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Crab Orchard National Hare Scramble The national Hare Scramble series hit its summer run at the rescheduled round in Illinois. Since I am in fifth in the points I decided to go back to a few of the summer events and try to keep my skills up to date in the eastern conditions. I flew back and borrowed Billy Russell's 250 EXC and met up with Brian at Illinois Troy's place. Brian and I went on a quick lap around the club property then got the bikes ready to race. It was good for me to get a bit of riding in since I haven't ridden a 250 in nearly a year. We arrived at the race in the morning and there was hardly anyone there. There were only about forty cars in the parking lot but most of the people that were there were pro riders so our work would be tough for the day. On the start Brian was about sixth and I was right behind him. I followed him for a couple of miles but made a mistake and started getting pressure from Kevin Bailey who soon made his way by. It was a pretty hot day and the humidity was high making it tough to deal with. The course really isn't that good either. It is all trail which is good but is slow and doesn't have any flow, rhythm, berms, or anything else interesting. Brian was running fifth until he got his front wheel up above a ridge on a quad trail and it washed out on him. Brian hit his arm against the ground giving him a dead arm. He got back on the bike but could not hold on anymore so he called it a day. I was having a tough time with the heat but soldiered on the best I could. I did not think I had a very good race and finished 10th overall. |