First national AMA event of the season a success at Hollister
Hills despite the inclement weather
By Cheeto Barrera Staff Writer
Hollister – A steady drizzle fell on the Hollister Hills Upper Course Sunday as riders competed in the day’s main event.
As riders took off from their starting positions, the mud flew. A few riders took an unexpected dive, but nothing serious.
Racers started in waves in a thunderous roar, but they soon disappeared into the mist and shrubs that surrounded the hills. Before long, the sounds of their 250cc engines died away, leaving race crews and other observers to wade through the mud and flowing water to the pit area where the riders would pass through.
Sunday was the final day in a two-day event beginning early Saturday morning in the same mud and rain.
Local racers Clint and Mark Thorson also competed, with Clint racing Saturday and his father Mark competing in the main event.
Clint, 15, raced in Saturday’s first race where he competed against racers ages 12 and up. He started out slow, but in the second and third laps he tried to make up ground in the 40 rider field.
But the conditions got the better of Thorson who battled through the mud, which stalled his bike on occasion, and riders who were falling all around him. He finished 16th.
But despite it all he said he still had fun.
“I really had a blast,” Thorson said. “When I was pitting, I was just getting that adrenaline rush. I just want to go, go, go.”
Thorson said he was supposed to race Sunday, except his race was canceled because “they didn’t want us getting hurt.”
Thorson was not happy about the decision citing a race in Nixon, NV, was full of ice but they allowed him to race there.
Mark said the decision was also based on the smaller bike his son and the other youth riders use would have been pushed to the limits in the mud.
Thorson fared well in the main event, finishing sixth in his class.
“It was a long and very challenging course with all mud and the rain,” Thorson said. “I’m happy with the results, just be able to finish is an accomplishment.”
In the main event, scheduled for six laps or about two-and-a-half hours, racers were divided into different categories based on competition level and gender.
The track wound competitors through a two-and-a-half mile course that, due to the extremely wet conditions, proved to be challenging. The pit area collected water and anything that was anywhere near the track, was covered in mud.
Riders, who came roaring through, were worse off.
Everyone who came through was brown. It didn’t matter if their bikes were red, yellow, blue or green with racing gear and uniforms to match, they were brown when they barreled through pit row.
Those who either took off their goggles, or didn’t have them to begin with, had their faces caked in mud to the point that they were nearly unrecognizable.
But despite the conditions, the racers fought on.
The overall leader changed several times during the race between three riders, including two brothers Patrick and Brian Garrahan who finished second and third respectively.
Brian Garrahan had won the Scrambles every year since 2001. He also won the event in 1998.
Garrahan said he had bike problems early on that affected his performance, but he recovered and still finished strong.
“I didn‚t have a clutch for the first three laps,” Garahhan said. “Without the clutch, I couldn’t climb.”
The end saw Patrick Garrahan and the winner Chuck Woodford only a few bike lengths apart.
The approach to the finish line was on the side of a hill and the track was sloped, slightly. With the mud, many riders had their bikes slip out from underneath them.
So as the two leaders approached the finish, Garrahan made an aggressive move to pass Woodford from underneath. The result: Garrahan met with the same fate as so many others. Woodford took the checker flag as Garrahan struggled to pick up his bike.
Despite the tumble, Garrahan said he was not disappointed with the finish.
“I knew if I crashed, I would still end in second,” Garrahan said in reference to how far back his brother was. “If I pulled it off, I could have made a run for first.”
Woodford took home a check for $1,000 along with a large trophy.
The Scrambles marks the start to the National Series which will take them across the country over the next several months.
In two weeks, the Thorsons and the Garrahans will suit up in Prairie City for the next race.
