Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Husky's Dan Smith crosses the famed Cherry Creek en route to the win in round five of the championship. AMA Natlona. Hare and Hound ChamplonIhl~ Series: Round 5 Smith smokes 'em at Cherry Creek By Anne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren DELTA, UT, MAY 25 Team 'Husky's Dan Smith conquered one of the toughest Ch~rry Creek courses in recent memory to take the overall honors in the fifth .round of the AMA National Hare and Hound Championship series held near Delta, Utah. And as the series draws to a close with only three events remaining, 24 .. Smith has built up a points lead that will be hard to beat. Almost 400 riders travelled to central Utah (or the 26th running o( the well-known Cherry Creek Hare and Hound event. The race, which is sponsored by District 26's Sugarloafers M.e., was in its first year as a National event as part o( the new AMA championship series. Smith got the start of a lifetime as the banner dropped, and he was out in front as the large Amateur/Expert (ield swept across the virgin terrain, which was littered with bike-grabbing bushe , and toward the black moke of the bomb before racing into the • 1,1 •• I ) 28-mile mountain loop of the race. Hard on Smith's heels in the sprint for the bomb was Utah's Number One Desert racer, Shawn Gerber (KTM). Wim the advantage of racing on "home ground," Gerber was regarded by many qf the locals present as the one to beat in the l20-mile event, and he showed why as he picked up the orange and white course ribbon and powered into me first of the race's four demanding loops barely a bikelength behind Smith's 500 Husky. Also high in the early running was Arizona's Number One desert rider, Garth Sweetland, but Sweetland's bid for the lead was cut short when the pipe on his Open Class Husky burned through the bike's ignition wires. "I taped th wires back together, but it took me a while to figure out what it was and it put me behind," Sweetland said. "At that stage we were up in. the trees and it was singleline riding - I JUSt couldn't get by. There were places where 10 people .were lined up waiting to get through the trees. There was nothi ng [ could do to catch up again." Gerber continued La put pressure on Smith in the tight, twisty terrain of the early running, but his bid (or the lead ran into trouble at the 16- . mile mark when he broke the rear , I brake stay on his Open Class KTM. The trail wound through cedar trees, with corners tighter than many bikes could manage in one swing, and dropped over a long downhill steep enough to warrant mention in me rider's instructions; runningwimout a rear brake took its LOll on Ge(ber. By the time the (ront-running Smith reached the pits at the end of the 'grueling one-hour-long first loop, 'Gerber was trailing the Team Husky ace by about four minutes. Another minute back, in third overall as the riders reilched pit row for the .first time, was anomer one of the local favorites, Utah's Husky-mounted Brad Strong. Strong, who had won me Cherry Creek event for the last two years, was going a.ll-out in a bid to make it three-in-a-row. Fourth overall at the end of loop one was rhe other halI of California's "Dan-amic Duo" - Team Husky's Dan Ashcrah, with fellow southern Californian, Suzuki-mounted Paul Krause, aboard the first 250cc in (ifth overall. Smith continued to build his lead . in the 3l-mile second loop as the course crossed and,recrossed the two(oot-deep creek a(ter which the race was named, and ran through 16 miles o( steep sand dunes. With no time out at the first pit to repair his rear brake, Gerber continued LO struggle to hold onto second overall, with Ashcraft passing Strong to take over th ird. As the racers entered the pi ts at the end of loop two, Krause was still holding (irst in the 250cc class, but had slipped back to seventh overall, JUSt two positions ahead of Utah's Gregg Godfrey on a YZ250 Yamaha. Running a high II th overall at the halIway point in the race was the first I25cc - a Cagiva piloted by California hot shot Duane Summers, who had won the "C'.' class competition in the first (our rounds of the Championship Hare and Hound series and was looking to make it five-in-a-row. Smith continued to lengthen his lead throughou tthe 31 mi les of loop three, taking me much-feared long downhill in stride, and negotiating the slick rocks in me wetter sections with ease. And as southern California's NumberOne desen plate holder hit the pits for the last time, he was ahead by a full seven minutes. After taking time out to repair his rear brake at the end o( loop two, Gerber was back in top form for the third loop, but couldn't hold of[ a strong challenge from Ashcraft, who seemed to get a second wind at the halfway point in the race, Ashcraft was well established in second with a 9O-second lead over Gerber as he stormed out into me 30 miles of fast sandy trails iJ:) the "desert terrain" fourth loop. Another 90 seconds back was Strong, in fourth· overall, with Open Class racer, Mark Lundgren of,Utah, running in fifth. Smith rode a trouble-free final loop to take the checkered flag with a lead of eight minutes over Husky teammate and second-place finisher, Ash- . craft. The first job for the tired and dusty Smith was to answer a protest filed by a spectator in the sand dune section of the course. According to the protest lodged with the Sugarloafers M.C., a group of spectators had apparently seen Smith knock down some course markings. While rumors of disqualification circulated at the finish; me organizing club's referee, Dan Bringard, interviewed the riders who (ollowed Smith in and consulted with the AMA's on-site representative, Roger Ansel, before declaring Smith not guilty. "I don't know what I'm supposed

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