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ECEA Hare Scrambles Series, Round 1 MCI Hare Scrambles 0: By Mark Uth/T rail Ride r Magazin e PEMBERTOI , Nj,NOV. 1 ro MXe r Joel Dengler used th e ECEA Hare Scrambles Series season final e to prove - once again tha t he is an off-ro ad for ce to be rec koned with. Fighting off near-continuou s atta ck s by series ch amp Fr ed Hoe ss, Suzuki-mounted Dengler led the event fo r better than fiv e o f th e se ven laps completed by the top competitors . Taking advantage of the misfortunes of ear lier lead er Aaron Kopp and Hoess, Deng le r ga ined, reli nqui s hed , and th e n regained th e lead to sco re th e overall win a scan t five seconds ahea d of Hoe ss, Rich Lafferty fill ed th e fin al p odium posit io n, some 2 1/2 minutes behin d Hoess. . No doubt Dengler had to wo rk for this one, though. A highl y co m petitive field incl uded local AA ta lent H o ess , Lafferty an d Craig She nigo, as well as 1998 series cham p Mar c Grossma n. Visiting hot sh oes in clud ed NETRA hare scrambler Luke McNeil, Dennis Decker, GNCC co m pe tito r Aa ron Kopp a n d local MX legend Lee Rostien. . The fact that Hoes s was racing at all was a su rp rise to many. Although he was thou gh t to 'have clinched the champio nshi p durin g the p reviou s ro und, it was later learned that, com ing in to the even t, the cha m pions hi p points s tandings were ac tua lly 161-136 in fa vor of Hoess. This meant that seco nd seed Rich Lafferty could tie with the overall victory if Hoess finis hed out of the points. As , result, Hoess had to race. Event promoter MCI hosted the ru n ', t a new locati on : th e grounds of On I'a rget Paint ball of Pemberton , Ne w [er;ey. Th is fres h terrain permitted the lay)u t o f a w indin g 6.5-mi le cour s e :h rough clas sic so u th Jersey lowl ands. ,ectio ns of w ood s tr ail tha t made up perha ps half the course were not tight in :he technical sense; instead , see ming ly wide tra cks in most sect ions had racers riding ca utiously d u e to s w itch b a ck turns, ditc hes, roots, logs a n d other ob s tacles that m a d e passing pl e nt y tricky. O n th e dead -e ng ine st a r t, Aa ro n Kopp go t th e ho les ho t, ju s t ahea d of KTM p il ot Denn is Deck e r . De ng le r , Hoess, Lafferty and Lee Rostien so on filled in behind as they set out for their first trip around the loop. Near the end of the first lap - as the rid ers were about to ex it th e woods - lead er Kop p happ ened to s ta ll h is Su z uki in a tight sw it chba ck tu rn . As Kopp fra n tica lly kicked , Dengler, Hoess, Decke r, Lafferty and Rost ien scoo ted by and file d in to the scori ng barre ls, in that order. De ngler and Hoess pu lled away d uring the next cou ple of laps , lead ing thi rd -placed . Rich Lafferty by - at times - as much as a m inute a nd a hal f. Hoess fi nally go t aro u nd Den gler o n the fou rth lap, but his tim e ou t front wa s short-lived . At the s tar t of th e fifth la p , with Hoess lead in g, th e tw o fro nt- runners simu lta neously p ull ed int o th e pits to refuel. Unfortunately, Hoess' crew had trouble with their dump can, d ragging ou t the refueling process and delaying his departu re . Meanwhile, Dengler' s su p po rt crew - led by his father, lon gtim e off-road rider Bruce Den gler - go t Joel in and out sma rt ly, buyin g a 10- to P 15-seco nd edge that would prove to be insurmountable. Hoess tried to make up this deficit d uring the final two lap s, but it 'was to no avail, although he d id manage to ca tc h back up in th e wa n ing moments o f the fi na l lap . H o wever. Dengler won it with a finishing time of 1:52:45, fo llo wed by Hoes s at 1:52:50 and Lafferty at 1:55:35. Finishing behind the lead tr io wer e Kopp, McNeil a nd Decker. Kopp an d McNeil managed to wo rk their way up in th e standings a s th e race wore on , while Decker faded from third to sixth. McNeil earn ed first-place honors in the A Lig ht (0-249cc) cla ss . Veteran -class com petitor Phil Ca rlin piloted his Yam aha to sevent h overall , earni ng the class victo ry in the pro cess. KTM 200 rid er s Shenigo a nd Dale Hiles finis hed eig hth and n in t h ove rall, w h ile a KX250mounted Terry Tucker round ed out the top 10, clai ming the A Senio r-elass win to boot. In other class action , Lewis Robb ins and Giles Ryan took top hon ors in the B Ligh t and Heavy classes, respecti vely . Top Novice-class finis hers were Anthony Leo ne a nd Mark DiPasquale, who (Above) Joel Dengler outlasted Fred Hoess to win the ECEA MCI Hare Scrambles in New Jersey. (Left) Hoess wrapped up the ECEA Hare Scrambles Champion sh ip with a second-place fi nish . topped their res pective C Light a n d Hea vv classes. , .n ECEA MCI Hare Scrambles Pembe rton , New Je rsey Results~November 8,1998 O/A : 1. Ioe l Den gler (Suz): 2. Fred H Ot ' S S (Suz ): 3'Rich Lafferty (KTM ); 4. A Mon Kopp (Suz): 5. Luk e McN ei l (Y. m); 6. Den nis Decker (KTMI; 7. Ph il Ca rlin 1 (Yam); 8. Cra ig She nigc (KTM); 9. Dnll' Hilt's ("1 M); 10. Terry Tu cke r (Kaw) . A U W : 1. Luke McNei l (Yam) : 2. Cra ig S he nigo (KTM); 3. Dale Hil es (KTM); 4. Bob Sorenson (Ho n): 5. Greg Da vies (Yam) . ; A HIW : I. Joe l Dengler (Suz) : 2. Fred Hi..lt."N> (SUI:) 3. Rich lafferty (KTM ); 4. Aaron Kopp (Suz): 5. Denn is Decker (KTMI, V ET : 1. Phi l Carlin (Yam ); 2 . Mark Ma rsza lek (lion); 3. Rich Klint.' (KTM); 4. Vic Chalow (Yam) ; 5. Jim Fra nk... (Suz) . 4ยท STRK: 1. Steve I... kin (Y.1m); 2. Bob Benne tt u (Han ); 3. Mi ke \1 cH.\ le (Yam); 4. Ma rk Pcrrv (H, m) ; 5. Rob Co mber (Ya m). . SR : I. Tcrry Tuc ker (Ka w): 2. Kevin Reed (He n): 3. Ga ry Nob le (Hon): 4. Jo hn Me ln iczuk (KTM); 5. Ron Sta m pa (He n). S/SR : 1. Scott wolfersbcrgcr (Yam ); 2. Jack Laffer ty S r. (K TM) ; 3. To m Eberso le (C RE); 4. Rich Trader (K TM); 5. Rocco Spa no (Yam ). 8 UW: 1. Lew is Robbins (Suz ): 2. Bill Hess (Kaw): 3. Ed Leper (Ho n): 4. jo e New ma n (e RE); 5. Ron Dt..< aro (Yam ). B HIW : 1. Giles Ryan (KTM); 2. Da ve Na sh (Ka w): 3. Dennis Lyn ch (Kaw): 4. Ch ris Vecchion e (Ka w) : 5. Todd Fenton IHo n) . U W: 1. A n thony Leo n e (5uz ); 2. A lan Bopp ( K"IM); 3. Scott Carey (K.1w ); 4. Tim Schralziga n (Yam) ; 5. Rob Keith (H us), e HJW: 1. Mark DiPasquale (Ha n); 2. Tim Grif fith (Ya m); 3. Tom Seaman (KTM); 4. Robert Dal bey (Ya m); 5. Ma tt Hanes (H on). e 00 0\ 0\ ,....... (Above) Luke McNeil took fi rst place in the A Li gh t cla ss . (Left) Terry Tucker was top Senio r. 0\ l-< (l) ..0 E (l) .U (l) c 21