IN
THE
WIND
P32
GRAFFUNDER TOPS FUNKY CHICKEN HS
A
fter his runner-up finish at
the previous round, SRT
KTM's Cory Graffunder knew
he'd succeeded in limiting dam-
age to his championship hopes
in the Kenda/SRT AMA West
Hare Scrambles Championship
Series.
So with the Emerald Trail
Riders Association's 16th Mo-
toSport Funky Chicken Hare
Scrambles, in Elkton, Oregon,
June 21, serving as round six
and the final "woods" race, he
knew it would be his last chance
to capitalize on his strength as
a technical rider and pad his
series points lead over Purvines
Racing Beta's Nick Burson.
Graffunder said, "I knew I had
to make as much of it as I could
[here]. The last two are going to
fall into Burson's favor, for sure."
So, after about a fourth-
place start aboard his 509/TBT
Racing/O'Neal Racing-backed
300 XC, he made a few quick
moves to get into the lead, one
he never relinquished.
"I knew that I was going to
be fast here," Graffunder said.
"There's probably a few other
guys that could run a similar
pace to me, but with the dust,
it's like, 'Good luck trying to get
through that behind me!' "
Conversely, Burson was the
one hoping for a damage-control
day, confessing, "Me and trees
don't get along."
Indeed, after finishing eighth
in the Pro division, his Motul/
Precision Concepts/Klim 430
RR looked like it had seen better
days, with its front fender miss-
Cory Graffunder
(118) worked
his way
front and
on to win
Funky Chicken
National
Scrambles
Oregon.