Round #11 Info

What: Round #11 Hurrican Hills - Clifford, PA

When: This Sunday October 1st / Race Starts 11:30am

Where: Directions - Take PA Turnpike - NE Extension to Route 81 to Exit 206 (Old Exit 63), Lenoxville. Take route 374 East to Route 106 East, go 3 miles to the track.

Pit Fee: $10

Special Unadilla Race Recap

There will be a very special race recap from this past weekends GNCC race at historic UNADILLA. Members of the DHaggs Harescramble Racing e-mail list will receive an e-mail regarding when the website will be updated! Keep checking back for more information...

Unadilla Tid-Bits

*Here are some tid-bits about this past weekend race at Unadilla from Jason Weigandts Quick-Fill #37 which can be found on GNCC Homepage (www.gnccracing.com)

Once again the conditions were not that bad for the ATV races, but man were they bad for the bikes on Sunday. It rained really, really hard Saturday night and then unleashed again during the morning race. I experienced this first hand since I decided to race this one myself. I’ve been coming to Unadilla since I was really young but I’ve never ridden the track, and I was determined to do it this time. And it was muddy, but I did my one torturous lap. I was relieved only when two-time GNCC Champion Scott Plessinger won the morning race and told me it was one of the toughest GNCCs he’s done. Scott is one of the best mud riders of all time. So it must have been hard!
The invasion of the motocrossers at Unadilla was dampened a bit by the rain. Broc Hepler, John Dowd and Bobby Kiniry are all great mud riders for motocrossers, but it’s a different story when it’s three hours over a long track with several hundred other riders out there with you, and not all of them are pros. At a motocross national, they can work on the track after 30 minutes. Here, the ruts that started at 8 a.m. in our Youth bike race were there all day. So all three learned quite a bit. Kiniry was all smiles with his ride and told me he had a lot of fun.
Hepler said it was tough, but he’s a tough kid and he wasn’t scared off. He wouldn’t rule out racing one again in the future. From what I saw of the track on Friday before it was muddy, Broc could have been right in the hunt for the win had it not rained. You know he can just fly in the rough open sections, and there were plenty of those.
Dowd didn’t have as much fun. He says the Wisp, believe it or not, was much more fun that this. Still, we’ve been hearing lately that Dowd has some offers to race the GNCCs next year. After this one, he still has to think about if he really wants to do it or not. I tried to make John feel better and tell him most of the races aren’t muddy or rutted, but who are we kidding?

UNADILLA PICS!!!

KTM Pits
Gravity Cavity
Even the MX track had deep NY mud!
How do you put your boots on the foot pegs?
There was a lot more where that came from...
The first 3 out of 11 miles of the track looked like this!
Getting stuck means get off and push.
#925 on the historic Unadilla MX track.
We talked it out, my bike forgives me...
13th out of 51 in 250B

Pictures By: D. Haggs Sr and Jr., Jimmy B, David Scearce

Star-studded UNADILLA!

Hepler, Dowd, Kiniry Challenge GNCC Elite this Weekend at Unadilla
By Jason Weigandt

New Berlin, NY – Last year the world famous Unadilla Valley Sports Center hosted the biggest Suzuki Grand National Cross Country event ever, as over 1800 individual racers lined up to challenge the woods, hills and motocross track in New York. But this year’s race will make more history, as some of the nation’s top motocross talent will challenge the field, creating a start-studded motocross verses off-road test.
Broc Hepler a three-time winner in this year’s AMA/Toyota Motocross Championship, and AMA Supercross Champion John Dowd will race the event with help from the factory FMF/Suzuki off-road team. Hepler’s appearance marks the first time a rider has ever won an AMA Motocross National and raced a GNCC in the same season.
Make no mistake, GNCC regulars like 2006 Champion Juha Salminen, Barry Hawk, Rodney Smith and Charlie Mullins will be ready for the challenge. The entire pack has elevated their game this year in pursuit of Salminen, the Finnish World Champion that just clinched his second-straight GNCC title.
But reports say that Hepler is no slouch in the woods. “I know what it’s about,” says Hepler. “I ride in the woods at home, I grew up in it. I watch it on TV every week and I like it. It looks fun.”
Dowd raced the Parts Unlimited Wisp GNCC in June and finished an impressive fourth in his first GNCC ever. “That had to be the hardest race I’ve ever done in my life!” said Dowd, who also finished second at the Maxxis EnduroCross in Las Vegas. “It was good. I put in a couple of good laps and a couple of bad ones. I had fun though. I’d really like to try a dry one!”
In addition, word is out that top New York pro motocrosser Bobby Kiniry will race the event after finishing an impressive 17th there last year.
Unadilla is the perfect place for such a race, as it’s arguably the most historic motocross track in the country. The track has hosted races for almost 40 years, and every top racer in the sport from around the world has raced there. Both the original Unadilla track and the U2 amateur track will be integrated into the rugged off-road course, which will also feature mud, hills, rocks and trails.
Last year’s race was a classic, with Salminen falling early and mounting a comeback. Mullins, Hawk and New York’s own Nathan Kanney battled up front, but Juha’s tremendous charge eventually got him the win in an exciting race.
The race also features a full schedule of ATV racing on Saturday. Yamaha’s Bill Ballance wants to collect his record-tying seventh GNCC ATV title, but the Kentucky rider is locked in a battle with Sunbury, PA’s Chris Borich. It’s still anyone’s championship in the battle between the Killer B’s. Veteran favorite William Yokley is a threat every weekend on his Yoshimura/Monster Suzuki, plus, a host of young riders are staking their claim to victory lane, including Chris Jenks, Chris Bithell, Adam McGill and last year’s Unadilla winner, Bryan Cook.
The Unadilla GNCC begins Saturday, September 23, with four-wheeled ATV racing. Pro racing begins at 1 p.m. Bikes race on Sunday, with the pro race beginning at 1 p.m. Weekend passes run $12 and children six and under are free. All passes include pro pit admission and autographs.

Round #10 Race Recap

Round #10 of the PA Harescramble Series was held at Rausch Creek MX and ATV Park in Tremont, PA. The crew at Rausch thought that they would mix the racing schedule up a bit and run the quads at our normal time and put the bikes in their spot – after this experience I hope that they keep things the way they are for next year. We were suppose to start the race at 2:45 but some new trail and 4 creek crossings made for a long day for some of the guys in the quad race. We sat on the starting line for about an hour while the crew at the park attempted to pull some of the damaged ATV’s off of the rocky course. Sitting in the shade with most of my fellow bikers you couldn’t help but to make small talk about how rough it was out there considering machines with four wheels were having trouble. It wasn’t long before Mr. Starter came running up telling everyone it was go time and to get back on their bikes. The first three lines took off and wouldn’t you believe that on the 2nd turn someone in the third line got really hurt so we were delayed again while and ambulance attended to the fallen rider. The track officials rerouted the course so that the rest of the pack could take off.
I got a good start, third into the first turn. There were only about 5 or 6 turns and then it was up a 4 story hill climb that separated most of the pack. Just before we headed into the woods I got passed and then the trail went up into a single trail in-between these huge bolder rocks, probably as big as a four-wheeler. The guy who passed me fell and there was no way around as I watched the leaders take off. By the time I made it around the fallen rider after that section the front of the pack was no where in site. The first two miles I was able to push really hard that was until I hit mile 3. Miles 3 till about 5 were nothing but straight boulders mixed in with some of the steepest down hills and up hills that I have ever encountered. In the mix of all that was a creek that they crossed you over 4 times, and need I say that the banks we had to go up were about 4 feet tall with boulders and slick tree roots on them. Some of the sections I thought were borderline dangerous, I feel sorry for anyone who would label themselves as a beginner because if they were on that track they know what an expert course is like. After repeatedly asking myself if the Rausch Creek crew was a little whacko, the first lap was finally over. First lap I was on the board as 6th, and the following lap I would catch one guy and slide into the fifth position. As the race went on the track got a little better with some more lines opening up, but at the same time it got worse because all of the good lines were hammered from everyone taking them. I felt really good on the bike, my suspension was perfect yet again and the wide ration gearing was working to my advantage. I was able to charge throughout the whole race again - thanks to not crapping up. Cramping up at this track would have been so easy because there were a lot of leg dangle’n sections.
And while I’m on the topic of the track let me say again how steep some of these down hills were. They were so straight down that the front suspension would completely bottom out; mine did so much the one time I almost snapped my wrists because all of my body weight was pushing down on the handlebars. Right after a couple of these hills was a 4 or 5 foot drop off right into the creek below, and when I say right after I’m talking like you had 3 feet to turn after flying down these hills or it was bike bath time. For most of the race I was by my lonesome, I saw DHaggs Sr. out on the trail – said Hi, then continued to push forward. Second to last lap my arms and upper body were getting a little tired from the continuous miles of boulder and tree bashing. I got the white flag on the last lap and I fought my way up to third place by then. On the last lap I made sure not to do anything stupid so I set a steady pace and gave it all I got. I wasn’t at all sad to see those boulders, down hills and up hills for the last time. The last section of the track was really fun because there were a couple doubles that were used from the motocross tracks. It’s been a while since I aired it out a little bit. I came through to the checkered flag and took home 3rd place for the day. I went back to the trailer and saw that my Dad wasn’t there and I was a little worried because from lap one I was thinking that he was going to have some trouble. I went back to the finish line and wouldn’t you know they sent him out for another lap and he came in about 10 minutes later. He’s the man for finishing that race let alone making it outta there alive. He did mention some sick superman bike throw that he performed while standing the bike up at the top of one of the up hills back on the mountain. But that was one of the last miles on the last lap so that’s still pretty good considering what we just raced through. He took home 4th on the day and full cooler of beer which was not at all needed after a race like that. When all was said and done we got our plaques and pulled out of the parking lot at 7:00. The different schedule made for a long day but never the less it was a lot of fun!
We leave Fri morning for the UNADILLA GNCC in upper state New York – the most prestigious off-road race in the country. I look forward to racing with the best riders in the country for three long hours. Watch out JUHA!!!

Round #9 Information

What: Round #9 Rausch Creek Motorsports Park - Tremont, PA

When: This Sunday the 117th of September/ Race starts approx. at 2:45 (Note Later Start Time)

Where: Directions: 309 North to I-78 West to Rt61 North to 183 South to 901 West to 209 South (Take 209 S through the town of Tremont and when you see I-81 about 200 yards in front of you the park is on your Right)

Pit Fee: ($10)

Round #8 Race Recap

Round #8 of the PA State Harescramble Series was hosted by Foot of the Mountain in Neelyton, PA. With a tropical storm moving through the state during the holiday weekend thoughts of having a harescramble race were null. I checked one last time on-line for any signs of a cancellation but there were none, so it was time to hit the open road.
As my Dad and I traveled further away from Horsham we could see that other areas of the state where hit hard by the storm. In some parts it looked as if the rain had just stopped 20 minutes ago. Other towns showed signs of heavy rain with flooded yards, overflowing creeks and tree limbs scattered across the land. The skies grew darker as we got closer to the track, which is not a good indication on race day. The more mile markers we passed the more it looked like we were in for one lengthy slop race. Then we hit the Blue Mountain Tunnels and it was as if we were in a whole new world. On the other side of the tunnels it looked as if it may have rained a day ago. There was a dash of sunlight through the clouds and if this were a movie there would be angles singing glorious songs of praise. We went over the mountain and at the foot we found hundreds of other races who decided to show up despite what Mr. Weatherman said. It was packed and with the track condition nearly perfect – racing was on!
At the racers meeting we found out that spots in the woods were slick and that we would be racing the track backwards from the previous round held there. No sweat, with ideal conditions I was eager to get a good jump off the starting line and hit the shortened 5 mile loop hard. And that’s just what I did, I got a good jump off the line probably third into the first turn and I held my ground through the first grass section of the track. There were a lot of off camber sections in the field as there were in the woods, so on the first lap I was riding a bit cautious so that I wouldn’t go down on the slick boulders and tree roots. A couple riders in my class passed me on the first lap but I maintained my composure until I finished the first lap and saw what kind of terrain I would be dealing with. After that first lap it was on and me and another rider (#253) we going at it all day. We must have switched leads 4 or 5 times throughout the two hour race. At points I was so close to him I couldn’t see where I was going because my front tire was right in back of his. I would wait for him to make a mistake and then I would make the pass. We were carrying an astonishing pace the whole time we were fighting. I thought to myself there is no way that we can hold this pace for the remainder of the race. To my surprise I didn’t get any cramps and I was able to go as fast as I could for the whole two hours. I felt so fresh on the bike and I don’t ever remember being able to push that hard that late in the race. Second to last lap the other rider made a little mistake giving me a chance to pass and I did, trying to put a little gap in-between us. It wasn’t until the last lap with about a half mile to the finish when #253 caught back up to me and made me work for that spot. We approached a long rocky up hill and there was a lapped rider in front of us. I started to make the turn and pass the rider on the outside while #253 squared off the turn and took the inside. Wouldn’t you believe that the lapped rider falls in front of me as I slam into him and then I watched the other rider make his way up the uphill. By the time I pulled my bike back I lost the spot and tried as hard as I could to catch back up to him on the little bit of track we had left - didn't happen. I settled for 3rd on the day and since it was probably the greatest race of my career I’ll take it. It was really awesome battling for the whole race and even more so I made one little mistake and didn’t stall of go down the whole time, and I can assure you there were some technical slick sections.
DHaggs Sr. put in another remarkable effort also bringing home a 3rd place on the day! With no riding time since the Skippack race he had some arm pump set in but once he worked through that he set a pace and charge for the remainder of the race.
For those of you who are interested and missed the race yesterday we had applications available for a new pit man. Jimmy B “our pit man” has a celebrity status now, showing up at the races when only other people are gonna be there. Please don’t apply if your afraid of a little mud, these are dirt bikes we’re racing here! When the weathers bad that’s when we need a pit man most so please keep that in mind. Don’t apply just so that you can get a pit man t-shirt either. Thanks for your support! One week down 6 more weeks of racing in a row to go! Three weeks till UNADILLA!!!!!!!!!