.. . .... .. -
z
~
II:
..._------------------------------------------_.~
"'
UJ
..J
KEVIN HASTEN
Part 1 in a series
By JimStewart
After winning his first District 37
race, Kevin Hasten, along with
moral support from his then
girlfriend, now wife, Sue, put an
end to the deser t 's people 's
wen t o n to win t h~ Duste r~ ' Hare
questi on of " Who is that guy?"
S c r am bl e s, St urnpj um p e r s
Hare
,
. .
' S cra mbles and severa l D RA spo n so red
WIth a stnng o f firsts.
desert events, incl udi ng the Silver Cup
Kevin's first overall w in cam e in th e
1974 Badgers ' Hare Scr ambles in
Frem ont Valley, aboard a borrowed
1972 360 retired factory CZ. He then
Invitational. Kevin won all of these
events in the last few month s of the
1974 racing season. Hasten th en st arted
out th e '7 5 racing season by winning the
Vikings' Hare Scrambles, t he 10 0' s Hare
and Ho un d , the Sled Rider s Hare an d
Hound, the Invade r s Hare and Hound
and two D RA events.
Kevin started rac ing in 1969 aboard,
what else , b ut a Yamah a DT-1, staying a
No vice for only three months. As with
most ot her Novi ce s, it mi ght h ave been
sh orter except for the fact that he
crashed and broke many more t imes
t ha n he fini she d .
Ne ver winn ing overall Novice, Kevin
did pick up a firs t 25 0 Novice in t he
1969 Check Chase. A few years back,
when Kevin and I firs t started District
racing, all o f th e Nov ices, Am ateurs and
Expert s st ar ted together , with t he trail
bikes st arting af terw ar ds . In that year's
Che ck Chase, Kevin was running 12th
overall in thro ugh the last pit. But as
had happened to him so many times
before, his DT-1 started to lose so me of
its essentia l p ar ts. Te n miles from the
finish the prim ary sproc ke t spun off, so
Kevin pushed th e b ike to th e fin ish and
still ear ned the class win. "Yea, I was
pretty ti red, especi ally sinc e I lost count
o f how many times I'd crashed before
th e primary sprocket caJlle _ ff. "
o
Kevin 's first try as an Am ateur was
agai n d isapp oin tin g. He was running
eighth overall, wh en some gas lea ked
o u t o f his ta n k, and onto the electronics
under the ta n k. This caused a short,
whi ch Kevin stopped and fixed, Once
going agai n , he tried to catch up, and in
(Continued on page 31 )
9
