Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

CROSS COUNTRY .' AMA G randNational C Country Series ross Round 6: Boyers GNCC • (Left)Steve Hatch (10) grabs the holeshot at the start of the Boyers GNCC in Pennsylvania. He is chased by Scott Plessinger (1), Fred Andrew (behin d Hatch), Scott Summers (2), Mike Lafferty (12) and Randy Hawkins (151). (Above) Suzuki's Hatch kept his titles hope s alive with a s trong, wire-to-wlre win. By Davey Coombs Photos by Kim Clough and Doug Whitmer BOYERS, PA, JUNE2 eam Su zuki's Steve Hatch led all da y long but then ended u p narr owly e d g in g out defending GNCC champ Scott Plessinger and current points leader Scott Summers for his second win of the season. Hatch crossed the finish line just 11 seconds ah ead of the KTM-mounted Plessinger and 13 seconds ahead o f Honda 's Summers at round six of the 12-race tour. "My h at go es o ff to Plessinger and Summer s - those guys never ga ve up," said a jubilan t but ap preciative winner after thr ee hours of racing. "They're both ridin g reall y well and th ey fough t a ll da y lon g. I'm just glad it cam e out m y wa y in the end ." Rounding out the top five overa ll w e re Te am Yamaha /SCR / An sw erbacked Duane Conner a n d Su zuki's Randy Hawkins. The win pu ts Hatch right back in Summers' shadow in the se ries point standings as the series shifts into neutral for a summer-long hiatus before picking ba ck up in September . Su m m ers still hold s the lead with a to tal of 114 points; Hatch is five poi nts back wi th a total of 109, followed by Duane Con ner (82) and Hawkin s (78). Plessinger, who had difficulties in th e fir st three ro unds of the series, has climbed back in to the top five wi th 72 points to date . And wi th a ri der's bes t eigh t scores in 12 ro unds co unti ng towards th e fina l tally, Plessinger will need a nearly pe rfect secon d half of the series in or der to win his third-straight GNCC title. "I g ue ss it's good tha t Summers di dn't ge t another wi n, but I need one' pretty bad m yself," sa id Plessinger. "I w a s rid in g wi th a p re tty jammed-up ' th u m b, an d I took so me p ain- kill ers before th e race, b ec ause I can' t h a ve another bad day. I d idn't feel a thing all day, to tell you the truth." The Boyers course, designed by Racer Productions ' Je ff Russell and Dave Coo m bs, was m ore th an 10 mil es Ion T 40 with lap times averaging around the 28mi nute ma rk. Dry, clear weather meant tha t the long Boyers tra il w as dusty at times, tho ugh the mostly-wood ed track rem ained in good shape for most of the six-lap run. "The course was really a lot of fun but we kind of had to wai t for op portunities to try t o pass," sa id Summers. "Scott and I rode the who le race pretty well, relaxed and ' cruising a lit tle , but Steve was just on it from the start. It wa s his kind of track." As he has done often thro ug ho ut the series, Hatch was quickest to react to the gr een flag, firin g h is bike up firs t and . taking the ea rly advantage with Sum . mers, Plessinger, Conner, Brian Keegan an d Yamaha-mounted Fred An d rews followi ng. The younger Keegan br other wou ld drop after tw o laps with a severely bruised hip, whil e And rews wou ldn 't even make it th at far. Th e '93 G N CC Serie s Champion dropped out after the first lap wi th a banged -in footpeg. "I pulled in to have m y pit crew bang it back out, but it was twis ted so bad we on ly end ed up bend ing the frame," said An drews. "We finally banged the bracket righ t off an d that wa s it for the da y." Yet another regul ar con te n der - Tom Norton - also pulled out in the very early going . At the end of th e first lap H atch amassed th e bigg es t lead o f th e day, check ing into the scoring barrels exactly 50 seconds ahead of Plessin ger and Summ e rs . H aw kin s, w ho ha s been o n a recen t surge h imself in the GNCC Series, was ano ther 20 seconds back in fourth, wh ile Conner held fifth. After two loop s Hatch was still in control , leading Summers now by 42 secon ds and Plessinger another 15. Conner an d Hawkins flip-flop ped for four th and fifth, wi th Conner jus t 10 seconds up on the often-time end uro champ. "My wri sts started to pump up for a while there, an d I kind of had to take it a little e a sy a nd wait for th em to go down," sai d the H atch . "They must' ve picked up on that because all of the sudden they were right there close." In a rare case of on-track coo era tion (Above) Defending champ Scott Plessinger has yet to win a GNCC race this year, but came close In Boyers. He put on a late-race surge and nearly nipped Hatch at the finis h. (Lett) Hawkins, Hatch's teammate, finis hed fifth. between the tw o gre at rival s, Sumrners and Plessinger hooked up at the halfway point and cut sha rp ly into Hatch' s lead, pushi ng one anot he r to within a dozen seconds of the Suzuki rider after th ree lap s. But a lap later, Ha tch ' s lead was still in tact on the now crowded-withlapper s course. He was still 17 second s ahe ad of Ple s singer, whi le Summers came along five seconds later. "On ce Scott and I hooked up we just rod e faster and faster," said Summers of his unplanned teamw ork wi th lifelong rival (and friend) Plessinger. "Steve was rid ing really well, th ou gh, because as soon as we would reel him in little he wo uld pick up the pace even mo re and we'd have to sta rt over again." "We all kind of ro de th e sa me distan ce toge ther for a w hi le, b u t they musl' v e g o t stuck in a mud h o le or behind some lap pers together or someth ing, because we were apart agai n," said Hatch . "I never did give up the lead and m y Suzuki jus t worked perfec tly . When they got close I was able to wick it up agai n an d get away. It's a good feeling to know that your bike can do that!" Hatch's lead held throu gh the white flag at an even dozen seconds on Summers wh o had a ain re laced Plessin er a as the runner-up, but Plessin ger kicked into hig h gear on the last frantic lap and soon passed Summers and got a hook into the daylong leader. "Summers just got by me w hile we we re in the pits, and I had to catch back up to h im be for e I could e ven think abou t Steve," said Plessinger. "I h ad so me prob lem s passing Scott and then H atch was ju s t ri d ing really w ell. I cou ldn't keep his pace until the end ." "I felt pretty good on the last lap, but then I looked back at the top of an uphill and there was Plessinger," said Hatch of the late surge that almost go t the KTM rider int o the winner's circle for this first time in this series. "I said, 'Oh boy! Here we 'go!' Ac tually , it's pretty amazing how in these races when you're in fifth or 10th the th ree hours take forever, bu t when you're wi nni ng the race it goes by 50 fast. I just let it roll and prayed that everythi ng wo u ld wor k ou t for the best. I did n ' t even know th at I h ad it won unti l the mom en t I go t to the barrels." "I caught h im on one o f t he rock y uphills and though t I had him, but just abo ut the time I wen t to pass him, my back end slid out," sa id a d isappointed Plessin ger . "He got away again, an d I lust follow ed h im from there until the

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