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AMA National Hare Scrambles Championship
pro Yamaha's Jason Raines
took advantage of Kawasaki
Team Green rider Chuck
Woodford's misfortune to win
und fIVe of the AMA National
Hare Scrambles Championship held at Little
Egypt Off-Road Recreational Area near
Crab Orchard, Illinois. Woodford led the
three-hour, five-lap event until midway
through lap four, where he tangled with a
lapper, allowing Raines to take the lead and
eventually the win.
"Lappers can make or break your day,"
Raines said. "Fortunately for me, that's what
made my day. Today was really tough, and
there was no place to pass out there, but he
[Woodford] got into a lapper, and the race
was pretty much over from there. That was
the deciding point of the race."
The win, his second of the series, moved
Raines into the top spot in the overall points
standings with 92, 19 points ahead of
Woodford's 73, while Suzuki-rider Brian
Garrahan is third with 65.
Raines, the defending series champ, came
imo the event on a roll, having taken a first
and a third in the previous two rounds. It
was, however, Team Throttlehead.com/
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JULY 27.2005 •
Kawasaki's Josh McLevy who threatened to
run away with the Illinois event from the
start. McLevy nailed the holeshot, which he
immediately stretched into a formidable
advantage by the end of the first lap.
Woodford ran second, while Raines worked
his way into third, passing KTM's Robbie
Jenks, Am Pro Yamaha young star Charles
Mullins and Suzuki-mounted Doug Blackwell
along the way.
The 13-mile course, which ran through
the slate-filled strip pits covering the property, had seen very little rain during the summer months. Dust would playa very big factor over the course of the event. Taking
advantage of that dust, McLevy stretched his
lead until the midpoint of lap two, when he
strayed from the course and hit a fence.
"When I caught up behind Chuck
[Woodford], I couldn't see Josh [McLevy] ,
and , thought, 'Man, he's gone. We're in for
a long day,''' Raines said. "Then we came
around on the next lap and there's Josh,
hung up in the barbed wire."
With McLevy out of commission,
Woodford and Raines played follow-theleader for the next few laps.
"There was no way to pass in the open
CYCLE NEWS
areas because it was so dusty, and then you
get into the tight, single track and, unless you
had some lines scouted out, you weren't
going to get by anyone in that - it was just so
tight and technical," Raines said. "You could
go two miles an hour, and the guy behind
you would just be beating his brains out trying to get around you.
"Luckily, I had a line scouted out, and as
soon as we got to it, I went around him
[Woodford]," Raines added. "I didn't think
there was any way he could get me back,
but in the next little woods section, he had a
line scouted out that I didn't know about,
and he got back around me."
At that point, Woodford seemed to pick
up the pace, running strong until his unfortunate mishap.
"It's kind of something outside of your
comrol," Woodford said of his encounter
with the lapper. "I think I had the race laid
out perfectly. I had the lead, and I was going
fast where I had to go fast. Icame up on him
[Raines] on one of the extremely long singletrack sections where you can't pass and we
were on an off-camber. He tried to ease off
to the upper side to allow me to pass, and
when I went to go by, he lost his footing and
just fell right into me. It high-sided me and
knocked me off the hill. Jason went by, and I
probably lost two minutes there. That was
critical, and I figuned it was going to take
some kind of mirade to catch Jason again."
Woodford's assessment of the situation
was spot-on, and at the finish, it was Raines
with the win by 2 1/2 minutes over
Woodford, while Jenks maintained a steady
pace to finish third.
"I was hoping this year would be my
year," Woodford said. '" started off the year
strong with a win at Hollister, and then I had
to miss a couple of races after getting hurt at
Loretta Lynn's. I've just now got back into
my training program, and 1was hoping today
I could have taken the win. This race helped
my confidence, though, and it is going to be
a battle to the end. I've almost won this
championship a couple of times, and I'm as
determined as ever to get it done."
"I know that the GNCC race is pretty
much over and there is no way Ican win that
championship, so my goal now is to concentrate 110 percent of my efforts on the Hare
Scrambles Series," Raines said. "I've got a
DNF and a 10th, and I want to use those for
throw-outs, so Iam kind of in the same situation that I have been in for the last two
years, having to go race to race to see how
it goes and just keep plugging away."
Ohio Pro Mullins tumed in a strong ride
for fourth on his Yamaha, while Kawasakimounted Travis Green was the top-finishing
non-Pro rider in fifth overall.
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RisuLJ5: JUlY 10,2005 (ROUND 5
Of 10)
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(Kaw): J. _
jeoks (KT1'1): 4. cmne. 1'\.6'0 (Yan): 5. 'Ii;M,
Gn.en (Kaw): 6. Kem Ilaiey (Yam): 7. Na