Round 2 / IERA / District 22 / Moose Hare Scramble Series

Brooks, IA June 2

Tim & Cindy Anderson

Converse Picks Up Where He Left Off Last Year.

Late Saturday night 1-˝ inches of rain feel in eastern and northern Iowa and this had many riders grabbing their phones before heading for Brooks, Iowa with hopes that the hare scramble was still a go. I am sure that many riders thought that if there wasn’t a postponement they might have to endure a “mud fest”. As we got closer and closer to the race the drier it became. By the time we reached Brooks we weren’t so sure that dust might be the major factor of the day. Who would have guessed!

This event is held on 160 acres of land purchased by the Nuts On Wheels (N.O.W.) Motorcycle Club for a private riding area. With the sun shining the 8-˝ mile course was in premier shape. Dust being a factor only in the sunny areas. The shaded wooded areas had perfect traction. Temperatures did reach the mid eighties and this did take its toll on some of the riders by days end.

After the quad and mini races, the parade lap was at noon. 85 bikes then lined up for the dead engine start. At about 10 minutes till 1:00 the shotgun went off and the riders stabbed at their kick levers.

Jarod Blackburn, coming out of the A class was the quickest to get going, pulling the hole shot around the first corner. Iowa’s #1 ranked harescrambler Phil Converse was breathing down on him in seconds. Blackburn slid out about three corners in, nearly letting Converse by. Before a quarter of the first lap was complete Converse had taken over the lead. 

Hitting the gates after one lap Converse was leading by 30 seconds, on his; Action Cycle/ Moose/ Smith/ WER/ Husquarna 250. Burton Friestz was second, followed closely by Kirk Foster on his new 200 GASGAS out of Iowa City Motorsports.

Midway through lap two Foster had gained the second place position and was within five seconds of Converse. With Scott McBurney on Fosters tail. Then McBurney passed Foster only to have the adrenaline get the best of him and he over shot a turn continuing down the wrong trail. Foster had to gas in the 3rd lap. This allowed Converse to pull his 30-second lead back. Foster and McBurney were never able to catch him again. By now Gary Barber had moved into the 4th overall position on his Motosports KTM 300. Scott Porter was the first A rider running 5th overall on his Racing Unlimited KX250. 

At the end of his 4th lap, Converse had to pit quickly to bend his shifter away from his cases. He rode the whole previous lap stuck in third gear! He said he was able to shift up but it was extremely difficult to shift back down. At the one hour and fifty minute mark Converse began his 5th and final lap. Six other riders were also lucky to enough to beat the cut off and raced their 5th lap in the extremely hot weather. They were, Foster, McBurney, Barber, Porter, Chris Bloyer, and Stan Gregory.

The only change in positions during the 5th lap was, A rider Porter passed AA rider Barber to move up into the fourth overall position. Porter won the A class with Stan Gregory placing second.

Super senior rider, Jim Spencer, gets the bad luck award for the day. He had the rest of his class lapped when he started to foul a spark plug. Tim Anderson was photographing and carrying Spencers’ fanny pack. After riding nearly a whole lap wide open to prevent the plug from fouling, Spencer came across Anderson on the trial and they proceeded to change the plug. Anderson had to locate a rock from a nearby creek to smack the plug wrench and the plug was finally changed. But due to the excessive throttle Spencer had used when he was fouling his plug he ran out of gas on the last lap. Thus, letting the other riders in his class that he had previously lapped, get back around him. Spencer dropped from first to third. Quintin Davis was first and Benson Ashmead was second in the Super Senior.

Thanks to the N.O.W. Club for their best event yet!!!

Brooks Results:

Overall A: Phil Converse

AA Class: 1.Kirk Foster 2.Scott McBurney 3.Gary Barber 4.Chris Bloyer 5.Dave Campbell 6.Burton Frietz

A Class: 1.Scott Porter 2.Stan Gregory 3.Jarod Blackburn 4.Jamie Driskell 5.Adam Wyant 6.Scott Velgersdyk

Senior A: 1.Tom Farris 2.Martin Algya 3. Chuck Nevin 4.Brad Melick 5.Randy Gregerson 6.Roger Wyant

Super Senior: 1.Quintin Davis 2.Benson Ashmead 3.Jim Spencer 4.Donald Grover

Overall B: Lucas Nevin

Little B: 1.Mark Davis 2.Taylor Freisz 3.David Bordewyk

Big B: 1.Scott Fleck 2.Jerry Melick 3.Joel Cooper 4.Eric Coulter 5.Brad Krauth 6.Kirk Garside

Senior B: 1.Dave Coulter 2.William Severance 3.Dave Hintermeister 4.Jerry Travis

Trail Rider: 1.Tom Sullivan 2.Tim Sorenson 3.Tyler Richardson 4.Nathan Thompson 5.Marcus Opfer 6.Corry Watts 7.Seth Blackburn 8.Terry Venteicher

If you enjoy this and the other articles by Tim and Cindy, Please be sure to thank them when you see them at the races.