Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

-'- ~/~~~L~ERON COATNEY , SErRA Hare Scrambles Series, Round 8 By Kenneth King MAPLESviLLE; AL, JAN. 18 i n ce' hi s ankle injury, SETRA En duro and Hare Scrambles ~ champion Fra nklin Ramey 111 has been trying to make his finishes the way he likes them - with him in first. We ll , a t th e Perry Mou ntai n Hare ' Scram b les, Ra mey took co m man d of th e race from th e s ta rt and led every lap for th e overa ll wi n. Ramey prob abl y faced h is s tiffes t compe tition to date in th e for m of six-time Na tio na l Enduro C hampion Ra nd y Hawkins, SETRA regulars Allen Gra vitt and Ashley Brewer, SERA Enduro champ Clay Boreing, SERA AA rider Nolan Knight, and the usual SETRA su spects. Ramey's w in didn ' t come easil y , however, as the KTM rider hit a deer at speed and damaged his clu tch assembly, and had to ride the last lap with virtually no clutch. Yamaha's Hawkins came w ithin a half-minute of catchi ng Ram ey on the last lap but had to settle for th e r u n ne r- u p pos i tio n . KTM ' s Allen Gravitt had a good ride, stayi ng with Hawkins most of the race, and he even tu ally rounded out the top three ov erall. Glenn H ollingshead and the Perry Mountain MC have been hosting races in Maplesvill e for yea rs , and they are u sually first-rate . This race was n o exce p tion, as th e course was 10 mil es long a nd recent ra in s made th e soil p erfec t, with th e e xce p ti o n o f mud bogs in so me of th e pastu re s . Sandy whoops, rocks, hills, tig ht woods, fast wood s, p lenty of roots, and a couple of clea r-cu t section s gave th e course a good mix of terrain. The club rac ed all th e C and specialt y classes a t II a.m. and the AA , A and B rid ers a t 1 p.m. Wh en it was tim e for the main race, the C-class racers rough ened th ings up a bit and mad e some of th e mudholes a littl e tri cky . The AA class was loaded wit h talent and , wit h 13 rid ers, it was th e lar gest class so far . At ihe start, all eyes wer e Franklin Ramey III overcame a high-speed collision with a deer and the advances of Randy on Hawkin s. Wh en he shows up at one Hawkins to win the SETRA Perry Mountain Hare Scrambles in Alabama. of the SETRA races, he creates quite a buzz w ith th e s pect ato rs a s w ell as with th e rac er s. H olli ngshead had the ra ce," Hawkins e xp la in ed . "When I SERA Enduro cha m p ion ridi ng a new riders strad d le thei r fron t w he els fo r Ga s Ga s. The brig ht-red bike stood out gass ed , my mechanic told me I was in the s tart. (You don't often see this kind seco nd, with Franklin leading by two am ong the KTMs, and the yo ung rid er of s tart an ymore). Wh en th e flag was or three minutes ." was hot on the SETRA cham p's tail. dropped, th e rid ers scra m bled to ge t "I look ed back and sa w Boreing, " G rav itt was rid in g w it h Hawkins o n their bikes and get t hem sta r ted. Ramey sa id . "I had a good lead, so I and mad e the sa me mistak e. Ram ey go t -his go ing firs t and got the "I th o u g ht w e we re lea di n g t h e tried to pu t as much ti me as I cou ld h o lesh o t , fo ll o w ed b y Bore rn g a nd be tw een us." . race," G ra vit t s aid . ~' I d id n' t get the KTM -m ou n ted All e n N ich o ls . T h e grea test start, so it was hard to tell w ho Wh en th ey came th rou gh th e sco rco u rse w en t abou t 75 yard s and th en was in f r ont. Wh e n Ra n d y came ing barrels a t the end of lap one, it was made a ri ght tu rn a n d h ead ed up a Ramey, Bor ein g, Hawkins, Gravitt and around me, I fo llo wed him , th in king lo ng hill into the wood s. By the tim e Team Gree n rid er Tommy Veator makwe were in the lead . Then Jill (Grav itt's they crested the hill , Ramey had pulled ing up the. top five . Brewer, however, wife a nd p it crew) h e ld up th e p it ou t a sma ll lead on the pa ck. had his troubles on the first lap. . b o a rd , sayi ng I w a s b eh in d Ra m ey "Wh en they sa id they wer e go ing to "I go t a bad start; then I got so me a lmos t three minutes." u se th e strad d le- the -fron t-w heel-ty pe serio us arm pump and, to top it off, I Actually, it w as less tim e than that , start, 1 kn ew I cou ld ge t the holeshot," b ut s h e w a s ju st try in g to m otiv at e cras he d pr ett y h ar d , " Br e w er Ramey sa id . "That' s m y favor ite wa y G ra v it t. Wh en G ravitt a nd H awkins exp lained. "I just had a bad firs t la p . of s ta rting a har e scram bles. " After I got all that ou t of the way, I go t reali zed their predicament, they im meGravit t d id n' t ge t the grea tes t sta rt go ing pretty good. " d ia tely pic ked u p the pace. and neit her d id Hawkins, so they were Ram ey was bu ild ing him self quite a At the sco ring barrels on lap two, it bo t h to w ard th e b a c k o f t h e pa ck . lead dur in g la p tw o , b ut whe n was Rame y le ad ing w ith a 1:58. 26, Tea m Gr een ri d er Ash ley Br e w er Hawkins ca me in for gas on la p tw o, didn't get the grea tes t sta rt, ei ther, and Gravitt in second with a 2:01.09, Bor ei n g in third wit h a 2 :01. 12 , a n d he too was also mired back in the pa ck. he tho ug ht he was lead ing . In sec on d pl a ce was Boreing, th e Hawkins in fourth with a 2:01.25. "I thought Borein g was lead in g th e l 22 O n lap three, Ram e y b ecame involved in a predicame nt of his own. "I was on a fas t lo g g in g road, tapped out in fifth gear, and out of the corner of my eye, somethi ng darted ou t in front of me," Ram ey explained . "I locked up the bra kes but hit the d eer anyway. I went over the bars an d my bike ki nd of so me rsa u lted. It bent my bars and push ed my clutch lev er in to th e Barkbust ers. A guy on a H ond a he lped m e ge t th e bike up a n d ge t going. I n ever got a cha nce to tha nk him, and I wou ld like to." Ram ey' s allercation with the deer cos t him valuable tim e, and Hawkins was able to move to within a minute of him at the end of lap three. Coming through the barrels on la p fou r, Ramey came in with the lead al 2:24.43 , followed by Hawki ns (2:25 .23 ) and Gravitt (2:25.37). Borein g had problems of his own a nd drop ped off th e pace, comi ng through at 2:27.59. Ramey gassed up his bike andheaded into the fina l lap but, a few minu les in to it, Hawkins ca ugh t up w ith h im and th e two swap ped places throughou t most of lap fou r. "We were coming across this pastu re side by side," Ramey recalled . "I got a better line jumping a creek and got in fron t of Randy. I looked back as we went th rou gh a big mudhole and saw h im going over the bars . I wa s able to make it to the finish ahead of him." A t the race' s end , Ramey fini shed firs t in 2:49.34, Hawkins took second in 2:50 .04, Gravitt e a rn ed th ir d w ith 2:51.00, Brewer moved up to fourth by th e fin ish with 2:53 .15 , and Veato r rounded out the top five some tw o seconds behind Brewer. l~ Perry Mountain Hare Scrambles Maplesville, Alabama Results: January 18, 1998 (Round 8) 0 1A: Fra nkl in Ramey III. AA : 1. Randy H awkins ; 2. Alle n G ravitt; 3. Ash ley Brewer. OPEN A: 1. Eric Ela m; 2. Pe ter Borders; 3 . Lee Carpe nter. OP EN B: t. Wes ley Wyatt; 2. Bla ke Co uc h; 3. Billy Cha p ma n. O PEN C: 1. LE'e Nic ho ls; 2. To ny Tu rby fill; 3. Les Eng le; 4. Eric Rigby. 200 A: 1. Let>Ste p he ns; 2. Matt Joach im; 3. Steve Shina ll. 20 0 B: 1. Ca rs te n Cagle; 2. Bo b Se ve n pi per; 3. Ste ve Ta ylo r. 200 C : 1. Joh n Le w is ; 2 . Ti m G ree r : 3 . Er ic Botto mlee . 250 A: 1. Jason Chancey; 2. Du stin Beaty ; 3. Sonn y Mo rabito . 250 8: 1. Ma tt Beaty; 2. Brad H a rric k; 3. Fran k Davis. 250 C: 1. ja so n Barnett; 2. Troy Mit ch ell; 3. Creg Huff. J R: 1. Josh Boat fiel d ; 2. Jim H ard y ; 3 . Ja s on Lightsey . S R A: 1. Greg Peterson ; 2. And y De an : 3. Ga ry Goff. S R B: 1. Buren Hamrick ; 2. Kenne th King; 3. J.T. Gordy, S R C: 1. Tom Farmer; 2. Richard Morabito ; 3. Mel Smith. SfS R A: 1. Jo h n Kealy; 2. Phillip Mc Mill a n; 3. Jimmy Lynch . S /SR B: 1. Fra nk Ne lso n; 2. Alan Whea tcro ft; 3. Ken ne th Royster . MSTR A: 1. w ayne Bea ty; 2. Jim Ford ; 3. Dan Freela nd ; 4. Steve Cha nc cv. 4-STR K B: 1. Dan ie l Munsruad; 2. Joey Cla xto n; 3. Joe y Hargrove. 4-STRK C: 1. Henry Turner; 2. Mic ha el Brilanti; 3. Aaron Dean . W MN : 1. Karen Ne lso n; 2. Heather Kes sler . VET A: 1. Benn ie Waldrop; 2. Dwight Rud der; 3. Gary little. VET B: 1. Rich ard Price ; 2. Jonath an WiII 5; 3. Dennis Kirkman.

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