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HARE SCRAMBLE Round 2:Lembo Lake NETRA Hare Scrambles series ~esqne roUs ·over MODENA, NY, APR. 14 ankees are a tough breed . You've heard it sai d all yo u r life, but it mu st be tru e. Four hu ndred twe nty sta lwart so u ls packed th e pa rk in g' area at the Lembo Lake Motocross Park for the second event on the AMA /District 1 NETRA Hare Scrambles schedule, regardless of nasty wea the r tha t made a " rollover" day see m like a good idea. Tha t's wh en you wake up, look out the window at the cold, gray rain, and then roll over and go back to sleep . Saturday was unseasonably cold and damp, and then Saturday night the rain started in earnest. It poured down buckets and was certain to des troy whatever solid dirt Lembo had to offer after this long, rotten winter. We expected just the ha rd-cores to sho w up, but the Tri-State Trail Ride rs in stead filled th e pl ace to capacity . 50 wha t if the mud was ankled eep in the entire parking area , or that the m otocross track itse lf was la rgely under water? If you don't like riding in mud, you just don't ride! CR E-spon so r ed N a tion al Enduro rid er Kevin H in es likes to ri de in th e mud, and he attracted the most atte ntion before th e Expert/ Am ateur race, but there was plen ty of competition on the AA-class lin e to keep h im honest. Hi s lu ck held un til the second turn, when he laid down his CRE in a traffic tangle while running in third . "1 had a grea t start, but the n 1 crashed for just a second, and th en go t u p -and cra shed aga in righ t awa y," he admitted . "That's when 1 realized my front brak e lever was jammed on, and by the time I fixed it 1was dead last." While Hines began a charge towa rds the front, Josh McLevy had grabbed the lead and ran off with it.. bu ild ing up a mile co u rse, when h e s mashed h is H ond a' s chain guard and eventually had to stop and remove it to get going agai n. Now it was McLevy' s chance to play catch-up, after Hin es and the rest passed him by. The lead p as sed over to Todd Levesque, third in the NETRA series in 1995, rid ing a YZ250 for Pub Racing and a hos t of other sponsors. Levesque rode the course as if it we re dry as punk, and seeme d to have no trouble in the mud , lap after lap . Behind Lev esque, but a minute back, began a three-way battle between Hi nes, Manches ter H onda' s D a ve Gunn (KTM), and Midtown Kawasaki's Randy McCann, riding a 10<250. McCann, Gunn and Hines continued to swap the lead back and forth for tw o laps of exciting racing, bu t Levesque was on a tear and had stretche d his lead to a full tw o mi nutes. Barrin g a tremendo us catas tro p he, it was obvious that Levesque was out of everyone's reach for the rest of the day. By the fo u r t h lap H in es emerge d fro m the woods in a soli d seco nd pl ace, but s till a minute behi nd Levesqu e. "I was rid ing pretty lethargic at that point," Hines sa id , "My cre w told m e h e wa s runn in g awa y, but hey, I'm an e nd u ro ride r! By that time 1 wasn't racing anymore, just rid ing for exercise. The woods w e r e no thing b ut sta nd ing wa te r, and w he n yo u changed yo ur line yo u couldn't see any thi ng und er th e water. I fig ured Ohi o was com in g u p (Na tional Enduro ) an d I d id n' t wan t to risk anything more, so I didn't chase Levesque." Instead H in es fo llowe d so lid one- mi nu te cus hion over seco nd place b y the fin is h of th e first la p . McLevy was no stranger to Lembo, having finishe d seco nd overall- at th e final race there last seaso n, and he was ready to st re tc h o u t hi s lead fo r all it was worth wh ile the rest of the pack sorted itself ou t in the m ud . McLevy's day slowed do wn considerably short ly after th e start of th e seco nd lap of the five- beh ind , anywhere from 50 second s to a minute and a half, and rod e out the race in second place. Behind the two fruntrunners, the tim es s tarted s p read ing ou t, but when the seve nth and last lap finished u p, it was McLe vy in thi rd after a heroic recovery fro m his mechanical woes on the second lap. Fourth overall wen t to Patrick Timothy, and fif t h to Wes Cla r ke, back fro m . By Paul ClipperfTra ll Rider Magaz ine Y (Abo ve) Todd Levesque scored the overall win at the NETRA Lembo Lake Hare Scrambles In New York . (Left) Michelle McK innon aced the Women's class wh ich featu red 11 entries . (Below) Kev in Hines had problems early on but salvaged second overall. (Ab ove) More than 300 riders t urn ed out for the event des pite the muddy con ditions.