RIVER FRONT GRAND PRIX

Arkansas Hare Scrambles Championship Series, Round 11/finale: 17th Annual River Front Grand Prix

Ishmael finally adds his name to winners’ list

Cameron Ishmael got the lead for good on the second lap and ran away with his first-ever RFGP victory after coming close nearly every year since he first started riding the event in 2007.

Though Cameron Ishmael isn’t a regular in the Arkansas Hare Scrambles Championship Series, he’s been hooked on its season-ending River Front Grand Prix since he first tried it as a fun way to cap off Thanksgiving weekend in 2007.

Since then, victory has eluded him, frustrating the Texan as he racked up seconds and thirds, but that changed at the 17th Annual RFGP, held at the River Front Recreation Area in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Bryan Vaughn easily got the holeshot (pocketing an extra $100 for doing so) and would finish third after crashing hard in the early going.

After following fellow Texan and $100 holeshot award winner Bryan Vaughn for a while, Ishmael grabbed the lead for good before the halfway point in the two-hour race and sailed to a comfortable victory. Vaughn would end up third after an unexpected encounter with a stump put him on the ground heavily.

That paved the way for Cheyenne Harmon to slip past and earn second despite a couple of big crashes as well. Austin Henderson finished fourth while series regular Parker Nolen locked up the series Ironman Award by claiming fifth for the day.

“I always look forward to riding sand because we don’t get to ride it that much [in Texas],” Honda-Kawasaki West KX450F-mounted Ismael said.

Cheyenne Harmon fought back from two big get-offs to finish second.

After his crashes, Harmon admitted, “It was tough. I thought about throwing in the towel, but then I just never [want to] quit. I’m really glad I didn’t. I still can’t believe I came back and got second after coming [from] that far back.”

Vaughn was in the same boat, finding it difficult to breathe after his huge get-off: “The last couple laps were hard, plus my bars were all wadded down and stuff.” Despite that, however, it was Vaughn’s best RFGP finish since starting to attend in 2005.

There’s a class for pretty much anyone and anything at the River Front GP.

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