Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• AMA/NETRA Hare Scrambles Series, Round 7 (Above) Ken Valentine took third overall. (Far Left) Patrick Timothy moved into the NETRA Hare Scramb les Series points lead with a win at the Greylock HS In Massachusetts. (Center) Bike-swallowing mudho les played a major facto r in the Greylock race. By Cher i Allx Photos by Mark Baer .WINDSOR, MA, JULY12 ' d to w n Kawa sak i's Patrick Timothy trudged through endess rocks, ruts and mud at the G reyl ock Hare Scr ambles to take the ch eckered fla g in first pl ace and the points lead in the NETRA Har e Scramble Series . All in all , it was a good d ay for Timothy. Timothy and the rest of th e rid ers were welcomed b y a 6.2-mile co urse th at is quite fa milia r to most of th em . There w ere several mud hol es in th is ye ar's race, a nd most of the m sta rted ou t sma ll and harm less, bu t after only a few la ps, most of th e mud h o les had grown to over 10 feet wide and 100 feet long, and they would suck up one's bike in an ins ta nt. As a result, th e Novice race was cut short due to the d eteriorat in g track co n d itions ; on ly th ree laps we re run instead of the schedu led fou r. In that race, it took Leon McCluskey just under two hours to com plete the eve nt, earni ng himself the Nov ice overall wi n. It was alm ost 2 1/2 hours before the last rider came around, thus pushing back th e s ta r t o f th e Ex per t e ve n t b y on e hour. When the flag finally did drop for the fiv e-lap Expert ra ce, it was C Cycle /Stehly/ Scott/Clarke-backed Timothy grabbing the ho lesho t, followed by Pub Ra cin g' s Brian O 'N eill and VMR/Yamaha's Tom Norton. The thr ee rid ers hung together as the pack headed into the wo ods. At the first uphill, Norton mad e the mo ve on O'Neill; th en Timothy and Norton just started feed ing M 52 off of each other and pulled away from the pack. By the end of the first lap , Tim othy and No rton had more than a minute on thir d-pl aced O'Neill. Brian Lawson wa s in fou r th p lace, d ow n seven seconds, wi th Luke McNeil in fifth, do wn another five second s. Timothy held on to the lead through the entire second lap, with Norton right on his rear wheel. The tw o rid ers hit the qu agmire just before the barrels almos t s ide b y s ide . Timothy to ok th e lin e a rou nd th e ri ght si de, w h ile N o rt on took the left line. " It was g rea t," sa id Tim oth y. "The crowd w as ch eerin g. H er e co mes th e two lead ers riding side by side in to the rnudhole, and w hat happens? We both fall over. It wa s great!" Tim othy was the firs t one d own a nd th e first one back up, ta king th e lead int o th e barrel s with 15 secon d s o n Norton. O 'Neill ha d been run ning in . th ird pl ace until half a mile from th e b a rrel s when h is gas ca p s p u n o ff, sp las hing gas in hi s fa ce and fo rci n g him to stop to wa sh his eyes ou t. Th is g a ve th e hard -ch arg in g McN eil hi s chance, as he took over the third-pl ace po sition , back three minutes fro m the lead ers. Down another minute and 10 seconds w as Ken Val entine in fourth pla ce, with O'Neill coming ba ck out in fifth. As th e riders hea d ed ou t for th eir third lap , Norton d ecid ed he wa s tired of ru nning in second place. "I wanted to make my move," Nor ton sai d . "I just go t right on Timo th y and put on the pressure. I fina lly go t him at around tw o miles, when he go t cros sed up in a ru t a nd wen t off the trail. " "I got all messed up," Timo thy sai d . "It sho t me right off the trail and into a fallen tree. My fron t en d slammed right into it and it knocked the br eath rig h t ou t of me. It took me a while to ge t it b a ck to g eth er a g a in , a n d I fig u red , 'To m's go ne, I' ll never see him aga in:" But it wasn' t to be for No rton. "I must have had -1 :30 on Timo thy w he n I fe ll in some mud ," N orton exp laine d . " It took a lot to get go ing, and all of a sudden I felt real wea k. I litera lly could n' t rid e right. I' d been fight ing a ches t cold for tw o weeks, and I just cou ldn' t stop hacking: ' No r to n cras hed four more ti mes within two miles, allow ing Timothy to catch him and once again take over the lead . No rton fell for the last time in the mudhole before the barrels, and tha t pu t an end to his day. "I just co u ld n' t pick m y bike ba ck up," No rton said . As Tim oth y went ou t for his fourth lap, he was unaware th a t Norton was ou t, and he rod e the enti re lap tryin g to pu t as mu ch distan ce as possible on his absent rival. "My da d pulled me in at the end of the fou rth lap for gas," Timothy said . "I wasn' t planning on stopp ing, and I had no idea wh y he would make me stop. I kept th ink in g, 'Come on; orto n will ca tc h m e .' Th at' s wh en h e to ld m e, 'To m' s out, and take it easy - you have a five-min ute lead: " Th e rid ers head ed ou t for th e fin al lap w ith Tim othy se ttli ng down in th e lead . McNe il was now in second place, bu t he only had a 20-second advantage o v er th ird -pl ac ed Val entin e , w it h O'Neill ru nning in fourth place but severa l minutes back . Closi ng in fo r t he fourth-place po sition wen! Expert 200cc rider BobSant heson and Expert 250cc rider Wes Clarke. Cla rke held th e Exper t-cla ss lead until th e end of th e fourth lap, w hen San theson jumped by him. San theso n wen t on to take the Exp ert High Point hon ors and fini shing fourth overall, a lm os t two m inu te s a hea d o f fift h -. placed finisher O' Neill. Clarke went on . t o ta ke si xth o ve r a ll and th e Ex p er t 250cc-class win . Finishin g th ird for the d a y, on ly approximately 20 seco nds behind secon d-placed McNeil , was Valentine. Timot hy cruised on for the win wi th mo re tha n five minutes on McN eil. In the Amateur class , it was ano ther Santheson taking the over all. Cycle Connection' s Todd Santheson took the wi n with tw o minu tes over fellow 200ccclass rid er Keith Ca llahan. Santheson an d Callah an were the only rid ers in their class to complete all laps . A n e w winner e merged fro m th e Wo men's class: Dawn Sil via took he r first win of the yea r, ed ging out seco ndplaced Dawn Shayer by just under five minutes. Na than Kanney con tinue d his d ominan ce of the Junior class, ea rn ing himself first-place ho nors - once again over second- placed Robert Langenback. Greylock Hare Scrambles Windsor, Massachusetts Results: July 12, 1998 GRAND CHAMPIO N: Patri ck Timot hy (Kaw}. O IA A : Bob Sant heson (H on ). O/A B: Todd Santheson. ~ O/A Cr Le McClu skey (Ya m) . on • A A: 1. Pa tr ick Tim o th y (Ka w ): 2. Lu ke McN eil (Ya m); 3. Ken Valentine (KTM); 4. 8ria n O'Neill (Ka w), 5. Ken Law (y am) . ; 250 A: 1. wes Clarke (Yam); 2. Matt Jalbert

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