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.~~~~1§KCRAMBLE ' . Wilseyville Hare Scrambles By the time Hat ch emerged from the woods, he had a IS- second lead, and th at w oul d be all he needed to secu re the win. At the end of the race, it was Hat ch first, T!;ilffi Green's Pat Garraha n second and fellow Team Green rider Brian Garrah an tak ing third. "It (the cou rse) was a per fec t 10," said Hatch. "It compared to some of the toughes t GNCC tracks back East." "Tt was awesome," said Pat Garrah an of the brutal cou rse. "We hop e to m ake th is an an nua l event," said Bertram. "An d we want it to have a rep utation for being tou gh a n eve n t that w hen yo u fin ish, you know you really acco mplished so mething." f:\ Wil seyv ill e l OOK Hare Scrambles Wil seyv ill e, California Resu lts: February 11, 1996 0 1 A: 1. Steve H atch : 2. Patrick Garraha n; 3. Brian A Garrahan; 4. Paul Fu naro; 5. Kevin Yarnell. 0 1 B: 1. Russ Piggott; 2. Dan Marshall; 3. Robert A Damson; 4. Bryan Marshall; 5. Cary Deemer. O/A C: 1. Kirk Co te; 2. Gary Sneeringer. 3. Ryan Moorera. Terry Haggart; 5. Neil Belvtor. 125 A: 1. Jeff Ceis ko pf 2. Cr aig Wesn er: 3. Matth ew Walla ce; 4. Er ic Mashbir 125 8: 1. Roderick Kreiss; 2. Terry Biel. By Hank Desjardins WILSEYVILLE, CA, FEB.11 he Cycle Gea r lOOK Har e Scram- . , bles was nicknamed "May hem in the Mou nt ain," and by the' end of the day the race had tru ly lived u p to the moniker. Held in the heart of California gol d cou ntry, th e lOOK was th e b rain child of former AMA Na tional Reliability Champion and 1987 ISDE "Top American" Dave Bertram as a fund raiser for Ride to Win. Ride to Win sup ports Team USA in its efforts to brin g home the gold in ISDE competition. Bertr am 's theory is that wi th proper sup por t, w hich is ex treme ly ex pens ive, Team USA can com pete head to head with the world's best off-road racers and usu ally bett erfunde d teams. With th e effo rts of the staff of Cycle Gear and the 2+2 Motorcycle Clu b, 100 percent of the p rocee ds were donated to the fund. On Sa tu r day ni gh t ea rly ar rivals wer e treated to an off-roa d racing seminar with special guests form er Na tional Enduro Champion Steve Hatch and former Hare Scrambles Na tional Cham pion Rodney Sm ith. Ap p roxim at ely 70 pe opl e a tte nde d the semi nar th at was host ed by off-road racer Charles Halcomb. Sund ay dawned brig ht an d clear with temperatures unseasonably warm. But if any of the approximate ly 200 riders that turned out though t they were in for an easy Su nday trail ride, they we re in for a big su rprise. After all, with obstacles like "The Plunge," "George' s Ju ngle" and "Sli p pery Rock" on the m enu, it was clear th at race organizers had intended to cha lleng e everyone> skill, including some of the nation's best off-road wa rriors . Recent rains h ad ca used lo ca l creeks to rise an d, as luck would have it, there were no less th an six stream crossings, not to men tion the fact that the trail was littered by cou n tless rocks, fallen logs and trees. The course had been sp lit by Bertram and the 2+2 crew with the A and Vet A classes bein g ro u te d along some tru ly gnarly terr ain, while the rest of the racers had to con tend w ith merely treacherous trails. . Right from the start, Suzuki-mounte d H a tch a nd lo cal h e ro Pa t Ga rrah a n began to separate themselves from the rest of the pack, although Garrahan's brother, Brian, was able to stay somewha t in touch w ith the leading duo. By the end of the first 14-mile loop, Ha tch had gai ned a 20-secon d advantage . Hatch wo uld maint ain that margin until lap fou r when he pulled in to m ake a plug change. By the time he had exited the pits Hatch had relinquished the lead to Pat Ga rr ahan. The outcome of the race wou ld be decided on the last lap. With a 30-second lead, Garra han was fi rs t in to ' George' s Jung le, a densely woo ded se ctio n th at was named in ho nor of mu lti-tim e district champ George Hen drix . The jungle was a particula rly grueling section of trail with an abu ndance of slick rocks and fallen logs to keep the competitors on their best beh avior. Unfortuna tely for Garraha n he bun g led in the ju n gl e and bailed hard , giving u p the lead to the hard charging and consistent Hatch. "I was riding as hard as possible on the last lap trying to keep Hatch behind m e, and 1 th ou ght 1 was okay until 1 crashed," said Garrahan. (Above) Winner Steve Hatch struggles though one of the " stream" cross ings at the Wilseyville 100K Hare Scramb les. The former enduro champ went on to win the race. (Right) Pat Garrahan carefully makes his decent down " The Plunge." Garrahan led at one point, but a crash dropped him back to second. (Below) There wa s no shortage of water crossings. The 'event raised app rox imately $6000 for the Ride to Win fund. 125 c: 1. Jo hn Schaad; 2. Geo rge Pe t ko; 3. Josh Fu llaway; 4. Clo yse Holland; 5. De re k Che ney . 200 C: 1. Neil Belvio r; 2. Ni ck Thon; 3. Jam es White : 4. Gary Johnson. 250 A: 1. Steve Hatch; 2. Patrick Garrahan; 3. Brian Ga rr ahan; 4. Pa ul Fu naro ; 5. Kevin Yarnell. 250 B: 1. Russ Piggott; 2. Da n Marshall; 3. Bryan Mars hall ; 4. To ny Gree n; 5. Todd Davis . 25 0 C: 1. Kir k Cote ; 2. Ry a n Moore ; 3 . Te r ry Ha gga rt; 4. Jaso n Pettinato ; 5. Scott Ma rrin. 500 B: 1. Brad He therington; 2. Todd Win slow . 500 C: 1. Ga ry Sneeringer; 2. Butch Bolen ; 3. Mike Hahndorf; 4. David Clemons: 5. Ste ven Findlay. 4·STRK ·B: 1. Ma tt Brubaker; 2. William Fia fa; 3. Robe rt H olm es. VET A: 1. Pet e Kru nic h; 2. Allan Cas saro; 3. Eric Von Urf f 4. David Woo d ; 5. Steven Sh oemaker . B: 1. Robert Damson; 2. Gary Deemer; 3. Marc Avdi ffred : 4. Da n linstad; 5. David Mort h. VET C: 1. Ed Lix; 2. Dani el Bro wn: 3. Andy Wilcox ' 4. Davi d Schl osser; 5. Curtis Na gen gas t. . ' S R A: 1. G reg H ou le ; 2. Br ian Maclean; 3. Joe Divecchi o; 4. Ken Tom eo . S R B: 1. Cr aig Wat ts; 2. Duane Hu gh es; 3. William Cr aig; 4. Vern Wel dy . S R C: 1. Jack Morgan; 2. Randy Hiatt; 3. Tom Brush; 4, Bru ce Paulson; 5. Richard Owens. s/SR A: 1. Gary Vanderpool; 2. Fred Sunrall; 3. Edd Haymand ; 4. Jon Sha ffer. . S/S R C: 1. Fred Middleton; 2. Ronald Col om bo ; 3Rich ard. Budl er ; 5. Manny Simas. YET