Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS" . Edited by Keith Bush NETRA Hare Scrambles Series, Round 10 a ... ~ .. By Cheri Allx Photos by Jay Chittenden UNION, cr, AUe. 18 44 fter a back-and-forth battle both on the traGk and in the pits, Josh Mclevy finally found his way to the front of the pack to defeat Todd Levesque and Tom Norton for the overall win at the Union Hare Scrambles. While Norton and Mclevy did most of their battling in straight racing, the real turning points almost always came down to who could go the longest with~ out a mistake, or who could spend the least amount of time in the pits. Norton took over the lead late in the race, but a broken chain dropped him off the pace, allowing Mclevy into the lead. With Norton's departure, Mdevy's new challenger for the overall became points leader Todd Levesque, but Levesque suffered a tough crash that took him out of contention for the win, though he did remount to finish second overall. With eight races remaining in the series, this has become one of the most competitive Seasons in a very long time. Levesque currently leads the series standings, but Norton and Mclevy are only points behind and there is every indication that the battle for the series title will go down to the wire. The event on Martin Michelic's 150acre property was greeted by one of the smallest turnouts yet, with only 273 riders, 100 of whom were competing in the main race. As the riders lined up for the Blackwater-style start, it was Norton, Levesque and McCann on the front line. Behind them were P.}. Peculis, Mclevy and Brian Tucker, with each subsequent line started after a five-second delay. When the £lag dropped, it was Norton, riding a YZ125 rather th.an his normal 250, getting the holeshot, but when the riders hit the water hole not long afterward, Levesque pinned it and took over the lead. Soon Norton was on his back wheel, and was in turn followed by McCann, Peculis and Tucker. Mclevy came out of the start in fifth, but slid out on the second turn and got tangled up with the pit-area fencing. knocking him back behind a few rows of riders. It wasn't far into the lap when Levesque went down, allowing Norton and McCann to move out in front. Norton held onto the lead for the entire lap, but McCann was only seconds behind, followed by Levesque and Mclevy. Peculis_was now in fifth place, down another 20 seconds. Soon after the start of the second lap, the leading riders began trading places. Norton, not totally adjusted to the 125, made a few shifting errors on a hill. "1'm not used to downshifting twice at all the hills and comers yet," Norton ~d. Norton's mistake allowed McCann, who rides a Kawasaki 250, to torque his way right by Norton and take over the lead. But the battle wasn't over. The two riders hung together until the rock gar- (Above) Todd Levesque (3), Tom Norton (1), Randy McCann (4) and P.J. Peculis (5) power through the water hole at the Union Hare Scrambles. (Left) Josh Mclevy took his second overall victory of the NETRA Hare Scrambles series in Union, Connecticut. On the final lap, orton caught up to McCann, who wasn't about to give up third place that easily. It all came down to the last turn when McCann stuffed himself into the berm and orton was able to slide by to take third overalL McCann remounted to finish fourth, followed by Peculis, who rounded out the top five after having smashed his muffler early in the day and draining his machine of power. Expert 250cc rider Arthur Menzel finished sixth overall and took the A-class win. ~ Union Hare Scrambles Union, Connecticut Results: August 18, 1996 (Round 10 of 18) den, where McCann and his bike bounced off'the trail. Levesque, too, encountered difficulties with an offtrack excursion, causing him to lose a position to Mdevy. As they came around at the end of the second lap, Norton still had the lead, but with only three seconds on McCann, and Mdevy dose behind him. Levesque was in fourth position, almost 30 seconds behind. Peculis was still in fifth place, but back by almost one and a half minutes. The leaders were putting in the fastest times ever a t this track and no one was going to let up. It was coming down to who could go the longest without a mistake, and that seemed to be Norton. By the end of the third lap, Norton had increased his lead to 16 seconds over second place, which was now held by Mclevy. McCann was back another 40 seconds, followed by Levesque. All but Norton stopped in to pit at the end of the lap. Mclevy was out first without any problems. McCann came in next, but Levesque was able to finish his pit in only eight seconds, pulling out ahead of McCann and taking over third place. Not halfway into the fourth lap, the charging Mclevy caught Norton, who was tangling with a few lappers. As Norton stopped in to pit at the end of the lap, Mclevy came 'around and took over the lead. But with only a nine-second pit, Norton was right back out after Mdevy. Once again it was a game of cat and mouse between Mclevy and Norton. This time it was Mclevy crashing in a rock section, allowing Norton to once again take over the lead, one he increased to 30 seconds - until mechanical failure struck. '1 must have hit a rock or something with the rear sprocket," said Norton, whose bike suffered a broken master link. Luckily he was carrying his tool pouch and there were spectators around to help him get up and running again. But now he was down over three minutes and running in fourth place. Mclevy was out in front with almost a minute on Levesque, who was now in second, followed by McCann in third. During the final two laps the leaders all went for it. Levesque was closing on leader Mdevy going into the final lap, but ended up in a horrendous crash. "They were telling me I was getting closer to Josh," said a disappoi.nted Levesque, "so I was going for it, but I did this horrible crash and decided to' just back off." This left the door wide open for Mclevy, earning him his second overall this year. Norton was still back in fourth, but determined to catch someone - anyone and that happened to be McCann. GRAND CHAMPION, 1. Josh Mclevy (Hon). OIA A; 1. Arthur Menz

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