Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMA/SETRA/MSR Hare Scrambles series, Reutitl 1. By Kenn eth King HEMINGWAY SC, SEPT. 20 , he SETRA / MSR H ar e Scrambles Series sta rted off with a roar - the roa r of Ran d y Hawk ins' Yamaha YZ400 thu mper scari ng off the competition. Deep insi de th e South Caro lin a woods, Hawkins weaved his big Yamaha aroun d the trees and rises to claim the ove rall wi n at the Battery Park Hare Scrambles. . . "Ashley (Brewer, the event's promoter) did a g reat job w it h the co u rse," Hawki ns sa id . " It ha d tig h t and fast s tu ff, and I'm just gl a d I was ab le to co me a nd ha ng ou t wi th the SETRA guys ." . Tea m Green' s To mmy Vea tor took ru nn er-up honors beh ind th e six-time endu ro cha m p, fini shing one m inute an d 35 seconds off the win ning pace. "I enjoyed the race, " Veator said. "I pretty mu ch chased Randy all d ay, but ] had a lot of fun ." Rounding out the top three was KTM rider Doug Masencup. "I got a good s t a r t; ] pulled the holes hot," Mas encup said . " Ra n d y passed me somewhere on the first lap, then Tommy passed me. ] p retty much backed off a bit because of the dust, bu t I had fun. " Ashley Brewer p romoted the race an d laid out a tough 55-mile loop. The course was very sandy, which rem ind ed many of the rid ers of the trails found in Florid a. Th e event held two se parate races on the day. Th e C and specia lty classes started at 11 o'clock an d raced for 1 1/2 hours, while the AA, A and B classes left the sta rt line at 1 o'clock for a two-hour ru n. There was qu ite a bit of new trail that greeted the C riders, but by the time the first race was over, the whol e track was T p retty wh ooped out and rough . KTM's Robert Neeley smo ked that first ra ce, winning th e Super Seni or A class a nd becoming th e "u no fficial" ove ra ll winner. The AA class was missing some of its top rid ers - A lle n Gra vi tt , Fr a n kl in Ramey, Ashley Brewer, Michael Grizzle, to nam e a few - so eyes we re focuse d on Veato r a n d Masencup, as well as Haw kins, of course. Whe n th e g ree n flag drop ped , Masencup took the ho leshot, followed by Hawkins and Veator. '''My bike fired right up and I got the holeshot," Mase ncup said . "I was trying to put a s m uc h d is tan ce as 1 cou ld between me an d Randy, but both Rand y and Tommy go t by me by the end of the . first lap ." Ha wk ins jumped int o the lead , with Vea tor right on his fende r. "Tommy was ridin g good," Hawkins said. "He passed me on the firs t lap, and I passed him back. I was imp ressed wi th how he was rid ing." Haw kins en tered the barrels with a time of 13 minutes and 28 seco n ds, Vea tor with a 13:29. Masencup clocked in at 14.23 On the second lap, Hawkins upped the pace a bit and moved out to a 13-second ad vantage over Veator. "I got arm pump bad in the first coup le of laps," Vea tor said. "Plus I was eating Rand y' s d ust." Hawkins came through the scoring area the seco nd time with a 23-second lead, while Masencu p chased in third just a few secon ds behind Veato r. Leadi ng the 250cc A class in fourth overall was Russell Epley. He came into the scoring barrels on lap two a minute b eh ind Ma sen cup. By lap thre e, Hawkins had wide ned his gap to 18 secon ds over Veator, followed at a d istance by Masencu p. (Top) Robert Neeley took top honors in the Super Senior A class at the SETRA Battery Park Hare Scrambles in South Carolina. (Above) Mel Smith topped the Senior C class . (Left) Randy Hawkins was the overall winner. Epley, who started one minute behind the AA rid ers, was keeping their pace. "I was having a hard tim e rid ing my bik e," sa id th ird-pla ced Ma sencup. "I hurt m y ba ck w h ile pra ct icin g , a nd th o se knee-deep sa n d whoop s were killing me." Hawkins, meanwhile, maintained his lead throughou t th e ra ce, with Vea to r staying within' 30 seconds of the factory Yam ah a rider. On lap eig ht, Veator was more tha n a mi nu te behind Hawkins and mor e than seven minu tes ahea d of Masencup. "I tried to stav as close as I could to Ra ndy," Vea tor- said. "I th ink I wo re myself out in those first few lap s. ] go t real tired those last couple of lap s." Back in third, Masencu p was ridi ng a s tea d y p a ce, although hi s lap ti mes slowe d considerably after the ha lfw ay point of the 46--mile race. "I was doing everything I could just to finish," Mase ncup said . 'This is still a new bike to me , an d I' m still ge tting used to it." Epley, mean while, kept leading the 250cc A class by close to five minu tes over second -placed Lee Stephens. After th e n inth and fin al lap , Hawkins crossed the finish line some 51 seco nd s a hea d of runner-up Vea tor. Mase ncu p finis hed seven minutes back in thi rd . "I was impressed with Tomm y today - he rod e goo d ," Hawkins said . "I rod e as fast as I needed to go. We were going good . I' ve been wo rking real hard on my Yama ha. Earlier thi s year, I didn't do that wel1 a t the SETRA events; now I' m two for two . It makes me feel like my hard work is paying off. I had a lot o f fun toda y. I'm leavi n g fo r th e Six Days on N ov ember 1; 1 will be ridi ng the 400. I'm also planning on racing as man y SETRA races as I can." Veator s ta r te d th e season o ff well w ith secon d . "It felt good jus t to finish as close as I l~ d id to Rand y," Veator said . Battery Park Hare Scrambles Hemingway, South Carolina Results: September 20, 1998 O /A: Randy Ha wkins (Yam). AA : 1. Tommy Veator; 2. Dou g Masencup. ; o rEN A: 1. Ch ris PanselLa 2. Joh n Kealey; 3. Greg Mize . . 250 A: 1. Russell Epl ey; 2. Lee Step he ns : 3. Fra nk Koenig Ir . 200 A: 1. Sonny Mora bito; 2. Robert Seve n piper. 3. Andy Dea n.' SR A : 1. Terry Hu gh es; 2. Richa rd H icks; 3. Terry Mealer. S/S R A: 1. Robert Neel ey; 2. Frank Nel so n. MSTR A: 1. Jimmy Lyn ch; 2. Johnny Ab le. O PEN B: 1. Lon Buysm an ; 2. Robert And rew s: 3. Jess Robe rtson. 250 B: 1. Ken t Ro ge rson; 2. Mike Ga rner; 3. Keith g Bowma n; 4. Cre Hu ff. 200 B: 1. Ge orge Miller; 2. Richi e Brown; 3. Rick McEJeven . 4-ST R K B: 1. Pau l McC oll; 2. Rich ard Lyn ch ; 3. Ravmo nd Thoma s. • SR B: 1. Stev e Moore; 2. De an Stal ey : 3. Richard Morabito. MSTR B: 1. Larr y Baxle y; 2. Frl·d Hammo nd : 3. Ra ndy Tomlinso n. OPEN C: 1. Blair Jackso n; 2. Heath Hend erson; 3. Ge ne Zobel: 4. Eric Pen tshlcr. 250 C: 1. Iva n Ha ynes; 2. Ja so n Wa lke r; '3. Tob y Boyd ; 4. Jesse Goode. . 200 C: 1. Scott Mou nt ; 2. Sa m Ne lso n ; 3. C h ri s Wahle; 4. Jaso n Royer . 4-S TRK C: 1. Bob Thurman ; 2. Jason MiII l' r ; 3. Ron nie Parrish; 4. Chris Ward . SR C: 1. Mel S mith ; 2. Er ic G re go ry; 3. Don ni e Kirby . MSTR C: 1. Ron Bla rs; 2. Cha rles A rmour; 3. Jack Lenning. UW TRL: 1. John Schafer: 2. Michael Beck. • HIW TRL: 1. Steve Rigg s; 2. Davi d Rowe ll; 3. Jim my O ark. . WMN: 1. Heather WilIiam.s; 2. Kare n Nelso n. ...... ~ N l-o (l) ,.Q o ..... u o 43

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