Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

G oin g in to thi s ra c e , B am fo rd n e e d e d to m a int a in h is po ints le a d ov er another AA hea vy hitte r, Ryan Cla y. But that wasn't all ; a ls o ente red in t h e pr e m ie r cla s s w a s J a s on Sigfrid , a profess iona l m ou ntain -bike ra c er a n d p hen om e n al off - ro a d m o t o rc ycl e rac er. Sig frid took the h o le s h o t on his He rb' s Cy cl e T o wn / Fa s twa y / Ye t i/ T LDI S m it h ba ck ed KTM 4 0 0 EXC. Du rin g t he ' first thr e e laps of th e 8 .5 -m ile course , a se rie s of lea d c ha nges e nded with Bamford taking the po int for th e rest of the race . "The first few laps took some get ting us ed to ," Bamford sa id. "The 520 h an dle s differently than the 4 26 I've be en ra cing fo r thre e ye a rs , bu t it ca m e aro u nd qu ickly . Kee p ing th e nu m ber -on e plat e for an other ye a r is a great honor and wou ldn 't be possi ble witho ut m y sponsors a nd m y wife , Ton i." As it tu rned ou t, Sigfrid wadded his b ike after hitting a downed log on a n "o ff -th e - trail " exc ursio n but ca m e bac k to ea rn se cond pla c e . "I managed to bend or br e ak just about ev erything on m y handl ebars ," Sigfrid said, "but luck ily th er e was a rider the re with a fouled plug wh o helped me straighten it all o ut. " With no dust and Velcro-like tra c tion , the racing was intense in all of the other classes as well. Newly crowned Four-Stroke Expert champion Wa lte r Schwarz blew up his TTR325 at th e star t a n d h ad to scramble for a race b ike a s his com p e tito rs t oo k t o the tr a ck. The thump er pilo t bo rrowed Bamford 's old YZ4 26F - not a ba d cho ic e . In th e 250cc Expert class , Derek Steahly wa s clo sel y tailed by Jeremy Puma throughout the 2 1/ 2 -hour, 80mil e race , de sp ite ha ving h is c h e s t protector rip pe d off in a n e arly scrap with a tree . "I felt naked ," Steahly commented. While Steahly won the batt le , Puma won the war; he will take home th e 2000 aMRA 250cc Expert champ ionsh ip. Both ride for Steahly Off Road, House of Horsepower and IMS. In her first ra ce ev e r on a KX100 , Belle Re inen finished s econd , beh ind Julia Huffman , in the Women's cla ss . Sh e was lat er seen bench -ra cing with Team Hare Scrambles C hampion s h ip: Jaso n Raines and Robbi e Jenks too k t heir Yamaha to victory In the 2000 Act ion Sports Team Hare Scrambles Championship race, In Albany Ohio. After three hours, they crossed the finish li ne one minute and 38 seconds ahead of the ir closest competitors. AA: 1. T ravis Bam ford ; 2. Ja son Sigfr id; 3. Ryan Clay . OPEN EX: 1. J ason Math en ey; 2 . Steve McCa ll; 3 . J o hn Reising ; 4 . Ric ha rd Cha p ma n ; 5 . Bo b St ephens. 250 EX: 1. Derek Steahly ; 2. Jer emy Puma: 3 . Maso n Ha rrison ; 4 . J ay Thom as; S. Shaw n Bus hnell. 200 EX: 1. Tyler Whitcomb: 2. Je ff Zertan na: 3. Chad Bitt ; 4 . J am es Wilson; 5 . Ted Os tlund . 4 ·STRK EX : 1. Sco tt Ol sen ; 2. Bri an Fric k; 3 . Don Twombl ey; 4. Scott McNew; 5. Ron Huffman. 30 + EX : 1. David Mort on; 2. Kevin Wil ton ; 3 . Shawn Hohm an . 40 + EX : I. Chuck Steahly ; 2. Dave Winter s; 3 . Gary Gump; 4. Ken Spruit : 5. Clyde Kerti ng . OPEN AM : 1. Kevin Lane: 2 . Mi ke Plllster: 3. Cory Wil son; 4. Ray Carpe nter; 5 . Davi d Shelton. 250 AM.: J. Bryon Smi th ; 2 . Chris Matson: 3. Vince Lo mba rdo ; 4. Kurt Vanderpool : 5. Travis A llen. 200 AM : l . Tom m y Whitcomb ; 2 . Leighton Sherick : 3. Brody Je nse n: 4 . Ron Bak er ; 5. Steve Matson. 4-STRK AM : 1. Cor y M en el e y ; 2 . T er k el McBroom ; 3. Brett McBee; 4 . Seth McB lair : 5. Ron Hudson. 30 . AM : 1. Brent Dickey; 2. Pat Daniels; 3. Steve Wood ward; 4. Shawn Sulfri dge; 5. David Strai n. 40 . AM : l. Robert Dam on ; 2. Ron Baker; 3. Craig Harri son: 4. Bob Jensen; 5. Kevin Newins. 50 + AM : 1. Chris Green; 2. Robert Whit comb; 3. Richard Wilso n; 4. Don Meneley ; 5. Robert Osboume. WMN: 1. Julia Huffm an; 2. Belle Reinen. JR : 1. Bradley Hillm an. SPTSMN: 1. Dale Noe l; 2. Steven Horn sby; 3 . Lawrence Nielson. Action Sports 2000 Team Hare Scrambles C hampionship Jenks, Raines Reign By D A VID L. PATTO N J R. ALBANY, OH, OCT. 29 a m a ha rid ers Robb ie J en k s a nd Ja son Ra ine s put tog eth e r th re e hours of low 13 -m inute Jap times to run awa y with the 20 00 Action S ports Te am Har e Sc ram ble s Cham p ion sh ip o f t he World. Th e y pu t to g e t he r a n error- free da y to win by one mi nute Y and 38 seconds over last ye a r's winners, Doug Bla ckwell and Barry Haw k Jr. , a lso o n Yamahas . J oining the m on th e pod ium wer e th e 1999 cha m pion s, Sc o tt Pl ess in g e r an d An dy She a , in t hi rd , aft er a c ras h - filled a fternoon . Th e Ac tion Sports e ve nt fe ature s a d ead -en gi ne , Le Man s - s t yl e start where the riders run to th eir b ikes, fire th em up and take off. Once the field negotiated the first couple of tums on th e moto cro s s track, J e rem y Berwanger battled Hawk and Plessinger for the top spot. KRW/ Mic he lin/ Re n thai -sponsored Berwanger held them off as the trio entered the woods se ction, and he led the field through the barrels on the first lap . "The y got past me, but Barry got stuck in the mud and Scott made a wrong turn and I got the lead back," Berwanger s a id . Raines had a rough first lap , but the up-and-coming star was on th e gas , and h e c o v e re d th e 5 .1 -m ile course in 13 minutes, 11 se conds. He h and ed o ff to J en ks an d th ey to ok co ntro l of th e ra ce. A disappointed Haw k a lso handed off on lap two , a s partner Bla ckwell set o ut a m inute and a half beh ind J enks. "I had the le ad ," Hawk said. "The n I cra sh ed o ve r th ere in th e mud a nd I wa s try in g to o h a rd and fell a bo ut four mor e tim es. We 've got our wo rk c ut out for us now." Ples sin ger a lso had a bobble ea rly o n, but he rebounded to hand off to Andy Sh e a , wh o wa s si x s e c ond s behind J enks . "I'm goin g to softe n m y fro nt for ks a n d let m y a r m pump go d own , " Pless inger sa id . "I 'm not used t o going this fast, and it's rough out there ." Th e top teams changed at th e onehou r mark, a nd it was clear that th e three -hou r ra c e was Rain es and Jenk s ' t o w in . On hi s fir st sti nt, Bla c k we ll wa s n 't a b le to g a in a n y ground on th e leader s. "I re ally strugg led with a rm pump ," Bla c kwell s a id. "T he c ours e is really c ho ppy ." cue I e n Shea a lso ran into trouble. "It wa s a lot s licker than I th ought, and I fell down three or four times ," he said. Th e leaders had a one-minute and-43 -second lead a t the end of the first hour , and they never look ed back. Raines had the track dial ed o n the Yamaha/Race Tech/GPR Stabilizer s-ba cked YZ. "It's a litt le dusty , but it's a pretty good layou t," Rai ne s said . "I lik e it because it 's fast." Teammate Jenks was also string ing togeth er low -13 -minute laps and the Ya ma h a / S C R/ An s wer sta r was smooth and fast all da y . Hawk and Bla c kw ell cra nk e d it up in th e las t hou r t o s ew up seco n d w ith fou r st ra ig ht 12-m inute laps , but at the end Rain es still had a sizable lead. "Wha t a great day!" J en ks sa id . "We got out front and got a c us hio n and we ke pt pu shing. " "We s witched eve ry two lap s, and I th in k th at h e lp ed u s push harde r," Raines said. "Ro bbie m ov ed us into the lead , then we ju st tri ed t o stay smooth and pick good line s ." "I think I lost the ra ce for us on th e s e c on d lap," Hawk said . "T h e re is only on e muddy section , an d I ca me into it too hot a nd tried to jum p it, but I got c ross - rutte d a nd a lm ost went over th e bars. I ended up in th e deepest part and had to push m y bik e back to get out. Then I made stup id m istakes. I hop e Doug will te am with me ne xt year." "J a son a nd Ro bb ie ca pitali ze d on eve ry on e ' s e rro rs ," Bla ck we ll sa id a fter th e ra ce . "The y re all y e a rne d th is win ." Th e eve nt was s p lit into a n Am a teur prog ra m in th e m orn ing and the e _ S • D EC EMBER 1 3 , 2000 25

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