If ever there was a “different” kind of Missouri Hare Scrambles event, this weekend at Marceline was it. One thing about this venue is that there are basically no rocks, which in itself makes this race different from nearly all others on the MHSC schedule. Last year it rained…a lot, and the race was complete survival. This year the race got rained out from it’s September date and was rescheduled for November. By now most of the leaves have fallen and since the property is rather small it is very easy to see other parts of the trail which would make it very easy to get lost or get on the wrong trail.
The Brush Busters guys knew how to fix it. They ribboned both sides of the entire six and a half mile trail - yellow on the left and red on the right. It reminded me of a special test at the ISDE or a World Enduro round. In some places the course was just a few feet wide and in some places it seemed to be 140 feet wide. It just depended on where you were. Obviously the creek bottoms that went to hell last year were very wide so we had many line choices in case that happened again.
A few of us got to the race in time to walk about half of it and it was evident that it would be “different”. I said, “If you can’t pass here, you better find another sport” since it seemed like there would be lines everywhere. It was going to be cool and the dirt was definitely on the “moist” side so I figured it would rut up some. There was also an Endurocross section at the end (a first for MHSC) that would keep the spectators entertained and cause a bit of chaos.
Since there wasn’t going to be a complete practice lap, I went back out Sunday morning and walked some more of the course and found a few more passing opportunities. Then I spent some time watching guys do lap after lap after lap through the EX section. It was quite comical. I rode the grass track section a couple of times and decided to skip the EX part since I didn’t want to look stupid in front of everyone!
I don’t really know where I was at the start but by the time we got to the woods and sorted out I was sixth or so. We were all in a pack except for Zach Neill who seemed to have his hair on fire and had taken off. I used my lines that I had picked out and I got up to second about halfway through lap one. I couldn’t even see Zach so I picked it up and within a half mile I was picking it up, literally. I hit a log hidden in the leaves that threw me down and I slid to a stop. By the time I got going I was in fifth and I didn’t make it probably a quarter of mile and I did it again. This one was harder and it knocked the wind out of me. My bike was back behind me (and pointing the wrong way) and I am pretty sure I was about 11th or 12th by the time I took off.
The fire was pretty much gone and I just rode along for a minute or two and then I noticed I could see the entire pack of guys in front of me all in a train – except for Zach. So I decided that I wasn’t going to follow anyone. If the guy in front of me went right, I went left and if he went left, I went right. The cool part is that it was working and I was making passes and I could see the guys up ahead swapping positions all over the place, which kept us all together.
We finished up the lap and I made two or three passes in the EX section to get up to seventh. Then we hit the grass track and the incredible traction that my Dunlop 756 offered allowed me to ride around Steve Dean who was riding a linkless bike with a trails tire – it wasn’t even fair. The next corner Toby Atkins fell and I was into fifth. I got up to Lars Valin and I used a line over some logs that it seemed like only I was using to pass him. I didn’t even have to yell at him.
That brought me up to my ISDE buddy Walker Luedtke who was rolling. Actually, I was never right on him but maybe five seconds back until we got to a creek crossing and he went way right while I went way left. My line was much faster and we nearly hit each other (actually I nearly hit him) when the trails came together and he allowed me to nose ahead. We caught up to Ken Yount and I followed him for the first half of lap three until he moved over at the back checkpoint.
Right after that we lost Walker when he derailed his chain on a stump. So it was pretty much Ken and I and I was doing what I could to get us up to Zach. I heard at one time he had at least a minute and a half on us but I think that I got that whittled down to 30 or 45 seconds after three laps. I started getting pretty close to Zach early in the fourth lap and I had gotten away from Ken (I think he may have pitted) when I missed my brake pedal and I had a full-on dork crash into a tree. That gave Zach another 10 or 15 seconds and pulled Ken right back up to me.
By now the course was very rutted and the bottoms were “gone” in many of the creek crossings. If you could stay out of the main rut it was much better but at times it was hard to do that. I was sticking to my lines that I had picked out and Ken was going wherever I did and letting me pull him along. In some of the straighter sections of trail during the fifth of six laps I could see Zach every once in a while so I figured I was within 10 or 15 seconds and I knew I was getting closer.
We came up to the crossing where I passed Walker and I rode up to the edge and there was Zach – stuck. There was only one way down and he was in it. Ken was right behind me and it would have taken a lot to get turned around so I just pinned the throttle and jumped off the bank. It was probably four or five feet high with a soft landing but I made it and took the lead. Ken followed me and Zach got free so we were all three together going into the final lap.
I kept paying attention to the ruts and trying to pick good lines and basically not get into any trouble. When we got to the back check I could see that I had maybe five seconds on Ken and he had about that much on Zach. I was in a good spot since I had enough of a gap that Ken couldn’t key off of me for a few miles. But then we got to the spot where I took the lead and I launched off the bank like before and went a little sideways when I landed. Just as I planted my foot to change direction, Ken landed right next to me. It was “on”.
There was maybe a mile and a half left and there were three bad spots to go. So I basically pinned it and tried to get away from Ken. I got to the first crossing and there were four guys stuck and someone pointed me to the original line – that looked the deepest. If I hesitated Ken was going to try so I went for it. The rut coming out was super deep so I wheelied the bike and tried to keep the pegs above the rut. I made it and I think I used all the available traction, which caused Ken to get hung up for a couple of seconds.
I was able to take a more conservative line through the next spot and then I just pinned it through the middle of the last hole. It worked out that I made it through both of them and then I got through the EX section clean to get the victory. Ken was just a few seconds back and then Zach was maybe 10-15 behind Ken. It was a bitchin’ race and a fine way to end the season.
Thanks again for keeping up with my world.
TOP 5: 1. LEIVAN (YAMAHA); 2. Yount (KTM); 3. Neill (YAMAHA); 4. Smith (YAMAHA); 5. Valin (Gas)
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