The 4th annual Watermelon 50 hosted by Perry Mountain Motorcycle Club and held at Reynolds’ Pasture turned out to be a great event with several local participants.

The buddy harescramble is similar to a regular harescramble – only a rider has a teammate to help complete the race. Each team consists of two riders with either one or two bikes, and they must alternate riders each lap.

A total of six laps were completed with the A and B classes having a 7-mile course and the C and Family classes a 3.5-mile loop.

The two members of the team don’t have to be of the same level of riding skill, but they must compete in the class of the higher level. For example, one A rider and one B rider must compete in the A class.

The C class consists of riders who had never trophied before or who were a little young to ride on the longer/tougher course. The Family class can be any level of experience and any age as long as they are related. In this race, there was a lengthy delay of the start because of an absence of the ambulance. However, the ambulance finally arrived and, thankfully, was not needed for any major injuries.

The A class started things off with the B class starting 2 minutes later and the C class 2 minutes after that and finally the Family class 2 minutes after them. Kody Sasser got the holeshot and was the first through the creek, but, by the end of the first lap, Will McConnell had a large lead and he and his teammate Adam Barr never relinquished the No. 1 position.

They would win first in the A class by a large margin of time. Second place went to Chris Walker/David Lewis, third to Glenn Hollingshead/Greg Goglin and fourth to Dustin Stevens/Kevin DeLoach. There was a total of 15 teams in the A class.

Jonathan Seales grabbed the holeshot in the B class, and he and his dad, Tommy, would go on to finish second. Carey Steele/Jordyn Dubose took the first place prize home, Hunter Sanders/Tyler Patterson third and Steve Taylor/Randy Burton fourth. There were 19 teams in this class. Tyler Patterson won second place in the Lites C class at Burton’s Sugar Farm last weekend near Memphis.

David Moore/Tripp Johnson would win the C class with Jonathan Howard/Micah Seale second, Brian Thornton/Eric Farrell third, Clint King/Todd Connell fourth, Brian Lewis/Forrest Payne fifth and Trent Smith/Kyler Godwin sixth. There were 24 teams in the C class. Not only had Forrest Payne never trophied before – he had never raced before. Trent Smith and Kyler Godwin are two young men who have not even reached the teen years yet but had a great day to finish sixth.

The Family class had a total of 17 teams with a variety of ages and kinships to compete. Richard/Rick Reynolds would win, Randy/Ran Crump second, Zach/Damon Brown third, Keith/Russell Regentine fourth, Kevin/Dusty Gentry fifth, Rob/Ty Roberts sixth and David/Chris Smith seventh.

Some of the other local guys to compete were Tyler Carter/Frank Davis, Randy Roper/Frank Reynolds, Shannon Welch/Russ Harper, Jacob Davis/Beau Burnett, Ted Anz/Dallas Prescott, Travis Green/Chris Aultman, Michael Pickle/Blake Payne, Russell/Ethan Gregg, Dennis/Blake Terry, John/Wesley Lawrence, Neal Ousley/Landon Barrett and Jackson Davis/Reed Love.

It was a blessing in disguise that the race had a 1-hour delay. The temperature was a little cooler, and the humidity seemed to drop some, too. All in all, it was a good day for the fourth annual event. Thanks to Perry Mountain M/C for making the first Saturday of each August something to look forward to each year.