Mid-South Hare Scrambles Series Cross-Country Motorsports Championship

Round 2: NATRA

The Ashburn / Alabama War

New Hope, AL, Oct. 17

The Mid-South Youth took it to a whole new level as they met the Youth riders from the NATRA trail. With nearly ninety youth on the starting line, New Hope, Alabama became the battleground for the Cross-Country Motor-Sport Championship. The Pirelli Tire / Moose / Maxxis / American Patriot Getaways supported race encountered battles on two separate tracks in five different classes.

The first race included the Junior A and B divisions. The two classes left the start one minute apart, traveling on three miles of course. Junior A class had the same podium as the first round. Once again, Jordan Ashburn made all the right moves and manhandled his Kawasaki into another $200.00 worth of contingency money. Not far from the finish, Ashburn crashed and lost his lead. He jumped back on his bike and for the next few miles; he gave it his all to retrieve his win. Second place was Honda mounted Shane Pena and Dylan Ritter came in third.

Ritter was about the sixth bike off of the start, and he tried to work his way up to the front of the pack quickly but found that it was more difficult than expected. He said, “The track was mostly one line and tight woods. A few laps before the finish, I got into third place and tried to catch the next riders but couldn’t.”

Daniel Sullivan rode his KX 100 into forth place. Off the start, he maneuvered his bike into fifth and then moved into second place for a while. After washing out, he went back to fifth and battled with Buddy Wall for his forth place finish. Wall felt good the entire race. He finished the course making five laps in a little over fifty minutes and claimed fifth place in Junior A.

On the other hand, the Junior B class did a complete turn around from last week’s race. Off the start of the Junior B class, Zachary Nash got the holeshot. He stayed in the lead for the next two laps until the creek got the best of him. While he landed in it, Tyler Carter and Jeremiah Bowman got around him and reached the checkered flag first, coming in first and second while he savored third place. Last week it was Carter who got third while Nash sported first with Bowman staying the same in second.

The next division included the Mini’s and Pee Wee’s. The first race was the Mini’s with Dylan Cox leading them into the winner’s circle and Cody Shoettmer and Wesley Bolton completing the podium. Thirty minutes later, the Pee Wees raced and faced a bigger fear than the other riders. It was an unexpected downpour, but they handled it well and all of them finished, making three or more laps. Tyler Bottoms, Ben Jones, Zach Kirchoff, Allisen Crain, and Kenneth Wolfe made the top five in Pee Wee 4-6 while Austin Smith, Cole Kirchoff, Cody Leachman, Justin Lenard, and Clint Watson made the top five in Pee Wee 7-8.