Mid-South Hare Scrambles Series Cross-Country
Motorsports Championship
Round 2: NATRA
New
Hope, AL, Oct. 17
The second round of
Mid-South’s Cross-Country Motor-Sport Championship brought 531 riders to New Hope, Alabama. Up front the Overall winner,
P. A. Allen made his come-back win for the Pirelli / Moose / Maxxis
/ American Patriot Getaways supported series.
This Mid-South win was important for the four-time Champion because it
had been a while since his last victory.
Off the start, he
charged his way into the lead with Jeff Cregg, John Maschino, and the rest of the pack following. After that, it was a down hill slide as he
dropped back to fourth place by the end of the first lap.
“After that, I really
charged,” said Allen. “Cregg and I pulled away from everyone,
and we had a good battle. He passed me
when I pitted for fuel, and it took me about seven miles to pass him. I had to really work hard to get around him.” When he did, the Team Green Kawasaki / Sarge’s Cycles / Pro Circuit / Shift / Fox / Tire Balls / Renthal backed Allen jumped the creek section when the
trail was blocked by stuck riders and landed into first place with fifty
seconds lead.
Unfortunately for Cregg, he did the complete opposite. He dove into the creek and took a swim,
giving John Maschino and Dustin Gibson one easy pass.
Shortly thereafter, the Sarge’s Cycles/ Pro Action of
Kentucky / Maxxis /
sponsored Gibosn came through in second while Maschino finished in third.
Meanwhile Johnny Signs / Moose / Scott / Alpine Star supported Cregg picked up his Kawasaki and chuckled a
fourth. ***
Throughout most of
the AA race, two battles formed and most of the changes happened just before
the finish. The Kawasaki battle between Allen and Cregg ended about a mile from the score tent while the
other battle was between Maschino and Gibson. Gibson fought in third and fourth place for
most of the race until he maneuvered into second place one hundred yards from
the finish. At that time, Maschino was trying to pass some lappers, and one of them
moved in front of him, giving Gibson his lucky second.
Other riders riding
with a sense of New
Hope in Alabama were Robert Patterson, Emmett Cox, and
Jared Smith. Riding a KX 250, Patterson
made impressive moves for fifth place in Overall. After a bad fall last month, he came back
with a renewed spirit and won Vet A class for two
times in a row this season. Riding hard
in the Masters class was Cox. He pushed
himself after a bad start and took the lead by the end of the first lap. Two laps later, he won with John Giles, Don
Freeland, Wade Summers, and Lonnie Watson following. Giles said, “Well, Emmett Cox beat me by two
seconds and might have to catch a ride home with somebody else because he rode
up here with me.” Unlike Giles, Smith
was happy with his second. He felt the victory after taking second place in
200C. He said, “That’s the best I’ve
ridden in a long time.”
***
(Sometimes you just
have to laugh away your mistakes. If you
don’t believe me, check out PA’s GNCC dilemmas on the gnccracing.com. It’s front web page
mistake plus three more on the Power Line Park Photos Gallery. We are still laughing.)