Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HIre Scrambles series, Round 4 The Amateur-class overall wenl to 250cc rider Joe Senecal. Senecal was the only Amateur rider to complete all of the laps. In the Novice class, wnich draws the most riders, it was Robert Maxon on his CRi25 taking the overall win after three laps of racing. ex By Cheri Alix Photo by Jay Chittenden F1SHOUSE, I\IY, MAY 17 t's the gnarly track in Fishouse that I NETRA riders usually dread, but the AA and Expert riders were forced to dread Valley Motorsports/ Yamaha-backed Tom Norton as he took the lead right off the start and never let up to earn his second NETRA Hare Scrambles win of the season. After years of dwindling attendance, the Central Adirondack Trail Riders (CATRA) made the course easy last year to draw back the riders. This year, the riders were back for the largest turnout in several years, but the track wasn't so rosy anymore. The 6.2-mile course was tight, twisty and rocky, with all the hills added back in. One small swampy section became impassable during the Novice race and was rerouted prior to the Expert start. Only nine AA riders were linec\ up on the front row when the £lag dropped. Ronnie's Cycles / REP / Moose-backed Todd Levesque got the holeshot, followed by Norton and Putnam's Luke McNeil riding side by side through the first turn. Brian Lawson grabbed the inside, sliding by both riders and taking over second place at the second turn. Patrick Timothy stuffed orton and McNeil in a wide sweeper, with Norton still coming out in third. McNeil now ran fifth. UNl / Sunstar / ONE-sponsored Norton moved past Ronnie's Cycles' Lawson at the bottom of the first downhill, moving into second place right behind Levesque. Not half a mile later, Levesque pulled .over, allowing Norton to take over first place, and Lawson also caught and passed Levesque. The two switched places several more times before Lawson finally got the jump on Levesque in a rock garden. By the end of the first lap, Levesque had dropped back to fifth place, Norton had the lead with 25 seconds on Timothy, Lawson was in third and McNeil ran fourth. "I spent the entire second lap riding alone." Norton said, " I was able to pick some awesome lines and avoid some big mudholes. I was trying to increase my time over Timothy, but it was hot and I had to try to pace myself." By the end of the lap, Norton had increased his lead to 53 seconds over Midtown Kawasaki's Timothy. Levesque was now in third place, just four seconds behind Timothy, while Lawson was back in fourth, with McNeil holding on to fifth. "It was weird riding alone for the first two laps," Timothy said. "It's hard to really know how hard to push. Levesque caught me at the end of the second lap and we battled back and forth. It got me motivated and I put on the charge. Todd would get by, then I cut him off - I just didn~t let up. I finally got in front of him and never heard him again." The push from Levesque cut Norton's lead at the end of the third lap to just 25 seconds on Timothy. Levesque was still in third place, back another minute. Lawson was in fourth place, back another 1:30, but McNeil was closing from fifth place. NETRA CATRA Hare'Scrambles Fishouse, New York Results: May 17, 1998 (Round 4) GRAND CHAMP: Tom Norton (Yam). O/A A: Jess Berthiaume (Yam). O/A 8:Joe Senecal (Yam). O/A Robert Maxon (Hon). AA: 1. Tom Norton (Yam); 2. Patrick Timothy (Kaw); 3. Brian Lawson (Yam); 4. Luke McNeil (Yam); 5. Ken Valentine (KTM). 250 A, 1. D.J. Lis (Hus); 2. Josh Hackett (Hon); 3. Dave Simcoc.k (CRE); 4. Chris Cramer (Kaw); 5. Matt Jalbert (KTM). 200 A: 1. Jesse Berthiaume (Yam); 2. Chris Crlspm (Hon); 3. Jim Senecal (!

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