Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A M A National Championship Hare Scrambles Series Round 8 : Dutch Sport Park M o t o rcycle C lub all changed at the Na tio na l Har e Scrambles Series fin a le , wh ere th e Brit took third overall and th e series crown. In e ar ly February , Edmond son let it be kno wn he had hig h ex pectati o ns for this 2000 s eason of c ompetition. and he followed thro ugh. Mounte d on a ne w Ka wasa ki KX250 (he had rid den fo r T e a m Suzuk i) , Edmon d s on By Aa ron Barth Photos by Bart Newman BLOOMINGDALE, MI, OCT. 15 0 h o u g h h e ca me t o the United U States fou r yea rs ago with a re p for being o ne of th e wo rld's to p offroa d riders , Pau l Edmondson couldn 't s e em t o acq u ire a major ch amp ionsh ip he re on Am erican so il. T ha t 22 NOVE MBER B, 2 0 00 ' c ue • e ne VIl' s Paul Edmondson negotiates a tricky downhill on his way t o sewing up his long-aw ai t ed fi rst U.S. National t itle. rec orde d three vict ories in the series , whic h . along with a str ing of c o ns istent finishes , ass isted hi m in ga inin g his first U.S . Na tional Champion sh ip. Defen d ing c ha m p ion Doug Bla c kwe ll ga ve him a strong c hall e nge by also notch ing th re e wins , and h e came in to the final round with a shot at repeating . Although the Yamaha rider did what he had to do by scoring the fina l-round win , Edmondson 's podi um finis h was good enough . J ust pa st high noon , th e race sta rted and , with a champio ns hip o n th e line , th e ra ce faces were on. Thirte e n AA riders headed into the first turn, wit h Ed m o n d s o n lea din g the way . Close be h ind in third were Bla c kwe ll, KTM's Bria n Ga rra ha n, and Michigan m ot oc ross er David Gaylord. The top ride rs swapped positions a nu m ber of times wh ile o n the motorcross p o rt io n of t h e t rack , and Hon da -m ou nted Ga y lord was on the m ove , pa ss ing all the early le ad e rs by th e time th e pa ck reac hed the woods. O nc e in the wood s , th e s e rie s ' top ride rs s ho wed their skills and Ga ylor d be gan to drop back. One rider who d idn 't have a smooth firs t lap was Eric DuCra y , who fe ll a few co rne rs before entering the woods . "I wrecked pretty h ard , and had t o p la y c a tc h up for t he rema inder of th e day ," he sa id. As the top riders exited the woods for th e first time, it was Edmondson , followed c lo se ly by Blackwell and Watts who managed t o mov e up a few spots a fter a m id -p ack start. A littl e fu rt h e r ba c k wa s Ca liforn ia 's Br ian Garrah an , wit h F a ctory Ga s Gas ride r Bla ir Be rsano close beh ind . Th e early lea ders slowly pu lled on t he fie ld , w it h only the to p t hr ee kee ping th e pace. To the spe ctators ' de light, the 250c c four- stroke KTM of Watts a nd the 250c c t wo -s troke Kawasak i of Edmondson put on an a irial show a s th e y t ra ve led through th e motocross inte rior of the co urse . Watts took over th e le ad on lap two and led until the fourth lap. "I' m just o ut here hav ing a good time , " Watts said . "My plan t od a y was to finish on the podium . I wanted a good show ing on m y KTM 250 four -stroke. Ea rlier in the week , the chief engine er who des igned the bike d ied in an a c c ident, s o toda y wa s a tr ibute to him!" Just behind this lead trio, position s wer e chang ing as Be rsano and Garrahan we re going b ack an forth , with Bersano finall y able to make the pass stick on lap five . After the battle with Bersano, Garrahan fa de d a bit. a nd would also' be passed by Kawasaki's Chuck Woodford. "I just couldn 't make a pass st ick on Brian ," Bersano said. "When I did , the top three were go ne. I rode well today; this was m y best National finish on the year. " After pitting on la p three , Erik Koh ler made an attem pt to head to the front of the pa ck. a ttaching him s e lf t o Pat G a rr ah an ; ' t h e y both impro v e d a n u m ber of posi ti ons . "Man , to day was a lot of fun ," Kohler said. "I plan to c ome back next sea son ."

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