CFTR PEACE RIVER HS REVIEW

CFTR PEACE RIVER HARE SCRAMBLE REVIEW

The 2020-2021 Florida Trail Riders Hare Scramble season started on a high note at the CFTR Peace River Hare Scramble down in Bartow. With 1057 entries ithis race may have broken the FTR record for attendence. In all my years racing FTR I have never seen so many people at an event, the parking lot was packed and the starting lines were full.

One the best things to see were the youth classes being filled up, showing promise for the future of the dirtbike racing. We had 42 Peewee C riders, 24 65 C and 28 Junior C riders. The Beginner and Sportsman classes were also some of the biggest of the weekend with 53 Beginners, 63 Sportsman 1 and 25 Sportsman 2 riders. Again, this is huge for FTR because it shows how many new riders we are having at our events.

I’ll tell you what, the club did a great job in preparing for these numbers. CFTR created some rules for parking (no big circles) which helped a ton. As I stated earlier the parking lot was absolutley packed and that was with people parking closer than usual. The trail flowed great, with plenty of passing opportunities, something I appreciated in the Saturday 2pm race.

I personally thought this was one of the best course layouts at this property. The Saturday course was challenging enough for the fast guys and girls but also friendly to those who are just starting out, the perfect

Safe to say Reef Daugherty was amped to get his season started

balance. The course was 90% new for Sunday, something we can all appreciate. The Sunday course featured just about everything from fast, flowy fields to tight single-track. It even had some tricky bridge crossings to keep riders on their toes.

I asked a few riders what they thought of the course and this is what they had to say:

“Loved it, it flowed great. I liked the open start then the tighter sections then the faster straightaways towards the end, really got to open it up and get after it.” - Garrett Carson, Open B

“I thought it was a lot of fun, the most fun in recent years at this property. The track flowed really nice and came together for the 1pm race on Sunday, no dust is always a plus. The tight woods and fast open sections made for some really good racing. The club did an awesome job switching it up in the years past as I noticed some new sections as well, overall great track and conditions for the first round.” - Jett Ryll, 250 A

“The track was fast, flowed well, and was a ton of fun. If it wasn’t for the heat, I could have spun laps all day. It held up well all weekend and anyone who didn’t show up, missed out!” - Danny Hill, 250 B Some riders (Paul Lucas) needed a little help getting their season started

“I really loved the technical parts they put in like the hills, and mud sections. They did a nice job adding multiple line choices which allowed for some great passing opportunities.” - Josh Tolken, 250 A

At the end of the weekend everyone was all smiles and happy to be back in a cow pasture doing what they love most, riding dirtbikes. CFTR set the bar high for the rest of the series. Next up we head to Palatka for Hog Waller and then back down to the Bartow area for SADRA.

Here’s to a great season ahead!

The definition of run what ya brung

Angel Berrios getting a little loose