you are over complicating it.
do something like this.
{if $config.General.root_categories eq "Y"}
{foreach from=$categories item=c}
<div><a href="home.php?cat={$c.categoryid}"
{if $c.categoryid eq "281"}class="menulink1"{elseif $c.categoryid eq "284"}
class="menulink2"{elseif $c.categoryid eq "280"}class="menulink3"{else}
class="menulink"{/if}>{$c.category}</a></div>
<div style="height:3px;"><img src="{$ImagesDir}/spacer.gif" width="10" height="3" alt="" /></div>
{*<table width="200" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" height="1"><tr><td><img src="{$ImagesDir}/spacer.gif" border="0" width="1" height="1" alt="" /></td></tr></table>*}
{/foreach}
{/if}