SETRA took the seventh round of the 2011-2012 Harescramble series to an old favorite, Perry, Ga. November 20, 2011, brought racers to The Highpoint Harescramble in Perry, Ga. This year’s track was laid out by the Johnsons and was a good length of 13 miles with a good combination of technical trails and open field sections. The week before the race brought in about 3/4inchs of rain, but made the track conditions perfect. It was the rain the day of that made the track a little muddier.

The rain on race day didn’t scare away the youngest of SETRA racers as the AM Junior race got underway. Raymie Segars was fresh off of his second place finish from the CERA Harescramble. Lap one held Segars in second place, as Hayden Wilson took his spot up front. The Super PeeWee racers had a long race ahead of them as they would complete 18 laps. This allowed for a battle between the two lead racers. Wilson led Segars for the first seven laps, but Segars never let him more then 0:03sec out of his sights. Lap eight is when Segars made his move and took over first place. Wilson stayed behind in second place and slowly let Segars widen the gap. By the end of lap 18, Segars managed to pull one lap ahead of Wilson as he only completed 17 laps.

After the AM Junior racers knocked a little bit of mud off the trail, it was time for the big kids to take to the course. The PM Junior race saw Jake Swain take the lead in his class as well as the overall lead. The Senior Mini turned out four laps, however, Swain was only able to complete the first two. What an upset for Swain as he was steadily opening the gap on second place rider Julian McIntyre. After Swaim dropped out, McIntyre took the win and Trevor Butcher rounded out the podium.

The Beginner Women’s class has two girls that know how to hold their own in the racing world. Cassidy Brown got out front of her competition on the first lap and set that pace with a 23:28min lap time. Randi Moulton followed behind in second place, turning a 29:54min lap time. Both girls turned out consistent laps and each completed three laps. Brown took the checkered and Moulton finished up second place.

The AA row was filled with the usual riders as Grant Baylor lined up in hopes to get another win. Paul McColl was right there with Baylor as he wanted to defend his points lead and Alex McRee was ready to stake out his spot. Zach Osborne shook things up as he jumped up front early and lead the class for the first lap. Baylor sat in second, while McColl hovered in third. By lap two Baylor pushed ahead and took over the lead, Osborne dropped back to fifth place, and McRee moved up to second place. McColl dropped back to fourth place and would remain there for the rest of the race. Matthew Nix took over third place on lap two. Lap three is the lap where the riders got situated and claimed their spots until the checkered flag was thrown. Baylor staked out first place, pulling 0:46sec over second by the end of the race. Nix made his move to second place, and McRee fell back to third place, only 1:09min short of second.

Ben Swaim and Matthew Nash are holding down the 200A class as they battle back and forth for the win. The 56 of Nash took the lead off the start, pulling 0:37sec ahead of 90, Swaim. Nash produced a laptime of 35:10min on lap two, but it wasn’t fast enough for Swaim as he turned out a 34:22min laptime. This left the lead open for Swaim as he steadily pulled ahead of Nash. By the end of lap four, Swaim had gained 2:43min over Nash. Houston Taylor finished up third and Brian Wozniak took fourth.

The race to watch these riders battle for the win is on December 4^th in Laurens, SC. This one is the Little Brown Jug.

Until then, practice hard, race harder.

-Katie Norton

The Volunteer Harescramble, Bybee, Tn, was run on November 13^th this year. This is always a personal favorite for me, something about running a race in Tennessee. This year the temperature was just right, lows were in the mid 40’s and the highs were in the mid 60’s. Mother Nature brought in light showers the Wednesday before, and John Strange made sure to keep the track at nice 11 miles with a few hill climbs.

The AA class for this year’s Volunteer was looking slim as only three riders showed up on the line. Grant Baylor returned to try to take home another win, Paul McColl and Wes Keller also lined up to complete the AA class. Baylor stole the lead on the first lap, opening a gap on second place rider of McColl by 0:14sec. Keller stuck back in third place, letting McColl gain 0:49 on the first lap. The three riders stayed in these positions for the entire five lap race. By lap three Baylor widened his lead over McColl to a 2:02min lead and Keller shaved down the gap between himself and McColl to 0:47sec. By the end of lap five, Baylor had 3:36 on McColl and Keller managed to pull up to a 0:03sec behind McColl.

250A mixed it up with the AA class in the overall finishes as second overall and third overall both went to 250A riders. Landon Smith and Kody Fennell both raced ahead of the AA riders in the overall finishes as they both turned personal consistent laps. After lap one, Smith turned the fastest lap for his class with a 30:13min lap time. Fennell wasn’t far off as he turned a 30:17min laptime. These two riders were never more than 0:28sec away from each other. No matter the class laptimes, five laps came to a close and it was Smith who took the win with Fennell finishing up second. Josh Douglas rounded out the podium with a third place finish.

Leslie Agee took the win in the 50+ A class, but it didn’t come easy. Agee had a five lap battle with second place rider, Phil Ellis. Ellis took the lead early on in the race, with his first lap time of 30:35min, pulling a 0:08sec lead over Agee. Lap two saw a leader change as Agee pulled up into first place, pulling 0:43sec ahead. Ellis proved he wasn’t done yet, and regained the lead on lap three, pulling the same 0:08sec lead he originally had. However, lap four changed it all up once again as Agee took the lead for the final time. At the end of lap five, Agee took the win, Ellis claimed second and Phillip Doyle staked out third place.

Leslie Agee is currently the 50+ A class leader in the year end points after The Volunteer Harescrampble. Agee leads the class with 117 points, 22 points ahead of second place. Second place is held by Roger Mincey who currently has 95 points. Mitch McRee is holding down third place, but only by 5 points. Phil Ellis has 82 points in fourth place and is looking to steal the third place spot.

Paul McColl is the current AA class leader, holding 122 points, only 4 points ahead of second place, Tyler Trammell. Trammell has two wins to McColl’s one win and has 118 points. Grant Baylor is close behind in third as he has three wins and 115 points.

The AA year end points race is on as the top five riders are all within a few points of each other.

The next SETRA race is the Highpoint Harescramble in Perry, Ga. The date for that race is November, 20, 2011.

Until then, practice hard, race harder.

-Katie Norton

October 30 saw the fifth round of the SETRA harscrambles series, hosted by Palmetto State in Salley, South Carolina. The racers in attendance would get a track with hardly any dust, wet sand sections, fast sweeping trails and well laid out singletrack. That is the makings of a good race; it was a nice break from thick dust and no rain.

The mini racers made their return as the Junior AM race started the day off. The Super PeeWee class gave a good start to the long day of racing, as the lead rider, Hayden Wilson, hammered out an aggressive nine laps. Wilson stepped out front from the beginning, leading the entire race with the fastest lap time of 4:30min. Raymie Segars got a rough start as he trailed behind for the first five laps in third place. However, lap six was his turning point as he took second place from rider Nolan Osteen. Segars proved he is a rider to watch as he tied Wilson’s 4:30min lap time on lap nine. Segars finished second, only 2:21min behind first, while Osteen cruised to a third place finish.

Wilson took the overall finish, but Conner Noffz proved that you should count him out just because he is in the PeeWee class. Noffz fought his way through the pack to claim second place overall and first in class. Segars pulled off a third place overall, while another PeeWee rider, Cade Henderson, stole fourth overall, and yet another PeeWee rider, Jack Wellborn, rounded out the top five for the Junior AM overall.

Once the youngest of the racers cleared the course, it was time for the Junior PM race. The Senior Mini, Mini, Intermediate Mini, Junior Mini and Beginner Women classes all took the field and waited for the ten second remark. The Junior PM race had a bit of a longer trial as the lead class riders, Senior Mini class, managed to turn out only two laps, with the fast lap time set at 28:19min. That lap time belonged to rider number 3200, Hunter Noffz. Noffz got out front of his competition early on and maintained his lead for the two laps. Jack Reep stayed behind in second, finishing 2:52min behind Noffz.

Back in the Intermediate Mini class, Joe Balkovic had an easy race as he wrapped up first place, 2:41min ahead of his competition. It was riders Roger Shelton, Senna Houston and Seth Green that had to race for their positions. Lap one saw Chase Hayes emerge with second place with Cole Mattison following in third. Shelton sat in fourth place, only 0:03sec behind, Houston trialed in fifth, 0:41sec behind and Green was back in sixth place, 2:26min behind. As the checkered was thrown, Shelton managed to pull up to second, Hayes seemed to have problems as he only completed lap one, Houston finished up third, and Green took over fourth place.

The SETRA big bike harescramble was full of controversy, cheating, heartbreak, bike breaks, bone breaks, and finally, victories. Before we get started with the technical details of this race, here is a rundown of what you missed:

Grant Baylor took the win, Jason Raines was runner up. Ryan Belue took a hard crash, he had shoulder surgery November 2, and is still on the mend. (He just can’t catch a break) Zack Osbourne was disqualified. Zack Hayes followed in Ryan’s footsteps as he took a nasty spill, resulting in a damaged knee that required an orthopedic check. And to top it all off, Dillon Swaim hit a tree, breaking his KTM literally in half. What a day of racing.

With Belue and Osborne out of the picture, Baylor, Raines, and Alex McRee had the track to themselves. Raines jumped out front early, taking the lead for the first four laps. Raines managed to open a lead of 0:41sec over Baylor, but Baylor shaved down that gap and took over the lead on lap five, finished first, 0:24sec ahead of Raines. McRee held his own in third place, as he stayed out in front of Bryan Henson for the five lap race. McRee finished only 2:23min behind second place of Raines.

200C had a good race on their hands as the 966 of Andrew Maxey took an early lead of over a minute ahead of second place, Brent Spaulding. Lap two threw a wrench in Spaulding’s race as Ben Martin came back from fourth place to take over second place, gaining a 0:25sec lead over Spaulding. Maxey stayed strong up until lap four when Martin got a second wind and took over the lead, finishing 0:46sec ahead of Maxey, who took second. Spaulding held onto third place.

As we get ready to head in to round six of the SETRA series, we wish both Ryan Belue and Zac Brown a speedy recovery.

The next round is November 13, in Bybee, Tn. This is an old favorite named the Volunteer Harescramble.

Until then, practice hard, race harder.

-Katie Norton

After a long break in the 2011 SETRA Harescramble season, Tyler Trammell claimed his first win for the season as he swept first place from the tied points leaders, Zac Brown and Grant Baylor, at the Cracker Harescramble in Macon, Ga – round three.

On a race day that has two other series holding a race, the AA class made sure that the attention was put on the SETRA race as a heated battle erupted between points leader Zac Brown and Tyler Trammell. Brown took his normal spot up front of the seven rider pack in the AA class as he gained an early 0:16second lead over second place rider Trammell. Brown turned out consistent lap times that hovered around the 23:40 mark and on average never wavered from each other by more then 0:07seconds. However strong of a race that Brown was running, Trammell kept strong in second place and shaved on average 0:02seconds off of each lap, maintaining lap times around the 29:39minute mark. By lap four of the six lap race, Trammell had closed the gap to only 0:02 separating himself from first place of Brown. Lap five was the turning point in the race as Brown attempted to make a pass on a lapped rider and took a violent spill that landed him with in the ER with a hurt shoulder. With Brown out of the race on lap five, this left first place open for Tammell. Trammell rode on to finish a strong race and saw the checkered flag on lap six, claiming his first win for the season.

Paul McColl took second place at the end of the day, but only after battling back from a fourth place start. Lap one saw that Alex McRee held on to third place with a 0:28 lead over McColl and Ryan Belue settled in the back of the pack with a fifth place start. By Lap two, McColl had made his advance over McRee and claimed the third place spot until lap five, when Brown dropped out, bumping his competitors up a spot. Mcree held on to his new podium position of third and Belue took the checkered with fourth place.

250A rider Dillon Swaim’s Word from the Dirt:

The 2011 Cracker Harescramble was held at Paradise Park near Macon, GA, previously home to the Rebel Run GNCC as well as many Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Motocross qualifiers. The location and terrain are much different from what SETRA racers have come to expect of the Cracker, as the previous races were held on a sandy, whooped-out track in Wrens, GA. Riders lined up on the motocross start-straight, where they saw the massive motocross track surrounding them on all sides. Directly off the start, the race followed about half of the motocross track, including a good-sized spectator-friendly step-up jump. Then the race ducked in the woods for about a mile, where the riders got a taste of how slick the kaolin-laced ground could be. Racers were given a mixed blessing by the weather at this race: the lack of rain the previous week allowed them to find at least some traction on this strange white-looking dirt (which can be virtually impossible to ride in wet conditions), but also provided copious amounts of dust. The dusty, hard-packed course was well-cut and marked, however, and had very good flow. Much of the trail was on the tight side, mostly second and third gear, but was easily wide enough for a quad to fit through with a little effort. At one point in the loop, riders popped out in the middle of a kaolin mine-pit, rode through the center, and then jumped out up a twenty-foot-tall wall. A few more miles of fun, flowing trail led to another section of the track that went past a small pond, where the riders could go as fast as they wished along a sandy, off-camber bank. Riders on the lead lap completed 6 loops around the 9 mile course, with Tyler Trammell coming out on top for the overall. This was Tyler’s second overall in a row after winning the SETRA/FTR Orange State Enduro the week before.

Dillon Swaim - Proline Motorsports KTM, Maxxis Tires, Ride PG, FMF Racing, SixSixOne Protection, MSR, Tag Metals, Scott USA, Sunline

The 250A class had a showy race on their hands, especially amongst the top three racers, Kody Fennell, Dillon Swaim, and Jamie Taylor. Taylor started out front, leading the first lap and only gaining 0:02seconds over second place rider Zackery Hayes. Lap two was a moving lap as Fennell came from third place, taking over the lead and opening the gap over Hayes to 0:29seconds. Taylor fell back to third place, just 0:56seconds ahead of fourth place rider of Swaim. Hayes started his second lap, still holding down second place, 0:29seconds ahead of Taylor. Lap three was again another moving lap, but it wasn’t a move in favor of Swaim. Swaim dropped back to fifth place, with 0:20seconds separating him from his original position of fourth, now occupied by Josh Anderson. On the fourth lap of the six lap race, Hayes dropped out, allowing Taylor to move up to second place, Swaim fought back to third place, and Anderson settled in to fourth place. However, lap five was another disappointing lap as Anderson dropped from the race, letting Evan Smith take over fourth place. The last lap was the crucial lap as Swaim cut down the gap between himself and Taylor and eventually taking over second place, leaving Taylor in the dust with third place. Fennell took the win after six laps, Swaim staked out second place and Taylor rounded out the podium with third place. This six lap race proves that Swaim is done with being back in the pack. Swaim started his second lap with a 25:04minute lap time and ended his race with a 24:24minute lap time. As the race progressed, Swaim’s lap times quickened, establishing that he is still a contender. This is the class to watch as the season progresses.

The 2011-2012 SETRA Harescramble series heads to the Tree Farm Harescramble in Clanton, Alabama on October 23. This round will be a SERA and SETRA race, with a SERA Kid’s Race at 8:00 a.m. and the SETRA Adult Race at 11:00 a.m.

This race has registration on Saturday from 4:00-6:00 p.m. and Sunday starting at 7:00 a.m. The track will have a combination of roads, wood trails, and grass track with fresh new trail added! We hope everyone makes it out to this race!

Until then, practice hard, race harder.

-Katie Norton

This past weekend kicked off the 2011-2012 season of SETRA racing and marked yet another running of the Cherokee Harescramble. Racers should know this trail in and out, but something always changes year after year. This year, the weather chose to be pretty harsh in the heat category. Mother Nature spared no mercy as she brought rain the night before that made Sunday racing conditions humid and hot. However, the rain was just enough to tack up the ground and make for a good course.

The AA row looked pretty slim with only seven riders gracing the first row. Alex McRee, Zac Brown, Grant Baylor and others made it out to battle in the Georgia clay for the first round. The lack of riders of the front row, however, was made up by the overpopulation on the A rows that followed behind. Riders like Matthew Nash, Kody Fennell, and Ryan Chunta lined up to get a first look at this years competition.

After the brief riders meeting, the AA row was set to tackle the first corner, which, was not far from their original starting places. Either way Zac Brown found his way to the second corner, leading the pack that was right behind him. Brown kept his lead on the first lap, slowly pulling away from second place of Grant Baylor who was last year’s Overall A winner. Paul McColl stood his ground riding in third place on the first lap. Zac Brown would keep his lead until lap the beginning of lap three when he ran into overheating rear brake problems.

Meanwhile, 200A proved to be a class to watch this season. Ben Swaim jumped out front early with the lead, but Trey Parris followed 0:16 behind him. Lap two was the moving lap as Parris took the lead away from Swaim, and pulled 1:17 over him. Unfortunately, Swaim ran into bike problems that would put him out of the race on the beginning of lap three. Matthew Nash jumped up to take over second position and began to work on the 2:41 that separated him from Parris. However, lap seven was when the checkered flag was thrown, and Parris had gained 9:00 over Nash. The podium for 200A: Trey Parris with the win, Matthew Nash claiming second, and Joseph Logan wrapping up third.

Grant Baylor came through scoring on lap seven and the checkered flag was thrown. Zac Brown followed in second, only behind by a total of 1:10. Paul McColl rolled through scoring as he wrapped up the podium with third place.

I had a fun day watching all the action that happened on the course and I managed to get 1100+ pictures that captured what I saw. Go check them out at www.kcnphotography.smugmug.com

The next race is on August 28, 2011 in Abbeville, SC. It is the Longcane.

Until then, practice hard, race harder.

-Katie Norton