Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AllAlNETRA Hare SCramble Series, Round 3 EVES T A goggleless Todd Levesque overcame . tough trail conditions to top the field at the . Hoot Owl I Hare Scrambles near Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Levesque had taken a few bad liQ off the start but now he was in total control. "1 didn't make any mistakes," Levesque said. "1 was just having fun. 1 didn't get stuck once." Levesque proved that picking good lines was the key at the Hoot Owl, taking his first win of the year with a comfortable lead of 1 1/2 minutes over second-placed Norton. McLevy was on the gas for the final Lap and closed in on Timothy in the last woods section. McLevy stuffed him on the inside of a turn and took over third place, finishing just seconds ahead and Leaving Timothy to settle forfourth. Another'rider putting on the hard charge on the final lap was McNeil. With a litte help from mudholes and ruts, and with a lot of determination, McNeil, who had been down several minutes in eighth place, finished fi,fth overall for the day. Expert 200cc rider Chris Crispin took the Overall in the Expert class but not without a hard-fought battle wiU, Dirt Works/East Coast Cycle's Nathan Kanney. Crispin took the win just one tire length ahead of Kanney, leaving Kanney to settle for the Expert 200cc-class win. Crispin finished eleventh overall for the day, with Kanney taking twelth. Kanney, who seems to be on quite'a roll this year, also won the Junior"cJass run earlier in the day. The Junior/Minis ran two laps of the 10-mUe course, witn Kanney taking the win with three minutes on second-pLaced Robert Langen L back. Will Rowe once. again dominated the Mini class, taking an easy win witt five minutes over second-placed Ryan Sheehan. 41" Hoot Owl I Hare Scrambles Uxbridge, Massachusetts Results: May 3, 1998 GRAND CHAMPION: Todd Levesque (Yam). 01 A A: O,ris Crispin (Hon). O/A B, Joe Senecal (Yam). O/A C: Keith Callahan (Hon). AA: 1. Todd Levesque (Yam); 2. Tom Norton (Yarn); 3. Josh McLevy (Hon); 4. Pabick Timothy (Kaw); S. Luke McNeil (Yam). 250 A, 1. Chr" Cmmer (Kaw); 2. JeffS'aples (Yam); 3. James Cooney (Hon); 4. DJ. Lis (Hus); S. Mike Lew'is (KTM). By Cheri Alix Photo by Jay Chittenden UXBRIDGE, MA, MAY 3 odd Levesque powered his way through classic and trecherous East Coast trail conditions - rocks, roots, ruts and mudholes - to nab the win at the Hoot Owl 1 Hare Scrambles, beating 13 other AA riders to the line in the NETRA event. More than 330 riders were on hand for round three of the series, with the race scheduled to run four laps of the 10.6-mile course. With only a fiveminute delay from the appointed start time, the flag went up at 1:05. Manchester Honda/Tech Tube/Link's Josh McLevy got the holeshot, followed by Ronnie's Cycle/Pub Racing/Moose/ Torco/REP's Levesque, Ken Law, VMR/Scott's Tom Norton and Patrick Timothy. Right off the start, the course made a V-turn across a field and then ran through a few switchbacks before heading up a rock face and across a dirt road. Timothy hit a rut just before the rock face and lost control. "1 hi t something tha t threw me back off my bike and 1 ended up grabbing a handful of throttle," Timothy said. Timothy launched off the rock and landed right on Law. Law got crossed up and out of control but managed to T remain upright, only losing one position to Norton. Timothy, however, went down and was then T-boned by Luke McNeil as the rest of the pack crested over the rock. The pileup allowed the front-runners to get away and g'ave them an instant advantage over the rest of the pack. As mentioned, the woods were nothing but rocks, ruts, roots and mudholes. The front three managed to make it through the first mudhole without any problems, but Levesque hit a rut in the second mudhole and got sideways, thus allowing Norton to move into second place. McLevy and Norton hung together for the next mile until McLevy fell over on a stone wall, at which point Norton took over the lead - a lead he would stretch to 30 seconds by the four-mile mark. There were two field sections in the race and these proved to be a disadvantage to Norton. "As soon as 1 showed up, 1 knew 1 was running the wrong front tire," Norton said after the race. "1 ran a Dunlop 495 instead of a 752, and I just couldn't go fast in the fields." By the end of the first lap, Norton's lead was cut to 15 seconds, with McLevy coming around in second place, followed by Levesque in third. Timothy was back into fourth place, down 40 sec- onds, followed by Law and Arthur Menzel. By the time the riders crossed the start/finish area, McLevy and Levesque had caught Norton. Once again the three were freight-training around the course, and the mudholes soon became the deciding factor for the race's outcome. Norton buried it first, not a third of the way around the second lap. He managed to recover without losing more than one position, "but buried himself again in a w'\ist-deep rut. Levesque and McLevy, meanwhile, were out of sight and flying. "~e were having fun just dicing back and forth," Levesque said. "We hung together for the entire second lap and part of the third." On the third lap, McLevy met his demise in a mudhole. "1 completely drowned it (the bike)," McLevy said. "1 couldn't get it started. A few of the spectators helped me kick it over. They must have kicked my bike for five minutes before they got it running." At the end of the third lap, it was Levesque out in front with a oneminute-and-25-second lead over secondplaced Norton. Timothy was now in third place, down another 3 1/2 minutes, followed by McLevy back another 11/2 minutes. Law rounded out the top five. I 200 A: 1. Chris Crispin (Hon); 2. Nathan Kanney (Suz); 3. Bob Santheson (Hon); 4. Denny Anderson (Kaw); S. Brett Costello (Yam). VET A: ]. Mark White (Suz); 2. Todd Dabkowski (Hon); 3. Lance Longo. , I f OPEN A:. 1. Roger Billharz (KTM); 2, Kris Mooney (Yam); 3. Paul Plva (KTM). S.R A: 1. Jerry Randall (Yam); 2, Steve Kanya (KTM). 250 s, 1. Joe Senecal (Yam); 2. Josh Beebe (Hon); 3. Daniel White (Hon); 4. Todd Hamilton (Hon); 5. Joe Phoenix (Hon). VET B: 1. Craig Pratt (Suz); 2. Dave Dzemutis (Hon); 3. Eric Reinhard (KTM); 4. Mark Cook (Suz); 5. Art Randolph (Yam). 200 B: 1. Greg Messier (Kaw); 2. David Harris (KTM); 3. Todd S.'n'heson (Hon); 4. Jay Vayo (Hon); S. Tim Nelson (Suz). r 4-STRJ< B: 1.Jim WaJsh (Suz); 2. Stace Ames (Hon). SR B, 1. Chris Fahan (lion); 2. Robert Larson (Hon). OPEN B: 1. Doug Fox (Hon); 2. Peter Vanryswood O

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