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Team Hare S~ramble Championshipof the World
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•
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(Left) Barry
--..
Hawk takes
the checkered
Ilag at the
Team Hare
Sc ramble
Champions hip
olthe World
In Ohio . Haw k
teamed up
with Brian
Keegan to
take the wi n.
(Right)
Keeg an and
Doug
Blackwe ll
tangled on
the Ilrst lap.
Kev in Brown
went by on
the Inside.
By David L. Patton Jr.
ALBANY, OH,NOV. 1-2
ea rn Green Kawasa ki's Brian Keegan and Bro mley Su zuki's Ba rr y
[. ... Hawk j r . put in thr ee hours of
ne arly flaw less ridi ng to w in the 1997
Team Ha re Scramble Championsh ip of
th e Wo rld. T he 15 th runni ng of t he
Team Hare Scra m ble drew more than
200 teams over the two-day event.
The event's format includes a deadengine Le Mans-style start and pit stops
that require rid ers to pass off to eac h
o the r thei r tea m 's tag a nd ba r co d e,
w hic h are used to score the eve n t.
Mark Hyde teamed up with jeff Russe ll, and loca l favor it e Ke vin Brown
picked former Na tio na l Hare Scramble
Cha mpion Tony Hendon as his partner,
and th e four old- time rs in the Pro class
had a great battl e at the end of the day.
Anot her rider who has competed in pr evio us e vents is Tea m Su zuki' s La rr y
Pegram. Peg ram took time out from his
superbike testing to try to redeem himself
for a subpar performance two years ago.
Pegra m and teammat e Andy Branno n finished the race off the pace.
Action Sports promoter Drew Wolfe
s taged the r iders for their d ownhill
foo trace to th eir bikes. Scott Plessinger
was the first ride r to his bike, and he led
the field to the first turn . Keega n had his
Ka wasaki glu ed to Plessinger's rear
whe el as th e tw o GNCC stars tr ied to
break away from the field. Keega n's ru n
at th e front hit a snag in the tricky grasstrack sections.
"Gene O'Nail came across in fro nt of
me and wh en I tou ched the brakes, I slid
down:' Keega n said .
O'Nail's move put Keegan into sec ond, and Dou g Blackwell fell to the back
of the field after ge tting caught in Keegan's cra sh.
Pless ing er made the next mistake.
"I hit something and it nearly threw
me ov er the bars," Plessinger sa id .
Con ner mo ve d h is n um be r -on e
machine into the lead halfway through
the first lap, ahead of O'N ail, Hy de and
Blackwell. Conner took a wrong turn
and su rrendered the lead to Blackwell,
w ho was no t able 10 hold off Keegan,
who led Blackwell and Heath Bennett to
th e scoring barrels . Blackwell strung
toge ther two quick laps to take con trol
of th e race, a head o f Keegan a nd
Plessinger . Blackw ell has never won this
event and, when he handed the lead to
tea m m a te Scott McLaughlin, hi s prera ce strategy was working.
"I wa nt to get a big lead ea r ly and
crui se to the w in: ' Blackw ell had sa id .
Unfo rtuna tely, McLaug hlin ra n into
pr ob lems on his second lap on the 5.1mile course.
"j ason Dah ners caught m e o n m y
second lap and passed me wh en I we nt
to pass a lapper and hit a stump o r a
log : ' McLau ghlin sa id . "It s hot m e
straight into a tree wid e open, wrappi ng
me around the tree: "
McLau gh lin got back to the pits, but
his last two ridi ng sti nts were tou gh as
he tried to compete wi th an injured hip.
Dahn er s was tearing up the course ,
and the pre-rac e favorites were looking
unbeatable until lap 10. ''My throttl e cable
broke about a mile from the barrels on the
grass-track section before we looped back
into the woods," Dahners said . "I knew
exactly wha t it was , because it's happen ed
three times to me this year: "
Heath Bennett led lap 11, then tu rned
it over to teammate Robbie Jenks,
puttin g Conner into th e lead . Conner
p itted one lap la ter and Keegan took
ove r th e po in t position. Plessinger an d
Da hners ' cha nce for the wi n end ed on
the next lap, when they had to pit to put
gas in Plessinger' s bike - the mach in e
they had to share because of the broken
th rottle cable.
Ea r ly co n te n de r O'Naii fell b a ck
wh en a stu m p go t jammed in his brake
pedal , and his teammate Gary Roac h
had tw o b ig cra shes, slowi ng th e l r
cha rge to the front.
With all of the rid er swa ps , the last
three laps would decide the champio nshi p . Keega n rode one lap; th en he
ha d to hand the lead back to Hawk.
"On the fifth lap, a tree limb poked a
hole in my rad iator and 1had to pit:' Keegan said . ''We pu t pepper in it, but when
I went out on lap 10, it was still leaking. I
told Barry to go the rest of the way."
With two laps to go, Hawk hel d a 30second lead after Shephard and Conner
b obbl ed th e ta g excha n ge. Conn er's
c ha rge d id n ' t s ta r t o u t well: T w o
lapped rid ers cras hed rig ht in fro nt of
h i m, ta ki n g Con ner d own . Con n er
picked up his bike and cut Ha wk 's lead
d o wn to 24 seco nds as they too k th e
white flag .
"I rod e the last lap kamikaze-style: '
Conner said . "I knew 1 could catch up,
beca use I had been able to make up time
On nearl y everyone tod ay ."
Co nne r turned in the fast est la p of
the d ay to ru n d o wn H awk. As they
entere d th e g rass tr a ck , Hawk co u ld
hear Co nner's Yam aha ga ining on him.
Hawk kn ew what to d o wh en th e pr essure was on.
"I've ridden in a lot of big races, and
1 kne w if I tr ied to push in the g ra ss
track, I migh t fall: ' Hawk explained, "so
I backe d it down a little a nd tri ed to
ho ld the inside lines ."
Ha wk's last lap wa s his team's fastes t
lap of the ra ce, and w hen he passed a
lapped rider with tw o tu rn s to go , he
sew ed up the win .
. .
Co nner crossed the line three second s
behind after an ou ts tanding ride. Ben .nett sent jenks out for the las t lap, but
jenks wa s unlucky:
"I collided w ith a lapper wi th a m ile
to go, a nd P less in ger p asse d m e for
third: ' jenks said.
Blac kwell and McLaughlin claimed
. fifth place, ahead of Roach and O'Nail.
H yde passed Hend on on the next-to-last
lap , and th en Brown too k over for Hen do n. Brown screamed his 125cc Yama ha
around the course tryi ng to ca tch Hy de,
but Hyde held on for seve nth . Dou g
Rin ehart and Shawn Sommers edged
o u t Bu b Th oma s a nd M ike Cra ne to
round out the top 10.
Kee gan and Hawk celeb ra ted th eir
first championship.
"O ther than th e crash on the first lap,
our day went really well: ' sa id Keega n
as the y collected the winner's share of
."
the $4000 purse.
Team Hare SCramble
Albany. Ohio
Results: November 1-2, 1997
so (4-6): 1. Kyle Wolfe/ Josh Verity (KTM ); 2. Kiefer
Sta ndley / Andy Kin ni so n (KTM); 3. Cory Buttrick /
Daniel Wagon er (KTM).
50 17-8); 1. Devan Welch /M itchdl Reynolds (Act); 2.
Alle n N u tter (Le m) / Aaron Kli ne (Co b); 3 . Nathan
Savi ng / Brandon Willi am s (KTM ); 4 . And y Ma then y
(Act)/ Levi KiIbaI"KeJ" (Le m ).
MI NI JR: 1. D.R. Atwood (Yam) / Jos h ua C al ttc n
(Han); 2. Okey Johnson (Suz )/ Timo thy Ho llenbeck
(Han); 3. Mitchell Rcyn old ayjaccb Mohney .(K."a w ); 4.
Natha n Saving / Allen Nu tter (Ka w ).
MINI SR; 1. [erod Deehf/ Bra ndo n Shriner (Yam); 2.
Se th Pa tton (Ya m) / Jo <;hu il Knapp (H on ): 3_ Phi li p
Kinnison (Suz)/ Derek Co llins (Yam); 4. Kyle TCl"
I/
Casey Brown "(Yam) .
PRO: 1. Bria n Keega n (K.1W)/ & rry Ha wk Jr. (5uz);
r
2. Tim Shephard (Yarm/Duanc Conne (Yam); 3. Jaso n
D abnc r s (KTM) /Sco tt Pless ing er (KTM ); 4 . Hea th
Benne tt (Yam) / Robbie Jen ks (Yam); 5. Doug Blackwell
(Yam) / Scott McLa ug hlin (Y.1 m) ; 6 . Ge ne O 'Nail
(Kitw)/Ga ry RO<1ch (KTM); 7. Jct:f Ruce-l l (Y,m )/ Mar k
l
Hyde (Suz); 8. Kevin Bro wn (Yam)/Tony Hen don (S uz);
9. Doug Rine hart (Ya m) /Shawn Sommers (Yam); 10.
Bub Thoma s (Suz) / Mike Crane (Suz ).
L/W NOV : 1. Lee Wolf /J o s h Ro gers (Ke w): 2.
Trav is McA lN"/Travi s [arvis (Ya m); 3. Mike 5101'1..0/
John Ha rdesty ( H on): 4. j erem y Elkins /Nate Elki ns
CHon); 5. Casey Skinner/ Josep h Polen (Ka w ).
UW : 1. lewd Deahl/ Bran d en Sh rine r (Ya m); 2.
Sha ne Sim s / Pa t Pin kerto n (Ya m ); 3 . Scott
Klam foth /Bradl ey Smi th (e RE); 4. Brand on Ca rr / Joe
Webb (Yam).
HIW NOV : 1. Doug Wrigh t/1.L Kapton (Yam); 2.
'R
Sha n no n Tho ma s / Keith Vermill io n (Ka w); 3. Ja son
Smith/ Jamie Smith <
Yam); 4. Se-th Patto n/ Joshu a Knap p
(Y.1m); 5. Rond Rohr/Robt"rt Hyd e (Yam).
HI\V ; 1. Jt'ff Anderson/ Iarnie Thomf"'On (K