Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.l-t Q.) ,.0 S Q.) ;:> o Z Scott Summers won despite the desert terrain, which hampered some Eastern riders. spare wheel in his pit, Young was forced to ride on with the flat tire. Most observers figured he would last one more lap, or perhaps two at the most. However, Young maintained his pace lap after lap. "Luckily, we were testing a new Cheng Shin tire," said Young. "I took it as easy as 1 could on the hard-packed terrain and in the sand, and it hooked up pretty good. 1 goofed by not bringing a spare wheel with me; next time I'll know better." Scott Harden blew out a silencer early on, but it didn't slow him down. After a so-so start, Harden moved up to fifth overall and had Plessinger in sight, but there was no chance that the KTM America employee was going to try to pass his top hare scrambles rider. "Scott was just riding his pace and when 1 came up behind him, he just picked it back up a bit," explained Harden. "I wasn't about to try and pass him and cost him points." Only the AA and A riders went the full 10 laps, as the rest of the 2DO-rider field completed six circuits. Dirt Rider magazine editor Tom Webb and his brother Mike, who works for Suzuki, competed in the Four-Stroke A class. Tom was aboard the same Husqvama 610 that he)had used on the dual sport ride the previous day, while Mike rode a stock Suzuki DR350. Tom Webb was dead-last off the start when the Husky took five kicks to fire, but by the end of lap one, he had moved into the class lead. Brother Mike rode a great race to finish second in class against the bigbores. Through the last couple of laps, the top positions remained unchanged. When the ' checkered flag fell for Summers, the first question to his mechaniC was, "Where's Plessinger?" When he heard that his rival was in fourth place, Summers knew that his reign as champ was over. Smith motored in two minutes after Summers. Next came Young on his flat tire, and then the new champion,.. Plessinger. In fifth place was the exuberant Harden on his deafening KTM. The only <:>ther rider to complete 10 laps was Griewe, who limped in with his injured knee. Summers congratulated Plessinger on his season. "If I have to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was Scott," said Summers. "He and I grew up racing each other, and we're practically neighbors. He's a class act. Rodney and 1 had a pretty good race. I was just trying to go fast and keep from making mistakes. I fell over twice, low speed types. Then I got a little cactus stuck in my arm. I tried to pull it out and got it. stuck in my fingers! I had to put the bike in neutral and use the handlebar to scrape it off! I lost a little time doing that, but I was able to catch back up to Rodney. He and I were back and forth all day. I went a lot faster than I'm used to going. 1 don't really enjoy going that fast; I would prefer more obstacles to slow the speed down a bit." When asked what he thought about Rodney Smith's plans of competing in the hare scrambles championship nj!xt year,Summers replied, "He'd better pack a lunch. "Woods riding is a whole new ball game." Bramblett was' disappointed that no Kawasaki Team Green members showed up to race. "I heard that they were under orders by Kawasaki to not race; they didn't want Honda winning another title. Without some fast desert-type racers to get between Scott and PleSSinger, we didn't have much of a chance." Plessinger seemed relatively calm about winning the title. "I got a pretty good start," explained the new champ. "But then Smith came by and then I got off the course a bit and Summers passed me. I couldn't go very fast, due to the dust and then finally a rider on a Husky (Young) passed me. I just figured I'd better cool it. I kept hitting things in the dust, kicking my front end up. Finally the field spread out a bit and I picked up the pace, especially the last three laps. I feel pretty good. "It (the championship) means a lot of money, but it also means a lot to me as a rider. I won the championship in '89 but got hurt in '90, and Scott won the last two years. This is the first year since then that I've been in shape. I feel real good about going into next year now. Hopefully, I'll be back with KTM; they've treated me real good. My mechanic, Bert Dunlop, was a big factor in my winning this year. He had the bikes perfect, and I didn't have any mechanical DNFs this year. He also got my head together. At the first of the year I was going balls out and crashing a lot. He got me to use my head and slow down a bit and finish. I got a lot more consistent, which won me the championship." "I'm real proud of Scott," said Harden. He rode a great series and beat a great rider.. 1 had a fun day racing with the 'kids.' Hey, I'm 36 years old, so it was fun beating a lot of them today." Smith was happy with second overall. "We used this race as a learning experience," he said. "We will be campaigning the hare scrambles series next year. I didn't even know if I could make this race. I hurt my knee and wrist in a crash three weeks ago in Minden, Nevada. I couldn't even ride until the other day. I thought the course was pretty good for a Scott Plessinger paced himself to fourth overall and wrapped up the series title.. Rodney Smith, who will contest the entire series next year, finished second overall. desert layout. I had a good race with Summers, but every time I pulled out to a good lead, he would somehow pull right back in behind me. He had some real good lines. Late in the race, the front end washed out from under me and I crashed hard. Scott got away from me and I couldn't catch him again." When told that the other riders had doubted his chances in the series next year, Smith replied, "Well, they didn't think I could do well at the six days either. A really good rider should be able to adapt in the trees; 1 think 1 can. We'll see, won't we?" Gene Huffman had an unusual journey to the race. "I rode my KTM from Colerain, Ohio. We geared it up, put some street tires on it along with a windshield, and rode it here. It's an '89 350 and it's never had the head off. I only fouled one plug on the way. We got some real funny looks from the touring bikes though." Huffman rode the bike in the Super Senior class, finished, and was last seen preparing for the ride back to Ohio. (N Results P'RO: 1. Scott Summers (Hon); 2. Rodney Smith (Suz); 3, Mike Young Hus); 4, Scott Plessinger (KTM); 5, Scot Harden (KlM). 200 A: 1. Troy Kalina; 2. Todd Segfrid, 250 A; 1. Leigh Letellier; 2. Adrian Jacobs; 3. Kevin Bom; 4, Phillip West; 5. Bryan Bruning. OPEN A: 1, Terry Gillilano;].. Pat Prosser (Hus); 3. Andy Nelson (Kaw); 4. Mike Kozlik; 5. Greg Holden. 4-STRK A: 1. Tom Webb (Hus); 2. Mike Webb (Suz); 3. Keith Allen; 4. James Quenzer; 5. Steve Allen. VET A; 1. Mark Childre (KTM); 2. Rob Windham; 3. William Chambers (Kaw); 4. Ken Stumpff (Hon); 5, Morrill Griffith (Yam). SR A: 1. John Miller; 2. Ed Nemecek. SISR A: 1. Wayne Decldever (Kaw). WOM A; 1. Lilly Sweetland. 200 B: 1. Gary Duncan (Kaw); 2, Kevin Beck (Kaw), 250 B: 1. Jim Dobosz; 2. Richard Hart. OPEN B: 1. Todd Gleaves (KTM); 2. Michael Hillenbrand (KTM); 3. Sid Turpin; 4, Lawrence Huffman; 5. Tom Freimuth (Kaw). 4-STRK B: 1. Fred Rozenich; 2. Richard Genovess (Hon); 3. Peter Kennedy; 4, Duke Hugh; 5. Alan Kim, VET B: 1. David Miller; 2. Steven Wilson (KTM); 3. Jim Roewer (Hon); 4. Oren Wheeler; 5. Robert Harris. SR B: 1. Thomas Boone; 2. Olen Webb. SISR B: 1. Bill Nichols (Hon); 2. Corky Behrle; 3. Earnest Huffman; 4. Will Stidd (Yam). 200 C: 1. Taylor Tancey; 2. Greg Bruce (Kaw); 3. Chris Munhall (Hon); 4. Chris Lamb; 5. Michael I

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