Wright Wins NY East Hare Scrambles
T
he AMA East Hare Scrambles
Championship teamed up
with the New York Off-Road
Association (NYOA) to host the
Ditch Banger Hare Scrambles in
Cortland, NY, July 23-24. In the
premier class, Ben Wright came
away with the overall and AA-
class wins.
Things went well for the Ya-
maha rider, Wright, right away.
He nabbed the holeshot and
never looked back. The Pennsyl-
vanian led all four laps, extending
his lead with each go-around.
Wright took the checkered flag
more than three and a half min-
utes ahead of runner-up Caleb
Baltimore.
Baltimore (KTM) was fifth after
the first lap but slowly worked his
way through the pack and had
control of second place by the
end of the third lap.
Yamaha-mounted Ian Potter
held down second place for the
early half of the race before giv-
ing way to Baltimore. Potter held
on for third, finishing nearly a
minute behind Baltimore.
Beta riders Mark Fortner and
Daniel Fortner rounded out the
top five overall and AA division.
Championship leader Max
Fernandez had a tough day.
He suffered damage to his rear
wheel on the first lap and had to
pit for repairs, costing him any
chance he had of winning. The
Beta rider, however, fought back
and salvaged eighth place in the
AA class.
Three 250cc A riders made
it into the top 10 overall, with
Hunter Keen (Honda), Kyle Gre-
newicz (Yamaha) and Kenneth
Held (Suzuki) all finishing within
45 seconds of each while hold-
ing down the 6-8 positions as
they crossed the finish line.
AA riders Toby Cleveland (Ya-
maha) and Timothy Steiner (KTM)
completed the top 10 overall.
Joshua Ackley (GasGas)
topped the AA 35+ class in 13th
overall and Grant Maryott (Su-
zuki) was the top Vet A rider in
14th overall.
The top B-class rider was 25th
overall Bailey Flynn (Yamaha)
who came from the B 125-200cc
start line, while the top C-class
rider in 66th overall was Nicholas
Toscano (Kawasaki) who was
entered in the 250cc class.
The top female racer was
KTM-mounted Cheyenne Sisen-
stein who took the checkers less
than a minute ahead of runner-up
Mallory Eberhardt (KTM).
Kenny Held
OVERALL
1. Ben Wright (Yam)
2. Caleb Baltimore (KTM)
3. Ian Potter (Yam)
4. Mark Fortner (Bet)
5. Daniel Fortner (Bet)
6. Hunter Keen (Hon)
7. Kyle Grenewicz (Yam)
8. Kenneth Held (Suz)
9. Toby Cleveland (Yam)
10. Timothy Steiner (KTM)
IN
THE
WIND
P46
Ben Wright (51) was the
overall winner at the AMA
East Hare Scrambles
Championship round in
New York.
PHOTO: T. MERRITT
PHOTOGRAPHY
