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CROSS COUNTRY GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CROSS COUNTRY SERIES eran Gene OnaH, and his Kawasaki, completed the top 10. During lap two, Summers was able to catch up with the Suzukis of Hatch and Edmondson and the trio became a freight train, swapping the lead many times and moving in tandem through the large numbers of lapped riders. No one elSE! would be able to stay on the pace of the top three, though Hatch did give fourth-place Plessinger an opportu-ยท nity to catch up at the midway point after losing time with a crash and stopping in the pits to remove a damaged chest protector. Concerning the incident and the loss of valuable seconds to Summers and Edmondson, Hatch said: "Well, I (thought) I better get in gear and get moving. I actually hit a tree on the second lap real hard and ripped my shoulder out a little bit, but it's okay, and the other side (of the chest protector) ripped off." (Left) Steve Hatch (right) nips Scott Summers at the finish of the Wilderness GNCC for the overall win. (Below) Hatch (3) gets the jump on Scott Plessinger (2). By Jim Talkington CLARKSBURG, WV, APR. 20 as about ready to do some ack flips, if I only knew ow!" a jubilant Steve Hatch xclaimed after taking a photo-finish win over' Scott Summers at. the Wilderness AMA Grand National Cross Country finish line. In one of the most emotionally charged finishes in GNCC history, Hatch was able to eke out the win by half a wheel after a lap-long slugfest with defending National Champion Summers. The final moments of GNCC round five were more akin to a Hollywood sports melodrama (in the Rocky tradition) than a Sunday afternoon motorsports event, both riders dealing blows and the other countering until one was wrapped in the arms of victory by his entourage and the other was left silent, the final charge to the checkered replaying itself over and over in his head. The win by Team Suzuki's Hatch gives the New Yorker additional points to pad his series points lead over second-place Summers and was the first repeat win for any of the title contenders, the previous four rounds having been won by four different riders. Hatch's other win came at the opening round in Ocala, Florida, in March. The event was held at the Wilderness campground near Clarksburg, West Virginia, provides a picturesque setting for off-road racing. A waterslide and recreational lake share the valley with the event pits and starting area, and are surrounded by the Appalachian mountains of Central West Virginia, where Dave Coombs and the Racer Productions crew laid out the 10-mile course for the day's race. A short motocross section con"structed on the face of a hillside bordering the start consisted of a series of up and downhill swi tchbacks designed to thin the pack before entering the woods. The woods sections provided ample opportunities to pass with wide trail in spots and an absence of foliage and brush, the onset of spring just now becoming evident in the area. Toss in a cloudless sky and temperatures i.l'\ the 60s and you have yet another series round in which weather would not be a deciding factor. Up-and-coming series competitors planned to take advantage of the absence of several top riders to gain valua ble points and improve their overall finish for the day. Still on the missingin,action list due to injury were Team Yamaha/ Andrew's Yamaha's Fred Andrews and Team Yamaha/Sports Cycles Racing's Duane Conner. Also absent from the Team Yamaha pro pits was Cycle Gear's Randy Hawkins, who was away defending his National Enduro title in Washington. Defending National Hare Scrambles Champion :ream Suzuki's Rodney Smith was at home in California, recuperating from an injured knee sustained at round three, though this is the first event that Smith has not been able to start as a result of the injury. Still, 17 riders from New York to California comprised the pro rider field and were the first wave of 14 to leave the starting line at the event's start. Hatch continued his fast-starting ways at Clarksburg by grabbing the holeshot once again. Previous GNCC round winner, current AMA National Hare Scrambles points leader and fellow Suzuki teammate Paul Edmondson held the second position as they rounded .the first turn. Doug Blackwell, Mike Sampson, Chris Smith, Jason Dahners, Gene Onail and Brian .Keegan followed them into the woods, while Scott Plessinger was buried midpack and Scott Summers suffered a" three-kick start. At the completion of one lap of racing, Hatch and Edmondson were still" running together up front and Summers had mounted a charge that brought him up to third, 15 seconds back from the pair of Suzuki riders. Team KTM's Scott Plessinger had also made it around a number of riders to take control of fourth place. Newly crowned AMA Mid-South Hare Scrambles Champion Doug Blackwell and KTM/Seattle Cycle Center's Jason Dahners were fender to fender in a duel for fifth, and Brian Keegan had his Team Green Kawasaki in a position to challenge the battling duo, just six seconds to their rear. It would be over a minute before another pro rider appeared from the woods, descending the trail into view just above the park waterslide. Yamaha-mounted Scott McLaughlin, ISDE hero Chris Smith, aboard his new TM rid~, and series vet- Hatch's crew got him back onto the track after losing almost a minute, all told. Get moving he did. By lap four the two Suzukis and the Honda rider were again riding together at arm's length. Regretably for Plessinger, he was unable to take advantage of Hatch's loss of momentum, dealing with problems of his own. After stopping just two laps into the race to adjust his suspension, the Ohio rider and two-time former National GNCC champ fought suspen- sion problems that eventually dropped him from the running aftet gradually sliding down the finishing order. A frustrating season thus far had the KTM rider looking forward to the three-week break between events to concentrate on sorting a few things out. "We're (the KTM team) going to be riding the '98 KTM's next week in Georgia and maybe I'll be getting some '98 stuff for my bike," Plessinger said. "It'll give me a week to work with the factory guys, so I should be dialed in for the next race in Brownsville (Pennsylvania, May 11)." Team Yamaha/Sports Cycle Racing's Blackwell took control of the fourth position and was not challenged for the latter part of the race, running well behind the leaders bl,lt comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack. Dahners held fifth for the majority of the event until being challenged by Brian Keegan on the last lap. With 24 minutes and one lap to go, it was Hatch, Summers and Edmondson