The 2007 Harescramble racing season is finally underway. Rounds 1 and 2 of the PA State Harescramble Series were held at Dutchmen MX Park in Pine Grove, PA. Round two was relocated to DMX due to snowy conditions at Hurricane Hills in Clifford, PA.
Dutchmen MX Park is currently under new ownership and when we arrived for Round 1 there were obvious changes made to the complex. With unfavorable weather conditions during the week, Round 1 was, to put simply, a sloppy mud fest. The parking lot was appalling, minimal parking and maximum vans with trailers getting stuck. These conditions also applied to the track. In some spots there was easily about 3 feet of mud, which made this relatively flat track a bit more challenging. Dutchmen MX Park is really a flat field with 2 motocross tracks, nothing like the mountains, boulders, hill climbs, and tight trees you would find at a real harescramble track. But rounds 1 and 2 were held here and that meant they counted for points so it really didn’t matter what the conditions.
Round 1 was merely a survival of the fittest rather than a race. The muddy conditions cause multiple crashed, overheated machines, a showing of out of shape riders, and mental fatigue. I have no problem mentioning that I felt every one of these at some point of the 2 hour race. In the end it came down to who could really bear down and race the track. You couldn’t really worry about everyone else out there because with the conditions how they were; a lack of focus could have taken you right out of the race.
I got a good start and held a consistent pace for the first few laps. Somewhere between the 3 and 6th laps I found a really good rhythm and picked up a couple positions in my class. Towards the end of the race I was feeling tired and I still managed to push a little too hard. Pit man Jimmy B was there to make sure that I calmed down and finished the race at a calm pace. 2 hours ten minutes and 12 laps later I came across the finish line in 2nd place. Not bad for the first race of the season. It felt really good to be racing again and seeing my friends and family at track side. DHaggs Sr. had an awesome start, only to find himself seconds later in a drainage ravine just a few hundred yards into the course. He managed to wrestle his machine out of the ditch and back onto the track only to learn a few laps later that he injured his stomach and could no longer push himself to the limits needed for such atrocious conditions.
Now that the first race of the season is out of the way we highly anticipate round two which will be held at the same facilities. It felt awesome to be out on the track again and it felt really good to have some first-class companies backing me, I know that their support complements my success. I would like to thank my sponsers: DHaggs Harescramble Racing, MSR, Scott USA, TAG Metals, Scott Powersports, Kenda Tires and Pivot Works! See you back at Dutchmen MX Park next Sunday!
