Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.AMA NationalSCRAMBLE " Series. Round 2: Brune's Mill National HS HARE Championship Hare Scramble (Left) Team Suzuki's Rodney Smith bagged his second straight win In the AMA National Hare Scrambles Series by toppi ng the Brune's Mill Nati ona l HS in Southeast Texas. Smith fi nish ed some three m inutes ahead of the second-placed ride r. (Right) Jason Cahners dodged bot h rocks and rattl ers on the way to a run ner- up fi nis h In the event. (Below) Afte r runn ing seco nd in the early stages of the race, Brian Garrahan stayed upright and fi ni shed th ird ove rall on the ti ght, cha llenging , 14.7mile course. By Cindy Lemere COLUMBUS, TX, MAR. 24 ormer AMA National Har e Scrambles Champion Rodney Smith tallied yet ano ther ove rall w in durin g round tw o of the N a tion al H a re Scrambles series, th e Brune' s Mill N a tio n al H a re Scram b le, w h ich was h eld on priv at e la nd in So utheastern Texas. Smi th, aboa rd his Moose I FMF I Acerbis I EBS I Dunl op I American Suz uki RMX, gra bbed the holeshot and led all the w ay to the checkered flag, finishing the course w ith only a few minutes to spare over KTM's Jason Dahners. The Columbus area hadn't seen any su bstan tia l am ou nts of rainfa ll for several months, which left the 14.7-mile track dry and dusty . Cou rse p romoters were p raying for rain, and as the 11 a.m, start d rew near it looked like th eir prayers w ould b e answered w h e n the skies clouded over. A fine m ist filled the air bu t never amounted to much un til the final la p when it ra in ed s tea dily for about 20 minutes. The course wa s laid out by the Trail Rid ers of H ou ston . Most of th e m ore than 245 riders came to Texas expecting a wid e -open r ide, bu t wh at th ey f -... ;.., 0... « 40 recei ved h a d m o st of them wishing they had stayed ho me. The first few miles of the course w a s a tight, technica l run throu gh the woods, which filtered into "Mossy Ro ck Creek:' The dry creek bed featured a protrusion of bou lders, sha rp, p o in ted limbs and rocks, while th e ground was covered with leaves and fis t-sized rocks . Th e next few miles wove in and out of some fie ld sect io ns scattered with ceda r br eaks and barbed wire on one side of th e tr ail. Fro m th ere the riders circled back in to the in terior of the course for more tight, technical woods riding that skinned the elbows off most riders, and lots of low- lying limbs that rang more tha n one rider's bell. And there were other dangers, mainly of th e reptilian variety. Promoters cau tioned the rider s and spectators to be lee ry of rattlesn akes. Those warnings wer e not issued in vain eit her, as several of the not or iou sly p oisonou s serpents were spo tted during the event. " I came around a comer and there was this big rattler wi th his mou th wide open - get- ting ready to strike," one rider said . "I jus t hit the gas and hit him before he bit me ." When the flag dropped it was Smith on the gas wit h Eric Mashbir, Danhers, and Brian Garrahan - all Californ ia boys - lead ing the 24-r ider AA class. Smith pulled ahead of the group by abo u t 20 seconds on the first lap. " It was kind of m y ga me plan," said Smith. " It was real dusty, so I wanted to get a good start and see if I cou ld jus t get ou t in front an d run wit h it. I was a little surprised whe n at the en d of the first lap they weren' t that far behin d me. We came out in th e g rassy se ction an d I looked behind me an d saw (Brian) Garrahan and Dahners, and th ey were n't tha t far behind. On the second lap I really put on the gas to put on a big lead : ' Halfw ay throu gh the first lap it was still Mash bir, Danners and Brian Garrahan in tigh t formation . As the trio came u p o n a small cliff ju m p with a sign read in g "Jump," Mashbi r and Dahners op te d n ot to w h ile Bri an G a rr ah an pull ed a surprise m ov e a n d ju m ped over th e head s of both rid ers to move in to secon d . H e im med ia te ly p ull ed away from the d uo . Dahners go t b y Mashbir and atte mpted to chase dow n Garrahan. Garrahan maintain ed seco nd for the next la p a n d a h a lf as th e p er sist ent Dahners dogged h is every move. As the du o ripped across a big, grassy mead ow , Dahners bega n setting up a move to take over second p lace. At the end of the meadow, th e tr a ck took a sh a r p le ft arou n d a b ig tree . Garrahan ov ersho t the tum and skidded on by as the crafty Dahners braked hard, sw ung low to the inside and took over second. "I con cen trated h ard on m akin g no mi stakes on this," Dah ners sa id . "As Ga rrah an sk id ded by, I w aved at him and said, ' Follow me if you can:" The end of the second lap saw Smith st ill in th e lea d a fte r a qui ck pit stop with Dahners now in second, Garrahan th ir d , a n d a stead ily fad ing M ashbir clingi ng to fourth. The top four riders held their respective positions during the final lap, but back in the pack Texas locals Kent How erto n and Clay Hoen sh ell had team ed up and we re freigh t training around the cou rse. H a lfw ay th rough the last la p How erton decided to pick up the pace. Th e 41-year-old former AMA Nationa l 250cc Motocross Cha mp ion pulled away from Hoenshell an d sailed by Mas hbir a few turns later to slip into fourth. "I didn't know how good of shape I was in so I just rode stea dy for about the first tw o hours, and if I had any energy left, I wou ld just rid e a litt le harder," Howert on said . "I've go t a lot of good technical skills, an d I rode a smooth, incident-free race. This was a physically d emand ing t ra ck th a t r e a ll y becam e whoo ped ou t and really rutted. I found m yself sitti ng abo u t 90 pe rcent of the time."

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