Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS AM T AH Scram sS A/NE R are ble eries, Round 5 .--.., EDITED BY CAMERON COATNEY 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - ----' Mo one y put in a good b attl e near the end , w ith both rid ers fini sh in g in th e top 10. Cl arke also won the 250cc Expert class, wi th Mooney coming in second . Jeff Staples, who had been runni ng in the top 10 earlier in the d ay, finis hed third in the 250cc class . In th e Expert 200cc class, it was Hans N eff and Steve Formanek battling till the end, wi th Neff taki ng th e cl a ss win by m ere seco n d s . The Am ate u r class saw H ond a rid er Ch ris to pher Cra mer taki ng the Amateur hig h-poin t honors. Hi s closest com pe tition wa s S teve De yo . Oeyo won th e 250cc Amateur cla ss, fo llowed by Rob ert Ca rlson. The Juni or eve nt, held ea rlier in the day, ran only two laps of a shorter 8-mile course. Drew Car penter took a commanding lead right off the line, taking the class w in by more than 30 seco nd s. Nathan Kanney and Boyd Bower battled it out till the end, with Kanney taking second place by only seven seconds over Bower. Ro bert Rowe had no problem winning the Mini class, grabbing the checkered flag wi th six minutes on sec ond-placed William Rowe. The Novi ces ran three laps of th e 8-mile course, with Cra ig Ab endroth s m o king th e competition and takin g th e Novice high- point honors. '" By Cheri Allx Phot o by Jay Chitt enden TIlOMASTON, cr. JUNE IS o n n i e ' s Cycl e' s Tod d Levesque literally dusted th e co m p e titio n at th e AMA /NETRA Oam Good Hare Scrambles, taking his first win of the season . More th an 350 riders descended o n the Th omaston Dam for the event, which featured a course tha t started out in th e flood pl ain behind th e Darn and then c rossed th e access road and into the hills before head ing back down into the flood plain. The low-lying sections of the 10.5-mile course we re n o th i n g b u t d ry, silty whoops, so me of which were close to 5 fee t deep , with the highe r elevations being hilly and full of rocks, with a few long , dusty straightaways. The s ta rt w as laid o u t in a s m a ll field with an off-camber righthand turn straig h t into the whoops. When the flag dropped for the five-lap main even t, it wa s Factory Co nnec tio n / Pirelli / Braking-sponsored Levesque ge tt i ng th e hol es ho t. P.J. Pec u lis, Ra nd y McCan n a nd Jaso n Cayer we re d ose behind, o nly to ge t dusted o u t once they tu rned the comer into the whoops. Th e d ust wa s th ick , and tw o rid ers - Luke McNeil an d Ken Law - lost sight of the tra il. Law di d a m a jo r e n do ove r a log bu t was able to continue , wh ile Mcl'deil wasn't as lu cky : He cras hed real ha rd , kn ock in g h imse lf o u t 'a n d bruising his back. Levesqu e had a dust-fre e path in fro n t of h im, which allowed him to pu ll a 10-second lead by the time he crossed th e roa d and hit the rock section. By th e end of th e first lap, Levesq ue had put 40 seconds on secondp la ced McC ann . Peculis wa s no w in third place, back anot her 20 seco nds, followed b y C aye r an d Tom ' No r to n. Levesque wa~ hold ing a good pace of 30 m i nu te s p er la p , bu t McC a n n h ad pi cked up the pace and wa s d osi ng in. By the time th e riders came arou nd a t the end of the second lap, McCann had closed the gap to only 30 seconds . When the riders ca']'e into the pits, which we re two miles from the barrels, Levesq ue' s lead was down to 20 seconds, which he soo n los t in the pits, as McCann came in befo re he finis hed gassing . No rton, wh o was now in thi rd place, was also dosing in, arriving in the pits only 10 seconds behi nd the departing leader. Peculis was ba ck a n other m inute and a ha lf, fo llowed by Cayer. A few Expert riders had 'now moved up into the top 10. Ken Valentine, from the Open cl ass, was no w in seven th place overall, and Jeff Sta ples and Kris Moon ey, bo th ridi ng in the Expe rt 250cc class, w er e in sixth and ninth , respectively. ~ 56 Dam Good Hare Scra mbles Thomaston. Connecticut Resuns : June15,1 997 C R AN D C H A M P: Todd Lev es que (Yam,) . The three front-ru nner s hung together for several miles into the third la p, until they crossed the road back into the bl ind in g dus t. McCann, w ho a lways seems to do well in the wide-open sectio ns , took ad vantage of the dust and passed Levesq ue on the first st raightaway, taking over the lead for the second time during the race . Levesque was able to ho ld off No rton for th e re mainder of the lap, but o nly by a few sec o nd s. McCann managed to put 20 seconds on the two as the y completed the thi rd lap. Fou rth p lace was still being held b y Peculis, but Valenti ne and Cayer were dosing in fast. As the riders headed out for the fifth and final lap , it looked like it would be one of the closest r aces of th is year. McCann, Levesque and Norton we re all within 10 seconds as the t h ree riders came around the pits for the final time. Norton , who was th e on ly rider not runni ng a large gas ta nk, had to pit for a splash of gas before headi ng out for the final eight miles, losing 20 seco nds . But by the time th e three h it th e security (Abo ve) Todd Levesque battled to a ha rdfought win at the Dam Good Hare Scrambles In Connect icut. check halfway in to the lap, they we re all back to within six secon ds of each other. Leve sq ue knew tha t he had to pass McCann before they crossed over into the dust. It was in the last rocky sectionthe 'sa me place he made the move o n M cCann ea r lier in the race - that he grabbed the lead and never looked back. Levesque just twisted the throttle back as far as it wo uld go, taki ng the checkered flag with a minute lead. McCann kept Norton at bay for the remainder of the lap, taking second place, with No rton finishing third. Ken Valentine passed bo th Cayer and Peculis on the final la p, ta king fo u rth place o verall, along with the Expe rtclass high-point ho nors. Cayer rounded out the top five, ed ging out Peculis, who crashed hard d uring the final half of the event, causing him to fall off the pace. Expert 250cc rid ers Wes Clarke and Kris OI A A: Ken Valen tine CKTMI. OI A 8 : Oui~toplkoor Crattlt'T( Hon) . OI A C: CMig Abt-ndrot h (Ka w ). AA : 1. Ra nd y McCa nn (K,;t w) ; 2. To m Norton (KTM); 3. Jason Cay"" (CR E>;4. P.JP«U!is (Yam); 5. Art Mem.el ( l<.Iw). 125 C: 1. Brian Wozniak ( )(.aw ); 2. Mik ' jeri tere (Ya m); 3. Chri~ Dow nie (Hon): 4. Stev en Blan gearo (Kaw l; 5. Brian l"lrro (Kawl. 200 A : 1. Han , Ne ff (KTM); 2. Steve Formanek ( Ka w); 3. Brett Costello (Yam); " . GI("p Bn~ ham ; 5. Nci1 Dennett (Yaml . 200 8 : 1. Han el Asscllm (Hon); 2. David Bra ney (Yam): 3. Eri c Rou gea u (Yam); 4. Scott Harwood (Hon); 5. Larry Silvia (Ka w ). 100 C: 1. Rich.l rd Lessard (Ka w ); 2. Todd Fria s (K.1w ); 3. Robert Hart (Kaw); 4. Keith Roberts (Kaw); S. Mike Trzcin ski (Kaw l. 250 A: 1. We s C larke (Ya m) ; 2. Kri s Moo ney (Yam); 3. Je ff Stap les (Ho n ); 4. Sa m veedceo (KTM)j 5. Bruce Yuill (Yam). 250 B: 1. Steve Dcyo (SU7.); 2. Rob e rt Ca rlso n (5uz ); 3. Kev in Hubbar d (Yam); 4. Davi d D ark (Hon); S. Aus tin Jalbert (Y.lm). 250 C: 1. Kurt Wri gh t (Ka w); 2. Brian Sta nna rd (Ka w); 3. Josh ua Beebe (Ho n ); 4. Steve Kecskes (Kaw ); S. John M.1tte (Suz). OPEN A: 1. Roger Billhan: (KTM); 2. Jim Simcoek (KTM>; 3. Mark Burdick (KTM). OP EN B: 1. Oan Sal amon e ( KT M); 2. Case y Griswold (KTM); 3. seeven Shepard (KTM). O PEN C: 1. Ch ris Pan zella (Hon ); 2. Paul Slat er (Ha n): 3. MiChael Powell (Ho n); 4. Carl Jepson (Hon ); 5. Lome Caralnik (Hon) . VET A : 1. Ken Held (Yam); 2. Peeer Anti na rello (Hon); 3. John Faney (Ho n). VET B: 1. Lan ce Longo (Su z ); 2. Robert White (CR E); 3. Bruce Ha wes (Ho n); 4. see ce Alne5 (Suz ); 5. Eric Rrinh.ttd (](ThO. VET C: 1. Stephen Morris (Suz); 2. ~ Knud 5C'l\ (Hon); 3. Michael Serrilla (Yam ); 4. Doug Calley (KTM ); 5. Michael Litwin (K.1w). 4·STRK A: I. Phili p Le mere (H a n); 2. C h a r le-s Burdick (Hon); 3. Jerry Shinncr5 ( KiJ,w). 4-- TRK B: 1. Cus Bender ( Hon). S 4--STRJCC: 1. Moltt Ginn--ard (Hus); 2. William Reiss (5u z); 3. David Williams (Hon); 4. Stephen Sherman (Hon): 5. r.trid. Mouphy (Hon). SR A: 1. Steve Formane k ( Ka w ); 2. Sco tt Woifeshomer; 3. James Simonr (Han). SR B: 1. Robert Foster (Han) ; 2. Ouis Faha n (Ha n); 3. L.tny Piers(Yam). SR C: 1. Bill Fasc:hlo'!' (Ka w); 2. Mark Jolley (Kaw); 3. Pau l Barbour (Ho n); 4. Stephen Messenger (Kaw ); S. Char letl Kennedy (Suz). WM N: I. S.llIy Ha ber (Ka w ); 2. He id i La nde n (Kaw); 3. Sw.an u&mme (Ka w ); 4. Dawn Silvia

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