Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

CROSS COUNTRY AMA GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES Round 12: Lisbon, Ohio Fred Andrews put together a solid ride to post his first AMA GNCC w in of the year during the penultimate round of the series in Lisbon , Ohio. Andrews has the chance to take over second at the final round in Alton , Virgin ia. By Jim Talkington LISBON, OH, OCT. 12 ea m Su zuki came out firing bo th barrels at round 12 o f the AMA Grand Na tio na l C ross Cou n try series, banking on the element of surpri se to keep afloat the long-shot cha mpi on ship hopes of team member Steve Hatch . After sufferi ng a broken back a t round 10 in Mou nt Morris, Pennsylvania, on Sep tember 21, Hatch returned 10 racing less tha n a month later, much to the surp rise of eve ryo ne except for those pitted under the Suzuki canopy. Needing a second-place finish at th is rou nd and a win the follo w ing week to take the title, Hatch had a s lim < en his giv condition ) but very real chanc e at "Test in g th e number-on e pl ate awa y from T r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... r.r) .... (J) ..0 E (J) :> o Z 8 Team H ond a's Scott Sum me rs at the very last mom en t. Su mm ers had been awarded his fifth GNCC championsh ip tro ph y and champagne at the conclusion of the previous rou nd in Ind ia na af ter takin g a th irdpl are finish. All ot her com petitors had been m a the m a ti ca ll y eliminated by day's end, and in a phone conversation wi th track announcer John Ayers d uri ng th e ev ent, Hatch rela yed to th e crowd that he would not be in atte nda nce at the final two rou nd s . The necessity of wea ring a back brace eliminated the possibility of a '97 return to GNCC racing, and it was time to concentra te on a s tro ng retu rn at th e 1998 op"ne r in Ocala, Hatch said. . In th e d ays just p rior to thi s rou nd, w he n as ked if Suz uk i's d rive to win a title wo uld put Hatch back on a motor cycle prematurely, team manager Mike Webb r espon d ed , " I wo uldn 't eve r make Steve d o anything th at he d id n' t want to d o." Appar entl y, Steve Ha tch wanted to race. Suzuki's plan worked to per fectio n, with Hatch getting th e h ol esh ot a nd running as high as the necessary second place until he was forced to quit in the lat e s tages d u e to ignit ion p robl ems. Reluctan tly aid ing his cause was new champion Summers, who brok e his left fibu la (lower leg ) in a jarri ng cra sh o n lap thr ee. Both riders were now conclusivel y don e for the year, and the Summe rs camp will once aga in be hom e to the number -one plate, without ques tion. Though th e acti on in the pits s u rround ing Hatch 's return dr ew its fair share of attention, it coul d not overshadow th e nea rl y flaw le ss r id e of 1993 GNCC Cham pion Fred An d rews. T~ An drews Racing / Tea m Yamaha rider has been the only pro compe titor to ma ke it to the podium at each of the four races sin ce the summer sc hed u le break, finally adding a win to his year's race results. "Usually, on the la st lap, I'm just th inking, 'Do n' t fall, don' t do thi s, do th a t: " the po pu la r hometown h e ro Andrews told the victory-circle cro wd , "but today I was just thinki ng abo ut how I was gonna spend the money!" And rews It'd from lap one to the finish , holding off a ch arge from second overall Scott Plessin ger that wa s slowed w he n his KTM ran o u t of gas o n the eighth an d fina l lap. Plessinger's second place marked his retu rn to the top thr ee after a d isappointing s tr ing of DN Fs th a t have ma rred hi s 1997 titl e chase. Sport Cy cles Racing /Team Yama ha ' s Doug Black w ell fin ish ed third for hi s best season- to- da te rid e, followed by Te a m Suz u k i's Rodney Smith a n d SCR/ Team Yamaha' s Duane Conner. Beautiful fa ll w eather greeted th e GNCC to ur at th e Northeast ern Ohio round, w ith tem peratures in the low 70s a nd clear bl ue skies. The 8-mile cross co u ntry course utilized public rid ing areas combi ned wi th a tight and technical, rooted 3-m ile sec tion of virg in trail tha t led rid ers through m ud and hill y swi tchbacks before entering the spectator gras s-t rac k area in view of the pits. As is often don e when po ssible, riders we re also routed bri efly into spectato r view halfway around each lap. Though d ust would be pr esen t over part of the trail, it would no t be the facto r that it was at the previous rou nd in Indiana. A couple of well-kno w n faces were makin g their GN CC d ebut a t Lis bo n. Former AMA Natio nal MX cham pion Gary Semics lined up for the Sen ior A over 40 class , and Paris-to-Dakar finalist and Cycle Wo rld edito r Jim my Lewis en tered the Pro class . Semics was bo rn and raised in Lis bon and co nti nues to make his home there. "Lisbo n's my hometown, and I used to race hare scrambles back in the late '60s and ea rly 70s around here," Semics said. "Th ey were two-hour hare scrambIL'S, but tha t was the last time that I've rid den anything like this. I ju st wanted to do it beca use it wa s in mv home town , and I wanted to see what it was like." The 43-year-old Scmics would go on to take top hon ors in his clas s. Lewis w as in town for a taste of GNCC ra cing as part of a Scott Summers article .he wa s w riting fo r Cy cle World. Wea ri ng si m ilar gea r to Summ ers , and ridin g a Hond a XR25 0, Lewis would pla ce a credible 20th overall in his first fora y into Eastern woods riding. As he has done at mos t every event th is yea r, Hatch put his Suz uki into the lead around tu rn one . Undenia bly th e fastes t starter on the circui t, the forme r New York er did exactly w hat he need ed to do in order to keep his cham pio nship hopes a live a nd led th e 16-rider field around turn two and int o the woods. H ot on his heel s were teammate a nd defending AM A Na tional Hare Scra mb les C ha mpio n Rodn ey Sm ith , the Ya m a has of Conne r, Bla ckwell and An d rews, and the-Kaw asak is of Brian Keega n a nd Mike Samp so n. The KTM trio of Plessing er, Jaso n Dahners and 1997 AMA National Enduro Champion Mi ke La ffer ty com pleted th e top 10 at the sta r t. S umme rs a n d his b ig XR endu re d a typ ically less- tha n-s tellar start and set about making up time from the rear of the pack. Andrews' first lap would be his most eventful, and no t in the way that one w ould neces sarily choose to begin a race day. "I went do w n right after the start and hit a steel post when my front wheel slid o u t - it w a s a li ttl e mudd v. I hit mv sho ulder p retty good an d it 'lore off my s ho u lder pads. Then I caugh t a thorn bush with my face, going through the creek ," And rews related while loo king at his bloodied jersey. "It's all just a part of raci ng ." Despite th e difficulties, the Yamaha rider found his way to th e front by the end of lap o ne, with teamma te Jimmy Jarrett ap pa re n tly rig h t o n hi s hee ls, mu ch to the d elig ht of the cro wd . Jarrett's rise to the front was no thing short of spectacula r, cons ide ring his dead-last start, but the glory was sho rt-lived. In his race to make up tim e, Jarrett had followed a lost rid er off the course and got turned around, re-entering the trail at a s pot that led to his disqu alification . Despite this being an honest mistake on his part , the local rider was forced to sit ou t the rest of the day. Fourteen seconds behind An dre ws was Hatch, wi th Blackw ell and Smit h in tow. Ten secon ds be hi n d th em was Summers, who had a simila r lead on the freig ht train compo sed of Con ner, Keegan , Plessinge r, Dahn ers and Lafferty. Du ri ng lap two, Su m mers' sea son came to an end on a fast section of dustv trail. His boot rem oved and pant leg rut awa y to reveal his broken left leg, Summers spo ke to the crowd after returning to the pits on the' rear o f a course marshal 's quad cycle. "My fork leg ca ug ht a tr ee s tu m p, and it thr ew me and the bike sideways, in to a tree," Summer said. "I hit first, and the bike hit my leg below the knee. I've go t a broken tib ia o r fibula, or maybe both. " Wit h th a t, Su m mers was off to the hospital to a wait the news of Hat ch's even tua l cham pionship-challenging finish . Smith w as also encoun tering difficu lties on the first laps that would make his eventual finish we ll-earned. "1could n't do any thing righ t the first co up le of lap s," Smith sai d . "I smeiled radiator fluid and thought I had a rad ia-

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