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Product Evaluation Fox Heat Beater John Martin (far left) beat teammate Geoff Ballard by a minute and a half for the overall. AMA National Hare Scrambles Series: Round 8 Martin masters High Mountain By Dennis Zurawski. Jr. WAPW ALLOPEN , PA , J UNE 30 " Wh en the racing is this cl ose, you really have fun, and that's the key," said J o h n Martin, after winning the H igh Mo untain Dirt R iders-organized N a tional H are Scra mbles. Can-Am's Martin captured the win over tea m mate Geoff Bal ' k H d lar d , Husq varna s Mar .y e a n d Honda development rider 18 Drew Smith. Martin , Ballard, Hyde, S mi th an d Husky's Kevin Hines ran n eck a nd neck Cor most of the race. Ri ght C rom th e sta rt H yde. Martin, Ballard, Smith a nd H ines broke away Crom th e C ield and set a bl ist ering p ace. Hyde ca me through the scoring barrels in fir st a fter lap one followed by Martin , Ballard, Hines an d Smith - each rid er just a bikelength apart. L aps two a nd three sho wed a twoseco nd gap between each of th e top five, bu t Smith and Ba llard had traded p laces . After four laps of th e sa me g rueling pace, Hines began to drop back from the pack of leaders and never challe nged again. During th e fourth lap of the ninem ile co u rse, Martin took the lead Cro m H yde and came through th e scoring barrels with a 29-second lead o ver the Husky rider a nd a 50-second lead o ver Smith and Ballard. On lap five, Martin h eld a 27secon d lead over H yde, while Ballard took ad van ta ge of hi s quick p it sto p to regain third Irorn Smith. Ballard, still a minute behind th e two lead ers, led Sm ith by 63 seco nds at th e en d of lap five, " We had so me reall y wild racin g in th e ea rly laps o u t th ere. . . it wa s great!" sa id Smith. Lap six sa w the sa me order , with . Ma rt in 's lead o ver H yde in crea sed to 33 seco nds wh ile Balla rd kept his pace. " I started to ge t tir ed because o f th e tight woods ," said Smith, who ~roppedoffthepa ceatth e end?Clap five . " After Ba lla rd passed me In th e pits, 1 co u ld n' t ca tch him." When Martin came through th e scoring a rea to beg in th e eig h th a nd Cinal lap, Hyde wa s onl y II seco n ds behind him as th ey raced through a sma ll grass track and into th e woods. " At th e end of th e grass track 1looked ba ck a nd sa w H yde just a few seco nds behind me, so 1 Ci gured 1 wo u ld have to keep a steady pace and not make an y mi stakes," sai d Martin. Ballard was o ne minute o rr th e pace, but still riding hard. As th e crowd of spe cta to rs waited a n xio us ly for th e outcome, Martin , Hyde and Ballard raced through th e woods on what was later ca lled a 'challenging" track by Balland and " very competitive" by Martin. Amidst th e chee rs of th e cro wd, Martin eme rged from th e woods to capture firs t overall and Open A honors. A minute a nd a half lat er , to the surprise of so me, Ballard ca me through the barrel s to fin ish second. Fifteen seco nds after Ballard, Hyde ch arged in C third after h e had sto p p ed o n or th e tr ail to rem ov e a st ick from h is Cront wh eel. Ballard went past whil e H yde str ugg led to ge t Cree. Clear skies and hot weather brought o u t 194 en tran ts to co m pe te o n virgi n trail s. T he co urse had a co m bina tio n o f light w o o d s . tra il s w i nd i ng th rough pine tree forests, sho rt. C ast sectio ns of power ' lin e, two strea m crossi ngs, so me m u d a n d roc ks, a ll li n ked togethe r by a variety o f lo gging roads . Th e n ew co u rse brou ght praise from man y riders. Smith sa id it wa s " gr eat ," a nd o th er rid ers en joyed t h e m ixture o f terra in a n d co m me nted o n th e co mpeti tive racin g it produced . One rider ca lled it a " very techn ical co urse." Wh ile th e to p four ri ders ca p t ured most o f th e a tte ntion, th ere wa s sti ll plent y o f action behind th em . U na ble to ge l into a rom pe u rive groove, Husky's Ed Lojak still fin ished Ci fth overa ll a nd ca p tu red th e 250cc A win. Todd Reder fo ug h t h is way through th e p ack to tak e seco nd pl ace away C rom Fred H oess o n th e last la p. Seni o r class rider Barry Hi ggins took th e lead o n lap o ne a nd n ever rel inq u ishe d it, cruising to th e win a nd eig h th o vera ll. A minute beh ind was Scott WolC ersburger to co p seco nd pl ace in class a nd 11th o vera ll. Th e 125cc class sa w KTM rider David Fellas holdin g a comfortable lead Cor six laps unt il Mike Bailey . made up a minute a nd a half defi cit and pushed his KTM past Fellas 10 win. Bai ley and Fellas finished nint h and 10th overa ll, respectively. Mike Treadway topped the FourStroke ranks on a Honda, and Ken neth Mecking led from sta rt to Cinish in the Open B class. The 250cc B class winner, Dennis Blanchard, 125cc B winner Scott Chapkovich a nd Super Senior winner Jeff Smith all held orr . fierce co mpe titio n throughout each lap to capture their gold. Deborah ' Hickman sh o wed that she could handl e th e challenging trails by compl eting four laps and capturing the Women 's d ivision win . The event was topped off by a speed y posting of results and th e distribution of trophies and an array of awards donated by local dealers . - Results ' OVERA LL: John Martin (C·A). OPEN A : 1. John Martin (C·A); 2. Geoff Ballard (C·A); 3 . Mark Hyde (Husl; 4 . Drew Sm ith (Honl; 5. Bob Sh ill inger (KTM ). 250cc A : I . Ed Lojak (Husl; 2 . Todd Rede r tKTM); 3 . Fred Hoess(KTM); 4 . Mike Hill (Monl; 5 . Joe Lojak (Hus) . 200cc A:. 1. TonV Hen don (Yaml; 2. Paul Lemon (Kaw l. 125cc A : 1. Mike Bai ley (KTM);- 2 . Dave Fellas (KTM); 3 . Step hen Cha pko v;ch (Suzl. SR: 1. Barry Higgin s (KTM); 2 . Sco tt W olfersburger (KTM); 3 . Hen ry Stankiew icz J r. (Husl; 4 . Tom M arsh (Kaw); 5. Mike Lanberborn (Hon). S UPER SR: 1. Jeff Smith (C·A); 2 . Charles Gol- • braith IH usl . WO MEN : Debor ah Hickman (Kaw) . OPEN B: r. Ke nneth M ecki ng (Hus); 2 . Ran dy Wen ner (Ya m); 3. John Topolski (Hus ); 4 . Cliff Tenny (Hus) ; 5 . Kebby Hu mph reys (KTM). 25 0 cc B: t , Dennis Blanchar d (Husl: 2. Thomas Roe (Hon ); 3 . Bill Gold (KTM); 4 . Frank Santucci (KTM) ; 5 . Robert M ontr oss (Suz). 200ce 8 : 1. Robert Janeski (Yam) ; 2. Eric Koeller (Kaw l; 3. Bria n Werland (Kaw); 4 . Kenneth Scherer (Kow) ; 5. Alfred Schnug (Vam). 125cc B: 1. seen Cha pkovich (S uz); 2. John Davidson (Ka w ); 3 . W illiam Ch iappa (KTM); 4 . Eric . Patterson (Kaw) ; 5 . Keith Yencho (Yaml. Designed originally for use by motocrossers, the Fox Hea t Beater ice vest is amazingly effective for road racers on ho t days. Few things a re as mi serable as bein g zipped in side a Cull leather racing su it, lu cked in beh ind a fairing a nd bathed in eng-ine heal o n a da y when a m bient temperat ures to p 108 0 F with a hot wind blowin g . Wo rse, a n o ver hea ted rider is p ron e 10 mak ing m istakes a nd ge ll in g behind o n h is steeri ng at speed, in crea s in g cha nces o f a crash. There's no th in g lik e rea lizi ng th at yo ur bod y is reactin g h alC a beat beh ind you r mind wh en it 's time 10 pull the handl ebars going int o a sweep ing top-gear corner. For severa l riders a t Will qw Springs Cor a scorchi ng six-ho ur o n Jul y -1 (trac k temperature wa s m easured a t 1380 Fl, Fox H eat Beat er ice vests m ade th e differen ce betw een being a ble to ra ce Cor40 minutes at a lime or Ieeling lik e passing o u t a fter 20 min ut es and barely surviving a stint at the controls. That's especia lly important in a lo ng race where the rider has to go ou t and ride again after a n hour or so ol rest. Under less extreme conditions, say . 90° F a nd 90% humidi ty, wea ring an ice vest is like getting 30 minutes of a ir-co nd itio ned Cree time before even sta r ting 10 feel the effects of the heat. List en, (he gu ys who used the Fox ice vests are men normally greatl y affected by heat - sp liu in g headaches, pining early with nausea; we're tal king heat prostration here. But with the H eat Beal er ice vests, riding in th e heat cha nged from being a question of sur viva l to being a manageable racing situation. At the end of long- races , when other riders are ready to be carted off, pilots using ice vests are in pretty good shape. T he ice vest is made of terrycloth with Velcro -closed tubes run ning across it - ice is stuffed into the tubes. It was .originally made to fi t across the rider's shoulders and neck, bu t our road racers draped it across shoulders and chest because they wear back pads. The vest can make lea thers a tight Cit until th e ice melt s a bit, a nd the melting ice soaks th e leathers. Bu t those two minor hassles are small prices to pay for the difference in rider co m fo rt a nd alertness. . Th e ice vest sell s Cor S19.95 from dealers or direct Crom Mo to-X Fox , 520 McGlency Lane, Ca m p bell, CA 95008 408/3 7 1-122 1. Direct o rders must in clude a n ex tra S 1.00 Corsh ip p ing and California residents must add sa les ~x . •