Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

CROSS COUNTRY AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CROSS COUNTRYSERIES (Left) Ty Davis (215) and Sieve Hatch (3) converge on Ihe flrsllum althe same lime. They are chased by such notable riders as Scott Plessinger (2), Doug Blackwell (6), Rodney Smith (8), who crashed momenls laler, Randy Hawkins (7) and Scoll Summers (1). (Below) Halch ·ended up scoring the big win althe GNCC series opener al Ocala. By Davey Coombs Photos by Jim Talkington OCALA, FL, MAR. 4 eam Suzuki's Steve Hatch fired the first shot in the 1997 AMA Grand National Cross Country Series when he dominated the Ocala GNCC Series opener at Ocala Motorsports Park in central Florida. Hatch buried the star-studded 500rider-plus field in the three-hour race with it fast, steady pace on a dry, dynamic Ocala- track. The 27-year-old New Yorker bettered prerace favorites Ty Davis and Scott Summers straight up, taking control of the race in the third hour and pulling away from everyone. "Sometimes you can talk yourself into winning and sometimes you can talk yourself into losing," Hatch said. '1've done a lot of training and a lot of work on my mind and I'm fired up to win this title." Kawasaki's Davis and American Honda's Summers finished second and third, respectively. A pair of former GNCC Series champs from Ohio Yamaha's Fred Andrews and KTM's . Scott Plessinger - rounded out the top five overall and ga ve the race nearly perfect symmetry as far as the major offroad manufacturers go (and Husaberg pilot Guy Cooper was a respectable eighth overall). The Ocala event may not be held at Daytona Beach, but for off-road riders it has become the highlight of Bike Week. Laid down the grounds of an old limestone quarry by Racer Productions' Dave Coombs and Jeff Russell, the Ocala track offered the full menu of Florida terrain. Sandy fields, rocky paths and tight woods were all mixed together to t cnallenge everyone. Add in the seemingly endless square edges and naked tree roots, plus some very hot weather and an endless stream of rider traffic, and the Ocala event had a high difficulty factor. Ocala brings the nation's top woods riders in like an off-road convention. The champions of just about every major off-road series, from l)eliability Enduro to Mid-South Hare Scrambles, took a spot on the front row of Pro class riders. Once the Pro riders fired their engines from the dead-engine start, the .action was non-stop. The leader going into the first turn was Hatch, who got a quicker light at the drop of the green flag than the rest of the talented field. Yamaha /SCR/ Answer /FMF-backed Doug Blackwell, Plessinger and Davis all made up the front wave while Paul Edmondson, Yamaha-backed Duane Conner and Pennsylvania's R.]. Bennett came through at the very back of the pack. And So was Suzuki-mounted Rodney Smith, who got pushed over in th'e first turn. Davis moved into the lead early in the first traffic-free lap and actually pulled a 16-second lead before the pack made it through the first-lap scoring barrels. Hatch was second, followed by surprising Australian KTM rider Shane Watts, Blackwell, AYR's own Andrews, then Hatch. At the very back of the Pro rider field was Summers, who fell over an embankment and had trouble getting the big XR600 back on the track. "1 lost the race on the first lap," said the four-time GNCC champ. "1 was in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was so much dust on the first lap that the top four guys took off and the leaders started into the super-tight back sections, only to find that the course had been rerouted and more than a mile of the tight track erased. "There was a hill in the back that stopped about 100 riders on the first lap," explained course designer Coombs. "One of the course marshalspanicked and pointed the riders over to another path, which ended up cutting about five minutes of really goOd trails off the lap." Lap times fell from 25 mtnutes to 20, and with the Eastern-style tight woods gone, it appeared to be a Ty Davis track. . "That section they took out was so tight that 1 was just thankful when 1 came around the second lap and didn't have to go through that mess," Davis said later. "We had clear track up front and the guys behind didn't, and 1 think that let us get away and stretch out a lead." As for the fast pace, Davis said, "This race has the best of the best and you have to make your break when you can, even if it is only on the first lap." For l'he next five laps of the eight-lap race Davis led the way, though it appeared at one point that Vet A leader Guy Cooper was the overall leader based on elapsed time. But Davis lost control of the race on the sixth lap when Suzuki/Moose/FMF-backed Hatch was able to pass him during a pit stop. "I had a few s-econds on Hatch when 1 pitted for goggles and gas, s-o when he passed me in the pits I figured I'd catch right back up," the super-versatile Davis rest of us had to fight through it until things started to spread out. I was feeling good and charging after that, but the damage was done." The nature of the race itself changed dramatically on the second lap when the explained. "I passed him back when he gassed the next lap but 1 was starting to get really hot and tired. They kept pouring water on me, pouring water on me, and 1just couldn't cool down. 1 was sick last week and that really hurt me, but I

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