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.·fl!2!·~~'f&·.· Round 8: Brownsville GNCC By Davey Coombs BROWNSVILLE, PA, JULY 7 or the second time in the 1996 AMA 1996 AMA Wiseco/ Yamaha / Dunlop / Acerbis / Answer/Braking Grand National Cross Country Series, American Hop.da's Scott Summers won the Brownsville GNCC in southwestern Pennsylvania. And unlike last time, when Summers edged defending series champion Scott Plessinger by just inches, the Honda pilot had a little more to spare over Team Yamaha's Fred Andrews and Plessinger. Summers bettered Andrews by 28 seconds, while Plessinger checked in another minute and a half later. "I kept seeing Plessinger behind me, so 1 knew that there were only a couple of guys ahead of me," said Summers. "That kept me motivated all day long. The guys up front slowly started making mistakes, and the last guy left was Fred. His mistake came on the last lap, and 1was right there to capitalize." Rounding ou t the top fi ve overall were Duane Conner, of the SCR Yamaha team, and Suzuki's Steve Hatch, the current GNCC Series points leader. The first Brownsville race was held back in the spring, but a Noah-sized thunderstorm wiped out the race halfway through. Summers beat KTM's Plessinger by less than a bike length for his fourth win in the first five rounds of the 12-race series. The event was such a muddy mess that series organizetS had to cancel the following quadcycle race and decided to reschedule the entire event, including the bike race. Because the first Brownsville results still counted, what the series organizers did was effectively add a 13th round. And any F 28 rider who made two laps (half of what the overal I leaders made) got to enter the second race for half price. Those making just one lap received free entry the second time around. Summers' second Brownsville win of 1996 was also his fifth win in eight rounds to date. Although Hatch is the de facto points leader with 144 points to Summers' 131, the Honda rider has the upper hand in the long-term standings due to the fact that only a rider's best eight scores count towards the final tally. lf Summers can keep up his winning pace through the last five rounds of the series, he could conceivably finish with eight race wins. This Brownsville run was a sharp contrast from the first one in that the skies were mostly clear with only a whisper of rain toward the end of the post-July Fourth weekend. The course was again laeed through the community's Luzerne Park and measured just over seven miles of sometimes tight woods, sometimes fast fields, and a woods-rider-friendly motocross section. Lap times hovered around the 22minute mark, and a total of more than 250 riders attended the event. To absolutely no one's surprise Suzuki's Steve Hatch grabbed the holeshot from the first row of deadengine Pro-class riders and started out through the motocross section as the leader. The normal jockeying for position took place over the course of the next 20 minutes as the leader~ checked out the trail on the first of what would turn out to be eight laps. At the first scoring stop Hatch was still the leader on his Moose / Bieffe / FMF / Trelleborg-b.acked Suzuki, leading Andrews by a few bike lengths, then Summers, Conner, Plessinger, SCR's Doug B!ackwell and AYR Yamaha-mounted Brian Keegan. Hatch would lead on and off for the first half of the race even though he crashed a few times in the early going. "Hatch was going really fast - maybe too fast," said Andrews. ':He was pulling away on the first lap, but 1 did my best to follow him because he had some really good lines. Each time 1 caught up to him he would just pull away again, but then my arms started to pump up and I slowed down. That gave him a chance to slow down as well. Summers was catching both of us after a while, so I figured it was time to get going. My arms were better, so I took him on the motocross track." "I had a really good start and Fred and 1 were running together, but then I jumped too far off this· drop-off and when 1 landed, 1 kicked on something and went straight over the bars and landed on my head," said Hatch. "I~ knocked me a little silly and" hurt my knee again. Plan B went into effect right then and there and I just started thinking about getting some points." Summers followed Andrews around Hatch a short time later and went after Andrews as the lappers grew thicker while the race was winding down.