Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

f I i I I I I eighth overall and Frank Keegan equaled !'lis National rank (ninth) with his finish behind McLa ughlin. Another 250cc A rider, Robbie Jenks, bested the majority of pros by filling out fhe top 10. 1;N running one, two and three with less than a second between them. After an estima ted 30 or so lead changes by the top three during the course of the day, Edmondson had some problems on the final circuit that held him up just long enough to put the overall decision in Hatch and Summers' throttle hands. "I just basically stalled on the last lap," Edmondson said. '1 tried to overtake them and all my lines were bad. 1 got held up a lot by lappers - it was so frustrating, 1 just sat there behind them. I tried to keep with them, which was· okay, but trying to pass them was another matter." After exchanging the lead repeatedly on the final half lap, Hatch appeared into spectator view first with Summers a . second behind. Descending a short but steep hill into a rutted mudhole with lappers struggling on either side, Hatch got through quickly and cleanly. Summers easily matched Hatch's speed but was swapping, feet out and throttle pinned. With an eighth of a mile and two turns and a long off-camber straightaway (bordering pro pit row) to go, it looked impossible for Summers to get by. Reaching deeper down, Summers did manage to make a pass in the tight horSeshoe bend and he and Hatch raced side by side down the slick offcamber straight, only a ?O-degree lefthander separating them from the checkered flag. The roar of Summers' four-stroke and the pitch of Hatch's RM was matched by the cheers of the crowd as they rounded the final bend, full throttle. The two riders flew past the flag within arm's length, side by side and clamped on the brakes, sliding together into a trackside banner. The crowd fell silent. The hundreds of spectators gathered at. the finish line for the deciding moment were left to speculate at who actually had won, the only clear angle being near the referee's viewpoint. Hatch then threw down his bike and threw up his arms in celebration, while Summers also threw his arms up in vic- tory. The respective teams raced to their riders for emotional congratulations, but it was Hatch's team that was given the pointed checkered flag of approval by the referee. From Team Honda's Scott Summers' angle, he felt he had claimed the victory. "I want to look at the video and make sure that 1 didn't win the race, because 1 thought that I was ahead of him when we crossed (the referee) right here by the banner," Summers said. "I know he went by me, but I think it was after we cross'ed the finish line." A slow motion replay of video later confirmed that Hatch had indeed crossed the line first by scant inches. Probably the most emotional off-road rider in victory and a fan favorite for his open displays of exuberance, Hatch spoke to the gathered audience and . video cameras with an ear-to-ear grin about the final outcome. "Summers and 1 knew that it would come down to this, whoever wanted it more today, " Hatch said. "Summers, the last lap, was chasing and pounding hard. We swapped leads a few times and we both got rather aggressive with about a mile to go, and while we were here (in spectator view) he got more aggressive and got by me and I said, 'Well, watch this, I've got one more turn to show something' " Concerning the lead battle, Summers added, "We probably changed the lead five or six times in the last three miles. It was really intense out there. I' d ~ike to apologize to some of the lappers, because Steve and 1 were just crankin' and jammin' through people. It was an awesome race and it· had to be great for the spectators, because about every hundred yards there was a different leader." Edmondson held little hope of catching the duo from his third-place position a few seconds back but noted (with typi- Wilderness GNCC Clarksburg, West Virginia Results: April 20, 1997 (Round 5 of 13) cal British reserve), "It was a heck of a race and really good for everyone and very enjoyable but, you know, it was a bit unfortunate for myself that 1 really struggled to get by the lappers," Edmondson said. "I was kind of hoping that they'd take each other out on the last lap, that's about the only chance I, had." Blackwell came in for fourth, three minutes back and Dahners and Keegan (another four minutes later) were waging a war for fifth that mirrored the Hatch/Summers battle in that it was decided in spectator view. Keegan had made up a 30-second deficit to catch Dahners on the final goound after the KTM pilot had fallen in one of the many course mudhole sections and struggled with muddy gloves. "I thought, 'Whoa, where did he come from?' "Dahners said of his rival's unexpected appearance. "When somebody catches up to you like (Keegan did) they usually pull away." Contending with lappers with only a few miles to go, they traded the position until Dahners was able to make it stick just a few hundred yards from the finish. Dahners' fifth- and Keegan's sixthplace finishes equaled their best results of the year. In seventh position was Andrews Yamaha's Jimmy Jarrett, a 250cc A rider who would have to be considered the hottest up-and-COming property on the GNCC circuit. Three more Yamaha's filled out the top 10. Washington state's Scott McLaughlin carded a well-earned 01 A: 1. Steve Hatch (Suz); 2. Scott Summers (Hon); 3. Paul Edmondson (Suz); 4. Doug Blackwell (Yam); S. Jason Dahners (KTM); 6. Brian Keegan (Kaw); 7. Jim Jarrett (Yam); 8. Scott McLaughlin (Yam); 9. Frank Keegan (Yam); 10. Robbie Jenks (Yam); 11. Scott Phelps (Kaw); 12. Heath Bennett (Yam); 13. Joshua McLevy (H.on); 14. Chris Smith (W-R); 15. Todd Morain (Yam); 16. Thomas Carson (Suz); 17. Todd Levesque (Yam); 18. Steve McSwain (Hon); 19. Tim Shephard (Yam); 20. Blair Bersnno (J

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