Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SETRA Hare Scrambles Series, Round 6 (left) Randy Hawkins rode a VZ250 to a come-trom-behind win at the SETRA Cherokee Hare Scra mbles. Hawkins will be switching to a YZ400F tour-stroke very s hortly tor both the AMA National Enduro and GNCC Series. (Above) Allen Gravitt rode to seco nd overall, tirst AA rider in Georgia. by Kenneth King 24 GREENSBORO, GA, JAN.4 earn Yamaha's Randy Hawkins cla imed th e overa ll wi nat the C hero kee H are Scramb les in a co me -fro m- be hind victory th a t had all in attend ance a mazed . KTMmounted All en Gravitt ro de a s tellar race but succumbed to Hawkins in the la s t fe w minutes o f the last lap ; h e would finish just a few seconds behind the Yamaha ace for second overall, first AA. Series champio n Franklin Ramey III led most of the race before Hawkins and Gravitt got aro u nd him , and he settled for third overall. "I had a good race," Ha w kins said. " It d idn't start off tha t good, but l ow e a lot of credit to my family, my girlfriend a n d m y me ch a ni c. Th ey were really pushing me. Every lap the y wo uld tell me how man y seco nds I was fro m the leader; it wa s a big help ." SETRA fi n a lly h ad a ra ce w i th absolu tely no rain . It was a fantas tic day fo r racing , and th e Che ro kee End u ro Riders pu t on a tough, fun, well-organized event. The course was a combination of fas t, flow ing tra ils a nd o pe n fields with a few short tight sec tions. The terrain was typ ical of Geo rgia : red clay, roo ts and the occasio na l cow patty (the co u rse ran on severa l cow p a stures ). La s t year it was voted Ha re Scrambles of the year, so you know it was a first-class race. The club used the two- race forma t. The C classes and some .specialty classes raced a t 11' a.m. for 1 1/2 hours, and the AA, A and B classes raced a t 1 p.m. for tw o hours. By th e time the seco nd race was ru n, the course had been chewed up pretty good, with lots of braking bumps and several hu ge ru ts in some of the softer ar eas of the tra il. The AA class wa s filled with all the SETRA regulars: Gravitt on his 200 , Ramey on a 250 (in his second race back s in ce brea kin g his ankle a n d tak ing seven weeks off), Michael Grizzle on his . Husaberg 501, Steve Saun d ers on his RM250, Tom my Veator on his KDX200 and Rod Stuckey on his CRE250. Team Green rider Ashley Brewer was ready to ride a new '98 KX250, and this was his first race on the new bike. Hawkins was riding a shiny new YZ250, his first ride on that bike, also . "Th is will be my last time rid ing the 250," Hawkins repor ted . "I will be racing the new four-stroke 400 as soo n as I get it. I did alot of testing on the bike, and I'm really looking forward to racing it." It would be a good race. All in, all, there were 11 riders in the AA class, the largest of any race this seaso n. Off the start , Gravitt got the holeshot, with the gang jus t a few feet behind . The course mad e a swee ping "5" turn before connecting to a short jeep road, and then headed into th e woods. In the se cond turn, Gravitt and Brewer go t tangled up and both rid er s w ent down , na rro wl y missing the rest of the pack. "Allen wa s in front of me and when we started into the second turn, his rear drifted ou t, my fro n t end hit him and the next thing I knew, we were on the gro u nd, " Brewer said . Wh er e wa s Hawkins? It se ems his bike did n' t fire right up, and he left the start a full 20 to 30 second s late. Gravi tt, Brewer and Hawkins were all in the back of the pack as the others pulled away. Af ter Grav itt a nd Brewer cras hed , th e lea d we n t to Ramey. Rod Stuckey was close behind Ramey, then Sau nde rs and Grizzle. Gra vitt and Brewer we re making up time, as was Hawkins. When th ey ' came th rou gh th e scoring barrels for lap one, Ramey held the lead , Stuckey wa s next just 7 seconds off Ramey's pace, and then came Gravitt , 18 second s behind. Th e remaining rid ers w ere all within 45 second s of Gravitt, and lap times were around 16 min utes. Lap two saw Ram ey pick u p the pace along with Gravi tt. Hawkins was steadily gaining ground, but Brewer was having trouble, falling off the pace. "I was riding my new '98 for the first time tod a y," Brewer sa id. " I r eall y didn't have time to test the suspension, and I didn' t have it d ialed in. I wa s getting hammered prett y bad." He would call it quits later in the race. By lap three, the soft track was getting ve ry torn up, and leaders Ramey and Gr avitt had di stanced them selves fro m th e ot h er ride rs. H awkins had . passed every one but the two leaders and was m a kin g ti m eo n th em each lap . Stuckey was han ging in there, Saunders was a minute behind him and Grizzle was right on Saunders' rear fend er, roaring his big four-stroke. When they cam e thro ug h to ge t scored, Gravitt was jus t one second off Rame y, with Hawkins in th e number-th ree p ositi on . Th is order remained th e sa me th ro ugh lap fiv e, with the crowd really enjoying the leaders flyin g thr ough the unique course that also went right throu gh a chicken house. Ram ey and Hawkins stopped for gas on lap six bu t Gravitt did n ' t, an d he moved ahead of Ramey by abou t 30 seconds . "This is m y seco nd race s in ce my injury, and I'm just tryin g to get back up to s peed ," Ram ey sai d . "Wit h only a couple of laps left, I jus t could n' t catch Allen after the gas." Hawkins ra n third, close to 45 seco n ds b e hind b o th r id ers . Sa u nders called it quits on la p six due to h and problems, whic h moved Grizzle into the number-five position beh ind Stu ckey, w ho was abou t three minutes o ff th e lead ers. On t h e fi na l lap, Gravitt was still leadin g , w it h Ram ey in ch ase, but Haw kins really poured on the gas and wa s a b le to p ass Rame y and ca tch Gravi tt a mile or so fro m the finish. . "After cras hing in the first turn, I just used up too much energy trying to catch ever yone," Gra vitt sa id . "When Rand y came up behind me, I had nothing left. I . heard him coming but it was all I cou ld d o to stay wit h him to the finish. I jus t .used up too muc h energy early on." Ha wkins finished 10 seco nds ahead _ of Gravi tt at the finish, and Ramey was 30 seconds back in third ove rall. It was one of the best races to watch this year, a nd all three rid er s rode excep tionally well. Hawkins will be riding a few more SETRA races, tryi ng to prep himself for th e upcom in g Na tio na l Enduro a n d l ::\ GNCC seaso n. SETRA Cherokee Hare Scrambles Greensboro, Georgia Results: January 4, 1998 O/A : Ra nd y Hawkins. AA: 1. Allen Gravi tt; 2 Fra n klin Ramey 111. OP EN A: 1. Steve Hardcm,..m; 2. Robert Fowler; 3. Jim Ca rve r. , OPEN B: 1. Billy Ch a p ma n; 2. Da vid Cripe; 3. Ja mes Embro. O PE N C: 1. Pau l McC oll ; 2. Kennet h Sm it h; 3. Rus sell McMurray. 200 A: 1. Doby Leona rd ; 2. Lee Stephe ns; 3. Chri s . McDona ld. 200 8 : 1. Mark Thompson; 2. Steve Lewis; 3. Robert Sev e npiper. 200 C: 1. Jim Wei ser; 2 . C h ris Wah le; 3 . Lance John son. 250 A: 1. Dustin Beaty: 2. Doug Maseneup; 3. Jason Cha ncey. 250 8: 1. Matt Beat y; 2. Micha el No ffz; 3. Mike Ca rner . 250 C: 1. Shann on Moor e; 2. Tim Myers; 3. Brad Armo ur. S R A: 1. Mitch McRee; 2. Terr y Hu ghes>; 3. Ar ty Spencer. . SR B: 1. Buren Hamrick; 2. Phil Ellis; 3. J.T. Gordy . SR C: 1. Richard Morabito; 2. David Strawho rne : 3. Ja ck Derry berry. S /S R A: 1. Jimmy Lynch; 2. Larry Bollin ger: 3. John Kealey. S /S R B: 1. B{Jb ln gle: 2. Rich Patters on; 3. Fra nk Nelson. M STR A: 1. Wayne Be aty; 2. George Yount; 3. Bill Watkins. MSTR B: 1. Michae l Thom pson; 2. Steve Chancey; 3. Frank Am os . MSTR C: 1. Bud Hardeman: 2. Clyde Brown; 3. Ben Cheatwood. . 4-STRK B: 1. St.. Gantt; 2. Ioey Claxton; 3. Daniel m Monstrud. 4· STRK C: 1. Darren Groves; 2. leland Scruggs ; 3. Johnny Futo. Uf: 1. Sha nnon Dailey; 2. Ken Conoven; 3. Elijah Derryberry. HfT: 1. Jason Walker; 2. Chester Barde r: 3. Brent Oliver. WMN: 1. Kare n Nelso n; 2. Daniel le Hada way; 3. Heath er Kessler.

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