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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127995
Team captains Bobby Schwartz (left) and
Mick Poole (right) do battle at the
Sydney Showground Speedway in'
Australia. The Aussies went on to
dominate the Americans, who suffered
with bike problems on the inconsis1ent
racing surface.
38
pass. Thiele made it to the top of the
same hill before getting hooked up with
a lapper while trying to pass, but Windmann soon retook the lead after Leivan
had problems on a hill.
Five seconds separated the top three
after two laps, while Leigh Letellier held
on to fourth just over a minute back.
Letellier, who has only ridden selected
rounds for the last few years, was making his first appearance in 1999, and he
had his KTM 200 on the gas, at the front
of what had become a seven-rider
freight train after 50 minutes of racing
on the technical course.
On the third lap, Windmann had
more problems with traffic and surrendered the lead back to Leivan. Thiele
was able to take over second before
Windmann could get untangled from a
tree/fence/lapper situation. It was at
this point that Leivan picked up the
pace and tried to make a break.
"Everything was good until I made a
mistake trying to get around a lapper
and nearly went down," said Leivan.. "It
blew my momentum and Chris (Thiele)
got around me."
With the white flag imminent, Leivan
made another bid for the lead by choosing a longer but smoother line in a rutted field, while Thiele nearly became
stuck by going the shorter route. Just
after taking over the lead, Leivan got a
break in traffic that may have changed
the complexion of the race. When the
two leaders came upon a pack of four
lapped riders, Leivan worked through
them quickly, while Thiele was not so
fortunate. Thiele went down while trying to move through the traffic.
'1 tried to go between two guys and
their lines came back together and I
endoed between them," said Thiele.
Thiele got going, still in second, and
he was running 30 seconds behind
Leivan when the white flag came out.
Windmann was still in third, but he had
dropped nearly two minutes off the
pace. Nesbitt had taken over fourth,
while Ken Yount had moved up to fifth.
Leivan pulled out all the stops on the
final circuit, chopping more than a
minute off of his previous lap times. He
completed the lap with no major problems and. finished with a gap of slightly
over two minutes and his secontl consecutive victory in hand.
Thiele brought his Team Green ride
home in the runner-up position with a
couple of minutes to spare on Windmann. Both riders turned in strong rides
and, after being series contenders
throughout 1998, they appear to be in
contention again. Letellier completed a
great ride to finish in fifth, picking up
two positions on the final lap. Dwight
Maggard came back from an early
deficit to finish sixth after completing
lap one in 12th. Dan Burgard, another
rider who went toward the front all day,
rode his Yamaha into seventh, 17 seconds ahead of Brandon Forrester. England, who was up front early, took the
checkers in ninth, while Yount had his
share of problems on the last lap to end
up 10th.
_
Missouri Hare Scrambles Series
Competition, Missouri
Results: April 18, 1999 (Round 2)
O/A; 1 Steve Leivan (Yam); 2. Chris Thiele O