Round #6 Race Recap

This past Sunday Round #6 of the PA State Harescramble Series was held “down by the river” at BMER in Dallas, PA. Not a cloud was to be seen in the bright blue sky while temperatures were teetering, at a comfortable 80 degrees. The track was absolutely perfect and the atmosphere had a feeling of anxiousness coming off a three week break. The BMER crew could not have run a more professional event, the track layout was awesome, there were flagmen surrounding the course, the scoring worked great and the over-all even ran smoothly. Having good results in the past in Dallas I looked forward to one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. Because the starting area was a bit smaller than normal and the number of riders, more than anticipated, the traditional start standing in front of your machine was turned into a normal on your seat dead engine start.
I got another great start and went into the first turn second. I made a conscious effort to continue to push to make sure that I didn’t loose sight of the front of the pack like previous races. I pushed hard and stayed behind the leader for the whole first 7 mile lap. The course was awesome and I felt really comfortable on the bike. After coming through the scanner 2nd on the first lap I felt as if I had a good enough push to settle into my race pace. I was passed on the 2nd lap dropping me to 3rd and then again on the 3th lap dropping me to 4th. I got my second wind and continued to race towards the front of the pack. The track wore in really well and the soil was just awesome, there was a little sand, a little dirt, a little bit of roots, some uphills, some sweet drop offs, multi line tight tree sections, grass fields, and even some shale sections. This track had just about everything you could think of except my friends, the boulders most other tracks contain. I felt really good and on the 4th lap but I made a mistake and both the D’Antonio brothers passed me. We all hung together for a good 4 miles and then Luke took off leaving Noah and I to battle it out. It took another mile or two for me to put my head down and charge around Noah but by the time I made the pass I saw Luke was a good 40 seconds in front of me.
I came around for the 5th lap and the guy was standing there with the flag, not looking at me, and when I was getting scanned I asked if it was half way and they indicated that it was in fact the last lap. I’m starting to get used to getting screwed with lap indications. Coming through the scanners on the last lap I found myself in 5th. After giving it my all and using up everything that I saved for the last lap; pushing ahead and trying to catch up to Luke, I still found myself in 5th place when I crossed the checkers.
After all was said and done, just being able to race on such an awesome track, on such an outstanding day and come home healthy – that’s all that mattered.
DHaggs Sr. had a good ride despite his demanding work schedule from the prior week pulling in a 13th on a packed line.Racing stays in full effect when we travel this weekend to an area just outside of Johnstown, PA. Having this event being a combined series with the ECEA there is no doubt that the cream of the crop will be in attendance and the racing action will be packed!
I would like to thank my sponsers: DHaggs Harescramble Racing, MSR, Scott USA, TAG Metals, Scott Powersports, Kenda Tires, Twin Air and Pivot Works!