Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

] 8 ~ o Z Team Husqvama's Smith (1) passed 250 Expert Kenny Parry (1x) just before the finish line to claim second overall at Johnson Valley. Privateer Charlie Morris Jr., beat Husky factory ,rider Dan Smith to take . the overall at the 1oo's M.C. Championship Hare and Hound. AMA/D-37 100'5 M.C. 4th Annual Cham~lonshiR Hare and Hound. Morris tops Smith at Soggy Drx Lake By Anne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren JOHNSON VALLEY, CA, OCT, 26 Charlie Morris Jr., powered his 250 H usqvarna to victory over one of the largest desert fields of the yea~ during the 100's M.C. 4th Annual Championship Hare and Hound at Soggy Dry Lake. heels, '."ith 250 HU,l\ky pilots M,orris Morris took the overall win and Enc ~allg-arh III hot pursUIt. , D o n Gnewe, who had abandoned . . 10 a held of more than 600 nd'his customary Kawasaki 500 in favor, ' ers after lOO's M.e. officials of a I~ew four-stroke Husk.y, followed 12 disqualified the first rider to cross the finish line for-racing through the pits.' Race of~icials told Cycle News lhe, disqualified rider ...,.. 250' Yamaha pilot Cli££Thomas, who finished the race just over, two minutes ahe-ad of Morris _ had blatantly disregarded the 15 mph speed restriction imposed to improve safety on pit row. Morris _ who completed the tough 85-mile course in just over two hours _ was elated with his victory. "This is my first overall win in forever," he said, With the Pro purse for 250 riders in the championshipship'event wonh more than $~50, it was no wonder he was grinning from ear to ear. ' The banner dropped forrhe stan of the race promptly at 9:30 a.m" and the huge field was immediately swallowed up by a thick blanket of dust as the riders headed out across the choppy; cross-grain terrain of the bomb run. Thomas, trying ln~. Smith, ndlng a ,510 ~our-strok.e ~uskr, made uP. some time as the pink nbboned trail ran through a serles of deep sandy whoops and staned arunaroundt.heedgeofava~leY·,Bul w.hen mecham~al problems sldelU:led him for a qUICk worksh~p seSSlQn soon after, he lost alllhe time he had made up and. lhen some. . "~was haVing a few prob.lems Wll~ a ~Igger tar:tk I ~as try.lng out, Smuh explained. The bigger tank was ru~bi~g ~n ,the idle screw and kept wmdmg It In, so I had to stop and fix that:." The pace slowed dramatically at. the 20-mile mark when the trail hit a two-mile section of back-breaking, rocky, cross-grain going into the alternate gas stop. But it was back on the gas again when the trail cross~ Bessemer Mine Road and made a small loop t1uough the Greasewood Forest before making the wide-open run down the valley to home check. Thomas had a lead of just over a : minute when he went through the check and staned his ill-fated race down pit row. Paul Krause's Open Honda was holding second overall, in from of a string of 2505. Morris went into the pits in third overall, justover half a minute behind Krause, with Yamaha-mounted Kenny Parry and Kenji Gauthier, also riding a Yamaha, not far behind. Honda pilot Jim McGrath was running second in the Open class in sixth overall, trailed by Ogden and Shuler. The leaders in the L25cc class went through home check in a blur, fighting it out for 10th overall. Kawasaki rider J ullian Guerra had a bike length , lead over Cagiva ace Duane Summers, with Brett Howell, also Kawasakimounted, stuck firmly on the Cagiva's back wheel. Mike Sixbe!y was leading the Vet Class in 14th overall, trailed by Smith, who was running a dusty 15th. Loop two provided 'a change 0 pace for the racers. The wide-ope terrain of the first loop gave way t tight technical riding as the course made a 41-mile loop through Fry Mountains. The loop also provided some of the race's most spectacular scenery. Al check 5, riders came out of a tight downhill canyon littered with large rocks to be greeted by two topless women - Susan and Laree - who seemed LO improve rider morale immensely. Morris took advantageo!' loop two's tighter terrain to move upon Krause and took over second overall in the early running. But while the frorit-runners batded it out for first overall, some oCthe best riding of the day was going on further back in the pack. After leaving the :pits in 15th overall, Team Husky's Smith had launched a, do-or-die campaign for the lead and had, his four-stroke Husky wound on hard as he worked his way through the pack, picking off rider after rider. By the half-way poi~ ilJ the loop, it was eight down, six to go, and Smith was charging hard. 'But the loop ran out too soon, and it was Cliff Thomas who took the checkered flag after just over two hours of dusty racing. Thomas' victOry celebration was shon-lived though, as race officials immedialely told him that he had been disqualified. "They said I was going too fast through the pi ts, " Thomas told Cycle News. "But they didn't warn me about the speed limit at all. I had the race won from the stan on - no one even came close.'; Thomas left the finish line almost immediately to file a written protest with the organizing club, leaving 250 Husky hotshot Charlie Morris, Jr. to receive the purse and the huge trophy for first overalL. "It was a bitchin' course," said Morris. "It was all different stuff not the garbage we sometimes get ou t here. "I had a great race," he said. "I was fifth or therea bou ts at the born band 1 just staned catching people. I diced it out with Eric Hallgath for a while. He rear-ended me twice and then fell off, but apart from that, I really just moved up gradually." , Morris, who thanked Grand Sport Tires and Answer Products, said the 100's M.e. always puton a good race. "These guys always do a good job, and this is one of their besl ever,".he said. "I also need to thank Downhill Alexander. He worked on my shock, ,and it worked really well during the race;" With thewinner safely home, spectators turned to watch for the next trail of dust coming down the valley - after a wait of almost five minutes they spotted two bikes heading in under full steam. Smith's all-out effort in the second loop had worked him up into third overall, just behind 250cc Expert Kenny Parry. And as the riders came into sight ~rely a mile from the checkered flag, Smith was only a few bike lengths behind. Smith's four-stroke Husky was in full cry and gave him the extra squirt needed to power past Parry just before the finish line and grab second overall by a margin of about four feet. Smith's usual "I-could-rideanother-loop-easily" freshness was missing completely. . ''I'm exhausted! -I rode my lillie butt off the whole second loop," said the tired and dusty rider as he sat on the ground trying to catch his breath. "I got a real bad stan. A lot of people went 'round the side of the bomb run and ended up out in front of me, and then I had to stOp out on the course and do a couple of repairs. That left me with a lot of catching up to do, and in all the dust, it was hard work." /'The first loop I was just hating it," Smith told Cycle News. "Itseerned like every time I caughl someone in the tight stuff and was all ready to pass, they would hit a wide open place and just dust me out. The second loop was really tight and gnarly and I could really rail it on

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