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OFF-ROAD. AMA G randNational Cross Country Series Round 4: Wilderness 100 • S0 S ummers points-paying Alligator Enduro in early March. Hatch' s Suzuki teammate Hawkins, said th e tigh t s low -th ro tt le track wa s more simi lar to enduro courses than most of the trails on the cross countrv circuit. "You can tell by the results that th is track w as pre tty tight because Steve and I did so well," said Hawkins, wh o hails from Tra veler 's Rest, South Carolina . At the complet ion of the firs t of six lap s Hatch was th e leader with ju st a bike length to s p ar e on Summ e rs . .Plessinger wa s next in the line, follow ed by Sm ith, Hawkins, Loretta Lynn 's surprise contend er Frank Ke egan , hi s you nge r brother Brian Keegan, and New Jerse y' s Chri s Smith . The lap la sted about 25 minutes, much shorter than the rest of the laps due to constant lapped traffic on the tough, narrow course. "I was having a little trouble wit h the b ike ear ly a nd I di dn' t really hav e enough bottom end," said Smi th later . "I d on 't know if it was the ign ition or wha t but I w as just fight ing with it all the way." Hatch was still the leader after two la ps with Summers just nine seconds (Left) Steve Hatch (10) grabs the holes hot ahead of Fred Andrews (4) at the start of the Wilder ness 100 GNCC in West Virginia. Scott Plessinger (1) made up for his bad start and a bent rear brake lever to take runner-up honors. (Below) Hatch ended Scott Summers' perfect record . Summers, who had won the previous three rounds, finished eighth. . By Davey Coombs CLARKSBURG, WV, APR. 27 u zu ki' s Steve Hatch became the . first cross country competitor of the 1996 Grand National Cross Country Series to defeat.Scott Summers when he won the Clarksburg GNCC in northern West Virginia . For Hatch, a native of New York, the win also catapulted him to the top of the GNCC point standings for the first time in his career. . After four straight top-three finishes in as many rounds, Hatch leads Summers an uncharacteristic seventh in West Virgin ia - by two points after four rounds of the 12-race series. "Everybody did an outstanding job to day and it just went m y way in th e end," sa id Hatch of his nea rly flaw less ride. "The Pro class her e is just full of guys who can win and it always comes down to who has the best day. Tod ay it was m y day. We were all p ushi ng it from start to finish and it was just a great day to be racing." Finishing an almost-as-impress ive . second overall was defending Cross Cou n try Series Cha mpio n Scott Plessinger, who h as h ad an otherwise woeful season to date. The KTM-backed Plessinger m ade a furious lat e charge that prevented a Suzuki sweep of the top three p ositions as Hatch's older, mo re illustri ou s tea mmates Rodney Smith an d Randy H awkins ran second and th ird when the white flag fell on the 285-rider field. Plessinger' s cha rge got him to wi thin 19 se con ds o f Hatch a t th e checkered flag, while Smith an d Hawkins raced past th e fini sh lin e just two additional seconds behind the KTM pilot. Finishing a di stant fifth overa ll wa s fo rm er GN CC number-one pla te-holder Fred Andrews, who hails from eas tern Ohio. S "I nee ded to start rid ing like a champ or I'm not going to be one much longer," joked Plessinger in the wi nner's circle after his fine late su rge for secon d overall. Plessinger lost some valua ble time to the lead pack earl y in the race when he bent the brake ped al on his KTM. "The brake peda l really cost me so me tim e because I had to rid e almost a wh ole lap w ith it bent under the cas e. I tried as hard as I could to still go fast and on a couple of dow nh ills I almost cou ld n ' t stop. Once I got back to the pit s we were ab le to bend it back ou t to wh ere I coul d at least ride wi th it but it still wasn't perfect. It was so wet and muddy out there in places that I couldn't get an y traction on the pedal the wa y it was still bent. I jus t did the best I cou ld. I hope the fans aren't ge tti ng disap p oin ted in me ye t because 1 had a bad sta rt to the season. I'm really going to working hard to get back up front." . It was a minor coincidence that Summ e rs' firs t defeat of th e 1996 GN CC Series would come on the same day as supercross star Jerem y McGrath's after an otherwise perfect season. The Clarksbu rg race was held on a rare Saturday so that many of the top riders - all of Team Su zuki included - could compete in the next d ay' s AMA Na tional Enduro' race in nearby Ohio, an event at which Hawkins red eem ed his near-podium finish with an overall win . Hatch is com pe ting in three off-road Nation al Championsh ip series in 1996: Gra nd National Cross Country, Nationa l H ar e Scrambles and Enduro. Th roughout a ll three tours he h as m aintained great consistency, add ing three runnerup fini shes in as many Na tional Hare Scra m bles ou ti n gs a n d si m il a r h igh endu ro scores to his cross cou ntry successes. But be for e Saturday, hi s only major win of the season was at the non -