Ohio Hare Scramble

I flew out and met Brian in Ohio at Cole Caukins house.  We rode a couple laps on Saturday with Josh Mclevy and Shane Watts before getting the bikes cleaned up for the race.  The race was only a couple hours away so we left on Sunday morning.  The race was located near Athens where a GNCC and many enduros are run.  This area is popular with off road racing but we were still surprised to pull into a new racing location.  Unfortunately the turnout was small, except in the pro class.  There were a bunch of top guys so I knew it was going to be tough to achieve my goal of a top five finish.  Off the start I got a decent mid pack start just a couple of spots behind Brian.  It was a little dusty so passing was a little harder than normal.  The trail was really good singeltrack through the woods.  There were actually some good uphills and downhills.  I was riding hard trying to keep my place in line and really enjoying the course.  I followed Randy Hawkins for most of the first lap.  We picked up the pace on the second lap and I could tell that everyone was going to be going fast all day.  A couple laps in Robbie Jenks caught up to me.  He had problems early and was making up time.  I held him off for a lap then followed him for a bit.  He ended catching up to Brian but Brian wasn't giving in.  Brian managed to hold him off all day.  Barry Hawk was the winner on the day.  He had a bit of a race with Jason Raines but opened up a comfortable gap for the win.  Jason was a clear second ahead of Chuck Woodford.  Brian was fourth ahead of Robbie Jenks.  Justin Williamson finished a minute ahead of me in sixth and I was pleased with seventh considering the competition.  I finally had a race back east that I was comfortable with the way I rode.

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