'.
hosted round of the hare s rambles
series and showed the title contenders
the fast way to finish. It took Keller
only two hours to drive from his
home in Bridgewater, Massachusetts,
to the Windsor starting ite, but he
spent just minutes shy of three hours
in the saddle charging around the
8.I-mile course at a 24-minutes-perlap average.
Bettencourt-sponsored Keller pitted for gas while holding- a 30-second
lead over Can-Am's Geoff Ballard
halfway into the final hour, thinking
he couldn't finish the final two laps
without running out of fuel. As he
got rolling, Ballard came along ide
and the two tore off down 'the trail
together. Ballard, running on a flat
rear tire as he had for the previous
three laps, tried to maintain the pace
with Keller, but crashed twice to end
his challenge for the lead. Keller
came through the scoring barrels 90
se onds ahead of Ballard and was
unaware the race was finished. The
organizers decided to call the race
complete just hy of the three hour
mark rather than run the three-hoursplus-one-Iapas scheduled. Temperatures in the gO-degree range and a
trail full of rocks and exposed roots
led to the decision.
"My pit crew told me I was in the
lead when I carne pa t my pit area,"
said Keller afterward, "bul I couldn't
believe it. I sheared off the rear brake
pedal on the first lap 3Jld when thal
happened I figured I was out of Ihe
running for Ihe overall win. I didn't
have the Slopping power 0 I couldn't
run as fa t as I wanted to."
"The ourse was really demanding," said Ballard. "The heat and the
r ky trail didn't make it mu h fun.
The pectators at the mudholes
blocked any lines there were to avoid
the mud, so you had to plow right
through.
"I ran the last four lap on a flat
rear tire. I was going to change it, but
when I pitted all the spare mounted
tire were gone and I just wa n't
ready todoa full change in that heal.
I passed Keller on the final lap, but
then I crashed and he got away."
With seven of the nine rounds run,
Husqvarna's Mike Melton continues
to lead the overall standings with 103
points. Melton DNF the Greylock
event. Kevin Hines, the third overall
finisher, holds down second in the
points at 83 with Ballard right there
in third at 82.
On Ihe start it was hard to tell if
Hine ,Ed Lojak, Ballard, Mark Hyde
or Mehon would comeaway with Ihe
lead a the field funneled into the
narrow passageway lC
