Michigan Hare Scramble

This year in Michigan for once the weather was nice without any humidity.  The track at Dutch Sport Park is set up really good with permanent facilities and a good sandy motocross track.  The woods there are really good also, with some really tight single track that is much tighter than any other Hare Scramble.  The track was a little short at six miles but with nine laps we would have it down by the end of the race.  I had a starting spot on the outside so on the start I cut underneath the pack in the first turn.  I went a bit too wide in the second turn and was near the back of the ten rider pack.  Brian was in the thick of things but he hit a little jump at the end of the second straight and jumped off the track into some soft stuff and crashed.  He bent up his levers a bit and rejoined the race at the back of the field.  Shane Watts took the lead form Jimmy Jarret and led the way off of the motocross track.  I tailed the field going into the woods but all of the AA riders were keeping a tight pack.  Brian was up and going and trying his hardest to catch back up to the pack.  On the first lap I got by a couple of guys and was up to seventh and noticed that Fred Andrews had the lead followed by Watts, Jimmy Jarrett, Jason Raines, Chuck Woodford, and Chris Gault.  I managed to get by Andy Shea and Blair Bersano, at least for the meantime.  Both Andy and Blair kept the pressure on for two laps until they finally made their way by me.  On the third lap I noticed that Brian was behind me on the motocross track.  The next lap I came into the pits for gas who was being handled by Don Yancey but told them Brian was close behind me and to let them gas him first.  Brian came in about fifteen seconds later but when he was done there was no more gas left in the IMS quickfilll for me.  We put what we had in the tank then mooched some more and I was out of there, but unfortunately Brian was out of sight and I didn't get a chance to ride with him.  I got a bit tired but I made myself keep pushing for the rest of the race.  Chuck Woodford made his way to the front of the pack and took a narrow victory over Jason Raines.  Shane Watts had a good ride and landed on his first podium in about a year.  Aaron Wagner came from the A row on a 125 to sneak into fourth overall, followed by hard charging Andy Shea, Blair Bersano, Nate Kinney, then Brian.  I finished eighth AA and 11th overall for the day.  Fred Andrews was leading the race but crashed on the moto track and could not finish after being shaken up but didn't sustain any injury.  Brian moved into third in the Hare Scramble series with Woodford taking the win and moved into second in the series behind Andrews. 

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