Hollister Hare Scrambles To Weigand
Cycle News Staff | April 13, 2009
JCR’s Tim Weigand climbed to the top of the box for the first time this season after beating an all-star field at round two of the AMA Western Hare Scrambles Series in Hollister, California, April 12. Weigand, who took third in the WHS Series opener a few weeks ago at Ryanoland, came from a fifth-place start to take over the lead on lap two, and he held it there for the rest of the three-hour race. It was Weigand’s and Johnny Campbell Racing’s first major victory at an off-road National and also moved him into the point’s lead for the WHS Championship.
“It’s nice to finally win one,” said Weigand. “I’ve been close all year and hopefully there will be more of these to come.”
Second place fell to Weigand’s JCR teammate Kendall Norman. Norman led early on, but fell prey to Weigand’s charge 20 minutes into the race. From then on, Norman kept pace with his teammate, but could not close the gap.
“Tim was riding great today,” said Norman. “I did all I could to stay with him, but he was amazing. I’m stoked for Tim and Johnny and JCR Racing to go 1-2.”
Norman’s second-place finish gave team JRC its first 1-2 sweep of an off-road National.
Team Valli Sport’s Kyle Summers was the third man on the podium. Summers started poorly and came through the first lap way back in 15th. He began his charge to the front early on the third lap and moved into third shortly before the 45-minute mark. Then, Summers fought his way into second ahead of Norman. The two battled for a full 18-minute lap before Norman was able to pull away. Summers had lost his water system and began to cramp during the second hour, a sure sign of dehydration in the Hollister heat. Still, he hung on for third for the day and third in the point’s chase.
Fourth place fell to round-one winner Brenden Ritzman. Ritzman gated in the top 10 and worked his way into fourth by the halfway mark. His finish, combined with his victory in the opener, has him second in the points chase, just one ahead of Summers.
