy to get out fron t:' (Right) Californian Ty Davis crossed the finish only 19 seconds behind race winner Summers. • al (Above) Eventual th lrdplace fi ni sher Steve Hatch (10) nabs the holeshot over Duane Conn or (4) Scott Plessinger (1) and Fred Andrews (3). (Right) Scott Summers co ntrolled th e lead for mu ch of th e race, though he dr opp ed as low as thi rd after getting stuck on a hill after the halfway point. "I got into the top pack there after a while because I knew if they got away I wouldn' t be a ble to catch up, " sa id Davis. "I definitely learned a lot today. 1 mean , I've never ridden anything like this befor e. You had to be real careful where you went:' For th e bett er pa rt of the race Summers, Davis and H atch were in control of the lead positions, along with defendin g cha m pion Scott Plessi n ge r, w h o is a notoriously late starter but has been on the pace early this yea r. But halfway through the race Plessinger crashed hard and had to have med ical at tention. The KTM p ilot dropped ou t of the race but was otherwise fine. Fred Andrews had problems