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HARE SCRAMBLE ·' R d3: CA'IRA
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(Lett) An overabundance of moisture turned the CATRA Hare Scrambles
Into a survival run. (Above) Josh McLevy was In contention for the win
before crashing and damaging his radiator. (Below)Winner Kevin Hines
leads McLevy and runner-up Tom Norton at the end of the first lap.
By Cheri Allx
F1SHOUSE, NY, MAY 12
now in May? Evidently, anything is
possible in upstate New York. The
conditions in the East for rid ing this
year have been wet and muddy, and
this year's CATRA race was just
that . The area h a sn ' t seen su n in
weeks. Lu ck ily the terrain is loaded
with rocks, keeping the grou n d so lid
and ridable - well , at least if you' re from
the Northeast you' d conside r it rida ble.
CATRA is known as the nastiest track
. in th e East , as th e course co nsists of
nothing but ruts, roo ts, rocks and mud
hol es. Ju st what the top Ne w England
rid ers like and many were in attenda nce.
After a w et GNCC race in
Br ow n s v ill e, Pennsyl v ania, the d a y
befo re, NETRA Hare Scrambles champ
Tommy Norton, NETRA Enduro champ
Kevin Hines and former ch am p Scott
Phelps all were ready to do battl e again.
Luckily the skies cleared just before the
sta rt and it actually go t wa rm - reaching
abo ut 40 degrees. The race was origi nally scheduled for six laps aro un d the 6mile course, but due to the conditions it
w as cut short to only four laps.
At 1:15 p.m. the flag went up, with
Man chester Honda's Josh McLevy getting th e holesho t followed by Tod d
Levesqu e. Las t off th e lin e w ere CRE
rider Hines and SCR/ Yam aha's Norton,
but they quickly began working u p to
the front of the pa ck and, before the lap
was half ove r, the Scott / Bel Ray-sp onsore d N ort on too k over th e lead wi th
Hin es close behi nd . N ort on stretched his
lead to 10 seconds but we nt down in a
ru t, allo wi ng M cLevy, Levesqu e an d
Hines to get by. McLevy took a bad line
going through a swampy section, allowing Levesqu e and Hines to get by before
settling into thi rd .
Meanwh ile, Norton had recove red
from his cras h and soon had control of
fourth place.
~
By the e n d of th e lap, it was
Levesque - wh o wo n the Lembo Lak e
race last m onth - lea ding the pack o f
Hin es, McLevy and Norto n. Th e fou r
riders had a 24-secon d lea d over fifthplace Wes Clarke. Phe lps, wh o usu ally
rides a Yamaha was ba ck in sixth place
on a bor rowed Kawasaki.
The course was compl etely devastated before they headed out on the second
lap. There we re ruts everyw here with
running water coming down every hill.
The swa mp sections were full of standing water, ma king it anyone's guess as
to what was lurking at the bott om .
Luckily, with the smaller-than-normal turnout of rid ers, lappers were not
a problem for the front-runners, allowing for an all-out battle agai ns t the elem ents and each othe r. Th e fou r fro n tr u n n ers cont inued trad in g pl a ce s
throu ghout th e se co n d la p u n t il
Levesque w ent d own, allowing
M cLevy, Norton a n d Hine s to p ull
away. Hines soo n went down, too, and
Norton ran over hi s bi ke. No damage
wa s done and the CRE rid er was back
in th e hunt, taking over th e lead once
agai n before the end of the lap. Mclevy
slid back into second com ing aro u nd
only five seco nds behind Hin es. Norton
wa s in third down another five seconds
back. orton was also running a stock
tank and had to make a pit stop for gas .
With barely being able to make the 24mile ra ce on a stock tank, he wasn't
goi ng to push it. After only a 16-second
pit fo r gas a nd goggles, N o rton was
ab le to get b ac k out an d catch u p to
Hines and McLevy . Levesqu e was back
in fourth d own 30 seconds, but he had
to pit for gloves and goggles pu tti ng
him back anoth er 30 seconds and out of
the lead pack.
"My pit took so long." a disappointed Levesque said . "Once I was out of the
pack, I wa s unable to keep up the pace ."
McLevy was a lso soon out of contention. After swapping th rough a rock
section, he laid it ove r and smas hed his
ra dia tor. Ev en a ft er a w o r se -th a n expecte d finish, McLevy still had a smile
on his face, "I'm psyched, " he sai d . "I
wa s keep ing up with the big gu ys."
H ines and Norton continued sw ap ping places till the final lap when Norton did a wild cras h on a car t road,
allowing Hines to pull away and take
th e win . No rton took second down
some 90 seconds from Hines. Levesque
held onto thi rd abou t two minu tes back.
Maki ng for a s pectacu lar fi nish was
KTM rider Br ian Tu cker a n d Sco tt
Phelps. The two riders came f1yin~ out
of the woods banging bars thro ugh the
last turn. Tucker held it on till the flag.
just barely edgin g out Phelps for fourth
p lace overall.
Exp ert 250cc ri d e r Ar ther Me nzel
was the top -p lacing A rider taking ninth
overa ll, whi le Am ateur 250cc rider Chad
Hedges took th e B Hi gh Point award .
Hedges and Brian O'Ne il, also a 250cc
rider, were the only two Amateur riders
to complete all four laps.
Earlier in the day, Honda 125cc ride r
Rona ld Dan iels too k th e C-c1ass win,
edging out 250cc rider Jason Stella on
adjus ted time . Stella took the ho leshot
and held the ph ysical lead for the entire
race.
In th e Ju nio r event, it wa s Yama h a
rider Brian Lawson taking the win with
a co mfo rta ble m a rgin o ve r Eri c
Rouqeau. Jason LaRocco took the win in
the Mini class. In the Women 's class, it
was Michelle McKinnon taki ng the class
win and being the only rider in her class
l~
to comp lete all laps .
CATRA Hare Scrambles
Flshouse, New York
Results : May 12, 1996 (Round 3 of 18)
GRAND CHAMP: Kevin H ines (eRE).
A O /A:. 1. Arthur Mt'T\.l£
1(Kaw ).
BOlA : 1. Chad Hedges (Hon).
eO/A: 1. Ronald Daniels (Hon).
AA: 1. To m N o rt on (Ya m); 2. Todd Levesque
(Yarn ); 3. Brian Tu cker (KThl); 4. Scott Phelps (Kaw~ 5.
Patrick Timothy (Ho n).
2$0 A: 1. Ke v in Pa ine (Hon ); 2. Rory Eas tman
(Hon); 3. Harry G ra n t (Yam).
200 A: 1. Ken Law (Yam ); 2. Luke McNeil (KThl ); 3.
Hans Ne ff (KThl)
VET A: 1. Russell Bain (H on ); 2. Do uglas Hansen
(Hen).
O PEN A: 1. Jim Simcock (ATK ); 2. Ma rk Budick
(KTM); 3. Pau l Planqua rt (H on ).
SR Ie. I. J
erry Rand all (Hen).
.a..STRK A: 1. Chris Moore (Kaw).
:!SO B: I. Brian O'Neil (I