Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128201
(Left) Defending Hare Scrambles champ Fred Andrews took runner-up honors. (Right) Russell Pearson just seems to be getting faster and faster ever since switching to the VZ450F four-stroke. He finished third at Hollister. (Below) Andy Grider competed in his first hare scrambles and pulled off a fourth-place finish. "Second's good for me here. If I can win [which he hasn't done yet at Hollister]. that's cool. but Brian rides well here. I'll take second [here] all day long." Garrahan stretched his lead over Andrews to seven seconds on the second lap despite arm pump. "I kind of pumped up on the second lap. and Freddie hung with me." Garrahan said. "I could tell he was pumping up a little bit. too. so I just put my head down and charged hard. and I just put some time on him. From there on out. I just put time on him every lap." The lap charts backed that claim up. Lap three showed a 36-second gap between the two. growing to an astounding 58 seconds on lap four. Whether by shutting down a bit on Garrahan's part or Andrews' picking it up, the margin at the end of five laps and almost three hours of racing was 44 seconds - still a very comfortable lead for the home-track hero. Pearson rode a fairly lonely race once he got untracked and into third place on lap two. "I didn't get an awesome start. and I just never could ride off them." he said. ''They rode a good race. I didn't really have any problems. I stalled my bike once and didn't have a real good day. '" was like 15th or something [off the start]. People were wrecking; I almost wrecked [and] hit people. It was kind of hard getting by people. I just slowly moved my way up. "I had a good time out there. The course is a lot of fun. It's good practice to ride this stuff against these guys." Andy Grider proved that desert racers aren't afraid of slower speeds and trees after getting fourth place in his National Hare Scrambles debut on his Precision Concepts/Dunlop/ O'Neal CRF450R. But he has been to Hollister before. "I think in '88 I came here for the U.S. GP and rode the amateur class," Grider said. "I kind of knew what the motocross track was going to be like. but the hills. I had no idea. They told me there were lots of roads. and the single-track surprised me. There was a lot more single-track than I was expecting. "It was just like the stuff I ride at home. About halfway through the race I got by [Jason] Raines and said. 'Okay. pretend you're home.' I ran out of water at the end. so the last lap I kind of died. "Just to be in the top five. not to mention the top 10. I'm so happy! I got like a five-kick start and crashed twice on the first lap. so I had a horrendous first lap. But then I kind of watched Raines and Woodford and watched how they ride. They take an easy lap and kind of learn the course. "I followed Raines for the first three or four laps. He waved me by at one time. so I went. 'Wow. thank you!' Chuck actually waved me by. too. I went. 'These back East guys are nice!' "The last lap I looked back. and Raines was on me. I went. 'Okay. he's got a strategy going.' I learned a lot for the GNCCs I want to try this year." Raines rounded out the top five on his Factory Connection/FMF/Bridgestone YZ250. and he was thankful for avoiding the first-turn melee. "Two guys came into me. and I stopped." he said. "Somebody rammed me. and that gave me just that extra boost to knock me over the crashed bikes in front of me. and I got going." After dicing with a few riders. Raines settled into fifth and then began wondering about gas toward the end of the race and started riding more conservatively until Doug Blackwell woke him up. "At that point. I was like. 'It doesn't matter if I run out of gas or not; I've gotta push from here.· .. Raines said. Blackwell ended up satisfied with sixth overall. crediting a gamble he took on fuel mileage out of his R.E.R. Motor City/Motion Pro/Pirelli CR250R. "I just started charging, picking guys off one by one." said Blackwell. who came through the scoring area ninth on the first lap. I ended up getting by Chuckie on the gas stop. I took a big gamble and went three laps. and everybody else gassed on two. Apparently I was on fumes when I came in because I took 3.2 gallons of gas. and my tank's 3.31 It was a huge gamble. but it ended up paying off." who ran as high as sixth on the opening lap. settled into eighth place midway through the race. District 36 regulars Rob Zimmerman and Brian Sperle rounded out the top 10. eN Hollister Hills SVRA Hollister. California Results: Februe'Y 2. 2DD3 [Round 1 of 91 Woodford came through in fourth place on the first lap and then dropped to seventh. where he remained for the rest of the race on his Pro Circuit/Michelin/O'Neal KX250. Connecticut's Joshua McLevy. O/A: 1. Brian Gerrahan (KTM); 2. Fred Andrews (Kew); 3. Russell Pearson (YlIm): 4. Andy Grider (Hon); 5. Jason Raines (Yam); 6. Doug Blackwell (Hon): 7. Chuck Woodford (Kaw); 8. Joshua McLevy (YlIm); 9. Rob Zimmerman (Yam); 10. Brhm Sperle (KTM); 11. Eric Mashbir (Hon); 12. Cole Clilkins (KTM); 13. Er;c Ducr.y (Suz); 14. John a..1 (GG): 15. Patrick Gllfrahan (KTM); 16. Nllthlln Kanney (Yam); 17. Brett Zofchak (Kaw): 18. Craig Wesner (Kaw): 19. Greg Ghione (Hon); 20. Roderick Kreiss (Suz). BRIEFLY••• A first-tum crash took out several riders. ;nclud;ng Shane Watts. After be;ng used for traction. the AustraHan was assisted back on h;s KTM and rode a lap before calHng it a day. Afterward. he drove himself to the hospital to get X-rays. The X-rays showed no broken bones. and he retumed to the track later that day. though he did not nde. In the battle for AMA District 36 bragging rights. Rob Zimmerman outlasted defending Dis· tnct champ Brian Sperle and eamed ninth overall. w;th Sperle getting 10th. Zimmerman. by the way. ;s apparently highly regarded in another arena, as he adm;tted to w;nn;ng several plumbing competitions. Curt Wilcox finally made it onto the podium after being shut out for years at Hollister. He won the Senior A class on Saturday on his KDX200. easily overalling the Sen;or race by almost three m;nutes over Duane Scott and Eric Von Urff On Sunday. Wilcox rode the same bike - though he treated it to new tires· and won the 200cc A class. Only two other A riders beat h;m. Among the riders Wilcox beat was Open A w;nner Shaun W;lcox. his son. Asked If the training he'd been dOing in the West over the past few weeks made a difference in his Homster performance. Fred Andrews replied, "Actually. I think that desert race I d;d [the Kawasak; Team Green Laughlin U.S. Hare Scrambles ;n LaughHn. Nevada. two weeks agol did me some good because I thought I was at a desert race. These nre roads were fast. fast. fast l I don't like that stuff. I I;ke trees and slow and mud. But the club does a great job here. and I'm sure we'lI come back next year. Maybe one of these years I'll w;n ;t. " A record 810 entrants signed up for the weekend. and th;s ;ncluded riders from at least a dozen states and three countries. A Httle more than a week before the race. Doug Blackwell had a brand-new stock CR250R in pieces. but he managed to put ;t all together and make the cross-country drive from West Virgin;a in plenty of time. Homster. however. was h;s first race after a long winter lay-off. and his hands paid the price with several bl;sters. "I'm really happy with how things went today. all things cons;dered - geWng my bikes late and not rid;ng for two months. - he said. After a sixth-place fin;sh at Hollister last year (and several overall wins back East later in the season). Team Green's Chuck Woodford was clearly unhappy w;th seventh place this year. Feel· ;ng that h;s weeks spent in CaHfomia for train;ng hadn't produced the des;red results. he planned to retum to Ohio as soon as possible to get ready for the GNCC kickoff ;n Florida next month. Team Green's Heather Wilson won the Women AlB class over KTM's Kelly Yancey. who rode a 450 MXC RFS. Though arm pump slowed her the first couple laps. Wilson regrouped and charged past the desert star to win by almost three minutes. Patrick Garrahan returned to racing after spending most of last year recovering from injury. He recorded a 15th overall. Brian and Patrick's father. AI. raced on Saturday and f;nished ninth ;n Super Senior A. As another rider com;ng back from ;njury, Jason Raines d;dn't know what to expect coming into Hollister. "You never know after being injured if you can get back up to pace aga;n." he sa;d. "Two weeks ago I was trying to run a lot. and [my legl swelled up a lot. I couidn't walk for about three days. The last couple days it's felt really good. I'm happy that now I can rely on it. It's been about e;ght months now. and I'm glad to be kind of back to where I was. - cue I ... n ... _!Ii • FEBRUARY 19. 2003 21