IN
THE
WIND
P20
BLYTHE TOPS COALINGA WEST HARE
SCRAMBLES NATIONAL
I
an Blythe and Nick Burson
traded the lead several times
in the first hour and a half of
the Picacho Creek Challenge
at the Salinas Ramblers Motor-
cycle Club Ranch, round two
of the Kenda/SRT AMA West
Hare Scrambles Championship
Series, in Coalinga, California,
February 14. But Blythe took
control during the final hour and
20 minutes to claim the victory.
However, the results are still
unofficial pending a protest filed
against Blythe alleging he pitted
outside the designated pit area.
"I got into the first turn first
and Burson stayed with me," the
Rally Pan Am/MX1 West/Bell
KTM 250 SX-mounted Blythe
said of his race. "He was right
on me that whole first lap then
he made a really good pass
on me—he just banzaied down
this rocky hill right before the
pits and passed me. I was like,
'Man, you can have it if you want
it that bad!' He was going faster
than me and it really made me
step-up my pace and it was
good, because I dropped back
from him a little bit then I caught
up to him again and I was trailing
him in the dust.
"I pitted a lap before he did,
then when he went into the pits
I caught up to him and I didn't
have to pit that lap so then I was
able to get a gap on him."
Purvines Racing Beta's Bur-
son proved quicker than ever
in the tighter, more technical
going that previously had been a
weakness (relatively speaking),
giving some credit to switching
Ian Blythe hasn't
ridden many rounds
of the AMA WHS, but
he's won both he's
entered: last year's
opener and now
the Picacho Creek
Challenge.
