MITCHELL, IN

The fifth round of the 2009 AMA District 15 Hare Scrambles Series and the first race of the 2009 Southern Indiana Series were held at the Midway Motorsports Park in Mitchell, Indiana. An estimated 80 percent of the trail was new compared to the last couple of years at Midway. The severe weather that struck parts of Indiana on Saturday evening avoided the Mitchell area, providing perfect track conditions.

The Pee Wee racers went speeding through the grass-track, which led them into the tight and twisting wooded section prior to heading through the cedars and back to the home check. Louden Feltner pushed hard early, challenging Jacob Stark, who proved to be too much. Stark won his third race in as many starts during D15 competition in the Pee Wee Injector class. Joshua Pyne jumped onto a KTM 50 Pro Senior for the first time in his short career and made the course look like it was second nature to him, resulting in his first win in the Pee Wee Premix class at Midway.

The Mini racers were informed at the riders' meeting that all 47 of them would be venturing onto a 5.7-mile course. With the exception of two-tenths of a mile, the Mini course was the same as the one that the big-bike riders would face. Clay Sullivan checked out early in the Supermini class and never looked back. Austin Lee (123) got the 85cc holeshot and led the entire race, with Keagan Lee and Luke Chilman looming right behind.

The 65cc race was heated during the first lap, with Jacob Pyne and Michael Witkowski battling for that top spot. Witkowski's continued consistency proved to be valuable in his pursuit to remain unbeaten. Eric Douglass had a great race, cruising to a third-place finish in the class, though he was off the pace of the two front-runners.

The big-bike course saw 107 riders head into the 5.9 miles of tight single-track, creek bottoms, grass fields and several endurocross obstacles. Jeff Cregg (80) was the first rider through the checkpoint at the end of the lap one, followed by Jake Fiddler (24) and then Nathan Sullivan. Somewhere on the course during lap two, Fiddler took over the lead from Cregg. Sullivan was giving everyone a lesson in physical training by seeming to stroll through the gates in third place, only trailing Cregg by 31 seconds. While Cregg and Fiddler battled back and forth throughout the race, Fiddler managed to hit home check ahead of Cregg on all but the first lap. At the checkered flag, Fiddler still had the lead, followed 19 seconds later by Cregg. Sullivan turned up the throttle and came through the checkpoint in third place. Riding in fourth place, Zachary Nash was holding off fifth-place rider Logan Chilman, who trailed by one minute and 40 seconds.

It was a great race, with two different leaders, but in the end it was Jake Fiddler taking the win, holding off Cregg and proving to be a just a bit stronger and a bit faster, with an average speed of 18.05 mph.

Results

HVY A: 1. Jake Fiddler; 2. Jeff Cregg; 3. Nathan Sullivan; 4. Zachary Nash; 5. Logan Chilman.

LT A: 1. Evan Chaille; 2. Christopher Jewell; 3. Clinton Vogel.

VET A: 1. Mark Jones; 2. Scott Kirchoff; 3. Don Becktell; 4. Jason Hall; 5. Donnie Helterbrand.

SR A: 1. Troy Lee; 2. Robert Williams; 3. David Dunnuck; 4. Craig Moore; 5. Douglas Day.

HVY B: 1. Tyson Robbins; 2. Brandon Rinsch; 3. Mike Moore; 4. Paul Wood; 5. William Wagner.

LT B: 1. Ryan Morphew; 2. Brad Thrasher; 3. Anthony Wagler; 4. Tony Kern; 5. Luke Chilman.

VET B: 1. Brian Bennett; 2. Toby Oltman; 3. Scott Johnson.

SR B: 1. Rik Smits; 2. Rob Jordin; 3. Brad Myers; 4. Russell Fulton; 5. Kevin Kruer.

S/SR: 1. Michael Gilleran; 2. Timothy Leehe; 3. Donald Schmidt.

C: 1. Tyler Harris; 2. Cole Orman; 3. Bryan Lemmon; 4. David Warnsman; 5. Kaleb Nicholson.

S/MINI: 1. Clay Sullivan; 2. Matthew Hatchett; 3. Larry Freund; 4. Michael Norris.

85: 1. Austin Lee; 2. Keagen Lee; 3. Luke Chilman; 4. Alex Witkowski; 5. Zachary Dubois.

65: 1. Michael Witkowski; 2. Jacob Pyne; 3. Eric Douglass; 4. Vincent Smith; 5. Dawson Dunnuck.

P/W PREMIX: 1. Joshua Pyne; 2. Sam Hall; 3. Tanner Gutierrez; 4. Caleb Hancock; 5. Camden Feltner.

P/W OIL-INJ: 1. Jacob Stark; 2. Louden Feltner; 3. Isaac Mull.