Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HARE SCRAMBLES AMA NAnONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HARE SCRAMBLES SERIES Final Round: Seattle International Raceway (Left) SuzukI's Steve Hatch took the win In the final round of the A MA Nati onal Champio nship Hare Scramble s seri es and finished s econd In the champion ship . (Below) Hatch (left) co ngratul ates Nati onal Hare Scrambles Champion Rodney Smith. Smith finis hed second on the day to clinch the champ io nship. with king of sta rts Ro b "Holes ho t" Lewis the only local rider eve n close. With two more waves safely away, the 150 racers settled into fairly p re dictable order. Smith, Ha tch, Dahners and Garraha n q uic kly pu t some d istance be tween themse lves and th e pack, w ith th e Kopps, Lykk e, Russell , Aro n Sykes a nd Furren es co m p ris ing the seco nd g rou p. Dahn er s pushed ha rd a nd split th e Suzu ki du o as th e second lap en ded, o nly to d ro p his new '98 KTM 250 in a pa ved ha ir pin and let Hatch back b y. Apparently, Dahners w ise ly d ecid ed to se tt le d ow n an d protect third pl ace and th e number-three p la te for '98, as Ga rraha n would ha ve liked no thing be tter than to take ad va ntag e of any further mishaps. Lykke, wi th o nly 20 mi n u tes on th e new YZ after riding Hondas for years, adjusted rap id ly to th e bike, moving in to fif th quick ly and s lowly closing on Ga rrahan, who saved enough energy to ho ld By Tory Briggs r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... -.D N .... Q) on E Q) ;> o z 10 KENT, WA, NOV.9 eam Suz uki riders Rod ney Sm ith and Steve Hatch came to Was hing tnn to p reserve their respective rankings as the number-one and number - tw o ri ders in the AMA Na tiona l Cham pionship Hare Scram bles Series, and they d id jus t that. Defending cha mp Smith came away wi th a ru nn erup fin is h to clin ch th e 1997 cha m p ion ship, with ra ce w in ne r Hatch jus t beh ind him in poi nts. Jo in in g th e fray were thi rd-ranked Jason Dah ners and fellow KTM speed' ster Brian Garrahan. Dahners began the race strong ly, bu t a miscue on the pavemen t section dropped him off the leading pace and he held on to finish third , a head of Ga rrahan. Faci ng off against th e invading national stars were local NMA to p gun and fifth-place finisher David Lykke, and Gary Fu rrenes, who ran to sixth overall. From the east side of the Cascades, the rapid Kopp brethren Rob, Joe and Lonny - and KTM's Peter Russell were on hand to help keep the big !,"Uns honest. In its firs t occurrence as a ational Hare Scrambles in '95, the Nasty Wench had earned high marks from Smit h, Honda's Scott Summers, and KTM's Scott Plessinger as a top event on the circuit, especially noting the fun factor of the Grand Prix nature of the SIR course, which com bi nes ro a d r a cing , a n immense grass track and a mo toc ross sec tion wi th th e mil es o f tight si ngl etrack wea ving throu gh th e wet Washing ton wo ods. The host clu b, Team Crutch, a so mewh at ragta g bunch o f hardcor e off-road rac ers led by KTM star Jas on Dahners a nd the equally fast Jeff Odo m, obviously ha s a b la st pu tt in g o n the Nasty Wen ch, year after yea r the clear favorite o f the Nor thwes t Mo to rcycle Associatio n O ff-Roa d Series. Nearly 500 rid ers a ttende d th is year, the second time th e race has also se rved as the final AMA round . This yea r's course featured a la-mile loop and was several miles longer and significantly lighter than in the past, and most riders' la p times approached 30 minutes .· Unusuall y sparkling fall weather, far from the typical November drizzly gray, graced the event as well. The original bar-code scoring system was used for the AA riders. There is quite a contrast between th e morning race and the afternoon Expert battle, especially when National rankings are on the line . The incredible organization of Team Suzuki saw them calmly arrive a t staging jus t moments before following the Au bu rn Chevrolet pace truck to the starting area. On the start line, as the fro n t ro w of 25 AA rid ers nervous ly test-started th eir bikes, Team Suzuki aga in sat patie ntly, cylinders charg ed a nd read y to go. Th ey have th eir ac t together, and as "Elvis" lifted th e flag from th e ground , S m it h ro osted th e pack throu gh turn o ne, Hatch in tow, him off a t th e end o f th e 2 1/2-ho u rplu s-o ne-lap format. Furren es would recover fro m a fair s ta rt to wo rk his way into sixth . Russell hu ng on to seventh, Sykes eighth, and Joe Kopp faded slightly to nin th while Lewis ro und ed out the to p JO. Up front, Smith a nd Hatch we re · styling for the specta tors, performing wheelies, swapping positions, and generally putting on a riding clinic. Their attempt to cross the li ne in a tie just mi ssed , with the overall award ed to Hatch . As they cooled off in the scoring line, waiting to be tallied and to collect the finisher's shirts Seattle Cycle Cen ter provides every year, Smith and Hatch were all smiles. "The course was real good," Smith said. "W e wanted to cross the line together, but most importantly, I wa nted to give Suzuki the number-one pla te again." Hatch ag reed. "Rod ney is clea rly faste r in the moto sections; m ayb e I have an edge in th e tigh t woods, bu t we are pretty close in speed," H at ch sa id ., " Wa l king the co urse, I w as concerned th a t it was going to be a high -speed eve n t, bu t that didn't turn out to be, on ce we s ta r ted riding. I jus t hurt my back; I am glad I was able to d o well fo r S uz uki and retain the number-tw o plate." Some wo ndered if third-place finish er Dah ners had held back to protect his n um b er-three rank in g, but he was adaman t abou t the effort he put in. "I went al l out," Dahners said . 'The bike performed flawles sly. I'm s till in the learn ing process, trying to find tha t last little bit of speed I need to cu i the few seco nds need ed to s tay wi th those g uys. It w a s the most tech nical ha re scrambles I have rid d en this year - definitely the tightest. All of the different sect io ns de ma nde d a full ran ge of motorcyclin g skills to be suc cessf ul. J had a blast ." Garrahan echoed these senti men ts on the course, and was equally happy wit h his "awesome '98 KfM," the sa me bike with w hich he sco red go ld a t the recent ISD E. Other class w inn ers i nclud ed Chris Stevenson, w ho scorched the overall IJ class as he won the Unde r IJ division on a CRI25; Eric Bee (Over B); Jim Co nner, who mi micked Stevenson by bealing all the A rid ers as he won the Under A on a KTM 125; Paul Edwards (Ove r A); Cur t W ilco x (Fo u r -Stroke Expert); and Rick Sparks (Vet Expert). A huge cro wd stuck aro u nd to watch the awards prese ntation, w here a 52500 Pro pu rse, aug me nted b y Eve rett H o nd a an d Team Crutch, wa s distri buted along with the tro phy plaques. The amateur classes, some 350 riders strong, near ly o verwh el m ed the course in th e mornin g race, with the l ao-plu s rid ers in the special Beginne r class creating bottle nec ks a t eve ry trail obs tacle a nd ha rmless sol o and pil eup crashes seemed to be happening every w here bu t 50 was a lot of fun racing. Out o f this mayhem, tough -as-nails Senior Expert Robert Lewis rod e to the overa ll win on a n RM250. Other class w in ne rs in clud ed Damon Bee (Senio r A mateur), Todd Hinders (Spo rtsman), Kevin Elliott (Vet Amateur ), Peter Nie lson (O pe n C), Shan e Buchart (Und er C), Andy Sa nda ll (Fou r-Stro ke Am a teu r), Jim Stouffer (Su per Senior), Glo Russo (Wo me n), perennial Vin tage ace Dave Stering (who had to cu t a mile of banner out o f hi s TT500' s rea r w heel and use vise g rips as a rea r-brak e ped al to finish), and Scott Mill er (as cha mp ion of the Beginners). O n the side, Mark King re peated as champ ion of the Hair Scrambles, a tongue-in-cheek pa rade of long wigs affixed to hel mets b y rid ers we ari ng flowery dresses over full riding gea r, with a cash -p rize co m petition sponsored by Sea ttle Cyc le Ce nter and local helmet /graphics artist Screwy Designs (donated ba ck to Crutch by King ). ,,_ seattle Inte rnati onal Raceway Kent. Washingto n Results: Novembe r 9, 1997 (Round 90f 9) OJA:. 1. Steve Hatch ISuz); 2. Rodney SmIth

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