Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.CROSS COUNTRYSeries AMA Grand National Cross Country Round 10: Hardrock 100 • By Davey Coombs BUNNER'S RIDGE, WV, SEPT. 15 merican Honda's Scott Summers took a huge step towards regaining the AMA Grand National Cross Country Championship crown he last won in 1992 when he survived the treacherous Hardrock 100 GNCC on top of Bunner's Ridge in West Virginia. Riding in slick and muddy conditions, Summers was able to build a three-minute lead in a little less than three hours on surprising second overall rider SCR Yamaha-mounted Doug Bla.ckwell, who has been on a late-season surge. But more importantly, Summers was able to retake the points lead from Suzuki's Steve Hatch, who was on the long list of unfortunate riders experiencing problems Sunday. Joining Hatch on the sidelines before the race ended were defending series champion Scott Plessinger and factorybacked Yamaha riders Fred Andrews and Duane Conner. "I guess it was just a matter of staying up and protecting the motorcycle from everything (jut there," Summers said after sealing the overall win at Hardrock, his sixth of the season. "If there's a course that's easy to DNF at, it would be this one. This is one of the most technical courses we've seen all year. There's so many roots and so many rocks out there, and your bike is always going through something tough." Finishing a career-high third overall was Pennsylvania's Brian Keegan, another Yamaha pilot, while his older brother Frank finished fourth. Washington's Jason Dahners also managed a career-high finish, rounding out the top five overall for the first time in a GNCC event. The overall victory, Summers' sixth of the series, puts him back in the driver's seat for the first time since he won the first three rounds in the series. With three races to go, Summers has a total of 151 points to Hatch's 147. Plessinger is third in the points with 129, followed by A Conner's 116 and the absent Randy Hawkins at 109. "I have seven good scores now, so with just a couple of more good scores even twos and threes - shOuld take care of the championship," Summers said later. "I had it all together early in the series, but then we had some bad races at the beginning of summer. Now we've got everything sorted out again. lowe a big thanks to Eric Crippa of American Honda and Jim Lewis at White Bros. for their help with my suspension. My bike worked so good it almost felt like 1 was cheating!" The GNCC tour made its most recent stop at the mountain area of Col. Jack Hardrock Bunner, a veteran of World War 1 and a local hero of the highest order. This year's course, as designed by Racer Productions' Jeff Russell and Jerry Huffman, was approximately 10 miles in length and included the notorious three-path hill, known as Papa HiH, Mama Hill and Baby Hill, that has wreaked havoc on cross country riders for years. But the poor weather conditions this year made the steepest of the three Papa Hill - too mush of a monster for anyone to climb without serious risk. It was said later that Andrews, the winner try Papa HiIJ, it was right now," remembers Summers of his first' approach at the infamous Hardrock hills. "I saw Freddie (Andrews) go up ahead of me, and 1 think Frankie Keegan too, so I swallowed my pride and decided not to follow, because it's hard enough to make it by yourself, but when you're following someone you double your chances of losing your momentum. To make up 15 seconds, it just wasn't worth it. Years ago I might've taken the chance but the risk just wasn't worth it today." Summers never did try the biggest hill. As for Andrews, he made at least three tries at it on the first lap and did not' make it to the top. He would drop out of the race a short time la.ter with a broken water pump. Hatch still led at the end of the first lap with Summers right on his tail, but the Suzuki rider is still suffering with a broken toe from the last round of the series three weeks ago. Hatch faded back a few spots and tried to stay in the points, but by the end of the day the pain got to be too much and the popular New Yorker was forced to withdraw before the checkered flag. After taking over the lead from Hatch, Summers would never be led (Above) Fred Andrews (3) leads the start of the Pro race at the Hardrock 100 GNCC. He would later drop out with a broken water pump. (Right) Scott Summers put himself in fine position to win the GNCC series _ title with a big victory at Hardrock. (Below) Daryl Conner (19) leads 250cc A class winner Jim Jarrett (17) out of the first turn. of the previous round in OhiO, made a few tries at the hill, but no one actually saw Andrews make it to the top of the huge hill. It also was reported that Blackwell made the summit on the nextto-last lap. Yamaha-mounted Andrews had the holeshot at the start of the Hardrock GNCC and, together with Hatch, controlled much of the first lap ahead of Summers until they came around to the trio of hills. "I had a brand-new tire on the first lap and 1 figured if there was a time to again at Bunner's Ridge. By the end of the second lap he had built himself a lead of about one minute over Blackwell. Two laps later, the lead was a minute and a half. And by the time the checkered flag fell on the new points leader, he was one second short of having a lead of three full minutes. "Things have definitely turned around for me the last few races, that's for sure," said Blackwell, a native West Virginian and the ninth-ranked GNCC rider from 1995. "I've been training all year, but sometimes it seems like it takes a while to kick in. 1 trained all winter and didn't really feel the effects, but 1 kept going through the summer and now I'm really feeling strong. "The cours.e was really tough today and 1 was actually on the ground more than 1 wanted to be - certainly more than you would expect from the guy who finished second. It cost me a bunch of time but everyone else except Scott seemed to be making mistakes, too, so 1 guess it was a tough day for everyone."

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