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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128322
Missouri Ha re Scrambles Championship
Round I: Elk Creek Hare Scrambles
Wohletz Wins a Wicked One
By FRANK
LEIVAN
L
EBANON, MO, APR. 4
Curt is Peterson held on to take first overall in the Outlaw class at
Cooperland Raceway.
Coope rla nd Championship Motocross Series
Round 3: Cooperland Raceway
Peterson's Patience and
Persistence Pay OH
By CONNIE
JOHNSON
STIUWATER, OK, APR. 4
urtis Peterson put his Honda into secon d
place, beh ind Riece Robertson's KTM, and
waited for a mistake. After getting the holeshot
in moto one of the O utlaw class at ro und three
01 t he Cooperland Championship Motocross
Series, Roberts on made that mistake and slid
out in a soft berm, t urn ing the lead over to
Pe terson halfway through t he race . Patie nce
and position won the race for Peterson, as he
stayed up on two wheels and led the rest of the
pac k to t he finish line . Ro berts o n got back
under way in fourth place and couldn't regain
any gro und. Tyler Reid rode his Y
amaha to a
second-pl ace finish, followed by Vincent Myers,
on a Suzuki.
Robertson again got the holes hot in moto
two , and this time it was Pet erson who made a
mista ke . After passing Robe rts on on the big
step-up, Peterson lost his tractio n on the offcamber turn and went do wn , allow ing
Rob ertson to re tak e t he lead. Foll owing
Robertson across the finish line were Peterson ,
Reid and Myers. The fact that Peterson finished
with a 1-2 punch gave him first overall, w hile
Robertso n, w ho ran 4- 1, wen t hom e with
second , followed by Reid in third .
The 80cc Open class was another race in
wh ich one rider benefited from another's
mistake . Mota o ne was domina ted by the
Yamaha-mounted justin Berry, who wen t wire
to wire, with David Woods Jr. fo llow ing in
secon d on his Yamaha.
Moto two was ano t her st ory, as Woods
na iled the holeshot and neve r loo ked back,
even when Berry went down hard in the creek
section . Be r ry ro de like a ma n possessed,
co ming from last place to finish third, behind
the flying Suzuki 01 jesse Braden. A 2- 1 finish
garnered the overall w in for Woods , with Berry
in second and Braden in third.
justin Bogle was in a class of his own as he
rode his Kawasaki fro m holeshot to checkers in
Iront 01 the rest of the 65cc (9-1 I) class. Bogle
made it loo k easy, as KT M riders Tay lo r
Bassham and Ga r rett Co mer followed in
second and th ird.
C
74
MAY 5, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
The 65cc (6-8) class gated second , behind
t he o lder boys, and it was Kawasak i jockey
Tallan Smith who got the holeshot and the win
in moto one. Mike Pullen put his Suzuki in front
for moto tw o but was qu ickly passe d by the
green bike o f And rew Bills and KTM rider
Pierce Low. With his 3-1 moto res ults, Pullen
took home lirst overall , while Bills na bbe d
second wit h 2· 2 finishes , and Smith had to
settle for third after troub le in the second moto
dropped him to filth.
Kris Brown always has a primo track for the
racers to ride on, and he's always talking to the
race participants and gett ing feed back on how
to make the most people happy most 01 the
time . He has given Oklahoma racers a prem ier
motocross track .
RESULT
S
50 OI L-INJ: I. Tanner Snell (KTM) 50 (4-6) : I. Tanner
.
Snell (KTM); 2. Colton Lawrence (KTM); 3. Landon Forman
(KTM). 50 (7 ~8): I. Tallan Smith (lem); 2. Pierce Lo w
(KTM); 3. She ldo n 'Ieeman (KTM); 4. A J. Reid (KTM). 50
OPEN : I. Brand on Te e m an (KTM); 2. Sh e ld o n Te e man
(KTM); 3. TaJlan Smith (Lem); 4 . AJ. Re;d (KTM); 5. Landon
Forman (KTM 65 (6-8): I. Mike Pullen (Suz); 2. Andrew
).
Bills (Kaw ); 3. Tallan Smith (Kaw); 4 . Pierce low (KTM): 5.
Brys We lden (Kaw) . 65 (9- 1 1): I. Justin Bogle (Kaw); 2.
Taylor Bassham (KTM): 3. Garrett Co mer (KTM): 4. Blake
Barn es (KTM): S. G ilson Mach tolff (Kaw ). 65 OPEN: I.
Taylor Bassham (KTM): 2. Garrett Comer (KTM): 3. James
Baldwi n (KTM): 4. Blake Bames (KTM); S. Gilso n Macht olff
(Kaw). 85 BEG: I. Landon Baker (Kaw); 2. Matt Schwalbach
(Hon): 3. Michael Bond (Hon) : 4. Blake Behrends (Kaw): 5.
Cameron Edwards (Hon ). 8 5 JR: I. Justin Bogle (Kaw) : 2.
Geoffrey Wooldridge (Suz): 3. Devi n Ruprecht (Hon ). 85 S R:
I. Jesse Braden (Suz): 2. Justin Berry (Yam): 3. David Woods
Jr. (Yam): 4. Will low (Yam): S. Kyle McConne ll (Y
am) . 85
OPEN : I. David Woods Jr. (Yam): 2. Justin Berry (Yam): 3.
Jesse Bra den (Suz); 4. Will low (Yam); S. Kyle McC o nne ll
(Y
am) . 115 BEG: I. Chris Stanford (Hon ); 2. C raig Calve rt
(Yam); 3. Greg Morgan (Yam); 4. C helsea Sno w (Suz): 5. Matt
MacAllister (Hon ). 12 5 NOV: I. Justin Berry (Yam); 2. Abe
Phillips (Ho n); 3. Vincent Myers (Suz); 4. Kyle Wilson (Suz); 5.
James Flud (Hon). 11 5 IN T:. I. Ryan Vo it (Suz) ; 2. C urt is
Pete rs on (Hon ); 3. jason Brunk (Yam); 4. Tyler Reid (Yam).
12$ PRO: I. Robbie Smith (Y
am); 2. Jon Paul Powell (Hon): 3.
jeead De Annan (Yom) ; 4. Brad Crone (KTM). 1 50 BEG , I.
Ju les Ch arlebois (Su z) ; 2. Kyle Murro w (Yam); 3. Mike
Laugh lin (KTM). 25 0 NOV: I. Brcc Halverson (Hon) . 25 0
INT: 1. Riece Roberrsco (KTM). 25 0 PRO: I. Robbie Smith
(Ya m); 2 . D enn is H otson (KT M). OUTLAW: I . C urtis
Peterso n (Ho n) ; 2. Rie ce Rob e rtson (KTM); 3. Tyler Reid
(Y
am) ; 4. Vincent Mye~ (Suz). 4· STR K: I. Ryan Voit (Suz); 2.
Tyler Reid (Yam) ; 3. Abe Phillips (Hon): 4 . Brock Ha1verson
(Ho n) . W MN : I. Syd ney Waner (Suz) ; 2. Che lsea Snow
(Suz). SCHBY: I. Jason Bru nk (Yam): 2. Justin Berry (Y
am) : 3.
Jimmy Reid (Kaw ); 4. 5ky1 Teagu e (KTM) . 25 + : I. Greg
er
Inge ls (Kaw) ; 2. Phillip Mye rs (Kaw). 30 + : I. Phillip Myers
(Kaw); 2. Greg Ingels (Kaw); 3. Todd Fugett (Hon); 4. Paul
Rup'echt (Hoo ); 5. Chad <:Mey (Hen) . 40+ , I. Todd Fugett
(Hon): 2. Mike Reddin (KTM) ; 3. Gary McGlothem (Suz); 4.
Jeff Forman (Yam). 50+ : I. Bruce C rone (Suz).
A fter claiming the runner -up position in the
~nal four rounds of the 2003 Missouri Hare
Scrambles Championship, Caleb Woh letz was
hungry fo r his first-ever win, and he got it at the
opening round of the '04 campaign. Appearing
to be in control fo r much of th e two-ho ur
even t, Wo hletz took the checkered flag with
more than 5 1/2 minutes to spare.
"The race was fun," he claimed, "but it was
brutal."
Considered the toughest co urse on t he
MHSC sched ule, 380 riders showed up to see
the 2004 Elk C r ee k version live up t o its
rep utati on . At just under nine miles, t he trail
was its usual rocky self, with more than half the
mileage being virgin tra il. The technical terrain
kept the speed s low and allowed lor the top 10
riders to comp lete five laps. Wohletz averaged
IB.7 mph on his way to the victory.
Fro m the be ginning, it appe are d to be a
two-man race. Brandon Forrester snagged the
holeshot, and Wohletz was close enough beh ind
on his Team Green/j&W Cycles KX250
th umpe r to take the lead when Forre ster
fumbled in the opening creek section. By the
end 01 the open ing lap, the duo had opened a
one-mi nute lead on the rest of the field. The
next 15 riders were tightly packed together and
less than a minute apart.
By the completion 01 two laps, Wohletz and
Forrester had a three-minute cushion over the
battle lo r t hird . Mark Gay controlled that
position but was under intense pressure from
ISDE veteran Lars Valin, Bud Light-sponsored
David Taylor, Tracy Bauman (who wou ld prove
to be th e st ro ngest 01 t his pack by the end) ,
Illino is rider john Roth , and je rry Hemann .
These guys shuffled positions mile after mile, it
seemed, and they were joined by former race
winners Aaron Shaw and Chris Nesbitt .
Forrester found his way into the lead during
the th ird time aro und and pulled away even
more when Wohletz stopped for fuel going into
lap four. Howeve r, it all came apart quickly for
Forrester when he swapped thro ugh a set o f
braking bumps and slammed into a tree, injuring
his foot and bringing his day to an end . From
t hat po int o n, D unlop/ Moo se/ Emig Rac ingbacked Wohletz was all alone and in con tro l 01
the race.
Bauman made great strides during the late
stages and worked his way into second on his
jo nes Power sports/Flog ItlMoosel FMF-backe d
KTM 450. Shaw moved Irom outside the top 10
into third with a lap to go, only to run out of gas
with a lew miles rema ining. Roth picked up the
pieces and made his way into the final podiu m
position during the last lap. After a slow start,
Nesbitt rode hard during the last two laps and
moved up to fourth, just a few seconds be hind
Roth. Filth on the day went to AA rookie Gay,
w ho picked himsell up Irom a high -s peed
collision with Valin, who was sixth at the finish.
Taylor took seventh overall in his first ride from
the front row.
RESULTS
Olk
I. Caleb Wo hle n (Kaw): 2. Tracy Bauman (KTM):
3. Jo hn Roth (Yam) ; 4 . Ch ris N esbitt (!