North/South D16/D17 battle @ Fox Valley Off Road Hare Scrambles

7-21-2013 by trackman photos by Jen Wamhoff and Brett Wilkinson

Results

The second round of the D16 d17 racing at Fox Valley unfolded this day, many of the fast guys came from WI to race with the riders from d17.  Many “firsts” happen as well.  The scoring system used has been debugged and now is working well with online real time scoring letting the people at home see who is doing what on race day 10 seconds after the rider passes the check point.  Another first was Kendall Eslinger (50cc Jr class)  from stadium motocross fame came the few short miles to race her first Hare Scrambles.  She showed the boys the way around the small course Sunday with style. Matco Tool’s Chasen Orme, and Federated Insuance’s Darrin Herman gave her a run but simply couldn’t catch her.  Lee Excavating’s Landon Lee fell a time or too, but charged hard in the end to make a nice comeback. 

50cc Sr class had the trio of Jaret Zoellner, Lake Plowman, and Elijah Berryman  who are battling each other all summer now in the d17 points had a great race.  They ran the 3o minute race with ease and battled til the end.  Kids course ran at Fox Valley has all kinds of variations for the kids.

65cc Beginner class had Robert Lawernce (128)  and Lee Excavating’s Noah Lee (130)battle all the way til the end.  Running a lap more then the rest of the field these two will make great additions to the light 65cc class in 2014!

While the kids were banging laps on the smaller course,  Super Mini 85/65, and the Women were testing their skills on the big course. Dry conditions and running the course in clockwise motion made it possible for a much more technical layout.  This along with the new endurocross section which the kids got their “first” look at in the morning race. Using only the first three obstacles it was just tough enough for the majority of them but not to overwhelming with a few parents there to catch the ones who faltered.  Dougie Proper (311) rocketed off the line and quickly dispatched the 30 second separation that the Super Mini riders had left ahead of the 85cc class. Dougie had WFO Promotions’ own Tanner Whipple on his heals most of the race. Most of the racers in the 85cc class had issues with the off-camber uphill ravine section, which let class leader catch up from the 65cc class.  Garrett Ward (153) came through on the second lap in 3rd overall and much to the amazment of many.  Right on Tanner’s heals the 65 rider was pounding some good hard laps.  Dougie and Tanner pulled some real time when Gman had issues, along with D16’s Sam Wolf who also passed.  Dougie overalled the group, Tanner second, Sam third with Garrett 4th.  Three 85’s and a 65 in the top 5 is some solid racing. Dalton Garecht, Mike Burtle, and Nolan Blaesing from Muscatine had a great battle of their own. 

This all happened in the “first” hour of the day!  Hare Scrambles has the ability to run multiple classes, at the same time for good long riding time.  10:15am the big course is clear, the kids are ready to watch dad’s brothers and the rest have their shot at the FVOR course.  Minor course adjustments were made and it was time for the 50+ group, C classes to roll.

50+ A class has some old guys in there that have battled for a long time, the oldest of the bunch Wally Mika who today rode his Harley pulling a trailer to the races, 60 years young he was a force to be dealt with today.  Greg Birkland (618) pull another Hall’s Cycles Husky Holeshot and lead for quite a few laps til having and issue midway through the race cramping up is common with old folk.  Wally took over the lead and was steady but he didn’t realize the battle going on behind him with Rick Marht (6004), Steve Bland (6039), and Rick’s RV Kevin Finefeld. The trio was pushing each other and chipping away at Wally’s lead. (619) On the last lap they reeled Wally in and with no regard to age, passed and dropped him to the last step on the podium.  Kevin was close but missed top 3 by a minute.  Top three riders in this class were separated by less then 2 seconds.  This would be the first close finish like this today by not the last.

30+ C class with 29 riders was intense. Multiple bikes not starting on the dead engine start put faster riders behind some of the slower ones.  Coming into the abbreviated EX section it was mass kaos.  Riders with lesser experience negotiated this obstacle in many different fashions.  But the common denominator was falling over.  At one time on the log climb there was at least 5-7 riders trying to get over it.  The “LOG” climb is pretty simple, but you can’t just slam it like a dirt jump, you have to ride it, and move your body around to make the bike go over it cleanly. This being the “first” time C class got a look at the first three obstacles of this section (same as the kids) they got it figured out in the laps they put in, but it took a few to clear up the section. Casey Rick, and Mike Freeman along with Nathan Ming in his “first” year of racing took top three tiers of the podium.

So now over 150 riders have raced either an hour, or an hour and a half and it’s noon.  Ready for the afternoon AA , A and B classes to hammer a much more difficult course.  ALL the ex section is ready, and a much tougher version of Rock Creek is now changed up to be included in their race.  1 hour, 45 minutes of fast paced, Log clearing, tree banging, excavator tire jumping action is to be had.  64 riders are lined up, its’ 12:30pm 11 of the 64 AA class which is the highest class in HS racing is set.  JD Friebel (17), Alec Perry (99), Austin Wells (65), Shane Klimek (14), Kyleer Vance (97 returning after almost 2 years), Robert Kau (54), Pete Laubmier (28) Chris Hoffman (30) Travis Ward (51) and Matte Herrington (98) from both D16 and D17 ready to race. Missing today was Matt Dissell and Ryan Moss, both would have made this race even more interesting. Off the start, Kyleer showed he remembered how good he was getting holeshots, and Austin Wells equally as good was right in there. Alec Perry and Travis Ward were fighting for position into the corner with Perry edging Ward out in the first sections.  This course today had 4 separate types of single track sections.  Three of which were ravines that dropped from the top side of the property to the bottom which is about 150’ or more in height.  Kyleer held the lead on the first partial lap as Travis got past Austin and Alec to hound Kyleer for the lead.  On lap two Travis took the lead, while Alec, Austin, and Kyleer battled in the early laps. Austin went down and dropped to 6th while starting in last District 16’s Husky mounted JD Friebel was slicing through the pack trying to get to the leaders and make a charge. Quietly Shane Klimek was also making is way to the front.  At the hour mark Travis had a about a minute lead, but this would soon go away as he folds his front end over and goes tumbling across the timber floor.  Getting up and losing a good 60 seconds tightened up the race positions considerably. The last four laps were amazing.  JD gets into the fray, that 4 stroke Husky echoing through the timber as he rides it hard and on the rev limiter.  Everyone could see him reeling in the leaders and as he gets into 2nd place it’s only a matter of time before Ward would be the next victim. All the while, Austin, Alec and Shane are battling for every inch of real estate. JD on the white flag lap closed to with in sight of Travis and they both looked at each other in the EX section of the track. This meant the next lap and a half was going to come down to lappers moving nicely to the side and no mistakes. BOTH riders fastest lap times of the day were the last two laps.  Think about this for a minute. JD being really close or 30 years old, Travis 17, Alec 19, Austin 19, Shane a bit older and their fastest lap times are the END of the race. JD pulled some of the fastest laps of the day at 9:31, he did that twice on the third to last lap and the last lap. Travis had consistent with 9:40’s pulled 9:38, 9:35; and the fastest of the day with JD hot on his heals a 9:27.  Less then 12 seconds separated 1st and 2nd place after that long of a race is pretty interesting. Alec, Austin, and Shane more then once was side by side on the logs in the ex section jumping the tires at the end scrambling for the lines in the corner.  Alec held on for 3rd, with Austin 3 seconds behind him! Shane dropped off on the later laps, about a minute behind with Kyleer’s “first” race back 2 seconds behind Shane in 6th. Travis Ward got his “first” overall win in AA class after only a ˝ of season in the class. 

Quads have been light the last couple of seasons and today’s turn out was about the biggest it’s been in a while. 5 A riders had some good racing today.  Doug Yunker won, with Jerrod Thomas 2nd and the ‘first” race for Brad Holder at FVOR this year taking third.  Chris Beitwieser and Todd Mcguire finish out the top 5.  Eric Wittersheim bested the over heated 800cc Can Am from Borellis Suspension fame Garry Borelli.  Eric was on a 2 seater polaris!  Fun times!

At the end of the Day, the staff at Fox Valley Off Road was relieved to have a scoring system process that was well received by the riders.  Watching the fans and family walking into each other as they looked at their phones with live results being obsessed, with the ability to be out in the timber, and see who is doing what as they go by the finish line barrels. Phone calls, text messages etc all day long were the order of the day trying to see when the race would be over, and other things that people who “watched” the race for the “first” time online could know all they can.  Fox Valley’s next event is in September, and with so many “firsts’’ who knows maybe the next event will have even more!