Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS EDITED BY CAMERONCOAmEY Ire SCrambles Series, Round 6 ti nued trad ing pla ces, never allowi ng the ot her rider to get more tha n five second s ahead, until th e fourt h la p w he n Lawson d id a ho rr end ou s en do. His bike was to ta led but, lu ckily, he only needed a few stitches above his left eye. Formanek went on to win the class an d fin is hed ninth overa ll . Finis h ing jus t ahead of Formanek was Exp er t 250cc rider Brian O'Neil, who took the Expert class High-Point honors in eighth overall. Thor's Russell Bain had to pus h his bi ke th e la st 100 ya rd s throug h th e water hole to the barrels on the seventh lap . Unable to continue for the final!ap d ue to th e fa ct tha t his rea r ti re w as spinning off the rim , his clutch w as smoked , and his front tire was flat - he had to just sit and hope the leaders came around before anyone else in his class did . Luckily, the rest of his class was lapped by the leaders, earning him the Expert Vet-class win. The Ju nior event ra n earlier in the day, and had some heavy com pe tition between Dr ew Carpenter and Derek Phel ps . The two riders stayed within 15 seconds of each other all day . Ph e lps held the lead for the first two laps, with Ca rpenter taking command on the third lap - which he held till the end, edging out Phelps by only two seconds. ,:\ By Cheri Ale x . Photo by Jay Chittenden UNION, cr, JUNE 29 ~ fter an almost d isast rous first lap, ~ Man chester Honda's Josh McLevy ralli ed ba ck in the second ha lf to take the ove rall for the day at the Connecticut Sta te H a re Sc ram b les, round six of th e A M A I N ET RA Hare Scramb les Series. The lack of rai n for several months had left the track extreme ly dusty. The club had spen t many weeks bu lldozing th e rea lly nast y sections and clearing rocks . The e-mile course, once infam ous for being a giant single-track rock garden, has become mos tly two-track gravel road s with a few w hooped-out sec- 40 tio ns a nd silty pi ne g roves . Bu t one thing still remains: the wa ter hole which has been known to d row n ou t many a rider. With the sta rt ing area limited to an access road, the Connecticut Slate Ha re Scra mb les u tilizes a Bla ckw at er-styl e start. The first five rows are reserved for the top AA riders, with four riders on a row, lined up by their previous year-end standings . Each line start s at five-second interval s w it h a one-minute gap be twe en classe s . KTM /Torco / Cliff Cycl e ' s Tom N or to n , Sp e ct ro l Axo l Lin k' s McLevy and GP Racin g-backed P.J. Peculis all lined up on the front row. Th e secon d r u w was co m p ris ed of Patri ck Timothy , Da ve Gunn a n d Arthur Menzel. Peculis w as fi rst off t he line but didn't ge t 75 feet befor e his fro n t tire w ashed ou t a nd he cra she d , la nding und er h is bike. Norton ski d ded to a stop, wedging his bike between Peculis' rear fender and tire. McLevy just missed the pileup wh ile skidd ing off to the left. Barreling d ow n o n the two riders was the next line of three riders. "I turned arou nd to stop everyone from running us over in the dust," Norton said . "And all I saw were three bikes sk id d ing sideways, head ing right for us." Luckily, everyo ne skidded off into ' the wood s and mad e it aroun d the two d owned riders, bu t now Norto n and Peculis were back u p and running in fifth and 10th place, respectively. This was n' t the only near-disaster the riders would encounter on the first lap. A tra il was ro u ted aro und a section called Suicide Hill for the Novice eve nt run earlie r in the day. The barrier to cut off this trail was not put in place, but the a rro w s pointi ng tow ard Su ici de Hill were left in place; McLevy, Timothy and No rto n all tnok the long route, along with a t le ast 20 o ther Expert rid e rs. McCann , Cayer and several other riders all followed the correct course. Randy McCann and McLevy were the first two rid ers to come out at the co nnecti n g point, mi ssing each other by inches . Timothy and Norton both saw the incident and slammed on the brak es just in time to pass Cayer coming d own the hill. The secti on was finally ribboned off by the next lap, preventing any further mi sh aps. By th e en d of th e firs t la p , McCann, who had started on the third ro w , was o u t in fr ont, followed b y McLevy and then Cayer in third. Timothy was ba ck 10 seconds in fourth, followed by Norton and Pecu lis, The second la p rem a in ed th e sa me, wit h no rid er able to pull any time on the pa ck. Bu t the third la p p ro ved a d iff erent story. McCann slid out in a berm, allow ing McLevy to get by on the outside . Timothy also moved asid e to let Norton by. It was now McLevy , McCann, Cayer and Norton all pushing out in front . By the end of the lap, the four riders had put Josh McLevy (2) won the NETRA Connecticut State Hare Scramb les. more tha n 40 seconds on fift h- p laced Timo thy, and no one was letting up. "I knew 1 had to put so me tim e on McCann before we pitted at the end of the fou rth lap," McLevy said after the race. "I just pushed it as ha rd as I cou ld to get away." At the end of the fourth lap, McLevy had the 15-second lead on McCann that he needed. Cayer was still holdin g onto third p lace, but back another 30 seconds. Norton never got to finis h the fou rt h lap, experiencing his th ird mechanical failur e in as many races . It was now Timothy in fourth place, wi th Expe rt Open rider Ken Valent ine close behind. Peculis had moved up in to sixth place, but would end up dro pping ou t on the fifth lap. Th e final four laps w ere down to McLevy and McCann. "1 kn ew I had en ou g h distance between us once I didn't hear McCann's bike an ymore, " McLe vy said . " I just kep t my pace and didn't think about the heat - just tried to stay cool." His stra tegy worked, and 'by the end o f th e fif th lap McL evy h a d put a minute on McCann , which he continu ed to increase, tak ing th e checkered flag with a two-minute lead . Cay er hu ng it ou t for third place, finishing back another mi nu te. Vale n tine had been in conten tion for third ove ra ll until his bike seized going into the final lap . Valenti ne had to settle for first place in the Expert Open class . Round ing out the top five were Stehley-backed Timothy 'and Jerry Madore. In the Expert 200cc class, it w as a n all-out battl e betw een Steve Formanek and Brian Lawson. The two riders con- Connecticut State Hare Scrambles Union, Connecticut Results: June 29, 1997 GRAND OlAMP ION: [osh McLevy (Hon ). O /A A; Brian (YNeil. O /A B: John Brow n (KT M) . O /A C: Joshua Beebe (Ho n). AA:. 1. Rand y McCann (Ka w); 2. Jason Cay er (CRE); 3. Pa trick Tim o th y (Ka w ); 4 . Jerry Mad ore (Ya m ); 5. Bria n Tu cker (KTh.1). 125 C: 1. Brian Pirro (Ka w); 2. Kevin Kessler (Hen): 3. Tony Muschellc (Kaw); 4. Ma r Wa ilonis (Ka w); 5. Mike Wozniak (Ka w) . 200 A: 1. Ste ve Formanek (Kaw); 2. Sha wn Mason (Yam ); 3 . Denn y An derson (Kaw): 4. Brett Co ste llo (Yam ); 5. Hans Ne ff (KTM). 200 B: 1. Jim Se necal IKaw): 2. Lione l Asselin Jr. (H o n ); 3. Eric Ro ugeau (Ya m); 4. Brian Wozniak (Kaw); 5. David Popiclski (Kaw ). 200 C: 1. Ryan Jum p (Ka,w ); 2. Rich a rd Less ard (Ka w) ; 3. Richa rd Merrill ( Ka w ); 4 . Andre Cu~hin g ()(aw); 5. Jeff Ducharme (K.1,w). 25(1 A: 1. Charles T imo thy (Han); 2. Jeff Staples (Hun); 3. Kris Mooney (Yam ); 4. Bruce Yuitl (Yam) . 2SO B: 1. St ev e Deyo (Suz); 2. Da ve Clark (H on), 3. Wabuta; .... Evt'1'l"tt May na rd Jr.i S. jaso n Barrett. 25() C: 1. Eric Cooley (Kdw); 2. Stev e Keeskes (Ka w); 3. Michael St'rrilla (Yam ); 4. Chri!; La Rosa (Kaw ); 5. G~ Kurt Wright (Ka w ). V ET A: 1. Russ ell Bam (Han); 2. Scott Raymond (Ka w) ; 3. Peter Anti na relli (H on) ; 4. Kenneth Held. VET B: 1. Lance Longo (Su z); 2. Bob White (eRE); 3. Ste ve Labrecowe (KTM ); 4. Craig Pra tt (Suz): 5. Gerald Gnmd riam (Hu s). VET C: 1. Raymo nd Crane Jr . (Kaw); 2. Will ia m Kelly Jr. (Ha n); 3. Jeffe~ Gran t (Hu n); 4. Jamt"S Mena rd (Ya m); 5. Michae l Litwin (Ka w). O PEN A: 1. Ken Valentine (KTM); 2. Jim Simrod; (KTM); 3. Josh Hackett (Han). OPEN B: 1. Steven Skepp.1 rd (KTM ); 2. Don Mosher (KTM): 3, Dan Hayes (KTM). O I'EN c: 1. C h ri s Pa nze lla (Han ); 2. S teve Os te rg a rd (Hon); 3. Rog er Cra nd al l (Hon); 4. Mike Brad ruy ( Kl'M); 5. Lome Coralnik (Hon). SR A: 1. ja mes Simon e (Ka w ): 2. John Du nn (Kaw); 3. Steve Wil co x (Su z ). SR B: 1. Larry Piers (Yam); 2. Chris Fahan (Han); 3. Gerald Labe lle (I(a w )i 4. Robe rt San theson (Yam). SR C: 1. Paul Saqueete (Ka w); 2. Ma rk Jolley (Kaw); 3. Tim Sylvester (Yam ); 4. Paul Barbo ur (H un); 5. Pa ul Phelps1KTM). S/SR: 1. David Verdette. 4-STR K B: 1. Gu~ Bender (Han); 2. To m Moo ney (Ha n). 4-STRK c: 1. Jon Thompson (H an); 2. jim welsh (Han); 3. Bill Reiss (Suz); 4. John Morrison (Han); 5. Eric Poirot (Han). WMN: 1. sau y Haber (Kaw ); 2 . Pam McCann (Kaw ); 3. H eidi Lando n (Kaw): 4. Susan LaRamme (K.aw ). MINI: 1. Rob Rowe (Ka w); 2. Robe rt Langenbad (Hon); 3. Will Rowe ( Ka w ); 4. Brian Choquette (Hon) ; 5. Adam Sim cock (Han). ,R: 1. Dr ew Ca r pen ter (Suz ); 2. Derek Pb elpe (KTM>; 3. Boyd Bower (Yaml; 4. Mike Peristere (YanU; S. Brian Sebben (Y am) . ,

• Cover