Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·H R A ESCRAM L B E"· . AMA National Championship Hare SCramble Series By Brian Barnes ROSEBURG, OR, MAY21 earn Suzuki's Rodney Smith scored an impressive start-to-finish win at the inaugural Monkey Butt National Ha re Scra mb le s in Roseb urg, Oregon . For the first ti me ever a National Hare Scrambles event was held in the state of Oregon, at Clarks Branch Cycle Par k, and its beau tiful surrounding a rea co mbi ned wi th a lot of hard work by the Northwest Off-Road Racers Associa tion helped mak e th is eve nt a success. Alth ough the anticipat ed 250 riders did not pan ou t, the 100-plus riders that did show up had a blast racing over the approximately 9.S-mile loop that wound its way up and down southern Oregon's hilly terrain , including some high-speed roads an d through the d ense oak trees. Th e cou rse, described by both overa ll winner Smith and runner-up Scott Summers was "a real West Coast even t that's more wide open than technical." A beautiful day greeted the rid ers for the 9:30 a.m, start. The only concern of the promo ters was that dust could be a major factor, but luckily dust pr oved to be only an afterthought. Both the AA and A rid ers would go nin e laps and complete the race in just under three hours. The B riders, though, went seven circuits and the C riders were waved off the course after four go-'rounds. The start of the combined AA and A classes was s taged on the mo tocross track' s starting line, which led to a stadium section. The course basically woun d its way aro un d most of the motocross track then took off into the high spee d sections and woods after a gnarly downhill double. Suzuki's Smith got th e jump on th e rest of the AA riders, including Summers, David Rhodes and Eric Mashbir. The A rid ers followed sui t one minute la ter with Keith Ca yton, Dan Harte, Robert Johnson a nd Bill Rush leading the way ju st behind AA rider Ryan Hu ffm an, w hose H onda CR2 50 would n' t start rig ht away, putting him som e 45 seco nds behind the rest of the AA riders. Th e first la p fo u nd Sm ith a nd hi s Suzuki p ulling out to a comm an di ng lead over Summers and allowing him to take on a qu ick pit for fuel at the conclu sion of lap nu m ber o ne. As Smi th explained later, "Man, the first lap was the hairiest I've ridden in a long time, I came around a tight corner only to find some cows in my way. I actually had to chase them down the trail to get by." Summer s , w hose fact ory-ba cked Honda XR600 was th e seco nd bike to appear, echoed Smith 's observation say ing, "I almost went d own - one cow just s to o d there, a nd I finally had to go around him, it made me a little nervous of jus t w ha t I'd find arou nd th e next 1 corn er." 36 Former ISD E Junior Trophy team rider Rhodes followed Summers in third with Ma shbir, Brian Garrahan, Jason Dahners and desert specialist Ricky Bozarth in pursuit. A-class riders Cayton, Harte, Ricky Aldridge and Clayton Lamb were first through fourth on loop one, with Ha rt e doing his best to keep Cayton in his sights. The second loop found Smith coming Round 4: Monkey Butt National HS into the check only 15 seconds ahead of Summers wit h the only major change being that Garrahan had lost three positio ns and was passed by motocro sser Huffman, who had made up plenty of ground and now was in sixth . Summers late r said, "I knew that whomever go t the hol eshot wo uld probably be long gone, Rhodes rode really good for most of the first loop, and I just got too far behi nd to make it up." By lap three Smith had stretched ou t his lead to 45-seconds w ith Su m me rs still in second, and a good battIe shaped up between Rh odes and Mashb ir. Rhod es decided to pit for a fuel, allowing Mashb ir by at the check, while Huffman , who was the only rid er in atte ndance clearing the 100 -foot-plus peak -to-peak downhill double, had now pulled into the fifth spot. By this point, th e A class had a ne w lead er . Ha rte moved into the lead after Cayton pitted and lost valuable seconds. By th e fif th la p, it was clear t ha t Smith was well in command and barring any disa sters would easily take the win, now leading Summers by nearly a minute and 10 seco nds . Mashbir stood alone fo r th e moment in third, while Huffman moved passed Rhodes for (Above) Defending HS champ Rodney Smith took the checkered flag with room to spare, winning the Inaugural Oregon National Hare Scrambles. (Left) Scott Summers gave Smith a run for his money but couldn't quite match Smith's pace on the fas ter ·West Coast" trails. . (Below) Eric Mashblr was a frontrunner all day and was rewarded with fourth overall. fo u r th . Dahner s, Scott McGlaughlin, Garrahan, Bozarth, Leigh Lette lier and Pa t Garrahan rounded ou t th e top 10. Harte's KTM was now on cruise control, stilI lead ing the A field and was actually starting to move past seve ral AA riders with Cayton , Johnson and Ald ridge all within about a minute of each other . The sixth lap saw Smith losing some 40 seconds of his lead after pittin g, but Summers, who would also hav e to stop for gas, had by then all but succeeded the win. "These West Coast tracks just are not my style," said Summers. "I' m more of a technical rid er a nd Rod ney is r eall y good in the high speed stuff, I just had to sit ba ck and se t tle for ru n ner- u p tod ay."

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