Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Moose We stern Regional Cross Country Series Round 7: Prime Time Hare Scrambles (Left) Bryce Olse n made an amazing pa ss t o the front of t he pa ck and stayed there for the overall victory at the Pri m e T ime Hare Scramble s in San Jose , Ca lifo rn ia . ting a large am ount of ribbon stuck in his re ar brake , but he still m anaged to walk away with the fourth spot. One ri d er w ho put in a solid but l one l y rid e w as Honda -mounted Robert Fouts, who held down the fifth pos iti on almo st all day. The O 'Neal/ Du m o n t ec h / S m i t h rid er m oved in beh ind Wesner very early on and , after establishing a fast pace, went unch al lenged fo r th e rest of the event. Al so putti ng in a ve ry strong rid e was Suzuki pilot Jeff Bauer, who go t a poo r start but m an aged to ba ttle his wa y into sixth . Honda j o ck ey B rian T oline was the fastest fou r -sto ke rider, t ak ing sev enth overall . Roun ding o ut the top 10 were KTM j oc k ey J eri ah Gurley , Kawasak i jockey Damien Gal eN fo rd , and KTM rid er No lan Irw in . "He [Zim m erman ] ki nd of shoved me a little bit wide, so , just sq uared it up and went to th e ins id e of him and got him," said Sp erl e of his pass for the lead. Z imm e rm an c o nt i n ue d to foll ow Sp er le c lo se l y . Furth er back in t he pa ck , Ol sen, afte r moving into third, got int o a littl e trou bl e early on the fi rst lap. " I got a good sta rt, b e hi nd Rob and Sper le, and I c ras hed wi th in five mil e s , " l a me n te d O lse n . " I h a d a pretty bad swa p right d own th e h ill Current series ch ampion Brian Sperl e was ru nner-up at ro und se ven of the Moose Western Regional Cross Country Series. Prime fi me Hare Scrambles San Jose, Ca lifornia Results: O ctober4-5, 2003 (Round 71 Olsen Ready for Prtime Time! S T O RY A N D P HO T O S B Y CH RI S AND M IC HE L LE G HI O N E SAN JOSE, CA, OCT. 4-5 A fte r a long summer break in th e ~oo se We st ern Regio na l Cross Co un try S eri es , B ry ce Olse n came ou t sw inging fo r the se cond ha lf of the season. Ol sen rode his MPC/Dick's Racing / A lpin estars/Ben nett- backed KTM though the dust and ro cks and pas t the rest of the fie ld en route to t ak ing the ove rall vi ctory at the annua l ru nning of the Prime T im e Hare Scrambles. The Ti mekee pers Mot orcycl e Club worked the ir m ag ic once again, t ak ing th e dry and ro cky terra in of Santa C l ara County Motorcy cle Park and turn ing it into a champi on ship -l ev el c o urse for round sev en o f th e AMA D istrict 36-sancti oned seri es . T he y p ut togethe r an interesti ng 10 -mi l e course that utilized sections of natural m oto cro ss tra cks, fire roads , sing letrack and ro cky terra in. About 500 rider s sho wed up to tak e part in the two-day eve nt, including more than 170 racers wh o lined up to participate in th e m ain eve nt , wh ich featured the regi on 's to p ra cers . After a dead- engin e, sho tg un -sty le sta rt , th e r i d e r s t o ok a q u ic k l a p a ro u n d a wa t ered m oto c r o ss sec tio n b ef o re head ing out to the du sty co urse. Just minutes after the start, it was clea r w h ic h rid er s wo uld be bat tl ing fo r the lead . Fo rm er series champion Rob Zimmerman put his Yama ha into the lea d just two turns into the race, follow ed quic kl y by the current series cham p , KTM /Dirt Ti cks /S cott/Fault lin e Suspension . ba ck ed Brian Sp erl e. O lsen also m ade it qui ck ly int o th e top five , as d id another form er series cha mp, Cr aig Wesn er. With this many of the t op riders up fro nt early on , it was anyone's race. The first pe rson to m ak e a cha rge was Sperl e , wh o b e g an t o b attl e Yama ha Motor Corpo rat ion /GPR . sponsored Zimmerman fo r th e lead . '" had a good start, " no t ed Zim m e rm a n , "probably a third -place start, and within a couple of corners I got around to first. M e and Spe rle kind of went back and fourth for th e fir st lap , and were having a good t ime, and right at the beginning of th e second lap he got me." The lead du o battled right through the sp ectator ar ea , w he re Sp e rl e made a nifty pass j ust befor e heading ba ck o ut onto the course . O / A : 1. Bryce O lson ( KTM ) ; 2 . Bria n Sperle (KTM ); 3. Rob Zim merma n (Yam) ; 4 . Craig Wesner (Kaw); 5. Robert Fouts (Han); 6. Jeff Bauer ( Suz) ; 7. B ria n T o line ( H a n ) ; 8 . J er ia h Gurl ey ( KT M ) ; 9 . Dam ien Galford (Kaw); to . Nolan Irwin (KTM ). A 2 00: 1. Nolan Irwin (KTM ); 2. John Ma son ( Yam) : 3. Theron M iller (Yam ). A 2 5 0 : 1. Bryce O lson (KTM) ; 2. Brian Sperle (KTM ); 3. Rob Zimmerma n (Yam). A O PEN : 1. Shaun Wilcox (KTM ); 2 . Josh Poggi (KTM) ; 3. Eric Tyler (Hus) . A 4 ·STRK : 1. Bria n T olin e ( Ho n) ; 2 . Greg Ghione (Hon); 3. David Fish (KTM) . A VET : I . J .R. Mason (S uz) ; 2 . N ick T horn (Kaw); 3.John Slc ley (Hon). A SR : I . Da ve Wood (KTM) ; 2 . John Wells (KTM) ; 3. Raymond Spore (KTM). A S / S R : 1. J erry J oh nson ( Hon ) ; 2 . John Hampton (KTM) : 3. Eugene Price (Suz). A GENT; I. Willi am Craig (KTM). B 25 0: 1. Ryan Rousseau (Hon) ; 2. Joey Petroni (Yam) ; 3. Jared O rroc k (KTM). B O PEN: I . Kelly Knipe ( KTM ); 2 . Jason Lull s (Hon ): 3. Jacob Mahler (Han). B 4 · STRK: 1. Cam eron Nienkerk ( Yam ); 2 . Shawn Alaway (Han); 3. Thomas Baxter (Yam). B VET : l . Doug Pe tro sk ey (Yam ) ; 2. Shannon Poore (Yam ); 3. Joe Masuen (Han). B SR : I. Gordon Hodges (KTM); 2. John Martin (Hon); 3. Kevin Anderson (Hus). B S /S R : 1. Bob Bow er s (KTM ) ; 2 . Mi chael Schultz (KTM) ; 3. James Brindos (Yam ). C 200: 1. Nic Fitch (Kaw) ; 2. Brian Raymond (KTM ); 3. Thomas Simontacchi (Suz). C 25 0 : I. Sean Wh ite ( Ho n ) ; 2 . Mark Haa s (Kaw); 3. Robert Rowland (Han). OPEN: 1. Ryan Skelton (Yam ); 2. Wiley Blair (KTM); 3 . Ryan Hollowell (KTM) . e 4 ·STRK : 1. Ni ck H ate n o (H an ); 2 . Robert Girton (Yam): 3. Aurelio Garcia Jr. (KTM ). e VET: 1. Timothy Frei (KTM): 2. Brian Davis II (KTM) ; 3 . Joe Cook (Hon). SR : I. Bill Klein (Han); 2. Mark Stirling (Yam); 3. Mark James (Han) . S/ SR: 1. Brian Willett (GG) ; 2. Mykeal Clark Jr. (Yam ); 3. Robert Rousseau (KTM). C GE NT ; J. T err y F i sh ( K TM); 2 . Ja m es Donahoe (Suz). e WMN: I. Jenna Pinto (Hen): 2. Rachel Douglas (KTM ); 3 . Jackie Little (Yam) . a n d cr as he d an d d r o p p ed b a c k to sixth or seve nth." Th e i m me dia te b e n e f a ct o r o f O lsen 's ge t-off was Kawasa ki T eam Green /S an Lu i s M o t o r sp ort s/C y c l e Pro of San ta Rosa rid er W esner, wh o was running in fourth but now m oved up to third. Sp erl e , Zim me rm a n an d W e sn er wou ld run one -two- th ree for the early ha lf of the race. Ho wev er, afte r recov ering from his early fall , O lsen kic k ed it int o high gea r and made an amazing charge to the fro nt , passing all of the top th ree ride rs on the same lap . Ev en Wesn er was wow ed by Olsen 's m id rac e charge. "I tell yo u what, right th ere in the midd le of th e race , Bryce was ridi ng incredibly well ," Wesn er rec ounted . "I thin k he passed all of us on the same l ap . He ca ug ht and passed m e and carrie d th at m o m entum all the way to t h e fron t. I rea lly g ot to h an d it to Bry c e - he ro de awesome today! " '" rod e th e best I c ould and ca ught up to Rob and Sp erl e," Ol sen said. "I mad e a good pass o n Rob and g ot ahead of Sperle and j ust pu ll ed away fro m there. Got a minute l ead and just k ind of had fu n the rest of the last fo u r laps." During th e second half of th e race, th e top fo ur ride rs gradually began to drift apart. Sp erl e to ok sec ond, wh ile Z immerm an dropp ed b a ck a littl e aft e r h av ing so me troubl e wi t h hi s goggl es but st il l to ok t hi r d. W esn er dropped back even furth er aft er getcu e I e n e e e Former series champ Rob Z immerman led the early part of the race before fa lling back to finish th ird. e vv s . NOVEMBER 5 , 2003 41

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