GATORBACK HARE SCRAMBLE RACE REPORT

The FTR faithful headed out to one of the most famous motocross facilities in the country, Gatorback Cycle Park, for Round 11 of the FTR Hare Scramble season. The “Gamble at Gatorback” presented by the River City Dirt Riders surely lived up to the name. With heavy rain leading up to the event and in the weekend forecast the event was in question, luckily for us RCDR decided to run the event as scheduled.

The rains came down off and on Friday night into Saturday morning with the heaviest of rains happening right before sunrise. Needless to say, racers woke up to a soggy pit area. Luckily this property is very unique for Florida with a hard clay base and plenty of old mining lakes that allowed a good amount of water to drain.

The sun came out just as the big track practice started and the trail dried up fairly nice. Unfortunately, the awesome peewee course that RCDR set up had to be scrapped due to the slick terrain, this was a huge bummer for all peewee racers but RCDR made the best of what they could and had an adequate track to the little ones.

The big track was surprisingly dry, for the most part, on Saturday and was getting better after every lap. By the end of the day the track conditions could not have been better. Things were starting to look optimistic for the Sunday races.

Kody Gamperl navigates a slick uphill reroute. Kody would go on to win his first A 250 race of the season after a long battle with Josh Tolken - Photo by Gabriela Gamperl

The standing water made the start of the races very interesting. Many races opted for “water-proof” clothing like #45 - Photo by Gabriela Gamperl

That was until about five in the morning when a solid hour or so of heavy rain came down washing away pristine trail conditions. The rain subsided long enough for riders to sign up. Around 8:30 as practice was starting another large band of rain came through, further cancelling practice due to lightning.

It rained all the way up until the start of the morning race, where 166 riders braved the sloppy conditions. Unfortunately, the terrain did not hold up to all the rain and hundreds of bikes. Massive reroutes were needed, cutting off miles of trail. The decision was made to only count the first two laps of the race. Kyle McAfee would take the morning overall over Shawn Clark and Sebastian LeBlanc.

The sun came out during the 10:30 race which gave some false hope that the Sunday afternoon race would be somewhat dry. Unfortunately, the first few laps were uber slick and provided a challenge. Onell Lee navigates one of the many wet sections - Photo by Jamey Perdue

Chris McGuckin navigates through the slimey clay before a tough uphill. The wet clay created “snot-like” conditions that required precise throtlle control, even the best of riders could not master - Photo by Gabriela Gamperl

Due to the massive reroutes the track for the afternoon was very short, the top riders had lap times in the 17-minute range. More laps allowed the track to dry up, lines were formed, and the track became more manageable as the race went on. Blake Yahraus took the overall in his first AA race over Scott Gawler Jr. and Logan Lanier. We have to give it up for RCDR and all others that were involved in putting this race on, it is never easy dealing with weather and the club went above and beyond to make sure proper reroutes were put in to adapt with the ever-changing track conditions. Great job guys!

Blake Yahraus with the overall win - Photo by SDR Productions