Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 1: Hollister Hills SVRA (Left) Kelby Pepper (25) led early on before Mike Lafferty (4) motored by him and rode off to victory. (Above) Lafferty reaps the spoils of victory. (Below far left) Defending champ Doug Blackwell put together a late-race charge to capture second. (Below, far left) Brian Garrahan suffered a broken left foot a week before the race but still forged on to finish third. gloves and full tanks of fuel. Lafferty finally got a rock on first place late in the race and was able to savor his first National Hare Scrambles victory. . Blackwell went into the last lap with Lafferty out of reach, but Garrahan was a possible target, so Blackwell went for him. "1 rode pretty hard that last lap," Blackwell said. And it paid off, as BlaCKwell caught the California~ and went by him - closely. "He caught me on this uphill and was kind of out of control and used me like a berm," Garrahan said of the pass, "but that's just racing." CIII Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area Hollister Hills, California Results: February 7, 1999 (Round 1 of 9) By Mark Kariya HOLLISTER, CA, FEB. 7 TM'S Michael Lafferty trounced a solid if soggy field to win the sixth annual Heart On Classic, which marked the opening round of the AMA National Hare Scrambles Series at the Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area. Lafferty completed the 9mile, six-loop race in two hours, 48 minutes and 36 seconds. Yamaha'S Doug Blackwell got the defense of his AMA National Hare Scrambles Championship off to a good start by rallying on the final lap and passing KTM-mouJlted Brian GarrahaJl for second, finishing out the race with a time of 2:51:19. The defending race champ and National number two, Garrahan, finished third, stopping the clocks at 2:52:26. He rode the event with a broken foot, which he sustained the K 42 week before in a head-on collision with another rider. Rounding out the top five were Kelby Pepper (2:54:08) and Australia's Shane Watts (2:59:17), who was the last rider to finish all six laps in less than three hours. "1 just wanted to get in there, do good and get out of the series," Lafferty . said. "1 just wanted to use this race as a tuneup for the National Enduro next week. 1'm not going to try to do the whole hare scrambles series." Conversely, Blackwell will be doing the entire series, as well as the GNCCs, as will Lafferty. "1 won't be doing the entire enduro series, though," Blackwell said. "Doing three series like 1 did last year is probablya bit too much." {n rainy and wet cond ltions, which forced last-minute course changes, Colorado's Pepper got the best start and led the first wa ve, with Lafferty close behind. A first-turn pileup swallowed quite a few riders, including 'KTM's Patrick Garrahan, who .was last year's third-place finisher. Garrahan would la ter pull au t of the race. Pepper and Lafferty soon found themselves tailed by KTM's Watts, who didn't get off to a great start on his 125. "1 blew the start, and it went worse f am there," Watts said. "The bike wouldn't start. In practice, it started first kick every time; then, in the race, everyone was long gone by the time 1 got going." Besides Watts, Blackwell and Brian Garrahan also made their presence known. Lurking a little further back was Honda's Scott Summers, who was a lastminute entrant. The lead changed often, which wasn't a surprise considering the conditions. Riders tQok a little bit of extra time in the pits for clean goggles, dry Of A: 1: Michael Lafferty (KTM); 2. Doug Blackwell (Yam); 3. Brian Garrahan (KTM); 4. KelQy Pepper (Yam); 5. Shane Watts CKTM); 6. Scott Summers (Hon); 7. Josh McLevy (KTM); 8. Erik Kohler (Yam); 9. Eric Ducray (Yam): 10. Craig Wesner (Kaw); 11. Luke McNeil (Yam); 12. Dave Flashberger (Hon): 13. Rod Kreiss (Kaw); 14. Steve Silvestri (Hbg); 15. Cole Ma.rshall (Hon); 16. Eric Mashbir (Suz); 17. Steve Hlebo (Kaw); 18. Curt Wilco.x (Suz): 19. Todd Zilcosky (Suz);.20. Damjcn Galford (Kaw). AA: 1. Michael LaJferty (KTM); 2. Doug Blackwell (Yam); 3. Brian Carrallan (KIM); 4. Kelby Pepper (Yam); S. Shane Watts (KTM). OPEN A: 1. Mike Sprenger (ATK). 250 A: 1. Craig Wesner (Kaw); 2. Damicn Galford (Kaw); 3. James Ptarcillski (Yam): 4. John Romanoff (K.1W): 5. Brian Butter CHon). 200 A: 1. Rod Kreiss (Kaw): 2. Todd Zilcosky (SU7.): 3. Loren Higley (Yam); 4. Bill Rush (Suz); 5. Troy J. Camerer (KTM). 4~STRK A: 1. Steve Silvestri (Hbg); 2. Curt Wilcox (Suz); 3. Russell K. Pereira (Yam); 4. ""Rob Zimmerman (lib,.); S. Mark Kerling (Yam). VET A: 1. Eric Mashbir (Suz); 2. .Brian Sumra(l (Yam): 3. Jay Faulkner (C-G): 4. Bill Jarvis (Hon); 5. Ron Picken (Kaw). OPEN B: 1. Gltis Slechta (Hon): 2. Brian Barrington (KTM); 3. Mar.k Lema (Yam); 4': Aaron Phillips (Han); S. Scutt aamett (KTM). 250 8: 1. Brian Jclich (Hon); 2. Nick Thom (}(aw); 3. ~righam Craun (Suz); 4. Garrett Binns (Hon); 5. Brad Hetherington

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