Jason Greer turns up the heat at Budds Creek

Virginia Championship Hare Scramble Series
Round 2

Sunday March 29, 1998 – Budds Creek Maryland

By Rik Hazelwood

At round two of the VCHSS Jason Greer set a blistering pace to capture his second victory of the season. It was an unseasonably hot day for the first Sunday of spring with temperatures just above 90 degrees. The track was well groomed for the occasion with seven miles of motocross, circle track, and woods all combined to offer an exciting, fast-paced seven-lap course. This second round of the series also saw another record breaking number of racers with over 285 riders participating in this event.

The main event got under way shortly after 12:30. At the end of the first lap all seven of the AA riders came through the scoring barrels at a very tight 11/2 minutes apart. Jason Greer had the lead with defending Grand Champion Daniel Morrison and Stephen Edmondson chewing the knobs off of his rear tire. Jason Greer opened up the margin slightly on the second lap with Edmondson passing Morrison to catch a second place spot. John Rutherford, David White, and George Greer followed this trio in that order throughout the rest of the race. George Greer fell off the lead lap when he ran out of fuel during the third lap. He was able to refuel and continue the race but not before going two laps down. David White ran dry on the last lap and was able to borrow (from yours truly) a splash of premix to get him out of the woods. In the end, Jason Greer had lapped all but six riders while averaging just over 19 minutes a lap. After the race, Jason Greer stated that he enjoyed the race but this race tired him out.

The 200 A class did not disappoint spectators as they put on another exciting show for the second week in a row. On their first trip through the scoring barrels, Brian Bouma had the lead over Dean Ingram and Chance Baker by less than a minute. On lap two, Ingram had passed Bouma for the lead followed by Baker. Andrew Williams turned on the gas to pass Tony Bonanno for fourth place. Ingram pulled out a three-minute lead over Bouma on lap three and continued to pull away from the pack. On lap five Bouma suffered a broken shift lever and lost his second place position to Williams. On lap six, Williams had closed the gap on Ingram and was just two minutes behind by lap seven. Ingram unfortunately suffered a broken chain on the seventh lap. Williams took over the lead first stopping to help Ingram. Ingram insisted that he go on to finish the race. These two guys are some of the finest sportsmen and fiercest competiors out there. Williams finished out the race on the lead lap winning the 200 A class and finishing seventh overall. Ingram took home second place honors followed by Tony Bonanno, Chad Parker, Chance Baker, and Brian Bouma. Williams commented after the race that he got off to a bad start and had gotten lost twice. He said that he liked the course and thought that nothing was impossible, but the last two laps were a challenge as the course began to deteriorate.

In 250A class action, Travis Jones, Timmy Mitchell, and George Cavanaugh came through the barrels less than a minute apart at the end of the first lap. They kept this order until the third lap when Greg Turley passed Cavanaugh to take over third place. On lap five, Jason Brown passed Cavanaugh for fourth but Cavanaugh regained his position from Brown on lap six. Jones got first place 250A class honors and walked away with third place overall while Mitchell took second 250A and sixth overall.

The Vet A class saw a battle between defending class champ Danny Morrison and Montie Orr. Orr held the lead over Morrison for the first two laps but Morrison edged out in front on lap three. Morrison held the lead until lap six but Orr got by and went on to win the Vet A class with Morrison finishing in second place. Darryl Campbell came in third over fourth place finisher Rick Curtis. Campbell and Curtis held third and fourth place positions throughout the entire event. Chuck Honeycutt came in fifth after passing sixth place Tracy Crawford on the third lap.

The top two positions in the 200B class were established on the first lap as Mike Bouma edged out Brian Morgan with only a three second lead at the end of the first lap. Bouma opened up his lead throughout the race and finished with a five-minute lead over Morgan at the end of the sixth lap. Third through fifth place positions were traded back and forth the entire race by several riders, but when the checkers dropped, Nick Nestor was in third followed by William Kite and Josh Elliott.

The competition in the 250B class was extremely tight for the first three laps. Class winner Mike Mayo and second place finisher Warren Hill pulled away from the pack on the fifth lap. Hill had the lead over Mayo at the start of the sixth lap but Mayo was able to pass and he opened up a lead of over two minutes to take home the first place win. Larry Lewis saw the finish line in third place followed by Preston Creech and Michael Lusk.

This round proved to be a test of endurance as well as riding skill. With high heat and a couple of DEEP mudholes, energy was quickly sapped and exhaustion became a tremendous hurdle to overcome. Overall it was a great event and the spectators were able to see some intense competition. For more information, visit the VCHSS WebPage at: http://24.2.57.7/vchss