Mid-South Hare Scrambles Series Cross-Country Motorsports Championship

Round 4: The Big Stripper

Thurman Triumphs

By DEBBIE ALLEN
Lynnville, IN, Nov 14
The Mid-South Youth were at it again as they trekked North to Indiana’s number one riding spot, The Big Stripper. As usual, the Lynnville Area Dirt Riders’ Club created a technical course, and this time they held back no punches for the 96 riders in the Pirelli / Moose / Maxxis / American Patriot Getaways supported series. It was a tough track, enjoyed by all, and somehow even the Pee Wee classes were up for the challenge with Sam Thurman and Austin Smith leading them into victory lane.

Off the 7-8 year olds starting line, twenty-three Pee Wees meandered throughout the motorcross trail with Austin Smith leading them up to the first big hill. As expected, everything quickly came to a halt, and the riders had their first lesson on bottlenecks. Fortunately for them, there were plenty of spectators there to assist. Likewise the 4-6 age bracket was very similar with its first pile up. Zach Kirchoff was the first to overcome the big hill, and he led for several laps until Samuel Thurman took the lead.

Thurman said, "It was kind of hard to go up that hill, but somebody helped me. One guy had up front and one guy had to be in back, and they had to pull me up there."

"It was kind of steep," said Ben Jones who took third place in Pee Wee 4-6. "It looked like it was straight up and straight down. I didn’t like that too well."

Riding up front in Junior A division was Cory Buttrick and Jordan Ashburn. Off of the start, Ashburn got the holeshot with seventeen riders following him onto the trail. He led until the second lap when he ran into someone and Buttrick passed him. Unable to get by most of the lappers, Ashburn was happy with second while Buttrick finished in first place and Daniel Sullivan was in third place.

Midtown Body Shop / Enduro Engineering / Moose / Hale and family backed Buttrick of Logan, Ohio, had a great ride in Junior A, winning his first Mid-South race. He said, "I had a lot of fun and this is a good series. I think I’m going to try to hit some more of these."

Hattiesburg Cycles backed Tyler Carter won the Junior B class. Making seven laps, he tore open a new trail as he weaved in and out of all the downed riders. Riding his RM 85 Suzuki, Carter got the lead on the first lap and never looked back.

He said, "I got a bad start and was about in fifteenth place. These people kept falling over, and I just went right through them."

Mason Thurman got the holeshot in Junior B class, and he led for most of the first lap. On the last lap, he walked away from a hard crash and tore up his bike, making it an interesting and expensive week for Mr. Thurman.

Tanner Byarly and Zach Nash took second and third place while Michael Huddleston and Kurt Seigal finished in the top five in Junior B.