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National Championship Hare Scrambles Series, Round 7
By Frank Lelvan
File pho to by Merle Acord
KAHOKA, MO, JULY 18
om in g into round seven of the
Na tio na l C hampionshi p H a re
Scrambles Series, Brian Garraha n
d esperat el y needed a win to keep his
titl e hopes alive. At th e end of the hot
and dusty eve n t, Ca rra hanhad dug in
and don e just that, coming out on top of
what turned in to a thr ee-rider battle late
in the race.
Beh ind Garra han came Steve Leivan ,
w ho worked his way u p fro m a slow
start to run d own the lead pack and finis h w ith h is best- ever nati on al resul t.
Defend ing series cha mpion Dou g Blackwell co m p leted th e podium after runni ng a t th e front all day before going
d own on th e fin a l lap w hile le ad ing .
Blackwell recovered to claim third .
Pro mo ter Mike Burkhart of Midwest
Mo tospo rt laid out a 10.S-mile course on
his farm in northeas t Missouri. The trail
snaked through wooded trails, across
ravines, mad e d ash es across open fields,
a nd circulated around a well -g roo med
motocross track. The 258 riders also had
to conten d with dust and tem pera tures
near 100 degrees.
The event, which a ls o se rved as
rou nd eight of the Missouri Ha re Scram bles Cha mpions hip, saw the top rid ers
complete five la p s in just over 2 1/2
hours. Leading lap times were jus t over
30 mi nu tes , a nd Garraha n 's w inni ng
speed average was 20 mph.
After an open-fie ld start and a sh or t
section of the mot ocross track, the rid ers
entered the wood s, led by Pat Garrahan,
Scott Plessinger (w ho was ba ck in t he
saddle for the first time since April), Brian
Garrahan, Steve McSwain and Blackwell:
Leivan entered the wood s in 12th.
By the end of lap one , Bria n Garrahan had tak en the lead at the front of a
freight train of six rid er s who had distanced th em sel ves fro m the rest of the
23-ride r AA class . McSwain followed in
seco nd . Pat Ga rra ha n was third, Blackwell fou rt h, and Leiva n had moved all
the way to fifth, jus t ahead of Plessinger:
Early on th e second la p , McSwai n
took over the lead on his Kawasaki and
led briefly before dropping off the pace
a n d ult im at el y out of t he ra ce .
Plessinger also had problem s on the second circui t a nd dropped ou t. Another
cas ualty of lap two was the older Garrahan, Pat, w ho was suffering from a suspected case of food poisoning. Although
Pat lost touch wit h the lead pack, he soldi ered on to finish eighth overall.
.Brian Ga rra han co m p leted the se cond lap wit h six seco nds on Black well,
while Leivan followed ano ther 10 ticks
back. Th e third la p was more of th e
sa me , wit h the lead trio putting time on
the rest of the pack. Both Garrahan and
Blackwell stoppe d for fuel at the completion of lap th ree, sepa ra ted by eigh t
seco nds this time through . Leiva n chose
to continue on witho ut fuel, closing the
ga p on second -placed Black well to ju st a
few seconds .
On the fourth lap, things started to get
in te resting. Garra ha n encou n ter ed a
grou p of lapped rid ers and had a tou gh
tim e getting through the m . Blackw ell
C
quick ly reeled in the leader, and a t the
same time, Leivan reeled in both of them.
Blackwell was ab le to move past Garrahan d uring the ordeal and, for a few hund red yards, the leaders were tire to tire,
bumping into each other in a few tu rns.
"It was cool - late in th e ra ce and
three of us a ll bangin ' bars and dici ng
for the lead ," sai d Garr ahan .
Leivan was a bit su rp rised to be part
ofi t all.
"I wa s u suall y a few seconds back
fr om Brian a n d Do ug," h e sa id , "so
when I saw that 1 had caug ht them tha t
lat e in the race, I started to ge t a little
nervous. I just d id n' t wa nt to ma ke a '
mistake and lose them. "
Blackwell maintained the lead going
in to wha t was to be th e 'fi n a l lap ,
altho ug h non e of the leaders we re really
su re that this wo uld in fact be the last
time around . Ga rra ha n was ri g ht on
Blackwell's rear fender, with Leiva n' s
booming four-stroke just a few seconds
further back. Since there was no white
flag thrown, there was some confusion.
"I d idn't know if it was the last lap or
not, so I was kin d of pacing myself,
waiting for the end," Blackwell stated.
Leivan 's top p ed fo r a splash of gas
since he, too, thought th er e might be
two more laps.
"I thought I could make it five laps
on gas ," Leivan said, "but w hen I didn' t
see a white flag, I decided to sto p."
Just a few miles into lap five, Blackwell went down ha rd in a "t abl e top"
section in the woods. Ga rraha n saw the
who le thin g and knew that this was his
oppo rtu nity to make a br eak .
"Doug kind of overju m ped and lost
the fro nt end," Garrahan said. "He ate it
pre tty hard , and I thought , 'It's time to
go.:"
"1 got up pretty q ui ck," Bla ckwell
sa id, "bu t m y bik e wa s twist ed a nd it
felt all wron g. I didn't kno w if it was me
or the bike, an d whe n I was straightening the front end ou t, Steve got by, too."
Leivan didn' t reall y reali ze th at he
had just moved int o second.
'1 saw him bangin ' the front end on a
tree, bu t I d idn't kn ow if it was Doug,"
Leiva n said. "We hi t.th e mot ocro ss track
righ t after that and I on ly sa w Bria n .
Then my pit crew was goi ng nuts and
let me know 1 was in seco nd."
W he n Blackwell e n tered the
mo tocross sect ion a bit dazed, his crew
doused him w ith wa ter and informed
hi m that ther e was on ly half a lap left.
"Up until then, I wasn' t in total-panic
mod e," said Blackwell. "When they told
me, 'This is it: I gave it alii had left."
Garrahan kept it all togeth er for the
las t few miles and cla imed his second
w in of th e series. The Ma xxis / KTM /
Fox / W ER-backe d wi n ner h ad co me
through when the pressure was on.
"C omin g into th e ra ce," Ga rra ha n
said, "I knew 1 had to bea t Doug to have
a chance at winn ing the champion ship. I
gave it all 1 had and thin gs worked out
gre at at the end for me. The track was
fun and let us all go at it near the end . Me .
and my brother have been on a five-week
road trip, so this is a good way to end ."
Lei van also held to u gh the last lap
and followed Garrahan in by 24 secon ds
to claim a career-best seco nd overall.
Events
Brian Garrahan (2) rode to victory at the Mule Kicker Hare Scrambles in Kahoka, Missouri.
"I decided tha t I was going to rid e as
hard as 1 could for as long as I could,
after the bad start," Leivan said . "I started getting past gu ys one by one and 1felt
good, so 1 kept push ing. After 1 moved
into second, 1 just tried to keep it on tw o
whee ls and not let Doug get too close."
The Answer / Du nlop/Sco tt -backed
Leiva n's runner -up finish a lso help ed
ex tend h is p oin ts lea d in the Missou ri
series .
.
Blackwell' came in 24 seconds behind
Leivan . Sco tt McL aughlin brough t his
YZ250 back from a bad first lap to claim
fou rth overall. Tea m Green Kawasa ki
rider Chris Thiele went down three times
on lap one, including a spill tha t pu t him
at the rear of the pack, but he recovered
well to round ou t the top five.
r:N
Mule Kicker Hare Scrambles
Kahoka, Mis s ouri
Results: J uly 18, 1999 (Round 7)
O /A : 1. Brian Ga rra ha n C
KTM ); 2. Ste ve Le ivan
(Ya m); 3. Dou g Blackwell (yam); 4. Sco tt Mclaughlin
(Ya m) ; 5. Ch ris Thiel e (Kaw); 6. Brand on Forres ter
(Ya m); i . Ga ry Hendricks (Kaw ): 8. Pat C arrah an
(KTM); 9. Mike Windmann (KTM); 10. Dwight Maggard
(Yam); 11. Andy Shea (Suz); 12. Erik Kohle (Ya m); 13.
r
L ee Lankulis ( K T M) ; 14. C ra ig wesner ( K a w): 15 ,
Lonnie Ross (Yam); 16. Jeff Lappe (K"rM); 17. Rod Kreiss
s
(Kawl: 18. Tan ner England (Yam); 19. Wcsl£'y Dona lson
(Han) ; 20. Dave Edsall (Bus).
AA : 1. Steve Lei van (Yam ); 2. Doug Blackwell
(Ya m ); 3. Scott McLaughlin (Ya m ); 4. C h ris Th iel e
(Kaw): 5. Brandon Forrester (Yam).
125 A, 1. Jef f Lappe (KTM); 2. Terry 0" (Hu s); 3.
Brad Daveron (Kaw): 4. Nathan Loone y (Yarn): 5. John
Stru ckho ff (Suz) .
200 A: 1. Rod Kreiss IKaw) : 2. Alex Lohf (H an); 3.
Dani el Janus (Ya m ); 4. Mike Fa rn u m (Yam ); 5. Adam
Wright (suz).
250 A: 1. Cary Hendricks (Kaw); 2. Andy Shea
(Suz): 3. C ra ig Wesner (Ka w ]: 4. We sle y Do na lson
(H an); 5. Dav e Edsall (Hus).
O rE N A: 1. Tro y Smith (KTM ); 2. Vin ce Police
(KTM); 3. Chri...Sloan (Yam); 4. Kurt Mirtsching (Ha n);
5. Scutt McBummS'
4-STRK A: 1. Nick Crawford (Ya m); 2. Jason Meri U
(Yam); 3 . Doug Du ncan (Ka w) : 4. Chri s Ca p linger
(Yam); 5. David Wilfong (Yam).
VET A, 1. Tim Baker (KTM) ; 2. Gary Barber (KTM );
3. Rick Kinkelaar (Ya m); 4. Kreg Simo ns (Ya m); 5. Rick
Matteson (Yam).
S R A: 1. Cha rles Thielt, (Ka w): 2. Tad Bon ham
IHon): 3. Brad Barnett (Ya m ); 4 . Brad Meli ck (K.1W); 5.
Bill Gold (Yam) .
S/SR A : 1. Evere tt Shinault (H on) : 2. Eric Hansen
IHo n); 3. Ronald Lees (KTM); 4. Lee Glen (Hen): 5. Ted
Kilvtngton (ATK).
125 8: 1. Adam McKillip (Han); 2. Jason Dill (Kaw ):
3. JCK"1 Shawn (H us k 4. Du st in Stambau gh (Yam ); 5.
Todd Reed (Yam).
200 8 : 1. Robert Fou ts (Hem); 2. Sha wn Sander; 3.
Robert Annon (Kaw): 4. Ste ve Cre ws IKaw), 5. Richard
Bruce (Kaw)...
250 8: 1. Matt Weis (Yam ); 2. Robert Heinzerling
U