Local riders fare well in Gardendale
Published 10:29 pm Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Southern Enduro Rider Association’s third round harescramble for the 2010 season was held at Cornerstone Ranch just outside of Gardendale the last weekend of February with 174 contenders going for the win in the adult race at noon on Sunday.
The weather conditions were perfect for the start of what would turn out to be a very exciting event with several lead changes in different classes and some riders placing higher than they ever have before.
The laps were each more than 11 miles, and the leaders completed four laps.
The AA class led things off with Cliff Ousley claiming the holeshot, followed by Tyler Carter and Frank Davis.
Davis was delayed a little on the start and had to play catch-up for the first lap. By the end of the first lap, he had taken the lead and held on to it for two laps before giving way to Ousley and Carter.
Ousley would stretch his lead over the final two laps to win by 1:31 over second overall.
Carter and Davis would finish third and fourth overall, respectively.
Chris McMillan turned in one of his fastest rides of his career to place fifth overall and tops in the Open A class.
Bryan Petty challenged McMillan for the duration and came out of the day with a seventh overall finish.
Dustin Stevens had little trouble acing the Lites A class and placing eighth overall.
Phillip McMillan (Chris’ dad) won first in the Golden Masters class.
Beau Burnett claimed the holeshot in the highly competitive Junior class and went on to win first in class.
Some of our local guys didn’t place as well as they usually do for differing reasons–bike problems or minor injuries–but there were a few who did exceptionally well in their overall performance. Jonathan Seales had to come from behind on the last lap to overtake Jacob Davis, who had led the entire event, and claimed first in SERA Lites B. Davis would claim second, just a few seconds behind Seales.
Jason Brasington had an excellent day to finish 3eighth overall and sixth in Open B.
Other local competitors for this event were: Brian Lewis, third Lites C; Brian Duke, ninth Lites B; Avery McCarley, fifth Jr.; Rolie Barrett, third Jr.; David Summers, fourth Vet A; Chris Wood, third Open B; Adam Bush, ninth Open B; Ryan Patridge, sixth Vet B; Will Gilbert, fifth Sr.; Blake Terry, second Jr.; Chris Aultman, fifth Lites C; Neal Ousley, fourth Jr.; Tommy Cousins, sixth Sr.; Adrian Gervais, sixth Vet A; John Huggins, seventh Vet B; Ted Anz, second Super Sr.; Kevin DeLoach, eighth Lites A; and Hunter Sanders, fourth Lites A.
Many of our local guys wore ribbons on their helmets in support of Burton Huff, a native of Stanton and fellow competitor, who is in the hospital now recovering from major surgery.
In the Kids races on Saturday afternoon, Austin Anz and Connor Barrett brought home first and second in Pee Wees.
Kels Duke claimed first in Girls.
Jackson Davis and Grayson Davis each claimed second in their classes, Intermediate and Beginner Pee Wee.
Trent Whisenant, Landon Barrett, Harrison Caver, Ryan Gilbert and Colton Castleberry finished in that order in Vet Kids to bring home first through fifth.
The next SERA event is an enduro in Mississippi on March 14.
There will be a motocross at Noah’s Motopark on Sunday March 7.