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AMA/NETRA Hare Scramble Series, Round 11
By Che ri Alix
rETERSBURGH, NY, SEPT. 13
onner NETRA Champion and local
fa v o rite Sco ll P h e lps m ad e h is
on ce- a- y ea r a p p e a ra n ce a t h is
orne track and d us ted the competition
at the ETRA Sta teline Har e Scrambles.
The Stat eline MC laid ou t a 9-mile
cou rse, which sta rted in a cow field on
the side of a mountain . The course took
the rid ers across the face of a hill several
tim es before shooting them straight up
the hill and in to the woods. Mos t of the
track consisted of cow paths that ran up
and d own th e mou nt a in . Th e terra in
was mountainous wi th both sing le- and
• double-track trails. Some sections w er e
very rocky and mo ist and others were
ve ry dry with soft , sandy hillclimbs.
There we re a few really fast off-camber
field sections, and any section that was
exposed to d irect su nligh t was extre me ly dusty.
Onl y one row of Novice rid ers made
the first steep incline off the start. On ce
one rider we nt d own, it w as a domino
effect, with bikes and riders cartwheeJing
to the bottom or off into the brush. It took
over 10 minutes after the final row went
off before all the riders cleared the section.
Yama ha 250cc rid er Eric Kipp ma de the
. hill witho ut anv trouble an d we nt on to
take the Novice..class High Point hon ors
wit h almost a min ute on second- place finisher and fellow 2.5Occ rider Craig Colvin.
At 1 p.m., 115 Expert a nd Ama teurs
lined up for the start of the main event.
Nin e AA riders we re on the fro n t row
when the flag dropped . The riders came
right off the start, down a hill, then had
to take a 9O-degree tum str aig ht back u p
the hill before veering to th e left a nd
ac ross th e face of the h il l. Mid t own
Kawasaki's Pa trick Timothy grabbed the
hol esh ot , w it h Ph elps, Pu tn am 's Luk e
McNeil an d Tom No rton hot on his tail.
Bu t Phelp s was on the gas , and, as they
made the firs t turn up the hill , Phelps
had taken ov er the lead .
Be ing ou t fro nt w a s d e fini tel y a n
ad vantage off the line . By the tim e the
fifth bike came across the hill, it was a
co m p lete du stbo w l. The tr ail of dust
sta yed wit h the riders until they hit the
woods.
Phelps' lead was short-lived . Timothy was hanging on in second place and
had n o in ten tio n o f lettin g off an d,
before they hit the firs t hillclimb, Timo th y was ou t in front.
The ri d e r s did n ' t go fa r in t o th e
wood s w hen many rea lized they had
the wrong suspension settings . The club
has u sed thi s co u rse on ly tw o o th er
time s in th e past ni ne years, so many
riders wer e at a loss as w ha t to set up
for. Both Ti mo thy and Nort on h ad a
problem right off the bat.
Timo thy man aged to hold off Phelps
for the entire lap bu t lost the lead when
he came into the pits to adjust his suspens ion.
"I d e finit el y had the re bound too
fast," Timothy said . "I need ed to slow it
down but wh en I came into the pit s no
one was ready and I was in too mu ch of
a rush to wait. When I finally adjus ted it
(the suspension) the next lap, it was so
much easi er to rid e."
Ph elp s d idn't get to put too much
distan ce on Timoth y before he was right
back on his tail.
. "I caug ht Phelps a t the hill and go t
righ t on him ," Timothy said . "I wanted
to get past an d put as mu ch distance on
Norton as possible for year-end points . I
finally got the chance and went for it in
a mudd y rut se c t io n a n d i ns ta n t ly
knocked my chain off."
E
Luckily it was a quick fix for Timoth y
and only Pub Racing 's Brian O'Neil go t
pas t. orton was back in fourt h pl ace
down one minute, wit h McNeil in fifth
down ano ther 15 seconds .
At the end of the second lap, it was
Phelps wa y out in front with almost a
minute on second-place Timothy. O'Neil
was sti ll hanging on to third pie ce.
About ha lfway into the second lap,
Ken Valentine and Brian Lawson bot h
ca ught and passed fifth -p lace McN eil.
Valentine was able to p ull away from
th e tw o rid er s, puttin g 30 seconds on
them by the end of the third lap. No rton
w as also p a ssed by th e th ree rid e rs,
coming aro u nd in seventh place at the
end of the second lap. He then called it a
(Above) Local rider Sco tt Phel ps hun g on
for the win on the t ou gh St at eline Hare
Scrambles course.
(Below) NETRA tegular Patrick Timothy
was second overall.
(Right) Michael Buc k catc hes air o n his
way t o third place in .the 250Cc Novi ce
c lass.
• d av,
'''1 went d own hard on the first lap,
knocking me back a few places," a d isap po in ted Norto n said. "Then, on th e
seco nd lap, I hit a rock and had a neard eath Su perman save. Betwee n that and
seeing all the carnage ear lier in the d ay,
I decided tha t this just isn't goin g to be
my day."
Timothy fou nd out abo u t his rival's
d ownfall at the end of the third lap and
pulled ba ck th e reign s a li ttl e for th e
remainder of the race. After ha ving an
all-ou t battl e for tw o laps, McN eil and
Lawson also decid ed to slow it d own
go ing into the final tw o laps.
" It was just too nasty out there; my
b ik e was p ound ing m e, a n d I know
Lawson was having the same problem ,"
McN eil said. "You jus t couldn' t kee p it
full-on all d ay like that wi tho ut getti ng
hurt."
So meone should have to ld th a t to
Phelps. Ph elps cont inued to pull away
from the pa ck every lap. After six laps
and almos t 2 1/ 2 ho urs of racing, Phelps
too k the checkered flag with just under
fiv e minutes on second -p lace finisher
Timothy. Valentine moved his wa y int o
third p lace on th e fou rth lap , taking a
top- three fin ish, d own less th a n one
minute. O'Neil finish ed in fou rth place
wi th Exp ert Open rid er Chris Panzell a
taking fifth-place honor s. Pa nzella also
earned the Expert-cl ass overa ll, the second time in as man y races.
Expert 250cc rid er D.}. Lis w as th e
second Expert rid er to cross the finish
li ne, ta kin g seven th ov era ll and fir st
place in his class.
The Ju nior cla ss was run 'e a rlier in
t h e d a y w it h Boy d Brow er givi ng
Nathan Ka nney a run fo r his money .
Kann ey ha d to keep loo ki ng over his
shoulder the en tire race. Brow er stayed
wi thin 10 second s of Kanney the enti re
three laps. It was the closes t race of the
Junior class this yea r, wi th Kanney taking the wi n just inches ahea d of Brower.
NETRA Hare Scrambles Series
Pete rs burg, New Yo rk
Res ults: September 13, 1998
G RAND CH AM PIO N: Sco tt Phelps (Han).
0 1A A: Chris Panzella (Yam) .
Q /A 8 : Lome Cora lnikCr'a m) .
Q /A C: Eric Ki p? (Yam).
A A: I. Sco tt Phl'lps (Hu n) ; 2. Pa tri ck Ti mo t h y
(Kaw) ; 3. Ken Vale ntine ( J(TM); 4. Bria n O'Neil (Kaw) .
5. Luke McNeil (K aw ).
250 A: 1. D.J. Lis (Hus): 2. Dennis Decke r (KTM); 3.
Josh Ha cke tt (Hon): 4. Dave Sim cock (CRE); 5. C hris
Cra me r ( Kaw).
200 A: 1. Jl'S SC Berthia ume (Yam); 2. Bob S mt heson
(Han); 3. Chris Crispin (Hen): 4. Na tha n Karmey (Suz);
5. Dre w Carpen ter (Suz ).
VET A: 1. Craig Pratt (Suz) ; 2. Marty Hear s (Kaw) ;
3. Ma rtin Griff (Ya m); 4. Robe rt Ca rlso n (Suz ): 5. Mar k
Whi te (Suz) .
O PEN A: 1. Chris Panzella (Yam); 2. Dan Sa lomo ne
(KT M); 3. Pete Byrn e (Ya m ); 4 . Bob Nort h (Ya m) ; 5.
Roger Billha rz (KT M).
-l--STRK A: 1. Ch ris West (Ho n); 2. Brooks Hamilton
(Ya m).
S R A: 1. Fra nk Wo rthann (KTM); 2. Robe rt Wh ite
(Ho n); 3. Steven Kan ya (KTM).
250 8 : 1. Gera rd Hay ne r IHon): 2. Keit h Be nney
(H on); 3. Todd Ha milto n (Hon); 4. David Vallt>e (KTM);
5. Luke Dawson (Yam) .
200 B: 1. Robe rt Maxon (H en): 2. Tod d Sentheson
(Ho n ): 3. Robert Ro we (KTM); 4. Cha rles Ha th aw a y
(Ho n): 5. David Popi elski IHo n).
VET B: 1. Dav id Bonsa ll (Kaw): 2. Eri c Reinhard
(KTM); 3. Brian Brewer