Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126933
Husqvama-sponsored Dan Smith won his fifth National Hare and Hound this year when he claimed the top spot at Winnemucca Dry Lake. Ron Naylor. riding a factory Can-Am in the desert for the first time. took runner-up honors in the Open Expert class at Winnemucca. AMA National Hare and Hound Championship Series: Round 6 advantage to the Open class bikes on some ofthe fast dirt road sections, but evened things out in the virgin terrain, when riders were forced to thread their way through thick sage brush. Smith was still out in front of the pack as he slithered through a series of sandy downhills near the end of the loop, and turned for the run into the pits. With second overall - Ron Naylor on an Open class Can-Am only 30 seconds behind, Smith had no time to dawdle. After running seventh at the bomb, Naylor, a factorysponsored rider from Central.Valley (near Redding), California, was slowly dosing in on Smith, making a determined bid for the lead. Krause was in third overall at the downhill, running one minute behind Naylor, while Team Husky's Dan Ashcraft and Garth Sweetland who will be partners in the upcoming Baja 1000 - were running neckin-neck for fourth overall. Las Vegas entry Scott Morris was hard on the gas in sixth overall (second 250): while Honda-mounted Open Expert Lance McPhee, Open Amateur Coleman, and 125cc Expert class leader Duane Summers, riding a factory Cagiva, waged a fierce threeway battle for seventh. Loop two was another 50-mile section, but its sirnilarily to loop one ended there. The fast-paced roads of the first section gave way to tight, technical terrain, choppy cross-country riding, and narrow cow trails. Out in his "favorite sort of terrain - the gnarly, technical stuff," Smith pulled away from Naylor, increasing his margin to just over a minute by the time the checkered £lag fell. "I rode it by myself, pretty much," Smith told Cycle News. "The only time I really saw someone behind me was coming into the pits. I guess he was about a minute behind me all the way. "That second loop was great," Smith said. "Lots of gnarly, crosscountry stuff, and lots of cow trails. Cows obviously don't know how to walk in a straight line. You had to be Smith wins agai·n at Winnemucca Dry Lake By Anne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren RENO, NV, OCT. 19 Southern California's Dan Smith hit the jackpot in the Nevada desert, coasting in to take an easy win at the AMA· National Championship Hare and Hound, held at Winnemucca Dry Lake, northeast of Reno. With only two races left in the eight-event series, the Team Husky ace all but 16 cinched the championship with his fifth win in six outings. "Unbeatable Dan" has built up a 50-point lead over his nearest rival Husky teammate Dan Ashcraft and with each win in the series worth 30 points, it is doubtful that Ashcraft can make up the points difference with only two events remaining. Smith's comfortable margin also is protected by the series schedule. Round seven of the championsh~p series will be held in Caldwell (near Boise) Idaho, on November 2 - just three days before the running of the SCORE Baja 1000. With at least five of the top seven contenders planning, to skip the Idaho race to pre-run the Baja course, Smith's Number One spot will remain unchallenged until the final round of the series, which will be held December 6, near Tucson, Arizona. The Winnemucca race saw the smallest rider turnout of any of the championship events to date, with just under 200 riders lining up for the 10 a.m. banner drop. Smith, riding his new 510 Husqvarna, took full advantage of the four-stroke's grunt to pull the competition off the line, then turned his holeshot into a comfortable lead on the silty uphill run to the bomb. Smith was out in front when the course hit a short section of powerline road, and held a 10-second lead over fellow D-37 rider Paul Krause, riding a Suzuki RM250, when he flew over a near-vertical drop-off and into the first sand wash. Husqvania-mounted Charlie Morris, Jr. showed his "no guts, no glory" riding style over the drop-off, snatching third overall from Arizona's Garth Sweetland in a daring midair maneuver. Morris then raced out into virgin terrain just ahead of the first amateur rider, Clarke Coleman, who was riding an Open class Honda. The 50-mile first loop gave the real careful up there because the trails went all over the place. It was fun." Smith had nothing but praise for the race organizers - the Western States Racing Association, best known as sponsors of the Virginia City Grand Prix. "Loop one had lots of virgin terrain and no whoops, which is a big change. for us D-37 guys, and everything was mllrked really good," he said. "I dido't get lost once. 1 think the organize'rs' did a really good job on this one." Ron Naylor continued his determined ride to cross the finish line in second overall, finishing the race barely one minute behind Smith. "This is my first desert race on the bike and I had it geared down," said Naylor. "That meant I had to let a few people go. I just couldn't keep going fast enough. "My other problem is that my bike just has a motocross tank on it, so I had to carry a gallon of gas with me and (had to) gas up all the time," Naylor said. "In the first loop, he (Smith) wasn't 15 feet in front of me and I had to stop and fill up. I could've won the race with a bigger Lank. " Krause crossed the finish line in third overall, to take the win in the 250cc Expert class; the win gave Krause a 44 point lead over Scott Morris in the championship series. Morris finished a close fifth qveraIl, to take second in the 250 class. "The first loop was really fast, but I had a bit more fun on the second loop," said Krause, who is sponsored by U.S. Suzuki/Allied Suzuki/O' Neal/ Neal Enterprises/ATK/IMS/Spectro. "Overall, it was a fun race course." "The course was much better than I expected," Morris told Cycle News. "I had expected a lot of silt, but it was all nice cross-country stuff, and most of it was virgin. I liked that. I could've done a lot better, but I crashed." . Fourth overall, third in the Open Class, went to Husky's team member from Phoenix, Arizona - Garth Sweetland.