Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ > W ..J <:l z :3 > a: a: :3 > en '" 0 0 I- l!":l 00 J: 0. 0"> .r- ~ C\J ;>,. l-o ~ = l-o ..0 (U r..... Tom Bradshaw styles off a rock ledge on his way to third 250cc Amateur. Mark Torgerson was the class winner. Dan S m it h rode his Husqvarna to the overall w in. and the Open Expert class win. after a hard-fought duel with Yamaha rider Ted Hunicutt. Four Aces 36th Annual Moose Run Hare and Hound Smith outduels . . Hunicutt at H 'n' H By Larry Langley RAND, CA, FEB. 10 Team Husky rider Dan Smith won the 36thann ual Four Aces Hare and Hound over Yamaha/Duralube/ AXO-sponsored rider Ted Hunicu tt in an exci ting 75-mile race that m o st ra ce rs d escribed as a " G rea t, old-fash io ne d ha re and ho und!" The Fo ur Aces first ra n th ei r 14 race back in 1950. T he origi na l race was a benefit for the fami ly of" Moose" . Mason Pages wh o was fat all y inj ured in th e Big Bea r race. It started in Woodl an d H ill s a nd was sto pped by the Forest Service in the H oll ywood Hills a t th e th ree-quarter m ark due to fire danger. After a short Iunch, th e rac ing resu med at Hanson Dam as a scra m bles. T imes have sure cha nged. Pits were locat ed off of the Randsbu rg /Mojave Road on the south side of th e Ran d Mo untai ns. T he bomb ru n went nort h a nd the re was on ly one fast lin e: A road th at ra n stra ig h t and tr ue righ t to th e bom b. Racers rea lized that if th ey didn't get on th e roa d, .rh ey were not going 10 get a good start so so me started lin ing up by lea ving th eir bik es on th e start lin e a t 6:30 a.m.! They were righ t. Wa tch in g the first wave of Expert/ Amateurs from th e bomb, the leaders were on the road, leaving the rest of the fie ld to ma ke th eir way up much slowe r tra ils, Hunicu tt had a h uge lead ill th e bo mb with Eric H all gath poweri ng his 250 Honda into second overa ll with Eddie Ogden (Yam) right o n h is ta il. A veteran rider was third which turned a few h ead s until th ey fou nd o u t it was n ew Vet Mike Sixbery. Tea m H usk y rider Scot Har den was runn in g in the top five at th e bomb followed by D. Wasden , Tom Will is (H us ), Wayne 'Car lto n (M-S), Ken Ovi att (KTM) and P . Gorgone, The Begin ner/ Novi ce bomb ru n had three 250cc bikes o ut in front led by D. Taylor. Next was Beginner Jim O ke followed by K. Carpenter. A very good tu rn o u t of over 450 riders tackled th e two-loo p course. T he first loop led a ll the wa y down to th e Tortoise Preserve before cro ssin g th e Red Ro ck/Ra n dsb urg Roa d , wh ere it turned east and cro ssed Hwv. 395 for a loop before coming back across Fremont Va llev, down Fiddl er's Gulch and up the on 'ly rea l cha llenge o f th e loo p, a very lon g, steep uphill that had man y a rid er pushing a nd cussin g their way o ver th e top. A gas sto p to repleni sh fu el a nd th en back o u t o n the " enduro" loop. Hu ni cutt led Sm ith until the gas stop but Smi th powered h is wa y around Hun icutt o n the u ph ill leaving th e h ome chec k a nd took th e lead for good . Ogden and Ha llga th were havin g th eir o wn p ersona l race for 250cc supremacy with th eir positions swappi ng a t least a dozen times. Number One 250cc p lat e holder Derrick Pai em ent (H us) wa s trying to make time on th e front runners but two fou led plugs kept h im ba ck. Area resident CoryTim ms( H us)was using h is terra in kn owledge to move up into th e to p 10 by th e gas stop. Cha rlie Barn ey h ad one o f those days wh ere no thing felt qu ite right so h e decided to just tra il rid e it; a nd sti ll m anaged 14th overa ll a t th e gas . First Ama teu r in was Rob Murray a t 15th overa ll. Dan Ashcraft hit th e bomb a bo ut 50th a nd promptly came back to h ave h is p it crew (Pa rker 400 co-riders Bob Ashcraft an d Dick V arner , who were a t th e bomb specta ti ng) look at hi s 500Xe. It wa s not runn in g a t h igh rpm . A suspected leakin g center case gas ket pu t th e d isappointed Ash craft o u t o f the race. Du an e Summers' bad lu ck co n tinued wh en h is shi fting mechanism went ast ra v abo u t 20 m iles o ut . Eventua l wi n ner Sm it h was charg ing mak ing up for a four-kick sta rt . " I h ad a good line a ll pi cked out but wh en the b ike wouldn 't ligh t ri g h t o ff even th e guys parked beh ind me go t goi ng firs t," said Smi th . " L uckily I was able to work my way past them." Fo rmer ISD E ace Er ic Je nse n (an d owner o f Er ic's Mo to rcycles in Pas.aden a ) was co m pe ting in hi s first desert race in quite a few yea rs. j ullian G uerra was lead ing a ll the 175s on his Ka wasaki whi ch is q ui te a n accomplis h me nt si nce G uerra is sti ll a n Am at eur in on ly h is th ird desert race . Tom Elias (Cag) had Guerra in sight when di saster struc k: " T he g uy right in fro nt of me seized an d locked h is bike u p a nd I crashed hard into h im," said Elias. " My thrott le ca ble brok e in th e cras h, I had ano the r one and fi xed it bu t I lost a wh o le bu n ch o f tim e." Elias still finished th ird in class even with his misfortu ne. AT K rider Ch ris Cranda ll looked over o n a ro ugh uph ill and saw a gas ta nk boun cin g by. Wh en he look ed do wn , h e found it was h is. T he broken mo unts put him o ut of the race but he was able to lim p back into th e p its aft er wiring th e tank back o n. Ken Parry (Yam ) was sitting on th e sta rt line waiting for th e banner to go up wh en h is bike's radiator hose popped off! Naturall y th e banner then went up. It went down while Parry was putting the hos e back o n so the field had a slig h t jump o n h im . He go t goi ng and still fini shed in th e top 20, a maz ing si nce he probabl y passed over 200 ride rs in workin g hi s way back up, There was a downh ill on th e secon d loop th at a n u m ber o f rid ers mentioned in so me what reverent ton es in cl udi ng th e women 's win ne r, Husk y rider J oanna Brownell (A X O / Va n Nu ys Husqvarna / C rand Sport T ires). "T he downh ill wa s something else " mutter ed Bro wn el l. "It loo ked like it dropped o ff the end o f th e world." Of co urse Mi ke " Down h ill " Alexa nder (Yam) lik ed it. H ill s like th at a re wh ere he earned h is n ickname. At th e finis h it was Smi th with a 30-seco n d lead over H unicutt with Ha rden in a minute back, Ha llgath fin a ll y shook Ogden loo se w hen O gd en cras hed a bo u t five m iles fro m th e fini sh trying to pass Hallgath on a chop py uph ill. First Novi ce in was Rovers M.e. Mik e Spano (H us) win ni ng th e Open class, "No problems excep t forthese bl isters on m y hands." sai d the ha p p y Novice. Just behind Span o was th e 250cc Novi ce class winner Dar ro l T aylor (H us ) who wanted to th ank Kern Cycle Prod uct s for th eir help. First J 75cc Nov ice was G ary C hristi e (Hon ) o f the Dusters M,C. Bobby Pi ch e (Suz) shou ld be mentio ned . It wa s h is verv first desert race a nd wh ile h e didn 't win , he fin ished wi th a big sm ile on h is face, Women 's steward Ch ri sSain (Ya m) was riding aga in after surgery a nd too k fo urth Wom en Novice as she "took it v ery easy." • Results OVERALL: 1. Dan Sm il h (Hus ): 2. Ted Hunicutt (Vam): 3. Scot Hard en (Hus): 4 . Er ic Hall gath (Han): 5. Edd ie Ogden (Yam); 6. Kern Parks; 7 . Ken Ovian (KTM ); 8 . Jim McGrat h (Hon); 9. Derrick Paie ment (Hus): 1D. #P3. OPEN EX: 1. Sm ith ; 2. Hun icun; 3. Oviatt. OPEN AM: 1. Rob Murray; 2. Ron Ma im ; 3 . M ike Holm es. OPEN NOV : 1. Mi ke Spano (Hu s): 2. Scott W ebster ; 3. Ken Dickson (Yam). 25 0 EX: 1. Eric Hallgat h (Han): 2. Edd ie Ogd en (Yam); 3 . Derri ck Paiem ent (Hus) . 25 0 AM : 1. M ark Torg erson; 2. St even Hasent;'3. Tom Bradshaw . 250 NOV : 1. Oarrol Taylor; 2. Mark Burch; 3 . Ken Carpenter . 175 EX: 1. John Braasch; 2. Sco tt Ander son ; 3. . Tom Elias (Cag). 17 5 AM: 1. J u ll ian Guerra (Kaw ); 2. Ton y Stu art ; 3. Sean Bradl ey. 17 5 NOV: 1. Gary Chr ist ie: 2. David Al l ard. SR OP EX: 1. Curt Horst (Husl: 2. A rt Knapp (Hus): 3. Dick Mye r (Han). SR OP AM : 1. Bob Burch . SR OP NOV: 1. John Jo hnson; 2. Art Garc ia. SR 250 EX: 1. Ji m Br ingh urst (Han): 2 . AI Guzman (Suz); 3. Don W hitehorn . SR 25 0 A M : 1. Willi s Pri tchett ; 2. Las St iffler. SR 175 EX: 1. Dave Kiersting : 2. Ed Ogden . SR 175 AM : 1. J im Va n Bever en. W OME N EX: 1. J oanna BrowneIl IH us); 2. Lorn i Vincent . VET OPEN EX: 1. Kern Park s; 2. Wes Anderson (Kaw) : 3. David Burson . VET OP A M : 1. Peter M ed in a; 2. Tim Johnson; 3. Peter Vakou sky. VET OP NOV : 1. Ken Hayden; 2. St eve Evers; 3. A ndy Rocco. VET 250 EX: 1. Wey ne Car lton (M -SI: 2. Dava Johnson (Yam). VET 250 NOV: t . Chuck Lenn ox.

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