Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMAINETRA H S are crambleSeries, Round 1 0 By Cheri Alix UXBRIDGE, MA, AUG. 31 n swer' s Tom Nor ton and hi s KTM 200 are o n a tea r: Norton took his th ird straight NETRA ~ win in as man y rounds at the Hoot Owl Har e Scrambles. It was th e sec ond runnin g o f the Hoot Owl, but yo u' d never guess it was th e same co u r se . Th e previous race, which wa s held in the sp ring, wa s nothing but mud and ruts. With the d r y summer and a few course ch anges, it wa s a comp letely d ifferent scene on th e IO-mil e cour se that wa s d ryas a bo ne, w ith on ly on e mudhole. Sec tions tha t wer e previ ou sly im possible we re now d ry and rocky. Ar ea s tha t were previous ly underwater were now fast, dusty straightaways. N ine riders lined up on the AA row and the start sent them arou nd a sma ll field se ctio n be fo re h eading up a hill and ove r a ledge. Th ey were th en fun nel ed thro ugh two rock w a ll s before cr ossin g ov er a dirt road and into the woods. When th e flag dropped, it was Team Green's Patrick Timothy grabbing th e h ole shot. Right beh ind h im in a cloud of dust w ere Todd Levesque, Josh McLevy, Jason Cayer, Tom Norton and Ken Law . Cayer went down on the first stone wall, turning fourth place over to KTM ' s Norton. Timothy' s lead didn't la st h alf a mile befo re h e a lso went down, allowing Moose /Sc o tt's Levesque to take over the lead. By the time the riders completed the first 4-mile section a nd crossed back over the dirt roa d an d th rough the starting field, it wa s an all-out battle between th e top five rid ers. Levesque still had th e lead wi th on ly a few seconds over Spectro / Link-sponsored McLe vy , Norton, Law and Timothy. They weren't far into the second section before the lead- ers began changing pla ces. McLevy was the first to fall back, pinging off a rock, which allowed No rton and Law to m ove ahead. With the rid ers so close together, any little mistake meant a position. Norton d iscovered this when he blew a corner in a co rnfield and Law slid by and in to second place. At the end of the first lap, i t was Levesque leading, followed by Law, Norton and McLevy, wh o were all separated by only 10 seconds. Levesque pu lled in for gas, mov in g Law to th e lead, with Norto n o n ly three seco n d s back. Levesque pitted qu ickly and was ab le to get back o ut jus t ahead of th e fourthp lace rider, McLevy. Timo thy was back an other 30 seconds in fifth pla ce. Law and No rto n had p u lled a few seco n d s o n the rest of th e lead p a ck whe n Law got sideways on a hillclimb and ended up coming back d ow n the hill - in Norton's line. The two avoided crashing, b u t Le ves q u e was allowed enough.tim e to catch and pa ss both ride rs, once again takin g o ve r th e lead. No rton m a d e it o ut ri ght behind Levesque, followed by McLevy and then Law . "I got right on Levesq ue and started pressuring him ," Nort on sa id. "At the o nl y mud hol e, Levesque went in and al mo st endoed . I went over th e bridge and got by him - just barely." The two hu n g together for a few m iles; then Norto n's bike kicked up a piece of log that went into Levesque's fron t s p o kes, ta k in g h im down and knocki ng o u t a fe w sp o kes i n th e p rocess. By the end of the seco nd lap, Levesque had d ropped back to thi rd, 10 seconds behind McLevy in second place. Norton then moved o ut in fron t an d put 20 seconds on McLevy. Law was hold ing on to fourth place, but wa s falli ng off the pace and starting to get pressure fro m Timothy. Timothy cau gh t and passed Law for fou rth ha lfway into the thi rd lap, and put more than a minute on him by th e end of the lap . Norton was also m oving o ut fro nt, i nc r ea sing his lead ove r McLev y to o ve r 30 se co nds. Levesque wa s sti ll in third pl ace, down only 10 seconds to McLevy . After just under tw o ho urs of racing, it w as N o rt on taking th e ov er all w in with a one-minute cushion over second p laced M cLevy . Th i rd p la ce went to Timothy after passing Lev esque o nly 100 yar ds from the scoring barrels. "1could hear him behind me but I figu red we we re so close to the end, he'd never be able to pass me," Levesq ue said after the race. "But I slid out in the fin al comer and he passed me." Law rounded ou t the top five . Tak· ing th e Expert-Cl ass win an d finishi ng eighth o verall wa s Open Expert rid er Ken Va le n t i ne. H a n s N e ff, 125 cc · Expert rid er, al so fini sh ed in the top l a, takin g ninth for the day, as well as th e 125cc Expe r t cl ass w in . Yam aha · 125 rider Brian Law son took se con d in the U See cla ss. In the Amateur division, it was Chris Penzella taking th e overall vic tory. The Juni ors ran two laps on the complete course earlier in the day, and Drew Carpenter o nce again showed his wi nning form by taking the class win with 40 se conds o ver seco nd p lace. Derek Phelps and Nathan Kan ney battled it ou t righ t to th e finis h line, with Phelps takin g second place by only three sec onds. Boyd Brower came around to finish another 20 seco nds back in fourth. 0 Hoot Ow l Hare Scra mb les Uxbndge, Massachusehs Results : August 31. 1997 G RAND OIAMP: JOl'h McLrvy (KTM). OIA A: Ken Vallmti~ (KTM). OIA B: Q\ri~ Penzella. OIA C: JimWalsh (H en), AA : 1. Jo sh Mc Lev y (H on ); 2. Pat ri ck Timo th y (Abo ve left) KTM' s Tom Norto n ove rcame a mediocre start and heavy dust t o win the second ennual Hoot Owl AMAINETRA Hare.Scra mblea In Uxbri dge, Massachusetts. (Abo ve) Todd Levesque overcame elaterace endo to f ini sh third overall beh ind J osh McLevy. (Kaw); 3. Tod d. Levesque (Yam ); 4. Ken Law (Yam); 5. Arth ur Menzel (Kaw). US C : 1. Ja'OOn Ruotolo (H o n); 2. D avid Harri s ( KT M ); 3 . Mic hael B U !lh ~y (Suz); 4 . Cah·b Kan n...y (Yam ); 5. Shaun Pim ental (KTM). 200 A: 1. H ans Neff (KTM); 2. Brian La wson (Yam ); 3. Gltmn Brigham (Ho n ). 200 B: 1. Lionel Assel tn (Ho n ); 2. Dan iel Nelson (Suz); 3. Albe rt Joachin (Yam); 4. Brian Woz nia k (Kaw ); S. Ryan Dtolla ghelea (Yam) . 200 C: 1. Rohtort Ha rt (K.aw); 2. Rick Blei (Kaw ); 3. Mathew Th oma :'! (Ka w]. 4. Larry Ro Ua (Kaw); S. Joel Lombra (Ka w) . 250 A: 1. Charles Tim o thy (Hon ); 2. Mi ke Le w is CH ); 3. Robert Carlson (Suz ): 4. Brian O'Neil (Kaw ). on 250 B: I. Scott Robert (Hon); 2. Josh Beebe (Hon ); 3. Greg Mes sier (Yam ); 4. John Ca rdozo (KTM ); 4. Lu ke DawllOn (Ya. ). m 250 C: 1. Edwa.rd Ba.r ter (Hus ); 2. Pat rick Kuerner (Yam ); 3. Jarnt."!l Arwllo Jr. (Hun); 4. Eric Dahl (J..'TM); 5. Vinny Leonardo (H0Il ~ VET k 1. 1..- Pelletier (Hon),: 2. Mark Whi l~ (Suz),: 3. Ken Hd d (Yam ); 4. Scott Raymond (Kaw ). VET B: 1. Craig Pratt (Suz); 2. Lance Longo (Suz); 3. Dave~ubS( Hon ). VET C: 1. Dale Wager (Kaw ); 2. Steven Pop als ky (Hon); 3. Rob...rt Rowe Sr. (Kaw ); 4. Jim Menard. (Yam); 5. MicNd Ca lderon (Yam). O PE.'Il A:. 1. Jim Simad (KTM); 2. Roger BiIlha.n (KThf); 3. Dan Salomorw (KTM ). OP EN 8 : 1. Lo rne G arolmik (Hon); 2. Case y Griswold (KTM),; 3. Peter MattPau. O PEN C: 1. Roger Crandall (Hon); 2. Eric Po irot (Hon); 3. Rid\ard Ze leznik (K.lw ); 4. R~rt ~~n (Hon~ I- STRK A: I . Jerry SIunners. 4·S T RK B: 1. A u stin Jal be rt (Hon ); 2 . N a th an Hu bbMd (Han). 4-STRIC C: 1. Patrick Murphy (Hon);:2. David Cram (Hon); 3. Bryan Cool. D ('I-b1 ). S R A: 1. Steve Formanek (K.lw); 2. John Dunn (l(.>w ~ SR C: 1. Paul Caourit~ (Ka w ); 2. Gu y Ma rcotte (Yam); 3. Mike J.lJwhow81ci (Yam ); 4. Q\arle Komnrdy (Suz~ V1NT: 1. DonaJd Christie Jr. WMN: I. Heidi L.1ndon (Ka w); 2. Susan LaFl.mune (Ka.w); 3. Da wn Silvia. (Kaw). M1Nl: 1. Rob e rt Ro w e Jr . (Ka w ); 2. Rob e rt L a n~en ba ck (Yam); 3. Bri a n Ch oquette (H o n); 4 . Wilha m Row e (Kaw); S. Scott Do:

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