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/128239
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Spa re Parts Ha re Sc ra mble s : After battling for two ho urs and 12 minutes, Steve Leiv an (1)
bested Caleb Wohletz (8) by the slimmest of margins at the penultimate round of the
Missouri Hare Sc ram bles Championship Series, in Eugene.
rac es, th at 's where I've fini shed - once by six
sec onds. on ce by fiv e, and n o w by just o ne .
I'm getting cl os er, th ou gh!"
T he Spa re Part s M ot or c y cl e Club' s eve nt
was run under nearl y perfect co nditio ns. Some
rain late in th e week eli m ina ted an y sign o f
dust and left some wat er in th e nearl y threeq ua rte r-mile-long creek sec tion . Plent y of slippery roc ks litt ered th e creek and th e off-cam be r sections . whil e th e remain in g sections of
trail provid ed good tr act ion . Su ns hi ne and
temperatures in th e low 70s m ad e fo r a gre at
day of raci ng .
O n a S pro ck et S p ecialists / E V S/ Re d
B u ll / A x o / Fl a tl a n d Racin g -b ac k ed YZ2 5 0F,
Wohletz too k his first hol esh ot of th e sea so n.
Des p it e bo uncing around in th e pa ck on the
way to tum one, Lei van exited th e fi rst corner
in sec ond aboa rd hi s WR250F, wit h Chris Nes bitt in th ird o n a Kawa saki. Ge tting th e worst
of th at " b o u n ci n g aro un d" wa s AA roo k ie
T ra cy Bauman , wh o slid hi s wa y to th e fir st
tum with out his bik e.
Most ri ders wer e c on tent to k eep a safe
d istan c e throug h th e c ree k in an effort to sal v age th eir go gg les, and Woh letz , Leivan and
N esb itt h el d th ei r p o siti o n s as th e co u r se
entered the sing le -t ra ck woods sec tion. These
th ree r id ers sta y ed relativ ely cl o se t og e ther
un til ju st before th e en d of th e openi ng la p ,
w he n T ea m G re en /P ro Ci rcu it / Tw in A ir / RK
Cha in/Fac tory Effex -suppo rted Nes bitt took a
big digger and lo st 20 sec onds.
Leivan got his one mi stak e o f the race out
o f th e way early whe n he fell negotia ti ng a
ro ot -infested co rner in th e pi t area . A fte r ge ttin g hi s handg uard bac k in plac e and hi s "tric k
knee " b ack in to a co mfortable position, th e
recen tly c row ned 1 l - tim e se r ies c ha m pion
was aga in in pursuit of hi s yo un ger co m pe titor. W ithin t h r e e m i l e s , A ns wer / Du n lo p /
Scott /Clark e /R e n th al-b ac k ed L e i v an wa s
again applying the press ure. Nesb itt rode hard
bu t fou ght th e slick sections and slippe d to a
30 -seco nd defi cit by th e co n c lus ion o f lap tw o .
An inten se b att lc w as b eing wag ed for
f ourth be tween L ar s Val in , o n h is M o os el
Motul / FMF-suppo rt ed Hon da , and Bauman .
wh o had picked him self up fro m hi s tu rn-one
fia sc o to cla w his wa y in to con te n ti o n for a
t o p -fi v e result. De spit e several c h a nges of
po sition , the se two rid ers were ne ve r sep ar at ed by m or e tha n a co up le of seconds .
A lmo st exactl y two m iles into the fourth
lap , Wo hlctz o vers hot a co rne r along a ro cky
h illside. L eiv an foll o wed bu t was qu icker to
realiz e th e error and was able to get ba ck on
tra ck fir st. Desp er ate to hold o n to the lead ,
Wohl etz strugg led to fin d tractio n and fell ju st
in fron t o f L eiv an as th eir lines in t er sec ted .
Patient ly , Leivan wait ed for Wohl etz to get his
bi ke out of the way rather th an r id ing over it.
Wi th L eiv an no w in front , the duo co nti nue d
th eir battle.
Wohletz wen t fo r a ris ky p ass at th e sta rt of
th e final lap an d cl ip pe d a roc k and was sen t
to the ground . Although he go t close a few
ti mes afte r that. Woh letz ca me up just a little
short on each pass a tte mpt . Leivan was as
so li d as e ver in the lea d , a nd by t h e la t e
stages o f the race, h e kn ew th e fastest lines
th rough th e woods. Woh letz took one last shot
ju st one tum fro m th e fin ish. bu t Leivan was
fa r enough ahe ad to retain th e lead and tak e
his 84 th caree r vict ory .
The 18 -year -o ld Woh letz was th e runner up again, an d a lon ely Nesbitt co m pleted the
pod iu m after riding ne arly the entire ra ce by
him self. Vali n and Bauma n rac ed all th e wa y
to th e finish line, w ith Va li n cl ai m ing fourth to
eq u al hi s bes t ri de o f th e y ear. Fifth wen t to
J on esPow er sports/Sm ith/ DeVol/Mon ster /IMS ba cked Bauman , on hi s KTM 4 50 , just a bi k elength beh ind .
Spare P arts Hare S c ra m b les
Eugene . M isso ur i
Re sults . S e p t e m ber 28. 2 0 0 3
(Round 14 of 151
0 /"' : I. Steve Lei.....sn (Yam ); 2. Caleb Wahle!.: (Yom); 3. Chns
Nf'~bill (Kaw) ; 4. Lars Valin (Hon) ; 5. Tracy Bauman (KTM ); 6. David
Taylor (KTM); 7. lock Bry
ent (Stu); 8. Jon Simon s (Hus); g. Kevin
Borts (SUl): 10. Sltm my Gosnell (KTM).
M ; I. Ca l ~b Woh letl (Yam) ; 2. Chris Nesbitt (K