Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SETRA H areScrambles Series,Round 3 wish I had - ma ybe things would have bee n d ifferent. " l~ Brewer bags one SETRAISERA Odenville Hare Scrambles Odenville, Alabama Results: Nove mber 23, 1997 OJk 1. Ashley Brewer. AA: 1. Allen C ra vitt;2. AIIt.-n Nichols. OPEN A: 1. Lee Carpenter; 2. Glen n Hollingshead ; 3. Zlch lvey. 250 A: 1. Dustin Beaty 200 A: 1. Ma tt Joachim; 2. Dou glas Waskin; 3. Lee Stephens . VIT A: 1. Dwight Rudder; 2. Steve Moore. S R A: 1. Mi tch McRee; 2. Andy Dea n; 3 . Terry Mealer . SlS R A: I. John Kealey; 2. Robert Brendle; 3. Frank Nelson. MSTR A: 1. Wayne Bea ty. O PEN B: I. Tripp Tharpe: 2. Ge ra ld Earl; 3. jerry By Kenneth King ODENVILLE, AL, NOV. 23 oots, rocks, mud bogs, tight woods and plen ty of slick trails see m like th e ing re dients for a n e n d u ro, right? Too bad these wer e the conditions a t th e SETRA / SER A Od en ville H are Scrambles, where Team Green 's Ashley Brewer rode h is KX250 to th e overall victory. The MSR-sponsored Brewer finis hed ahead of KTM' s Allen Gravitt, but his win came wi th a littl e controversy . It see ms that as the mud bogs go t worse, the club rerouted riders arou nd them . Well, Brew er go t rerouted and Gravitt didn' t, and that gave Brewer a few minut es of br eathing room tha t Gravitt just wasn' t ab le to make u p. The tw o rid ers have been ba tt li ng a ll season and are just a few secon ds off each other at every race. Brewer had the lead through most off th e race, a n d no one knows how Gravitt would have finished had he been rerou ted . " I h a d a good race," Br e w er said about his winning performance. "I felt I ro de ha rd and d idn't ma ke too ma ny mistakes. I' m sorry Allen didn't get the re ro ute through th at bad mud b og . I rea lly didn't know that he d id n't until the end of the race." Allen N ichols finished third overall, just a few minu tes behin d Gravitt. The race was dual-sanc tioned by SETRA and SERA , a nd spons ored by the Birming ham Tria ls and Trails Associat ion . The cou rse was on th e shorter side, not qu ite five miles, an d tight by h are sc ra m bles sta nda rds . T he ra ce s ta rted on w ha t look ed to be an old mot ocro ss track. After a sho rt d istance on the track, the course head ed straight fo r th e woods. The AA riders s tarte d wi th the 250cc and Open riders, so they ha d quite a few racers to battle with. The course wound through tight, slick trails and crossed a small stream several times. Th e first lap wasn't that bad at the stream 'c ro s s in g s, but each lap caused the creek banks to get worse and worse. Bikes were s tu ck everywhere, and many riders just had to sit back and watch the race a s thei r bikes were buried in the mud. The particular bog that was eventually rero uted had gotten very bad by the fourth lap and was almost impassable. Anothe r area of the course which beca me bad as the race progressed started as a small creek crossing followed by a muddy area maybe 50 feet long . Lap after lap, the area got worse until it wa s a huge, bike-swallowing bog with deep ruts that snagged riders. Alternate lines were sca rce, as there was a barbed-wi re fence on the left and dense u nd erbrush o n th e rig ht . Even tua ll y, stuck bi kes b ecame obs ta cles as co m mon as th e mud . By the end of the race, the hardiest of the rid ers had carved a path through the dense brush. On the dead -en gine start, Gravitt go t the h oleshot, follo wed by Brewer a nd the rest of the pack. A few of the other AA rid ers made their way through the gro u p as th ey headed into th e w ood s. The trail was tight, a nd Brew er manag ed to ge t a ro u nd G ravi tt early on. R Cook. 250 B: 1. John Hoy as; 2. Bobby Barefield ; 3. Keith Craddock. 200 B: 1. Sh ane Sexto n; 2. Bobb Seven p tper. y 4-STRK B; 1. Dani el Monsrow ; 2. Char les Sing k-y; 3. Allen Goodwin. VET 8 : 1. Da vid Bonsall ; 2. jonatha n Will is; 3. Bo Fletch er , SR B: 1. Ken neth King; 2. Geo rge Glenn; 3. Rhett McBrayer. S/5 R B: 1. Phillip McMillan; 2. Carl Ivey: 3. Rich Patterson. MSTR B: 1. M ike Garrett; 2. Douglas Robinson. OP EN C: 1. Jaso n Barnett; 2. Mark Benson; 3. Jeff Benson. 250 C: 1. Stacy Ha rd aw ay; 2. Sha nnon Moore; 3. Greg Huff. 200 C: 1. George McElvee n; 2. Tim Greer; 3. Derek Thiel e. 4·STRK C: 1. Bob Thurman; 2. Ronnie Parrish; 3. Michael Brilla ntL SR C: 1. David Stra whome; 2. Jeff Smith; 3. Douglas Jones . SlS R C: 1. Gary Go ff; 2. G reg Peterson; 3. Randy Ha iL HIW "[R, 1. Cory Cordell; 2. Drew Edd ins; 3. John McCa11 um; 4. Bill U gh tsey . JIe 1. Carsten Cagle; 2. Chris McMillan. WM N: 1. Karen Nelson; 2. Dan niel1e Had away. (Above) Team Green 's Ashley Brewer survived the multiple mud bogs to win the SETRAISERA Odenville Hare Scrambles in Alabama. (Right) Ashley Brewer fi nished second overall at the soggy SETRA Little Brown Jug Hare Scrambles. Peery 's-s po nso red Bre w e r h a d his Kawasa ki railing, with Gra vitt and his . KTM 200 right on his tail. The firs t lap was slick, but a ll th e major mudho les weren ' t a prob lem - ye t. Brewer ca me th rou gh the scoring barrels on the firs t lap sti ll holding the lead, with Gravitt a nd Suzuki-mounted Steve Saunders tra iling. By lap two , the course was starting to change, and many of the low er-class riders found them selves stuc k in bogs that were begining to get worse. Brewer was still lead ing the race, and he finished lap two ahead of Gravitt by seven seco nds . . Somewhere in th e woods, Honda mounted Rod Stucke y go t a ro u n d Gravitt and Saunders to come into th e barrels three seconds off Brewer's pace. Saunders had difficulty w it h the slic k trail s and dropped out of the race. Brewer still had control of the race on lap three, but Gravitt got back a ro u nd Stuckey to take second when the latter had problems at one of the mud bogs. Gravitt made up a few more seco nds and came in to the scoring area five seconds be hind Bre w e r . The third s p o t changed hands again, and thi s time it was Tea m Green's Tommy Veator hold in g th e position on a KDX200. Nichols was hot on his tail in fou rth, just a secon d off Veator's pace. The trail was starti ng to det eriorate and the bogs w ere beginin g to fill u p w it h rid ers by now . It was a feat for so me jus t to make a lap. Brewer came through the barrels wi th just a one-second lead on Gravitt, who seemed ready to p ounce on th e leader. Nichols go t around Vea tor for th e third position, and the two riders came through the barrels just two seconds apart. By lap five, the course had become a nightmare in spots, and club members had to rerou te a few areas . In one of these sections, Brewer got a reroute and Gravitt did not, which put about two minutes between the leaders. By the end of lap five, the onl y AA riders lef t on the course we re Brewer, Gravitt, Nichols a nd Veator, in th at order. The course had made victi ms of the rest. Laps six, seven and eigh t we re fairly uneven tful, although Gravi tt was ab le to ma ke up so me tim e on Brewer by t h e chec ke rs. It w a sn ' t e noug h , though, and Brewer took the wi n, wi th Gravitt, Nic ho ls and Vea to r filling ou t the top fou r overall. "I rod e good tod ay," a d isappointed Gravitt said. As h ley a nd I changed places a few times, bu t I went through tha t bad m ud bog every la p fo r eigh t laps. I never got a rero ut e around it. I U SETRA Hare Scrambles Series,Round 4 Gravitt in the grime By Kenneth King CLINTON,SC, NOV. 30 o t h e r Na ture ' h a s n ' t b ee n to o go od to SETRA's Har e Scrambles r id ers t h is seaso n . Ra in ha s pou red prior to th e p ast thr ee races, turning eac h of th e eve n ts in to mud fests. Well , the Little Brown Ju g Hare Scra mbles was no excep tion: Rain pri or to th e event turned th e red cla y tha t makes up a good portion of the course in to thick, slimy goo. Most riders found it diffi cul t just to make a lap, bu t overall M 00 0\ 0\ ,...... 29

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