Virginia Championship Hare Scramble Series

By: Rik & Tina Hazelwood

Farmville, VA. March 22

 On a remarkably sunny day in the mountainous terrain of southwest Virginia, Jason Greer ran away with the main championship honors aboard his YZ 125. The opener of the VCHSS had the potential to be one of the best laid-out and fun courses of the season, but Mother Nature let us all know who was in charge that day. Chuck Honeycutt stated that all preparations were completed the weekend before the race with some final cutting of face slappers and the installation of some new bridges. The course was in great shape. Little did anyone know that in the up coming week southwestern Virginia would endure pestilence in the form of tremendous amounts of rain, flooding, and several tornadoes to stir it all up. The eight-mile trail was transformed into a quagmire by the destructive weather. This made for some exciting racing and some interesting line choices.

The day of the race saw sunshine and a record number of racers with over 200 men and women coming out to play in the mud. This ain’t NASCAR folks, so a little water on the track just makes for a more exciting race.

When the flag dropped at noon for the main event, Greer took the holeshot. By the end of the first lap, had a minute lead over Stephen Edmondson .At the end of the second lap the pecking order was established and remained the same throughout the rest of the race. At the end of the forth lap it was Greer who took the checkered flag. When asked for his thoughts, Greer stated that he felt good and although the course was tough his YZ 125, Pirelli tires, and Factory Connection suspension pulled him through.

The 200 A Class saw some extreme action with eventual winner Andrew Williams and second place finisher, Dean Ingram changing lead positions throughout the event and finishing a mere eight seconds apart. The third place win went to Chance Baker who finished twelve minutes off the leaders pace. Baker was followed by Tommy Reynolds and Brian Bouma. Williams commented that it would have been a great course if the weather had cooperated. He also stated that he ran an extremely tight race with Ingram and that they had swapped the lead five or six times on the last lap but luck was on his side and had worked out to his advantage in the end. Bouma stated that he enjoyed the course but bike troubles (three fouled plugs) knocked him off of the pace.