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Oregon National Hare Scramble For the fifth round of the Hare Scramble we had another round on the West Coast. This time the race took place up in Oregon on the Big K Ranch. We drove up to the race with Wattsy and into this new race location we were drooling all over ourselves with how good the property looked. The property was 2500 acres along the Umpqua river. There were big rolling grass hills that we were passing through including a big grass track that we would be starting on broken up with trail section like the black forest. Many riders from district 36 made the trip up for the race and the consensus among everyone checking out the race was that this liked the best place for a race that we had ever seen. I was riding the 400 4-stroke to get more used to it for the upcoming six days. On the start line Brian had a problem with his bike when he was warming it up and it acted liked it seized. Brian pulled his bike off the line and was pissed that his race was over before it began. I didn't get a great jump off of the line but pulled up on the inside on the second straight. I came in hard to the next corner and got a bit out of control coming into the other riders and caused a pileup. Unfortunately in the accident another rider, Chuck Woodford, ended up with a broken leg which I feel awful about. Shane Watts got his first holeshot here in America and opened up a good size lead early on the grasstrack which was good for him because he had a trip over the hanger when we dropped into the first tree section but he was able to get up and going before anyone caught up. Brian changed his plug and fooled with his bike and got it running again after the second row had started. Brian was on a mission after that and was on the charge but had many of the A riders to get around. I was moving though the pack pretty well getting up into fifth place by the end of the first lap. I got around Fred Andrews for fourth and caught up local d-36 Craig Wesner who was having a good ride and going fast. I got around him at the end of the second lap when he got too much steam going down a hill and overshot a fireroad after a drop off. I saw the next rider in front of me was local champ Robbie Zimmerman. We pulled into the pits after the second lap and my KTM rep Ravelle dropped the IMS dumptank down and Cole gave me a fresh pair of Smiths and I was back out on the trail. Fred Andrews caught up to me at the beginning of the lap and then blew by me soon after. Brian was making steady progress though the pack and was now up to the AA riders on a track that he thought was perfect for him. Mikey from Topspeed Productions was getting some good footage and even got to go up in a small aircraft to film the start and the first lap. On the fourth lap I clipped a tree fell down getting caught under my bike. Brian Brown caught up to me and I was blocking the trail but I couldn't get out from under my bike so he found a way around. I charged after him but never could get close enough to make a pass. Shane Watts took the win and did a big burnout for the fans. Fred Andrews was second and locatl d-36 rider Rob Zimmerman looked super happy with third place, his best ever so far at a national race. Brian Brown was fouth, I was fifth, Shane Esponito sixth, Craig Wesner seveth, and Brian made the big charge on the day to salvage some points with an eighth place finish. |
