Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I I (Left) Steve Hatch was the early lead bui would have to settle for third at the finish. completion of lap one was Summers with a comfortabl.e IS-second lead. Hatch had dropped to second, followed by Suzuki teirmmate Edmondson an equal distance back, who was fol.lowed by Plessinger, Sport Cycle Racing / Yamaha's Duane Conner, Smith, Dahners and North Carolina's Steve McSwain, on a Honda. The field was separated in near equally timed intervals, the top 10 all riding by themselves at this point. Plessinger would soon pass Edmondson for third position, displacing "Eddy" to fourth, where he would eventual.ly finish. The top three positions bel.onged to Summers, Hatch and Plessinger and the trio would swap the lead numerous times over the course of the next five laps. Running securely behind Edmondson in fifth position after three laps, Conner experienced trouble in the pits that took him out of the day's running. . "After 1 gassed, .the bike quit and wouldn't run," Conner said: ''I'm not sure what it (the problein) was." of shape and Summers went by me and hit my handlebar." The former National Champion, Plessinger, was not about to concede the victory at th~t point, though, adding, "1 reeled him back in. About a quarter mile from the finish 1 wanted to make a pass on him over here in this woods_ section, but 1 was just a hair too short". Disappointed with second after coming so close to victory but still gracious in defeat, PleSSinger admitted that was not the only time during the course of (Left) Jason Dahners rounded out the top five overall. (Right) Paul Edmondson avoided any major mishaps and finished up a conservative fourth. appear on the final circuit when a crash damaged his steering damper. "1 messed up," Hatch said. "About six miles from the end 1 hit a tree headon and it messed up· my steering damper, so I couldn't turn right very well at aiL 1 just kind of cruised in (after that)." Hatch would finish out his ride in third. Making it just beyond the pit area, Conner pushed his lifeless Yamaha back to his pit. "1 drained the gas and put new gas in and it ran again." Unfortunately, Conner had lost too much time to rejoin the fray. Hatch had assumed the lead by race's midpoint, holding a five-second advantage on Summers. With Plessinger making up considerable time on the lead duo, Summers' problems began on lap four. As spectators awaited the arrival of the leaders at a creek jump / spectator point located two miles from the pit area, Hatch flew by in the lead with Plessinger just off of the point position. Summers' silent Honda soon coasted into view, out of fuel. "Luckily, there were some people there and they had a quad. They turned the quad upside down and put some gas in a cup. Barry Hawk (a quadcycle champion) helped me out, and Mike Penland. 1 knew 1 only lost, maybe, a couple of minutes so I thought, if I just kept charging, maybe those guys would get tired. 1 just put my head down and went to work". Work he did, overcoming a twominute deficit to eventually rejoin the lead battle.' Plessinger had overtaken Hatch for the lead and the two raced fender to fender, swapping the top position back and forth on laps five and six. Hatch said of the see-saw battle, "We just had some different lines and we were having a great time out there. You know, 1 could see that Scott Summers was coming but it wasn't really worth pushing too hard. 1 knew that it was gonna come down to the last lap with the three of us." \ Hatch's estimation proved correct. By the time the race entered the seventh and final lap, it was Plessinger with one second on Hatch and Summers just 11 seconds behind and charging. In fourth trailed the Suzuki of Edmondson, now a minute and a haU bad<. Hatch saw his winning chances dis- Wheel to wheel for the lead now were Summers and Plessinger, riders wel.l acquainted with battling each other for GNCC glory. Plessinger has a reputation for pulling out all of the stops in the final seconds of a race, whether he and hj.s KTM are together or not and ibis one was shaping up to be a classic finish. With only two miles to go, it was reported that Plessinger and Summers had tangled, leaving Plessinger on the ground. Up and away, the KTM rider had nearly a mile of hidden woods and a grass track to make up his l)OW 20-secand deficit. He did make up most of the time necessary but not enough for the victory, leaving Summers to take his first GNCC win of the season with a scant two-second cushion. "When 1 saw the white flag I think I was maybe five seconds behind Scott and Steve, so 1knew I'd made it ibis far, I'd better win ibis race now," Summers said. Concerning. the contact that put-him down with yictory still wiibin his grasp, Plessinger said, "1 went to pass a lapped rider in the way and, when 1 went by him, a stick grabbed me and pulled me off the back of the bike. 1 got a little out the day that he found himseU "out of shape." "I've been out of town for a month and haven't been able to train the way that 1 do when I'm at home," Plessinger. "My legs got tired with two laps to go and 1 made a few mistakes. That's when Scott (Summers) caught me. This is the first time all year that I've really gone all-out for three hours." Summers also reflected on the conditioning that was necessary to take the win. "1 had confidence going in that 1 could ride that motorcycle as fast as 1 could ride for three hours and that's pretty much what I did," Summers said. "1 didn't want to have to do that but then I had problems with the gas. I'm going to thank my trainer when 1 get home." Behind Summers, Plessinger, Hatch, Edmondson and Dahners finished A~drews Yamaha's Jimmy Jarrett in sixth overall. Jarrett, last year's 200cc A series champion, won the day's 2S0cc A victory and pulled down his top 10 overall placing after starting dead last in class and working through the pack. Vet A competitors Tom Carson and visiting Czechoslovakian Jan Hrehor finished in seventh and eighth overall, respectively. Steve McSwain, sixth placing AA rider, took home ninth overall, followed by Vet A Tim Shephard in 10th. CN Cross Anchor GNCC . Cross Anchor, South Carolina Results: March 23, 1997 (Round 3 of 13) Q/A: 1. Scott Summers (Hon); 2. Scott Plessinger (KTM); 3. Steve Hatch (Suz); 4. Paul Edmondson (Suz); s. Jason Dahners (KTM); 6. Jimmy Jarrett (Yam); 7. Tom Carson; 8. Jan Hrehor; 9. Steve McSwain; 10. Tim Shephard.

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