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Western Regional Cross Country Championship Series Round 7: Phantom Hare Scrambles By CHRIS GHIONE AND MICHELLE LEE PHOTOS BY MICHELLE LEE HOLLISTER, CA, MAR. 19 n a ghoulishly chilly morning, ,.-, ~the FMF/Moose/Bel-Ray-backed Rod Kreiss captured his second overall win of the Moose Western Regional Cross Country Championship Series at round seven, the fourth annual Phantom Hare Scrambles. Some 350 riders came out to race, and the Ghostriders MC put together an interesting course with a lot of semi-fast fire roads and some sections of tight single-track to keep riders on their toes. Kreiss battled throughout the race with Team Green's Craig Wesner, who ended up with a second-place finish. The race started with the riders on their bikes, engines silenced. At the gunshot, Wesner secured the holeshot and the number-one position as he charged onto the motocross track and out onto the 9mile course. Kreiss came out of the start midpack, but he began to move forward immediately and before the pack had left the motocross track he had made his way up into third. After the first lap, Wesner still held the lead, closely followed by Kreiss. Coming around in third was Yamaha rider Aaron Youse, followed by FMF/KTM Redwood City/Brakingsponsored Steve Silvestri and Team Green's Brian Butler. Coming around in sixth, about a minute back, was Yamaha-mounted Cole Marshall, who had suffered a near-last-place start. By the end of the second lap, most of the top positions remained the same - except for the lead, as Kreiss had gotten by Wesner. "I actually made a couple of bobbies, and both Kreiss and Youse passed me," Wesner admitted. "I got by Youse pretty quick, and he was riding awesome today." At the end of the third lap, Wesner retook the lead, and Kreiss fell back to second. Aftershocks/Smith Goggles/Ernies Moto Sports-backed Marshall made up amazing time and positions, pulling himself up to third. Late in the race, Wesner was forced to make an additional pit stop. "I tried to distance myself a little bit [from Kreiss] and I got out there and was having a good day, riding good, and my brake lever started loosening up," Wesner explained, "so I had to kind of do a second pit stop and tighten it up really quick. When I went back out, Kreiss had gotten by me." Kreiss disappeared, charging all the way to the finish and taking the win over Wesner. "I guess something happened to him [Wesner]," said Kreiss. "I took over the lead on the last lap again and just pinned it as fast as I could go, and I managed to pull off the win. This one I'm a lot more happy with than Prairie City [his first win of the year). I feel like Prairie City was a fluke, and I feel like I can win now. It was a great course." Wesner finished second despite experiencing some problems on his final lap. "I went down in this rocky corner and I busted my water pump open, unfortunately, and lost all my water," said Wesner, who ended up pushing his bike the last couple of feet into the home check. Marshall was happy with third place as he, too, had experienced problems with his bike. "My bike was cutting out; I don't know what the problem is - it was cutting out through the whole race," said Marshall, adding with a laugh, "Maybe it will fix itself." Silvestri, who prefers more (Above) At the seventh round of the Western Regional Cross Country Championship Series, Rod Kreiss (15) flies over the tabletop en route to his second win of the series. (Left) Craig Wesner (1) negotiates the GP track on his way to second overall at the fourth running of the Phantom Hare Scrambles. endurance-style races, stayed incredibly consistent throughout the day and was satisfied with fourth place. "I just kind of fell where I fell and just stayed in my position and just rode out the day on cruise control," said Silvestri. "I'm used to going three hours. Two hours is just not long enough for me. I just get rolling at about an hour and a half, so I'm finishing stronger than I'm starting." The battle for the fifth position was a three-way war between Team Green's Butler, Kawasaki rider Damien Galford, and Youse. "I railed with G-Man [Galford] for, like, the whole race," said Butler. "We both pitted; he got out faster and I couldn't reel him back in." Galford continued to lead Butler until later in the race, when he and Phantom Hare Scrambles Hollister, California Results: March 19. ZOOO [Round 7 of 19) A 0/A: I. Rod Kreiss; 2. Craig Wesner: 3. Cole Marshall; 4. Steve Silvestri; 5. Brian Butler; 6. Damien Galford; 7. David Wood: 8. Rob Zimmerman; 9. Travis Sluder; 10. Aaron Youse. A 200: 1. Brian Butler; 2. Rob Zimmerman: 3. Travis Sluder; 4. Matthew Wallace; 5. Craig Hoffman. A 250: I. Rod Kreiss; 2. Craig Wesner; 3. Steve Silvestri: 4. Damien Galford; 5. Aaron Youse. A 4-STRK: 1. Cole Marshall; 2. Russell Pereira; 3. James Ptarcinski; 4. Kevin McGovern; 5. Robert Jokela. A VET: 1. Tony Rutter; 2. Mark Blanco; 3. Brian Sumrall; 4. Ron Picken; 5. Christopher Slechta. A SR: I. David Wood: 2. Mark Maldonado: 3. Pete Hansen: 4. Randy Denton: 5. Kent Parker. A S/SR: I. Peter Prichard; 2. Fred Sumrall; 3. Russell Powell; 4. Fred Cameron; 5. William Craig. B 200: I. Mathew Teegarden: 2. Travis Kinney; 3. Ken Malpus; 4. Sheena Patterson. 8 250: 1. Dan Melvin; 2. Greg Ghione; 3. Spencer Piercy: 4. Bill Smyrniotis: 5. Marshall Gordon. B OPEN: 1. Brian Barrington; 2. Michael Renner; 3. Aaron Phillips; 4. Kevin Ruffoni; 5. Nels Arneson. B 4·STRK: 1, John Trabucco; 2. Spenser Weinstein: 3. Theron Miller; 4. Dustin Soldano; 5. Jum McComas. B VET: I, Jaime Wheeler; 2. Jerry Gage; 3. Jeff Wold; 4. Ken Moeller; 5. Russell Duarte. 8 SR: 1, Dana Reed; 2, Wesley Kyle; 3. Michael Cook: 4. John Wells; 5. Michael 80u. B S/SR; 1. Joel Boucher: 2. Joel Vogt; 3. Jeff Hollfelder: 4. Charles Stanley: 5. Tom Barry. A/B WMN: 1. Heather Wilson: 2. Heather Wagner-Jauregg. C 200: 1. Tony Langone; 2, Brent Dixon; 3. Rick Berhorst; 4, Ryan Bird; 5, Travis Williams. C 250: l. Eric Liddell; 2, Brent Slattery: 3. Marc Palmer; 4. David Boaz; 5, Bret McCroney. COPEN: 1, Jeff Bauer: 2. Greg Patterson; 3. Bob Pilgreen; 4, Joe Ogulin: 5, Rich Ventura. C 4-STRK: I. Wes Thomas; 2, Rich Ogutin; 3. Gary Quigley; 4, Brent Bradley; 5, Thomas Baxter. C VET: I, Ronald King: 2. Howard Dingman; 3. Scott Dault; 4. Brad Johnson; 5. Mark Davis. C SR: I. Jim Ingoglia: 2. Brad Streeter: 3. Gary Remmen; 4. Phil Delucchi; 5. Bart Carrigan, C S/SR: 1. Donald Chase; 2. Bruce Webbon: 3, Joe Butler; 4. Gregory Loscher; 5. Joseph Vasquez, C GENT: I. James Dingman. C WMN: 1. Gndi Rober; 2. Darlene Sumrall; 3. Suzie Dault. MOOSE WESTERN REGIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (After 7 of 19 Rounds): 1. Craig Wesner (123/1 win); 2. Cole Marshall (117); 3. (TIE) Rob Zimmerman/D<:lmien Galford (113); 5, Rod Kreiss (99/2); 6. Brian Butler (72); 7. Travis Sluder (68); 8. Steve Silvestri (66); 9. Brian Garrahan (60); 10. Aaron Youse (53). Youse both went down and Butler was able to ride on and take the fifth spot. Galford was able to recover from his crash and take the sixth position. Senior A rider Dave Wood put in a great race, finishing an impressive seventh overall as well as first in his class. The eight and ninth spots went to Yamaha rider Rob Zimmerman and Husky-mounted Travis Sluder. Rounding out the top ten was Youse, who managed to recover from his crash earlier in the race. After seven rounds of the series, Wesner narrowly leads the series by six points over Marshall, with Zimmerman another four points back. John Trabucco was the top finishing B rider, while Eric Liddell topped the afternoon C race. eN cue. e n e _ S • APRIL 26, 2000 31