Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

CROSS COUNTRY Round 11: Crawfordsville, Indiana GRAND NATIONALC AM IONSHIP H P CROSS COUNTRY SERIES By J im Ta lkington CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN, OCT.5 wo vic to r ies we re won at ro un d 11 of the AMA Gra nd National Championship Cross Coun try Series - each with it. own particu la r s ty le . Rodney Sm it h , rei gning Natio na l Hare Sc ra m b les Cha mpi on and lon e Team Suz uki representa tiv e, too k the d ay's win afte r overcoming a horrible start and zero-visibility du st co n d itio ns. The s moo th, con tro lled r iding style (given th e circumstances) tha t Sm ith utilized to capture the win was a direct contrast to the thi rd overall a nd titl e-cl in chi n g rid e turned in by Team Honda'. Scott Summe rs . By d ay's end , Su m mers had encountered a th rottle that had bee n s tuck wide open for ha lf a lap a nd a coughing, oil-burn ing XR that had its comp letely dust-clogged air filter pitched away wit h two laps to go. Entering the Crawfordsville round, only Scott Plessinger and Team Suzuki's Paul Edm ondson had a rem ote chance of challenging Summers' cha mpionship run. Edmondson, still unable to compete due to ligament damage in his knee and the resu lting o peration, wa s recu perating at home in Grea t Britain. For Tea m KTM's Scott Plessinge r to lay claim to a third GN CC title, he wo uld need to take the fina l three round wins wi th Summe rs finis hing no better than fourth at an y one rou nd . No cha llenge from the Ha mil ton, O h io, n a tiv e re su lt ed , as Plessinger carded his fourth s tra ig h t DNF of the season, lasting only two laps before the brake. went belly-u p on his mach ine. Su m me rs rea lize d ea r ly on that he had the cham pionship (his fifth GNCC crown and ninth AMA title altoge ther) wrapped up and that accounted for his rather a typ ical charge to the finish . " I w as ju st r id in g in every body'. dust a ll day for so long that m y filter clogged ," Sum mers said . "The bike started cutting out, so I pulled off the filter sheath and it started ru nning better, and then it was bogging down towar d the end, so I said, 'W ha t the heck' and just pu lled the filter all the way ou t. I'd wo n the championship, so I didn 't mind blowing the motor up to try and win the P--. t-, 0\ 0\ ...... ~ .... OJ '2 u o 24 race!" Sand w iched between Smi th a n d Summers on the podium was Andrew's Racing/Team Yamaha's Fred Andrews. Th e 1993 GNCC cham p sta r ted a t the fro nt of the pack - a we lco me cha nge from the come-fro m-beh ind scenarios that he has bee n de alt all season long . Andrews kept Smith hon est all da y lon g before se tt ling for second, equaling his best finish of the year thus far. With two rou nd s remaining. Andrews is rid ing in top form and wants despera tely to caplure a win before the curtain falls on the season. (Lell) Team Suzuki's Rodney Smith cele brates his overall win at the dusty Ironman GNCC. (Above) Fred Andrews attacks "Papa Hill " en rout e to his second-place fin ish . Sport Cycles Racing /Team Yamaha'. Dou g Blackw ell, who crashed jus t 011 of the start , recovered to finish fourth . With his season r iddled by injuries, Blackwell found himself back on a winning pace at Crawfordsville, though his rehabilit a tion fro m a shoulder in jury two rounds ago was not yet com plete. Team Green's 24-year-old rider Brian Keegan ca ptu red his best finish of the year in filth overall. Keegan 's was the fir st green bike to cra ck th e top fiv e . since Ty Davis at th e season opener, and his typica lly fast-starting Kawasaki held on to the pace and rewarded him with another consistent finish . Unseasonably hoi and dusty conditions greeted a large turnou t of riders a t the Crawfordsville facility . Locat ed just west of Ind ianapolis in centra l Ind iana, round 11 is the wes ternmost stop on the GNCC circui t. The pits a nd s ta r ti ng a rea of "The Ironman " (so named a lter legendary GN CC quadcyde racer Bob "Ironrnan " Sloan) were organized in an expaz;sive cornfield and the 8.25-mile track thread ed th rou gh the su rrou ndi ng wood s. Wh ile Ra cer Productions tr ies to pro vid e a motocross or grass- track a re a near th e pits for specta tor viewing at mos t ve nues, th is wasn' t possibl e due bot h to the lay of the land and the bonedry, dusty conditions. With the area seeing little rain in the weeks prio r to the event, Racer's Dave Coombs foun d himself working on the track up until the last moment tn allevia te as much of the. thick, powdery dust lining the trail as he could . Riverbeds were u tili zed w here possible and rerouting of the trail pr ovided the best possible cou rse und er the conditions that Mother Na tu re had dealt. The 13-rid er Pro dass lelt the line in a swell of dust, wi th Blackwell grabbing the holeshot and fellow Yamaha ride rs , And rews and Cycle Gear /Team Yamaha's Randy Hawkins on his tail. Getting ou t front earl y wa s the best attack d ue to the co nditions, and Bla ckwell too k lull advantage of his fast-starting ability. "I got the best sta rt that you cou ld have for this race - [ got the holeshot," the West Virginian rid er said afterward . "I really concentra ted on the s tart and a t least it was dust-free for most of the first lap. Then I go t kind of turned around in a creek sec tion d own there, there were so man y di ffere nt line s. I was l.ooking . for the trail and Fred dy (And rews) sa w where to go and got by me." Hawki ns' ti me near the front wa s short-lived . Mys terious ig ni tio n p roblems ha lt ed h is ride less tha n a mile from the start, an d mechanic Dale Ste- , gall was never able to get the numberseven machine back in to the runnin g, even alt er rep lacing all of the electronics. As speeds have go tten fa s ter a nd competition has tightened, DNFs have become a more com mon sight in cross ~ co u n try racing . By mid race, Hawkins, had be en joi ned b y Plessinger" SCR /Team Yamaha's Du ane Conner 1 and Team KTM's Jason Dahners on the ; sidelines. Conner wa s u na ble to ma ke , h is s till-recoveri ng wris t la st fo r th e d uration, and was aid ed in no way by J the wea ther condi tions. j " It was so dusty that I couldn't see , what I was hitting out there," Conner j explained. "When you' re hitting thing s. tha t you d on't see , it's hard to nurse an injury like this."

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