Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

CROSS COUNTRY ('(':'. ~ v AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONS HIP CRO SCOU YS R S NTR E IES By J im Ta lking ton EUZABITH, IW ,JUNE 15 t cou ld hav e been any of six riders ' race at th e finish of Starvation Point AMA Grand National Cross Country in West Virginia. Enteri ngthe eigh th and final circui t, on ly 26 seconds sepa ra ted the first through sixth spo ts. A wild last lap of swa ps , cras hes and mis takes found Rod ney Smith on top at the end, notching his second GNCC victory uf the seasun aboa rd his Suz uki. Smi th's first w in came at round two, in March, at Road Atlanta - and, since that time , the current N ational Hare Scrambles Champion has been dealing with a knee injury suffered at round three. His knee is obviou sly much better, as Smith recorded this hard-fought victory after pu shing himself - and his compe titors - to the limit fo, two hours and 46 minutes of racin g. Pleased with the win and his recuperation from knee surgery, Smith sa id , "I d idn't know if I could handle the distance again. When you' re up there strong at the beginning of the year a nd yo u have an in jur y, e v e n though yo u ge t your injury ba ck 100 Round 8: StarvationPoin t percent, it' s hard tu ge t yu ur .physical strength back and even your mind back 100 percent." With less than a mil e to go a nd in full v ie w of t h e spectat ors , Team Yam ah a / Andrew 's Ra cing's Fred Andrews appea red to have the w in sewn u p, as he was running just ahead of Smith. Putting together a great ride that signa led his comple te retu rn from a back in jury that, lik e Smi th's knee injury. was also s uffere d a t ro und three in Sou th Caro lina, And rews bobbl ed and w e nt d o w n , ta ki ng Sm it h w ith h im. Smi th w a s u p a n d a way fi rst , a me re seco nd ahead of Team Honda ' s Sco t t Su mmers, w ho h a d been running in third. just nine seconds be hind the lead duo. Team Suz uki' s Steve Hatch and Yama ha /Cyclc Gea r's Rand y Hawkins were also able to best th e fall en Andrews to fin is h th ird a n d fo u r th ; res p e c ti vely . Andrews was able to salvage the fifth s po t, a fte r al so running ou t o f g as th ree turns from th e finish . With the season set to resume racing at round nine in Ohio in Sep te m ber, Summers heads the po ints tally with consis tent finishes totaling 142 po ints, (Above) Rodney Smith recorded his second GNCC win of the year after a close one In West Virgin ia. (Lell) Scoll Summers maintained his series points lead with a solid secondplace finish. 48 fo llowed b v Hatch with 128 and Plessin ger with 108. The Pro-class starting lint! was cump osed of 15 riders . Team Yamaha' s Du ane Conner w as in attendance , but was still unable to ride du e to wrist and hand injuries . Conner plans his return for the following round in the fall. Te am KTM 's Jas on Dahners (cu rrently sixth in the GNCC overall standings ) w ould a lso card a D S (d id not s ta r t) while tak ing care o f business back home in Washington sta te a nd preparing for the Oregon round of the reliability enduro series. Represent ing the Pacific northwest in Dah ners' place would be Ya maha-mou n ted Sco tt Mclaughlin . Kawasaki tea ms ter Donnie Bo ok from Co lo rado was also o n ha nd to try GNCC racing for the firs t time. Tea m Suz uki gra bbed the holesh o t, wi th Smith just ahead of Hatch . Hometown hero Team Yamaha's Doug Blackwell nailed down thi rd , folluwed by Plessinger and the rest of the pack. Bike problems for bo th Ha tch a nd Plessinger began on lap one , though Hat ch would be able to finish out th e event in good position, while Plessinger would be forced to retire by lap thr ee . Pl es singe r wa s seen punch in g th e . ad justers on his rear shock just minutes prior to the start. and had to stop after o ne circuit to again adjust his rear suspensi on, However, a boiling-over radiator would eventually stop the KTM pilot. "Well, what can you do ? I gu ess it's just time for a vacation," Plessi nger said . After one lap of racing, Smith was in the lead , with Blackwell in second and Hat ch in third on a blubbering Suzuki. Ed mo ndso n was in fourth and was ex perienci ng the same difficulties as teammate Ha tch. "It was bobbling after the first half a

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