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KTM of Plessin ger at th e head of th e
pack around tu rn one. Cust omarily a
slo w st arter, the lon e Honda of Summers was at the rear of the field as they
circu la ted the motocross co u rse and
headed into the woods.
,Lap on e proved eve ntful for many.
Andrews was the fir st to run in to the
bad luck that would make this a lengthy
da y for many of the competito rs.
"I came off the line fairly well and
got knocked down by a friend of mine,
so he's not my friend anymore," the for, mer National Champion said afterward
with his typical candor. " 1 was d ead,
dead, dead las t, and it was so dusty
back there that I could hear Summers
ahead of me but I could never sec him, I
could just hear him ."
As Andrews was raci ng to rejoin the
pack, Plessinger was experiencing a loss
of rea r braking jus t a mile into the event.
He would battle the problem until eventually bei ng forced to park the ora nge
mac hi ne on lap four.
By the end of lap one, Smith and his
.numbe r-one machine we re firmly in
co m ma n d, main taini ng a 12-second
ad vantage over Blackwell, who ha ils
fro m nea rb y Parkersburg, West Virginia. Blackwell was enjoying the cheers
of a large number of trackside fans and
had put 10 second s on then-seriespoints-leader Hatch, who was followed
by the KTMs of Plessinger and Lafferty.
Kawasaki rider Brian Keegan, Summers,
Conner, Andrews and Ha wkins filled
out the top positions, just over a minute
separating first from 10th . Expending a
lot of energy on that firs t lap was ISDE
g old medalist Hawkins, thankful to
have made his way back up into the top
10.
"Scott (Summers) and 1 were hooked
up together, a nd on the back secti on
there was a mu d hole," Haw kins said.
"He went through one side and I we nt
throu gh the othe r sid e and a wire we nt
around my footpeg and go t wra pped up
in my rea r wheel. I went waaay back (in
the pack) and th is guy jumped in a nd
hel ped me. If he hadn' t helped me, 1
don' t kn ow if 1 could've got (the wire)
ou t."
By the next lap, Hatch had overtaken
the lead and the two series cha mpions,
Smith a n d Su m me rs , were di rec tly
behind. Just two seco nds separa ted the
three riders and they began to pull aw ay
from the pa ck to battle among th emselves . Blackwell was di s p la ced to
fourth and Conner had climbed to fifth,
showing that his wri st injury had not
robbed him of his forme r speed. Prio r to
the event, Conner mentioned his plan t o
go ou t fast at the outset.
"My w rist u su a ll y gives out after
about an hour and a half, so 1 have that
long to show these guys that 1 can still
run with them; Conner said. 'This has
been a difficult recovery but it's getting
better every day, so I just have to keep ,
working on it."
'
T h e s ta tus of C onn er' s recovery
would ultima tely far exceed his best
expectations by day's end .
Brian Keegan laid claim to the sixth
spot on the second lap and turned in fast
and consistent circuits in that po sition
un til forced to retire on lap four with a
badly twisted right knee. Andrews had
clim bed to seventh, ahead of Lafferty
and Hawkins, while PIessinger slid further down the field into 14th after pitting
to change a rear -brake calipe r in a vain
attempt to correct his braking problems.
The top of the finishing order had
been established by lap four, but the racing was far from over . Smith had retired
and was back in the pits, dealing with
the effect of the flu which had plagued
s
On paper, Summers and Ha tch are
currently at th e head of the GNCC
points stand ings with 147 points apiece
(coun ting the best eight scores from the
first nin e rounds - each rider throws out
his lowest four scores at season's end).
The win also puts Summers .into the
elite category of two se ries wins thus far
thi s seaso n, a d is tin cti on shared by
Suzuki teams ters H atch, Smith and
Edmondson,
Th ird-place fin ish er Andrews, who
had won th is even t a year earlier, fin ished two minutes behind the winning
pair. Conner and Hawkins trailed in
within the next five minutes.
A surprise sixth overall went to 250cc
A rider and national GNCC quadcycle
champion Barry Hawk Jr. on a Suzuki
RMX250. Though the 250cc A class is
started 30 seconds behind the pro riders,
o verall finishes are based on adjus ted
lime. Ha wk attribu ted his fin ish to a
relaxing summer and more time spent
on his p ractice bike. An early battle wi th
fellow A rider Jimmy Jarrett propelled
the duo tow a rd the fro n t, a nd Hawk
maintained the pace after Jarrett retir ed ,
be sting 12 of the na tion 's top off-road
professiunal racers in the process.
Indiana's Mike Sam pson overcame a
horribl e 16th-place position after lap one
to clim b in to an eventual seven th overall,
followed by Lafferty, Onail, and 250cc A
competitor Todd Mora in on a Yamaha . •"
(Above) Alter an earty crash, Yamaha-mounted Fred Andrews took the final spot on
the podium.
(Below) SCott Plessinger got off to a strong start but was knocked out of contention
with brake troubles. Plessinger Is currenUy third In the GNCC point standings.
Sunday Creek
Millfield, Ohio
Resurts: September 7,1 997
Q /k 1. 50.," ~ (Hun); 2. Srev~ Hatch (Suz);
3 . Fred Andrrw' ev .-m) ; 4 , Duallt:" Conner (Yam); 5 .
Randy llawkin!o ev.am); 6. Barry HAwk (Suz); 7, M ikr
(Kaw): 8. M khael lafferty (KTM); 9. Geoe OMit (Ka w);
10. Todd Morain (Y.a m); 11. Ross Benso n (5uz) ; 12.
Shaw n Sommen (Yam); 13. 1bomas Canon (Suz); 14.
Patrick Ga rrahan (KThO; 15. Heath Bennett (Ya m); 16.
Teny Cuningham (K.aw): 17. Ronnie Bumfield (Suz); 18.
him for the prior week, and Hatch and
Summers were left to d ecid e the win.
Andrews and Conner were in third and
fourth, less than a minute off of the lead,
but fatigue had become a factor .
"I was dead tired by the end,"
Andrews said. "I'm in good shape, bu t I
can't come from dead las t and win it."
Hawkins was now firmly established
in fifth and ru nning by himself, unable
to catch u p to the lead pack. "It ' s so
much easier when you're up front with
those guys," Hawkins sa id. 'The fro n t
guys, th e tra ffic hea rs them a nd w ill
move over, but they don't m ove right
over for the res t of the group."
Newly crowned end uro king Mik e
Laffer ty, in a rare GNCC appearance
("I've raced Ocala the past two years but
never fi nished ."), was on the sa m e
minute as Hawkins, in sixth. GNCC regula r Gen e Onail w ere battling fellow
Kawasaki rider Mike Sampson for sev enth, trailed by California's Patrick Garrahan, Frank Keegan and Blair Bersano,
The final lap wa s set to be a Summers /Hatch du el to th e wire. In their
las t su ch enco u nte r (Cla rksbu rg. West
Virginia, on April 20), it was Hatch taking the win by a mere matter of inches
over the big four-stroke,
Entering the seventh go-around ,
Summers held a on e-second advantage
over the yellow rider and after the final
24 minutes and four second s of racing,
that was the wa y that they would finish
- one second apart. Save for the ope ning
round in Ocala (which Hatch won by a
wide margin), the GNCC series has seen
close finishes at every event .
Summers s u m med up his strategy
a nd accounted for the little concern he
had over his slow start.
"I was actually pretty relaxed," Summers sa id . "I was hoping tha t by not
c ha rg ing ea r ly, that w ould g ive m e
Aaron Kopp (Suz); 19. Fr.mk Keega n (Y.am,); 20. H.vvey
Whiuker (K.1w) ,
A MA G RAND N A TIONAL C R O S S C O UNTRY
SEIUES POINT STANDINGS (After 9 of 13 round5):
1. mE) Scott Su m men/Stll!'vt!' Ha tch (147); 3. Sc o tt
Plf'ssingf'r (l08); 4. R. nd y Hd wki n ~ nO S); 5. P. ul
enough energy to hang in there later on.
1 wa s just trying to be smooth and get to
the race. You know, the race isn' t until
the last lap, and I just d id n't wa n t to
make any mistakes until we go t to that
point. Steve knew he was ready to go to
work when the white flag came out. It
was just an awesome race and I'm just
happy to be first instead of second."
Hatch, too, was relaxed and poised to
claim the wi n but made a cos tly mistake
on that final lap.
"I was trying to get by him a little but
not reall y ca ring (a t that point) and I
w en t o n a different line than him in
fourth gear and endoed," Ha tch said . "It
knocked my goggles off and everything
else, so once I caug ht him again, it was
gonna be tou gh to get by him wi th all of
the dust. I th ink he was dragging bo th
feet out there!"
Ed mond !ll-.rl (94); 6.
-
mE> Jar.nn OdJuwon/ fTnI And~
(85); 8. Rod nry Sm ith (79); 9. Doug Blackwell (72); 10.
Jim Jarrett (70) ; 11. Brian Kr-rgan (68); 12. ThoINI~
Ca rson (4'l); 13, Todd Morain (46); 1<1. Robbie Jenks (45);
15, mE) Ross Benson/ Ti.m Shcphu d (41) ; 17, Ge ne
Onail (40); 18. (TIE) Du.me Conner /Mike SamP5O" (37);
20. Scott Phelp5 (35) .
A MA NATIONA L CHA MPIONS H I P HAR E
SCRAMB LES SERIES (After 6 of I rounds): 1. Steve
Hat ch 0 21/ 1 w in) ; 2. Paul Edmondson 003/2); 3.
Rodney Sm ith (97) ; 4 . J