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Indiana Hare Scramble The final round of the Hare Scramble series took place at Lynville, Indiana and with the small amount of rain the area received in the proceeding days prior left the track in perfect condition. Fred Andrews came into this final round as the defending champion and current points leader, but was unable to attend because of an injury he sustained a couple weeks prior. This left Jason Raines in the drivers seat and he brought along the newly crowned GNCC champ Barry Hawk along with him to make sure he left Indiana with the #1 plate. Brian had third place in the series points locked up so he was just racing to have good finish. I was outside of the top ten in points and really needed to gain major points in the race to have any chance at getting a single digit number for next year. The start of the race was held in an area not quite big enough and we lined up about ten feet before the first corner on a slight uphill. I got a good position on the inside of the line and knew if I got a decent jump off the line I would have a good start. When the cannon was shot off Jason Raines was quickest off the start followed by Barry Hawk, and P A Allen. Brian and I were right together next in line but Brian hit the back of Barry's bike and tipped over. Nate Kinney got around me in the process of missing Brian but I was off to a good start. There was some dust in the first couple of miles but altogether the course was in great shape. Where this race is held was once old strip mines so the entire area is a series of gullies and ridges. Most of the course in run either along a ridge or down in the gully, but sometimes we cross the ridges in an awkward series of rises. I was feeling some pressure from Doug Blackwell and Scott Summers and they both made their was around me. Brian was up and charging after his fall making his was through the pack. Brian and Watts caught me near the end of the lap and I keyed off them for as long as I could. After the first lap the positions didn't change to much. Watts was about the only one making up ground on anyone. Jason Raines was maintaining the point position. Barry Hawk was keeping close to him until he made a mistake and went off one of the ridges on the third lap. Doug Blackwell took over second followed by Watts and Summers. Illinois Troy made the trip with us and helped out once again with the pits duties and did a fine job once again. On the last lap Shane Watts hit a hidden rock and had a nasty crash which took him out of third place and the race. Jason Raines held on to take the win and the championship ahead of Blackwell, Barry Hawk, Scott Summers, Nathan Kanney, Jade Gutzeit from South Africa, Brian, P A Allen, myself, and Matt Phish from Australia rounded out the top ten. |