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Overall Winner
Gary Fridley

Davis, WV - Sunday was the latest round of the AMA D5 Harescramble Series promoted by Koontz Motor Sports. This round was also Race Fest, located in the heart of the Cannan Valley, at Timberline Ski Resort. The mountainous terrain provided a challenging track that produced long laps and a lot of flat tires! Anticipation was in the air of the picture perfect day for the start of the Big Bike race. A total of 86 riders turned out. All of the D5 regulars were on hand, as well as past GNCC Pros Duane Conner and Doug Blackwell. Blackwell was a good bet to win the race. In 1990 he won the Blackwater 100 in nearby Davis. After the flag dropped, heading into the woods Blackwell, Conner, Fridley and a host of others started on their long journey of battling for the win, which also included $300! By the end of the first lap it was 2006 Series Champ Ryan Echols in the lead with Blackwell, Conner and Fridley not too far behind.

Echols talks about his first lap. “I didn’t start off to well. I had to keep kicking the bike and then it finally fired. I got up through there, kept after it and started catching up. Then I passed Doug and led for a couple laps.” Echols lead ended as Blackwell powered his KTM passed Echols. “Blackwell ended up catching up to me and I let him around and tried to follow his lines.” Echols said. Echols run in the front was short lived as he eventually dropped the bike a few times. In the meantime, the Tucker County rocks claimed Duane Conner to a flat tire. Blackwell eventually ended up pulling away and getting a big lead. Behind him was Gary Fridley. Fridley is currently the points leader and talks about loving the challenge of having Conner and Blackwell to race with. “It makes you ride that much harder seeing guys that have been up there.”

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James Glover took
3rd Overall/Open A

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2nd Overall/Open A
Ryan Echols

After already losing the lead early in the first lap, Fridley kept chugging along and luck worked in his favor. “I got to a straightaway and I saw Blackwell stopped on the side and I thought he wanted me to stop. I slowed down and he said “Your in first!”.” That is where Blackwell’s day ended with a flat front tire. Fridley actually got a halfway descent start. If you are familiar with this series you know that is normally not the case for Gary. He is normally at the tail end of the pack on the start and has to work his way thorugh the pack on the first lap. He commented on his start after the race. “I had a halfway descent start. I got by everyone and started pulling away and had a good pace going. Then I wrecked my bike into a tree and I couldn’t even pick it up. Ryan, Conner and Blackwell went right by me.”

With Conner and Blackwell out it ended up being Gary Fridley taking Overall/Open A with Ryan Echols holding on to take Second Overall/Open A . Third Overall/Open A overall went to West Virginia Yamaha rider James Glover. The tough track laid out by Paul Koontz only aloud five riders to stay on the lead lap! Kenny Hawkins climbed to take sixth overall and won the Vet A Class. Yamaha rider Ron Stetz took ninth overall and second in the Vet A Class. Stetz’s last five laps were actually quicker than Hawkins. The difference came in the first three laps as Hawkins set a blistering pace and Stetz could never overcome the difference. Honda mounted Andrew Suter turned in another top ten ride as he finished 8th overall and easily won the 4-Stroke Open class as he was the only one that entered it.

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Vet A Winner
Kenny Hawkins