Jim Bull's - Outdoorz Magazine: RD 3 SRT - AMA East National HS and RD 1 ECEA HS Series

Port Elizabeth, NJ – 04/01-04/02

Kenny Held

AMA east HS Coordinator

Photos courtesy of

Art Pepin Photos

The Tri County Sportsmen’s MC has done it again. They have shattered all other AMA East HS attendance records. Over 800 Two Wheeled racers battled it out over the 2 day period at Round #3 of the AMA East Hare Scrambles Championship Series. This was also the season opener for the ECEA HS Series which co-sanctioned this event.

Craig Delong was your overall winner

23 AA riders filled the front row. Heavy rains a few days before dumped about 4 inches on the mostly sand track. Tri County Sportsmen’s MC was out there in full force insuring flowing and useable trails. Many months of manpower were going into this race. The 1:00 main event was scheduled for 2 plus hours traversing a 10 mile trail of Open fields, tight woods and sand whoops. When the flag dropped it was Wild Wally Palmer with the hole shot with 22 other AA’s funneled in behind them as they went into the woods. Tri County did something a bit different this year. They normally send the racers out into a large open 1 mile “Turn Track” providing plenty of entertainment for the spectators and allowing for separation before heading into the woods. This year it was 1.5 turns and you were into the woods. If you got a bad start, you had your work cut out for you. After approximately 25 minutes the AA’s could be heard emerging from the woods and they sprung out into last year’s turn track. There they provided plenty of racing action. After the 1 mile turn track the racers came into the scoring chute. Palmer could not hold off the fierce charge of the other AA’s. He would end up 3^rd on the 1^st lap. In the lead was last year’s winner, Ryder Lafferty. 2^nd was Jesse Groemm and 4^th was Craig Delong. 1^st through 4^th were separated by only 10 seconds.

This was to be a 4 lap race so position changes were to be anticipated. On the 2^nd lap, Delong was to move up 3 positions securing 1^st . About 5 seconds back was Lafferty and right behind him was Groemm keeping them honest. These 3 began to pull away from the rest of the group and a fierce battle was now under way. Lappers and track deterioration were now a factor. Although the event had a separate morning C event, there were still over 270 other racers sharing the same 10 mile course. By the middle of the 3^rd lap, Groemm would lose his rear brakes and started to fall back. Delong and Lafferty however would continue to do battle. At the end of the 4^th lap it was Delong taking the checkered flag with Lafferty settling for 2^nd. Groemm finished a solid 3^rd. It was later learned that several of the other AA’s had missed the pit entrance and were forced to leave the track and return to the designated pit area. NJ has a strict fueling requirement so adherence is mandatory. Several were administered a time penalty for their infractions. Unfortunately Palmer was to be one of them. The top A rider was Marcus Cornell from the Open class, top B rider was Earl Miller from the 250 class. The top Women A/B went to returning racer Shawn Davidson just back from a knee surgery. Welcome back Shawn!

Shawn Davidson was your top female on the day.

The Morning C event was 330 strong. The track was still very damp from the recent rain however the course was defined by the Youth events the day before. 1.5 hours over a 9 mile course gave the win to Mike Beeler Jr who is no stranger to the podium. The day before he was the O/A Youth champion from the 12-13 Super mini line. On this day Beeler would take the O/A from the Schoolboy 1 class 4 rows back.

Mike Beeler grabs a few more wins at round 3

This kid really is the genuine article. Our hero of the day however went to Hunter Fox who just restored a 1982 Yamaha YZ 125 that he would race in the C 200. Fox would run 1^st place against all the modern machines until he popped his shoulder out in some breaking bumps. Fox would still finish 2^nd place against 37 others.

Hunter Fox finished second on the 82 YZ125

In Saturday Junior events, we had recent LL Qualifier Jayden Palmer taking the 65 O/A, “Smiling Cate” Nash would win the Jr Girls and Carter “Pretzel” Przmeleweski would again take the 50cc Pee Wee win. Not sure this “Pretzel Monster” can be stopped. In the end this was a great family event and the racers and spectators alike will remember this event for years. Thank you ECEA and the Tri County Sportsmen’s MC.