Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.-...,EVENTS . Action Sports Team Hare Scrambles Championship Ba rry Hawk takes the checkered flag as teammate Doug Blackwell gives him a high five for the ir victory in the Action Sports Team Hare Scrambles Champions hip of the World. By David L. Patton Jr. Y 00 C1\ C1\ ...... u) N I-< Cll ..0 E Cll > o z 20 . ALBANY, OH, OCT. 31·NOV. 1 am aha riders Dou g Blackwell and • Ba rry Hawk Jr. scored a convinc.' ing wi n at the 1998 Actio n Sports Team Ha re Scra mble Cha mpion sh ip of the World , p resen ted by Honda No rthw est BMW Suzu ki a nd Spo rt Cy cles Yamaha . The win capped off a grea t season for Blackwell, who won the National Ha re Scram bles Cha mp io nship this year and finished second in the Na tiona l Enduro Series. The wi nners overcame a tal ent ed field o f fo rmer champion s, in clud ing Scott Pl essing er an d n e w teamma te Duane Conner, and the greatest team the even t has ever had, Terry "T.C." Cunni ngham and Jeff "J.R." Russell, wh o togeth er own ed this event for n ea rl y 10 y ea r s . Two of th e fa st est young rid ers in the United States wo uld also be after the win, as Hea th Bennett and Chuck Woo dford took their sho t at the Pro-class veterans . The eve n t d raws riders fro m many other types of racing, and Pro Hillclimb riders Terry Tho m pson and Willie Price were in the field, along wi th Superbike rid er Larry Pegra m. As the Pro cl as s lined up fo r th e d ead -engin e, Le Mans start, Ha wk and Blackwell were the favorites, thou gh the team of Scott Plessinger (in his first race ba ck from a badly broken wrist) an d Duane Conner we re the X factor in the race. If Plessinger's wrist and sta mi na held up, an d if Co nner could adapt to the Suz uki, they wo u ld be ha rd to bea t. A t t he s ta r t, G ra nd Na tional di rt tracker-turned-road racer Peg ra m aced ou t th e w oods rid ers to lead th e field throug h the firs t turn. Pegram' s lea d was sho rt-lived , though , as SCR/ MSR/ Pro-Action rider Bennett quickly wen t by and Blackw ell and Plessinger hooked up beh ind th e lead ers. Pegram wasn' t able to mat ch the f ront-runners' pace, and halfway th ro ugh the first la p Bennett and Blackwell had opened up a gap over Plessinger, w hile Da ryl Conner tried to reel in Pegram for fourth. Bennett was flying, but he made a ment al error that dropped him behind the other contenders. "We we re the first guys through, and they hadn't go tten all the classes off yet, so th e b a nn ers w eren't up whe n we came around and I tu rned left when I sho u ld have gone to the righ t," Ben nett said. " It was all m y fault. It proba bly cost us 25 secon ds." Blackw ell also los t time in the sa me section. . As th e field fini s hed th e fi rs t lap, KTM Spo rtmotorcy cles s tar Plessing er hel d a fou r-sec ond lead over Peg ram. Dou g Blackwell , Daryl Co nne r, Heath Bennett and Terry C u nningham were all near the top of the field, thou gh . Blackwell wa s really on the gas, and he passed Pegram and Plessinger on lap two and quickly opened up a three-second lead. The Action Sports crew had to d o a quick reroute befor e the thir d lap, as a dry creek-bed sec tio n had tu rn ed in to a m udd y mess afte r n earl y 200 bikes had torn th rou gh it. Man y riders fell victim to the m u d , incl udi ng Pr ice a nd a for m er Pro-cl as s w inner, ProAction backed Gene O' Nail, who wo uld take s econ d pl ace in the Fa th er / So n di vision . The leader s pitted at the start of lap three, with defending champion Hawk o n th e Yamaha USA / MSR/ Pire ll ibacked YZ400F ahead of Conner. Con ner was racing a Suzuki RM250 for the first time, and he was riding well. " My G as Gas co ntract e xp ire d at mi dnigh t on Satu rday night, and F&S Racing's Ma rk Adkins asked me to try ou t one of their RMs," Conner said . "We put it together at 3 this mornin g and I rode it abo u t a half an hour befor e the race:' Ha wk and Conner still battled for the lead on lap four, bu t Chuck Woodford w a s s trin gi ng togeth er some fa st la p times on his Pro Circu it / An swer / Silkolene-backed Kawasak i KX afte r losin g time in the pits trading their tag. "I caug h t Con ner and was tryi ng to ge t aro u nd him on the inside wh en I hit a root and slid out," Woodford sai d. Wood ford got go ing again, bu t he and Hea th wou ld ha ve a day full of little problems'that slowed their cha rge to the fron t. Hawk pitted af ter lap four due to arm pump. Sinisalo / Du nlop-bac ke d Co n ne r stayed ou t for one more lap and took the lead . Blackw ell led Benn ett and Daryl Conner ou t of the pits and once ag ain Blackwell click ed off a fas t la p. Wh en Duane Con nor hand ed off to Plessinger, Black w ell ret ook th e lea d . Ples singer qu ickl y moved u p to cha llenge Blac kwell and the latter then made a mistake. "The cou rse is going away fast, as the tree roots a re getting exp ose d ," Blackwell sa id , "I came out of a corn er a nd caug ht a tree root or stu m p and it stood me up, taking me off the trail and right into a tree ." Ples singer too k co n tro l of th e to p spo t as Blackwell got it going aga in, but he was having trouble with lap ped traffic an d he couldn't put mu ch ground on SC R Ya ma h a / A nsw e r / FM F- ba ck e d Blackwell. Th e wi n ning es t team in Ac tio n Sports h istory w as also having its share of problems . Cunningham and Russell do mi na te d the fi rs t 10 vears of the event, but having do ne Iittl~ com pe titive racing during th e last cou p le of years was hurting the local her oes. "My arms pumped up real bad," Jeff Russell sa id after his first shift on the track . T.C. was also deali ng with a lack of cond itioning. "I pumped up because I haven't ridden very much lately: ' he ad mitted . . A bro ken chai n in the la st h our drop ped th em ou t of th e top 10, b u t everyone was glad to see them racing togeth er again . By the halfway point , the lead er s had p ulle d awa y fr om Bennett / Woo d for d and the team of Dary l Conner and Bennett, an d lead cha nges only ha p pened w hen so meone p itt ed. As the three-h our race en tered the final 60 m inute s, Bla ckwe ll wa s lea d ing Plessinger b y fo u r seco n ds wh en Plessinger's luck turned bad . "I was wide open in thi rd gea r at the top of the hill whe n a lapped rid er lost the fro n t en d r ig h t in fron t o f m e ," Plessi nger said . "His rear whee l flew up and I hit it so hard it dinged my fork tu be." Blackwell's lead ballooned to 35 seconds wit h 40 minu tes left to race, and it pumped up even more when Plessinger pitted and staye d ou t. With two laps to go, Blackwell turned it ove r to Hawk to bring ho me the wi n. Du ane Co nner was d o in g ever ythin g he co u ld to ca tc h Hawk, bu t his Suzuki seemed to be low on top- end power. Blackw ell wa tched as Ha wk took the w hite fla g with hi s lea d intact. Ha w k put together laps of 11:30 and 11:27 to clinch the win. "I' ve been in thi s s itua tio n befor e, and if you try to take it easy, some thing always happens: ' Hawk said, "so I kep t it pinned all the way to the finish." Du an e Conner came home second. "We had a really go od da y; we jus t ca m e u p a li ttl e shor t," Co nner sa id . "Bu t those gu ys rod e grea t." Wood ford /Ben nett took third , with Daryl Conn er and Joh n Benne tt fourt h. Daryl ro de really well on his brother's Gas Gas after not having ridden for the last tw o years. Blackw ell was enjoying • the end of his bes t season eve r. "I've tried to wi n this thi ng for four or five years, and I' ve come so close: ' Blackw ell said , "bu t tod ay was perfect, except for my cras hing - bu t tha t's part of racin g." Ha wk gave most of the cred it to his partner. " Do u g go t the lead in th e mid dl e part of the race and he ga ve it to me to h old o n to ," H a wk s a id g ra ci o us ly. "Dou g did all the hard work , getting us ou t front. Hopefull y, we can do it again l 'X next year." Team Hare Scramble Albany, Ohio Results : October 31-November 1, 1998 50 PW : 1.' Co lby McCutchl..·on /Jl"nny Reyn old s: 2. Cherokee Gang/Cody Cang . 50 (4-6): 1. Kiefe-rSta nd ley l e ory Buttrick. 50 (7-8): 1. Zach Dotso n / Kail u b Russell ; 2. Lev i Kilbarger / Rya n Bru m fiel d ; 3. Derek Shi rey / Da nie l Wagone r. 65 (7-11): 1. Aaron Kline/Deva n w etch: 2. John Bunne r/Colby McCutch\-On; 3. Kyle Wolfe / Josh Verity; ' 4. Na tha n Saving /Jacob Mohney . MINI JR: 1. D.R. Atwood /Joshua Gaitten; 2. O key Joh nson / Tim Hollenbe 3. A.J. Nutter/ J.J. Downhour; ck: 4. Mitche ll Reynold s / Tra vi Ca rr . s M INI SR: 1. Don Dawley Zjos h Knap p; 2. David He rb / Drew Eggleston: 3. Crystal Williamson/ Aaro n Johnso n; 4. Derek Collins lJustin Miller . PRO : 1. Doug Blackwell /Barry Hawk Jr.; 2. Scott Plessinger /Duane Conne r; 3. Chuck Woodford /Hea th Be nnett; 4. Dary l Con ne r /Joh n Ben nett; 5. Dariu s Lattea / Mitch Ward . UW NOV: 1. Ryan Singee/Robert Bate!" III; 2. Mike Slo pko /J o h n Hard es t y; 3. Jim mi e Withe n /La ne Gilbra ith; 4. Chris Pagel; 5. Richard Owi ngs /Raymond Owings. L/W : 1. Jo e We bb / Je rod Dea hl ; 2. Brad le y Sm it h /Sco tt Klam fot h ; 3 . Brya n Wall a ce / Bob by Roseberry: 4. Pat Pinkerto n/Sha ne Sims; 5. Dale Yauger II/Bob Krau . HIW NOV: 1. Sha nno n Thoma s/Ja son Boeugber; 2. Wayne May /Ja son Estep; 3. Paul Cline/Tyler Wren; 4. Joe Mendenha ll/Brian Kellou gh ; 5. Ty Walker /Brian Turk. HIW : 1. Jeff A nderson / Lamie Thompson; 2. And y Shea IJa so n Schu tt e; 3. Keith Gwi n n/Scott Hayes ; 4. Jaso n Hixson /Ryan Mayle; S. Larry Musick Jr./Josll:ua Kna pp . OP EN: 1. Brad ley Sells /Da nie l Bryan ; 2. Michae l Matoszkia/Mike Gran ey; 3. Pa ul Chaney / Steve Gilbert; 4. Allen Nelson/David Black; 5. Robert John son / Ch uck. Ahart. VET : 1. Jeffrey Moore / Michael Postlewa ite; 2. Tom Cha nnell/ Tim Adkins; 3. Ad a m Cad le /Be njami n Smith; 4. Mike Treadway /Wally Wilson; S. Tom Parfitt /Ca llie Ward. 4-S T RK : 1. Da ve St oneburner /Mi ke Je nkins; 2. Richa rd Lannin g / Jeff COrTa; 3. Tom Ha rd e n / Jason Alliso n; 4. Cec il Ro s e /Mi ke Keeton ; 5. Thoma s Gaitten/ William Walters . FATHElVSON: 1. Joseph Hu ll/Kelvin Hu ll; 2. Tom Mey e r s /Tom Mey ers Jr.; 3. Ge ne O ' Na ii /H ome r O'Na il ; 4. Ra nd y Masti n / Cod y Ma stin ; 5. Rodney Frecker / Jason Frecker, • J ') "

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