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/128241
Action Sports Team Hare Scrambles C'ehip of the World Action Sports Center - 'lop 0/ the CW rid! (Left) Ricki McAtee (left) and T imothy Thompson celebrate their v ictory as the Action Sports Team Hare Scrambles Champions of the World. S T O RY A N D P HOTOS BY D A V ID L. PATTON J R. NELSONVIL OH, OCT. 26 LE, A cti on S p o r t s Team H a r e f.,. Scrambl es Ch am p ion ship of th e Worl d, sp onso red by Bu dw eiser , has earned a reputat ion as a fun, friendly, relaxed way to end the off-road seaso n in Oh io. A t the 20th ru nning of t h e Ch amp io n sh ip , th ou g h , Moth er Nature cras hed the party . Su nday 's program st arted off w ith rai n, and th e mo rn ing and afternoon races had t o be co m b ined beca use of t he muddy c o n d iti o n s, so th e 71 t e ams tha t braved t he w eat he r f aced o n ly tw o hou rs of raci ng . \T h e off to Thompson , M cAtee k ept at it. Then Mullins ran into bad luck. "I got tied up on one of the uphills with a c o u p le o f lapped r i d ers," Mu lli ns lamented , "a nd that was it. " M cAtee r an Mu ll ins do w n a n d m ad e th e p ass on th e g rass t ra ck . Then he p ull ed awa y . "I w ante d to give T im a cushion ," McAtee explained , "be ca use I knew Scott wo uld b e o n the b ike at t h e end: Whe n he han ded off to Th ompson , (Left) Scott Summers looks around for a hose after he and his partner Charles Mullins came in second at the 20th annual event in Nelsonville, Ohio. e igh t so lid l a p s a nd stayed o ut of t roubl e to ov e rcom e Su m m e rs [, M u ll i n s ' e a rly l ead a n d snatch the win . M cAt ee ' s p artn er i n 2000 was D ariu s Lattea , who, with Ju stin W i l li am son , ended th is day in third. T her e w er e th ree form er Pro -cl ass cha m pions in the field . Ge ne O 'N aii t eamed with Cory Ringer t o w i n the F at h e r - a n d S o n d i v i si o n , i n which Kevin Brown and his son Kacey finished s i x t h. O 'Nail ' s for mer teamm at e Gary Roach helped u p - an d - c o m er A d a m G i ddin g s conquer the Fo ur -Strok e class . O n t he dead -engine , Le Ma ns-style st art, Summers won the foo trace to the Sc ott Ples sin g er an d A n d y Shea w ou ld n o t be a b le t o defe n d t he ir 200 2 titl e, as Shea suffered a broken fe mu r at a N at ion a l , so Pl essing er enlis ted th e aid of some un kno wn by the n ame o f Sc o tt Sum m ers. Howeve r , the " d re am tea m " wa s not t o be : Plessin ger c aught strep th roat and also had t o hav e an op eration on an infected finge r. Summ ers decided to go fo r hi s fi rst W orld Champ ion shi p with his fri end Charl es Mullins. Ri c ki McAt ee wa s al so going f or his first wi n at th e event afte r pl aci ng third in 2000. McA tee and his partner T im othy T ho m pso n st rung t og et he r 36 NOVEMBER 19 , 2003' cu e Ho n da Ri ders Club/ Ho nda Ge nui ne Part s/ Ho nd a Pro Oi ls [, Chemicals / Ti re B all s/ O ak ley -back ed CRF450 R an d head ed fo r th e fir st turn . Every on e qu ick ly di scov ered the co nd itio n o f th e cou rse w he n S u m m er s an d anoth er rid er sli d out tryi ng to make t hat f ir st t u rn . M cAtee d idn ' t g et a gre at st art and was trailing th e lead ers . " W he n I s aw t he m fa l l , I h it th e brak es, but I stall ed th e bike, " r e c o u nt e d McAt e e , wh o a ct ua ll y co ast ed int o th e le ad, bu t Summers go t goi ng befo re McAt ee co u ld g et I e DeVIlS th e B lack 's Mo tor sports /Des ign the y had a five -minute ed ge. Th omp- T ra nspo rtatio n -backed K TM 2 00 son t ook th e c h ec k e red fl ag , w it h MXC to refi re. Corey A rnold chased th e nine- tim e National Cha mpion, bu t by the end of lap one the RC Sco ri n g sy ste m had Summers in the lead by 49 seco nds. Sc o tt ' s 13 -minu t e -an d -35 - se cond first lap would be the day 's fast est. Th e 7 -m il e c o u r se w as v er y greasy , and the m ud loa de d down th e bikes. T he ruts q uic kl y bec am e a fac to r, and Su m mers c onti nued t o pu ll aw ay . Arnold 's m ot ocross bik e wasn't rea lly suited to th e m uddy co nditi ons, and he dropped to th ird, beh ind McA· tee, as th e ride rs pi tted. A s th e rain co nti n ued, th e l owly in g areas became swamps, and th e off-camber sectio ns wer e especia lly treacherous . Mullins ro de the th ird la p on t he Plessi nge r Cycles / Moose / Maxxis KTM , and he put in a good lap before handi ng off to Sum mers. Sum m e r s co nt i n u ed to ha mme r away o n the Alpinestars/Arai -backe d Ho nd a , and by ha lfw ay t hey ha d a two -m inut e-and -34 -sec on d lead over Mc A t ee [, T hompson . D arius Lattea was struggling back in fourth on th e M orga ntown Yamaha /Moose / Tw in A ir-backed WR450 , behi nd the team of Arnold [, Jason Frecker. " I go t ca ug ht in a rut and lost a lot of time," McAtee said of hi s second stint. "I tho ug ht that had kill ed us, but w e wo rke d o u r way b a c k t o t he fro nt. " The m ost im po rt ant req uirement in the T eam Ha re Sc rambl es rul eboo k regard s eq ual ri di ng tim e. T he rule sta tes th at th e r id ers m ust r id e a n eq ua l number of laps, plus or m inus o ne. Wit h approxim ately fo ur laps to go , Summers ha nd ed off to Mullins, and McAtee was m or e th an four min utes behind the leaders. McAtee we nt all out, nearly c at ch ing Mu ll ins w ith three laps to go. Ins tead of han d in g Summers three m inutes and 16 secon ds behind. "I had a good t im e, but I may ha ve messed us up at the end," Summers sa i d . "I w a s w orri ed that C h ar l ey wou ldn 't have eno ug h lap s, so I had him run two straig ht laps, and I rod e the last lap . I shoul d ' ve split that up so he co uld rid e a lap , then rest a lap, bu t it w as a good race, and w e had fun: Lattea [, Wi ll iamson gr ab bed thi rd o vera ll . Hea v y weig ht riders Chri st o pher Ro ber t son [, K eith Gwinn took fo urth, ahead of Heavywei ght N ov ices Brandon Bent ley [, Je remy Grag g . eN Action Sports Cente r Nelsonville, Ohio Resul ts: October 2&, 2003 PRO : 1. Ric k i McA tee/T im ot hy T hompson ; 2. Sco tt S um mers /Cha r les M u ll i ns : 3. D arius Lett ea /J ustl n William son : 4 . J a s on Frecke r/Corey Arnold; 5 . J am es Hafer/Brian Rzeszotarsk i. L/ W: 1. J u st i n Ketterman /R ob ert S ha n k ; 2 . Richie Elk lns/Travls Finley; 3. Zach Chesser/Na than Wesselh oeft ; 4 . Philip Kin ni son /J acob Mohn ey ; 5. Charlie Paskin s/demie Ric kett s. H/W : 1. Christo pher Robertso n/ Keit h Gwinn; 2. Na te E lki ns/ Ke ith Ver m i ll ion; 3. Cod y Kovach / Nich ol as Dickens; 4 . Tr avis Sullivan/ Nick Shaner; 5. Brian Newberry /Jonathan Ison. FATHER SO N: 1. Gene O 'Naii/Co ry Ringer; 2. Scott Klamfo th / Zach Klamfoth; 3. Dirk Walton/Z ach W alt o n ; 4 . M att Perry /Da rre ll Pe rr y ; 5 . M ik e Grubb(Tyler Grubb . CLUB/ INDUSTRY: 1. Don Dawley/Ru ss Dawley; 2. Timothy Hart /Du stin Hall. L/W NOV : 1. J ohn Accord/ Ju stin Davis; 2. Nick F is he r / Bran do n El ki ns; 3 . J ason Sny de r /Br y an Sma thers: 4 . Seth Linscott /Kevin Young ; 5. Matthew Hob art/Bi ll Swyers. HjW NOV : 1. Brando n Bentley /Jeremy Gragg; 2. David Rife/ J ust in Homer; 3. Rya n Curti ss/Jason Beckley; 4 . Travis Hightower /Jason Wolfor d; 5. Miles Cook/ Christopher Brown . OPE N: 1. Thoma s Dotson / Lloyd Shaffer ; 2. Eric Ca i n /Ada m Brow n; 3 . And y Bran n on /Za cka ri Brannon ; 4 . Chr istian Grossheim /Aaron Goosman ; 5. John Huetcher/ Davld Huff. 4 -ST RK : 1. Adam Gidding s/Gary Roac h; 2. Seth Patt on /Mike Jenkin s; 3 . J erem y Primm er / Richard Wandrey; 4. Lawrence Wood s/ Chad Wood s. V ET : 1. D a v i d You ng /Pau l Th om p son ; 2 . Do uglass Rineh art/ Eric Kingedry; 3 . Mik e Blai r(T im Fink . SR : 1. Ja mes Giddings/Ronnie Jarvis; 2. Dave Moore/Wa lter Neubig. s