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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128614
AMA National C h a m p ions h ip H are Scr amble s Serie s Rou nd 4: B e a r Va lley Hare S c ram bl e s Doug Blackwell (left). the defending National Hare Scrambles C ham p ion . too k the w in i n Pennsylvani a. own race, " said a t ired , but j u b i lan t Blackwell after the event. "M y Yarnaha is wo rking great." Prior to the race, Bl ac k w ell t ho ught that his cha nces were d ecent, a pre m o n iti o n h e fo ug ht h ar d to make good o n . " I wo n th is race two yea rs ag o [last time it w as a nat ion al]. " he recount ed . '" ge nerally like a tech nical track , although I d on 't reall y co ns ider myself a rock specia lis t." Hail in g from Wes t Virg inia , ce rt ai nly h e ' s no st ranger t o t h em thou gh , and su re ly t he rock -studded ROR R course d id t est the will and m ettl e o f all ri ders. Th e ev ent (w hic h was also round th re e of the ECEA Series) is run in an aban don ed coal m in e, a narrow va lley b ordered o n tw o s id es b y r ough , rock y STORY AND PHOTOS B y M ARK UTH/TRAIL RIDER M AGAZINE GOOD SPRING, PA, MAY 7 D efending National Hare Sc rambles Champion Doug B lac k w ell ca me north to earn a hard -fought victory over a fo rm id ab le fie ld of nat ion al off-road stars and loca l east-c o ast talent, h is first series win of the 200 0 season. Th e Yamaha USA/Answer /Smith /Dun l op /T s u b a k i /Si I ko l e n e / D p B rake s/W i se c o /Fa ct ory Eff ectssponsore d r ide r got th e h ol esh ot , and afte r some firs t- lap dicing with Husqvarn a rid er Fr ed Hoess, p ulled away f ro m th e fi eld an d c ru ise d to v ic to ry, c o m p let in g th e req u is ite six la ps two minut es qu ic k er th an run n er -u p Patrick G arrah an . " I rod e my BRIEFL Y. •• "Tod ay ' s wea ther is b etter su ited fo r th e beach." For Blac kwell , despit e lead in g t he race for five of six laps and winning by a co m forta b le m arg in , it was h ard ly eas y . Th e fa ctor y Ya ma ha r i d er end ured a kn i fe -fight of a f irst lap , B lac kwell and Ho ess t rading t he lead seve ra l times while setting a blis terin g pace, ro ll ing into th e ba rrels sep arate d b y a mere sec ond . B ehind t h e le a d pa ir, defending NETRA hare scra m b les ch am p ion Pat T imothy , wi nner here in '9 9 , was y ap p i ng at t he ir h eels , followed b y Brian Garrahan , Sm ith, Josh Mc Levy an d Pat Garra han . A litt le m ore th an a minu te se para ted f i rst fro m seventh p lace in this lead p ack . It was on th e second trip arou n~ th e ro ugh 10 -m ile co urse that misfortun e b e f ell e arly f ro ntr un n er Ho e ss. Th e Husqvarna USA rider came to a sud de n ha lt aft er breaki ng the chain on his WR250, handing the lead to B lack w ell in the pr o ces s. Wh il e Hoess scrambled to repa ir h is scoot , bor ro wing a m ast er link fro m a w ill ing KDX ri der who wa s bro k en d o wn w ith a fl a t t ire , ei g h t o t he r r id er s m otor e d pas t. Th i s drop ped h im back int o 10th pl ace , and w hile it set th e stag e for some hero ics later in th e race, it sur ely cri p pled hi s run at to p honor s. For the rest o f th e ra c e B lac k w ell w as li k e a ma c h ine , tu rn i n g i n 30 minute lap s li k e cl ockwork , fi n ish in g the requisit e six laps in just a little o ver three hours. Me anwhil e, th e Gar rah an b roth er s w er e d oin g their best M oll y M agu ir es im it at ion , scrapping t o st ay in t ou ch w it h the lead er. On the sec o n d lap Bri an p ass ed th e str i c ken The only rid er to challenge Blackwell was Fred Hoess (above). who fini s h ed third after run n in g at t he f ront earfy. (Right) The AA class gets underway o n t he dry a nd dusty course. Blackwell's win was sorely needed in the defense of his number-one plate. Prior to the race he was riding fifth in the points. trailing (among others) early-season phenom Paul Edmondson and W att s. w ho we re ' ·2 in the ser ies po ints chas e. Blackw el l commente d. " W hat I need is a good finish and Wall s off the pace." He got his wish in spades . as points-leader Edmondson was a no-show due to a thumb injury sustained the previous week at the Sparta. Kentucky GNCC round. and Watts DNFed. Blackwell moved up into fourth place. only a point behind Watts and within striking distance of Edmondson. Also benefiting was Brian Garrahan. whose fourth pace finish earned him suff icient points to move ahead of W att s into second. A handful of riders with ea st -coast roots filled out the day's top finishers. Rich Lafferty rode a strong. consistent race to finish fifth overall. Lafferty noted. "I won this event in '96 or '97 when it was dry and dusty. just like today. No matter. I always have fun." Bill Atkinson ran as high as fourth place during the course of the event and finished sixth overall. The defending ECEA enduro champ and '98 HS champ hails from nearby Schuylkill Haven. Pennsylvania. NETRA's Pat TImothy said he was praying for inclement conditions prior to the event. "I wish it was rain ing ," pined the KTM rider, th e victo r in last year 's non -nation al eve nt that wa s run in brutal rain/ sleeting conditions. Timothy was hoping for a top-10 finish. noting that he'd be "hooting and hollering all the way home" should he break into the top five. While it might have been a quiet ride home. his seventh-place finish assured smiles all around. Amazingly, Kevin Bennett' s 10th-place finish aboard his CR125 made him the first Honda rid er to break into the top 10 this year in a National Hare Scrambles. 32 MAY 24, 2000· c ue I e n e vv s an d d en s el y f o lia te d s lo p e s . W eather con d it ion s fo r the day were sunn y , hot and humid, with t em p erat u res n ear 90 degrees. During the c ou rse o f the race , m an y of the m o r e o p e n sect io ns of the t r ack , especia lly the start area, s uffered heavily fro m chu rned dust, much of it blacke ned from m in in g o pera t ions . The se co nd i tio ns t o o k th ei r to ll on ma ny r i d er s , m o st n ot abl e a mong th em , ISDE hero Ch ris Sm ith and p rerac e favorite Shane W atts, who re tired after on e lap w ith a sto ved -in pipe and dashed spirits. Watts ' explanations : "This isn 't m y t yp e o f t err ain ," an d Hoess and Pat Timoth y to move into second p lace, while Pat charged from f u r t he r b a c k to o v e r t a k e H o e s s , ,M c L e v y , Smit h a nd T imothy , an d ass u me th e n umber -three slot. T he Garraha ns wo uld retain th ese two posi tions for n ext three la ps, swa p p ing th e lead bet we en th emsel ves, A ft er getting ro l li ng agai n , it w as Ho ess' turn to put on a little show of h is own . The hom et own favo rite an d d efen di n g E CEA h ar e scra m b les cha m p ro ared ba c k h ar d, setting h is