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Overall Winner
Gary Fridley

Reedsville, WV – No one could stop Gary Fridley as he took another overall win at Bike Barn on Sunday. Round 5 of the AMA D5 Harerscramble series turned out great fans and great weather. Nearly 400 fans showed up and by the time the big bikes started, temperatures were reaching 65 degrees. Coming into this round, Corey Arbogast was holding onto a 6 point lead over Fridley. Thirty points back from Fridley was Shane Lawson and a host of others. What Bristol is to NASCAR, Bike Barn is to Harescrambles. The shorter track combined with hills and deep water crossings made it a blast for fans and racers.

Exactly 84 riders showed up to battle for the big bike overall. Fridley, Arbogast, Brennon Loftin and a host of regulars combined with Josh Lojak, Gene Stull and Michael McGinnis battled it out on the hills, mud and water. With the drop of the flag the riders were forced right down a bank and through two deep water crossings surrounded by tons of fans.

Nearing the end of the first lap, Gene Stull and Gary Fridley were 1 and 2 through a back section where Fridley made the pass. After getting a near dead last start, Fridley was able to pick apart the Open A class by the end of the first lap. After taking the lead, he never lost it all day. In the post race interview with announcer Roy Dains Fridley talked about his start. “I don’t know what the deal is with this bike. We’ve worked on it the last couple weeks trying to get it to start on the line.” By the end of the race Fridley is normally a good bet in terms of the overall win. He has struggled lately with just winning right from the beginning. “Out in the woods if I stall it, it starts first kick! I don’t like getting bad starts.”

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One of the many hills that conveniently had a mud hole at the bottom of it!

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Bike Barn provided some deep water!

The short track was very demanding. Although it was dry all day in terms of rain, the track had some deep water crossings right off the start and some wet mud holes at the bottom of hills in the back sections. According to Fridley, the second lap was more challenging than the first. “There is a hill on the back section and when I came around on the second lap, it looked like the whole starting line was stuck there. Somehow I got up on the bank and got around it.” Fridley managed to dominate on the slick Preston County hills with no front brakes! “Yea it was super slick. On the 2nd lap I wrecked and lost my front brakes. I didn’t have much chance to slow down, but my back breaks.” At one point Frdiley’s pit crew tried to pull him over and work on his brakes, but that didn’t pan out either. “Some of my friends dad’s wanted me to pull over on the side of the track but I couldn’t do it!”

Yamaha mounted Gene Stull picked up 2nd overall in sort of a come out of retirement race. He was the only rider to stay on the lead lap with Fridley. Stull also commented the bottle neck on the hill on lap 2. “Everybody got stuck up on the hill there. I just tried to pick a line and hope for the best.” Stull was thrilled not only to take 2nd overall but also he was thrilled to be racing. “I would really like to thank my teammates. Josh and everyone that came out with me today motivated me to have a good time.”

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