Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMA/NETRA Hare Scramble Series, Round 10 By Cheri Alix Photos by Mike Bernier an d Jay Chittende n UNION, G , AUG. 23 ith several races being canceled . du e to lan d p r ob le m s , th e NETRA Hare Scra mb les season is qui~kly coming to an end - forcing many ri ders to scramble for year-end points and prompting on e of the largestever turnou ts for the Salmon Run . The man who ca me awa y from th e even t wi th the most points was MHR / Factory Connection's Jose McLevy, the Expe rtclass winner. More tha n 60 riders particip at ed in the Juni or eve n t, a class do mina ted once again by Nathan Kanney . Rob ert Langenbac k put on a har d charge, finish ing second just over one minute down, with Ryan DeIlagheifa finish in g th ird . Ryan Sheehan, meanwhile, took the checkered fla g i n the M ini cl ass, w it h Brandi Vaughen winning the Wom en's class . It was Mike Wolf on his KX1 25 taking the overall win in the Novice class, ed ging ou t the field of 180 rid ers. With the large turnout for all th e clas ses, the Exp ert /Amateur race ~ot . pushed back by more than an hour, With the green flag finally d ro pp ing at 2:09 p.m . for the sta rt of the seven- lap event. The riders took off in the Blackwate r style, with four riders leaving every five se cond s . Leadi n g th e p ack w a s Jo sh McLevy and Ken Vale nti ne on the first row . Following on th e next few rows were Ken Law, Luk e M cNeil, Brian Tucker and Tom Norton. . The course was basical ly the same one that was used in July for the Union Hare Scra mbles, excep t for th e addition of a few new z igzags a nd th e rem oval of most of the straightaways. It was a little dusty in the open sections, but the woods we re damp and slip pery . The new sections kep t the race slowe r, making for a more technical race. The infamous water hole was extremely deep and full of rut s. Overa ll, it w as a relentless tr a ck th at offered very little in the way of rest. The first rid er to go down was Law , who immed iately lost several position s. VMR /Spectro / C-cycl e / Scott' s-backed Nor ton was the next to go down, hitting a stu m p and endoing .: He also lost several positions, bu t he caught righ t back up to close right on McNeil. As the riders came into a new section, they both hit a ru t. "It looked like a go od line," McN eil said la ter, "b u t it w as just b ottomless and sucked you right in." . Both riders went down, with N orton getting out first and McNeil coming ou t behind him - down several positi ons . McLevy , meanwhile, was outfron t and av oid ing all the mish aps to end the first la p with almost tw o minu tes on second- p lac ed Va le ntine. N ort on w as W , third - do wn an other 13 secon ds - wit h Brian O' Ne ill and Brian Tu cker round ing ou t the top five. Law had been dicing in th e fro nt bu t drowned ou t h is bike at the water ho le and lost almo st an entire lap trying to get the bike refired . La w drowned o u t two m o re tim es before calling it qu its. By the end of the second lap, McLevyhad an uncontestable lead, with more than two minutes over No rton. Valentine was now third, down another 30 seconds, and was followed by O'Neill. Moving up into fifth place was 200cc Expert rid er Jess Berthiaume. Right on Berthiaume's tail was Tucker and McNeil - with all three coming through the water hole within fiveseconds of each other. La w son h ad dr own ed o ut in th e water ho le on the first lap and lost several minutes trying to res tart. He put on a charg e on fa r the third lap, catching and passing bo th McN eil and Tu cker and closing to within seconds of Bert hiaume as the two came throu gh the barrens . Out in front, McLevy wa s putting 30 seconds per lap on second-placed No rton. "My bike was awful," No rton said. "I h ad th e rebound too fast. It was jus t beati ng me up. 1 came in to pit at the end of the fou rth lap and changed it a few clicks: Wha t a difference. I was putti ng in 20- to 30-second-faster lap times ." Va len tine had cl osed to within 40 secon d s o f N ort on at the end of th e fourth lap, but by the end of the next lap Norton had increased the gap to almost two minutes. It wa s too late, however, to catch McLevy, who now had more than a fou r-minu te lead . Bu t Norton m anage d to .whittle away at it, decrea sin g the mar gin by the checkered flag to just over three minutes . "The first four laps just beat me u p good," Norton said. "I just kept cra sh ing. But I did pu t in some fast lap s times at the end. I p ulled off a second on an otherwise bad day, so I'm happy." " I' ve been re all y tr ainin g h ard," McLevy said . "I spend my off-weekend s d oing mot ocross, trying to improve my first few laps and ge t tha t early lead . It's rea lly paid off. I just try and stay smooth and kee p on the bik e." With first and second place wrapped up, it ca me d own to an all-ou t battle for third p lace. Berthiaume, Lawson and McNeil p u t on th e hard charge in the fin al la p s, ca tch in g Valenti ne in th e water hole just before the barrels at the end of the sixth lap. "I got right behind Valentine com ing int o the w ater," Berthliaume sai d . "We w ere jus t cru is ing throu gh s in ce th e w ater' s so deep. I hear this bike flying up behind us - he mu s t have been in third gear . I'm thinking, 'Who cou ld this b e ?' And h ere comes La w s o n ri ght through the water like a big tid al wave." Lawson took over the third-place pos ition comi ng through the barr en s, with Valentine, Berthiaume and McNeil hot on his ta il - the trio banging bars as th ey came around the pits. Valentine managed to regain the lead and was de termined ta ho ld off the pack - which he did, coming arou nd to th e barrel s in th ird pla ce. Berthiaume crashed hard on the last lap, (Above) The water during the Salmon Run was deep, but not deep enough to slow eventual winner Josh McLevy . (Left) JC!sh Beebe won the 250cc B class during the NETRA Hare Scrambles round in Union, and he'll move to th e A class at the next event. (Right) Nate Kanney negotiates one of the slippery sections of the Salmon Run en route to finishing third In the 200cc A class. swa pping in a slippery root section, but he still managed to come around within his allotted time - edging out bot h lawson and Valenti ne for thi rd place overall and the Expert-class Highpoint. Lawson fin is he d with four th-plac e p oin ts a nd Valentine rounded out the top five. Am ateu r 250cc rid er Josh u a Beebe took the Amateur-class Highpoint, edging ou t Ryan Jump fro m th e Ama teur 200cc class by just over two minut es. I'X Salmon Run Union , Connecticut Results: August 23, 1998 GRAND CHAMPI O N: Josh McLevy {Hon). orA A: Jt.SS Bert hia u me (Yam ) , " 0 1A B: Joshua Beebe (Hon). O/A C: Mike Wolf (K

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