Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

..HARE SCRAMBLE· . . AIIA'Natiot'la/ Ctlamplonship Hare Scramble.Series Round 8: Leadbelt National Hare Scrambles (Left) Rodney smith caught and passed his Suzuki teammate Steve Hatch to wtn the Leadbelt National Hare Scrambles In Park Hills, Missouri, .and clinch a second AMA National Hare Scrembles Championship. (Below) Hatch (right) and Smith give the thumbs up after the finish. Hatch finished second behind his teammate after leading much of the rece before surrendering the point in the final run to the line. , By Cindy Lemere PARK HILLS, MO, ocr. 20 merican Suzuki/Moose/FMF's Rodney Smith wrapped up his second career National Hare Scrambles Championship at St. Joe's State Park during round eight of the series, the Leadbelt National Hare Scrambles. . There was no bottle of bubbly on hand or a round of ovation from the more than 400 spectators to acknowledge this feat. Smith simply pulled into his pits to receive a hug and the thumbs up from teammate and close friend Steve Hatch. And that was that, but Smith has never been the flashy type, even though he has been the leader through the entire series. The simple congratulations bandied about by a few admirers fit the mood and the rider. Smith really had very little comment on his championship performance. "[ came here today to beat Steve," Smith said plainly. "It didn't matter who else won today as long as I came in ahead of Steve and won the championship today. It's hard (beating Steve) because we are such good friends, and we train and ride together all the time." Hatch had even more praise for the champ than Smith himself. "He's a great competitor and great friend," Hatch said. "You couldn't ask for anyone better, and he really worked hard for the two championships he's got. I'm learning a lot, and he (Smith) has taught me a lot. I definitely have to thank him for the last four years of taking me under his wing, helping me. He taught me most everything I know. He didn't have to do that." Unlike Smith's prior wins, when he breezed across the finish line minutes ahead of his nearest competitor, today's outcome was left to the very end of the fourth and final lap, actually the last 800 yards of the 17.1-mile course. And the man to challenge Smith to the bitter end was none other then teammate Hatch, whose narrow loss was too close to count, even with the computer technolo- gy the promoting club, the Missouri Mudders, had on hand to score the event. The posted starting time was 12:30 p.m. for the 210 riders who signed up. Weather conditions were absolutely perfect for a three-hour hare scrambles with bright sunny skies and a cool 65 degrees with a nice breeze to keep the riders vented. There were 19 AA riders on hand ready to give it their best shot when the flag dropped. And, like a repetition of Indiana from several weeks ago, Suzuki's "Holeshot" Hatch claimed top honors for the first to leave the line and led the pack around the spectator pond, which was about eight-tenths of a mile around. Hatch was followed up close by several local Missouri riders and the rest of the pack was pretty much obscured in the extremely dusty start. As the group hit the first turn around the pond, the two following Hatch tangled together and landed in the dirt. Emerging out of the mayhem of dust and riders behind Hatch was Smith, Mac Cycle/White Knuckle Racing-backed Rob Kopp, and trailing in fourth was Brian Garrahan. The real surprise of the start came in the form of KTM's Scott Plessinger, who had a dead-last start. "I wasn't even ready for the start," Plessinger said. "I didn't even have my foot on the kick start." As the leaders entered the woods after crossing the wide-open sandy flats, Smith had closed the gap between himself and Hatch, while Garrahan had passed by Kopp for third. Garrahan grabbed a handful pf throttle and moved up on the two Suzuki riders in hopes of keeping them in his sights. What Garrahan hadn't counted on was Plessinger, who was steadily marching his way up through the ranks. Plessinger made use of his high-caliber riding skills by not only making a smooth, clean pass on Garrahan but reeling in Smith and passing him as well. Hatch was next in the pecking order, and Plessinger soon had him. reeled in. Hatch looked over his shoulder, saw Plessinger trying to overtake him and turned up the pace. Farther back in the ranks, running seventh and eighth, were Jason Dahners and Eric Mashbir. After the first lap, it was the Hatch/Plessinger combination through in front with Smith about 30 seconds back. He in turn was followed in by Garrahan, Leigh Letellier, Kopp, Dahners and Mashbir. Dahners was the only one to make a brief pit stop for goggles. Dahners' Rolloff canister had been jammed open by a branch, spilling the film all around him like spaghetti. When Dahners attempted to rip off the streaming roll of film, the lens ripped out of his goggles, leaving him without goggles for the entire first lap. Dahners caught back up to Kopp on the back straightaway of the pond and luck went his way as right before the duo entered the woods, Kopp wiped out and Dahners flew by. "After that, I just put my head down and tried to ride as smooth as I could," Dahners said. "By the end of the second lap, 1 caught Garrahan at the gas. My pit stop was a little bit faster than his, so I got out right behind him. We crossed the flats together and I went into the woods right behind him. "We came to this sector where I had the opportunity to take this line off to the right," he continued. "I took it and came out ahead of Garrahan and never saw him again after that. That's funny because right before the race, Garrahan said to me that his goal for today was just to keep me in sight." Dahners was not the only rider to better his position in the field on the second lap. Smith had moved up behind Hatch when Plessinger had moved over and let him go by. "After Plessinger let me by, I knew that I had to reel in Steve," Smith said. "We were coming into this ridge section on the last three or four miles of the course. I was a little bit faster here then Steve, and I caught up to him and actually passed him. I moved into the lead at the end of the second lap." The end of the second lap also saw Smith, Hatch, Garrahan and Dahners all pit simultaneously. But where was Plessinger? Most of the AA riders had now completed the second lap before Plessinger finally put in an appearance, and it wasn't to pit. Plessinger dismounted his bike, leaned it up against his van • and called it a day. "On the second lap, I went out and everything seemed to be working pretty good, but pretty soon Rodney got by and then I clipped a rock and crashed," Plessinger said. "I crashed again and Jason got by me. I just wasn't having a good day and decided to call it quits. It was my weekend to have bad luck. I've been doing good for the last three weeks racing Nationals and G Cc. '1 decided to give Steve and Rodney a break and let them have it easy this week," Plessinger added with a laugh. Qut on the third lap, it was Smith's tum to take a soil sample with a crash which ended up with Hatch sailing by. In the tight woods sections, it was obvious that Hatch was the faster of the two, and he really used this to his advantage by wicking it up to put some ground between himself and Smith. Mashbir, who had worked his way up to fifth, also suffered his share of woes as he smashed his rear brake caliper and lost his rear brake for the remainder of the race. Mashbir sank back to seventh. The end of the third saw Hatch, Smith, Dahners, Garrahan, Kopp, letellier, Mashbir and Blair Bersano running in that order. The AA riders were so busy concentrating on where everyone was in their own respective classes that few noticed Bersano was working his way up

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