Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

==~/~f~~~ERONCOATNEYf::--A_MA/N'E1i_R_J1_H_a_re_S_c~_a_m_b~_e_Se_~_ie_s,_R_ou_n_d_2 __ By Cheri Alix Photos by Paul ClipperlTraii Rider Magazine MODENA, NY, APR. 26 idtown Kawasaki's Patrick Timothy blasted through the torrential ran and mud to take 'his first-ever ETRA Hare Scrambles win at the Lembo Lake Hare Scrambles. The second race of the NETRA Series was run at Lembo Lake under the usual conditions: cold, with lots of rain. The day started out great, with overcast skies, but by the time the Novice event was under way, the skies opened up. The rain became increasingly heavy as the day progressed, and a course that would have been awesome soon became a big, rutted-out mudhole. Thankfully, the club had redesigned the usual course, eliminating all swampy wood sections. The new course was 7 miles long and consisted of single-track wood sections, a small motocross track just be):Und the pit area, and lots of apple orchards to weave in and out of. Even with its reputation for being one of the nastiest races in the series, almost 450 riders were on hand, more than 250 of whom were novices. The AA line was the smallest class, with only 10 riders on hand. The Expert/ Amateur event was originally scheduled for seven laps but the club added an extra lap at the last minute, making for an eight-lap race. . As the flag dropped, it was CCycle/Spectro/FMF-sponsored Timothy taking the holeshot, followed by Ronnie's Cycles' Todd Levesque, Putnam Kawasaki's Luke McNeil and VMR/Yamaha's Tom Norton. The riders made a few zigzags around the apple trees, through the MX track, and then went into the woods. There waS so much mud flying that by the time the riders hit the woods, their goggles were useless. This was much to Timothy's advantage, as he had a clear shot out in front and began pulling away from the pack instantly. Leve que, M eil and Norton battled it out for most of the first lap. Levesque was the first to go down, sliding out in an orchard, allowing McNeil and orton to get by. McNeil didn't like to be in front and allowed Norton to take over second place, following his lines. By the end of the first lap, Timothy had put 42 seconds on the pack, with Norton coming around in second place just four seconds ahead of McNeil. Levesque was still in fourth place, down only three seconds more, while Ken Law rounded out the top five another minute back. Timothy continued to increase his lead on the second lap, coming around M --, orton had once again ca ught sight of Timothy on the final lap, but he crashed in a mud hole as soon as he got within striking distance. "Everything was going good on the last lap," orton explained. "1 could see Timothy in front of me and was goin&a for it, but 1 crashed in a mudhole. As r was getting up, 1 went to put my foot down on the other side and there was nothing there. My hart legs weren't long enough to hold me up and 1 went right over the other side. 1 was covered. 1 ended up having to remove my goggles and figured it was going to be a second-place day." Timothy went on to take his firstever NETRA win, completing tlle sevenlap race with a 1:20 lead over Norton. McNeil "finished third for the day, down another 6:30. Mooney took fourth overall for the day, coming around just 20 seconds behind McNeil to earn the Expert-class win as well. Rounding out the top fiv~ was AA rider Brian Lawson. The 200cc Expert class had a close battle between the top three riders for most of the day, with Jess Berthiaume taking the class win wi th just three seconds on Chris Crispin. Settling for third place was Nathan Kanney. Berthiaume and Kanney had battled it out earlier in the day in the Junior class. Berthiaume had taken the early lead in the Junior event, but Kanney passed him just before the barrels on the first lap. Kanney was able to hold Berthiaume off for the last two laps to take the win. l~ (Right) Patrick Timothy rode his KX250 to his firstever overall win in NETRA competition when he held off Tommy Norton to win the messy Lembo Lake Hare Scrambles. (Below) It was so muddy that this guy may never know that he got his picture in Cycle News. Where did he finish? Who knows? NETRA Lembo Lake HS Modena, New York Results: April 26, 1998 (Round 2) couldn't make it and 1 just blew rigbt througb tbe turn. 1 went right off the course and crashed, tweaking my wrist real gOOd." The incident ended Levesque's day and moved Norton into second place, with Timothy in sight. "I had a great four to 4 1/2 laps," Timothy said. "I didn't fall once until near the end of the fifth lap. 1 slid out in a field. When 1 was getting up, 1 saw Norton coming and 1 pinned it. I made it to tlle last section just before the barrels, when 1 slid out again and Norton got by me:' just under one minute ahead of secondplaced Norton. Levesque was now in third place, back only seconds, with Mc eil close behind. The four riders were pulling away from the rest of the pack, putting more than two minutes on fifth place, which was now held by Brian Lawson. The pace soon started to slow, however, as the rain became increasingly heavier and the leaders started to run into lapped traffic. Lappers got in' the way as Norton and Levesque battled for second place on the fifth lap. Norton got hung up in traffic, which allowed Levesque to take over second place. The two riders hung -together as they came into the final field section. "I just forgot about the sharp turn," said a disappointed Levesque after the race. "We were flying down the trail and 1 saw the turn, but it was too late. 1 Norton took over the lead at the end of the fifth lap but had to pit for goggles and came out of the pits alongside Timothy, with the two hitting bars. orton had the inside line and held on to the lead. "I just stayed right on orton through the motocross track, but there was just no way I could get by," Timothy stated. "When we hit the woods, we in tantly hit lappers. Two lappers fell, blocking orton's path. I was able to pull out of the rut on high ground and getaway." By the sixth la p, the tracl40 was de troyed. With everyone covered from head to toe in mud, distinguishing between riders was almost impo§sible. Most riders had completely given up on their goggles by this time, and their faces were covered in mud as well. At this point, the club decided that eight laps was a bad idea and cut the race back to the original seven la ps. As they came around for their final lap, Timothy still had the lead with twenty seconds on Norton. Luke McNeil was now in third place, Open Expert rider Kris Mooney was down over a minute in fourth place, and Lawson maintained fifth. GRAND CHAMP, Patrick Timothy O

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