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Oregon Hare Scramble Upon arriving in Oregon I was Jonsin to ride. The race up in Oregon is as good as it gets and if you can make it out there sometime do it. There is a good mix of open fields and woods that makes for a fun race. Our Dad, Al, rode on Saturday finishing second in class and said the course was awesome, just a little dusty in the fields. Shane Watts took himself off the disabled list for this race and made the trip out. At the start of the race the Kawasaki team got the jump on the field with Davind Pearson, Brian Brown, Fred Andrews, Chuck Woodford, and Scott Sheak all close to the front. Wattsy got a good start and was mixing it up with them if fourth position. Brian had a good start but crashed after the grasstrack and had to start from the back. His bike was a bit bent so he had to straighten it out. Jason Raines fell in the first corner and the two of them started to work their way through the pack together. I had a pretty good start but got passed by quite a few guys in the early going that were charging harder than me in the open dusty fields. Halfway through the first lap I could hear Brian and Jason come up on me and I pulled over and let them go at it. They were on the gas and looking to get to the front. Kawasaki had the front covered with David Pearson opening up a good sized lead over Chuck Woodford. Watts held off Sheak for quite a while and soon after Sheak got by Shane had his tire roll off the rim and he was done for the day. Brian worked his way into fifth but still had Raines hot on his tail. I had a good race going with Dave Neumeister. We passed each other back and fourth for a couple of laps. I was a little quicker in the trees but when we got into the open stuff and the grass track he would open up the 450SX and get back by me. On the start of the fifth lap he passed me and I knew I had to get around him before we got into the woods so I went for it down the 100MPH downhill and took back the spot. Brian finally got overtaken by Raines but soon after Jason overshot a corner and crashed pretty hard. Brian said when he went by Jason was looking for his bike but it was right next to him so Jason had to call it a day. With two laps to go the course was rerouted around a little mud bog but Pearson and Woodford had to go the through the mud. That allowed Andrews to catch the leaders and when that happended he made his charge into the lead. We ended up going seven laps which was longer than we expected which had us do three pit stops. Fred Andrews took the win and extended his points lead in the Hare Scramble series and more importantly did it out west before the series rounds out back east where he is especially strong. Woodford got by Pearson for second but David held on to the final podium spot. Scott Sheak had a good ride for fourth followed by Brian who was disappointed with fifth after winning here last year. Sixth went to Eric Mashbir who had an outstanding ride and showed he can still run with the best of them. Eric is a multi time D-36 champ and was right on Brian's tail at the finish. McLevy was seventh, followed by Andy Grider, Joey Lanza, and Ben Hale. I finished in 13th for the day and even though my results wern't where I would have liked them to be I had a good ride and will be back next year in Oregon. |