Jason Raines Race Report - Dirt Rider Magazine

Round 7 of the AMA Eastern National Hare Scrambles Series took place this past weekend down in Southern playground of Perry, GA.Racers were greeted with cloudy skies and cool temperatures that were perfect for a day at the races. The track featured some dusty sections and some perfectly watered spots that offered great traction. The course was 15 miles in length and it had a mixture of obstacles to face us. There were fast open trails that flowed good, fast grass fields, deep sandy spots, red hardpack, and even a small rocky section.My WR 450F fired on the first kick and I was off to a great start rounding the first turn in 2nd position. Going through the grass track before heading into the woods, I went a little wide in a corner and fell back one spot right before we entered the woods.During the first lap, I was in 3rd position in a tight battle with the leaders and I made one small mistake and stalled the bike. After re-firing the bike I had dropped to 4th place and would finish the 1st lap about 10 seconds back of the leaders in 4th place.Over the course of the next two laps all of us stayed about the same distance apart and I was having trouble making up time on the leaders on the fast track.After our fuel stop it was time to try and make a charge on the leaders because the gap was growing and the laps were winding down. On the fourth lap I caught the 3rd place rider and set my sights on the leaders who were about a minute ahead now.During the last two laps I kept charging, but crashed a few more times and made a lot of small mistakes that were stalling my run towards the front.On the final lap I was able to make up more time on the leaders and about a mile from the finish I was able to get around the 2nd place rider and finish out a tough day with a decent finish on the day. I was glad to finish second considering how frustrating the day went for me and how many mistakes I made. I just had trouble finding a good rhythm on the track today.Also at the race was our youngest member of the team, Ryan Belue. This would mark his first national race in the A class after wrapping up his B class championship in the GNCC's the weekend before.Ryan got off to a great start and rounded the first corner with the lead and held it into the woods. One small mistake put him back to second and he would keep focused all day long, but just couldn't ever get back into the lead. So his day ended with a great 2nd place finish after 3 hours plus of racing the wide open course. He was up against 450s and 250 two strokes and even being down on power he kept his head up and charged the entire race until the checkers flew.Not only did he finish 2nd in his class he finished 8th overall too! His A class debut went very well and it won't take him long to figure this class out and start notching wins!Overall Results
1- Glenn Kearney
2- Jason Raines
3- Russell Bobbit
4- Nick Gentry
5- Jordan Ashburn

Open A Class
1- Jordan Ashburn
2- Ryan Belue

Points Standings After 7 of 8 Rounds
1- Jason Raines
2- Glenn Kearney
3- Nate Kanney
With one round remaining, I have pretty good points lead and I hope to write the next e-mail sending Championship news!Thank you to my dad for all his hard work in and out of the pits, family, friends and all my great sponsors for all their continued support.