Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

<.0 00 O"l .-I ~ O"l lo-t (lJ ..0 e (lJ ;> o Z After 100 miles of racing, 500cc KTM:mounted Shawn Gerber edged out Can-Am's Ron Naylor by a few feet for the National victory. AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series: Final round Gerber outlasts' Naylor in Idaho ( By Anne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren MURPHY, 10, NOV 2 ' In a neck-in-neck dash to the finish line, Utah's Shawn Gerber snatched the win in round seven of the AMA National Hare and Hound Championship Series -' beating out Northern California's Ron Naylor by an unbelievably slim margin of barely five feet. After trailing Naylor for most 12 of the LOugh IOO"mile course, the KTM-mounted Gerber launched a do-or-die effort in the last quarter mile of the race that swept him past the facLOry-sponsored 'Can-Am rider and inLO the number one spot just 100 yards from the checkered na~. "He was LOugh," Gerber said. "But I wasn't going to give up. It took a long time, but I got him in the end and that's what counts." Just over 200 riders signed up to compete in the second-ta-Iast round of the eight-event championship series whiCh was held in Murphy, 35 miles southwest of Boise, Idaho. The 200 entries made it the smallest of the championship fields so far, but it was an impressive turnom by local standards. According to Darren Obendorf, a spokesman for race organizers Dirt M.C., races in the Boise area generally draw only 70 to 80 riders. A large number of last-minute entries pushed the scheduled 1-0:30 a.m. start back to 11:00 a.m. and when the banner finally dropped on the impatient field, it was Joel Huskey on a 250 Suzu'ki grabbing the holeshoL The short bomb run provided some tricky terrain fQr out-of-state riders, who had LO keep their speed down as they ran through the knee-deep grass that hid numerous ruts and bumps. Huskey was out in front as the riders picked up the pink-ribboned trail that led the way' into the first wash on ,loop one - a 25-mile sand section. Huskey had Shawn Gerber's Open Class KTM hard on his heels in the early running, with Idaho's Bob Carl- berg on his 250 Kawasaki and Ross Boyd on his Open Kawasaki tucked in behind. Oregon 250 hotshot Joe McCormick was fifth overall just past the bomb with John Nielsen's 400 Husky running sixth. Naylor, winner of the last two Dirt M.C.'s Sun Valley Grands Prix., raced through in seventh, but soon started a move up through the pack. By the half-way point in the 45minute loop, Gerber had come up from second to power past Huskey and into the lead: BaCK in the pack, , Naylor's push from behind was working him steadily up in the running. The racer from Central Valley, California picked off rider after rider and was soon in second overall, and snapping at Gerber's heels. Naylor stole the lead from Gerber as the course turned LOwards home check, and as the sandy terrain drew to a close and headed into the pi ts for the first time, Naylor was out in front by about 20 seconds. But Naylor's lead was short-lived. A record-breaking effort in Gerber's pit put the Utah rider back on his bike in a matter of seconds, and launched the big KTM out into loop two eight seconds ahead of Naylor. Reed Bright of Caldwell, Idaho, who silver medalled at the recent ISDE in Italy; had worked his way up to third overall by the pits, and was racing neck-and-neck with Huskey as they went through home check and powered out into loop two - a 43-mile scenic rou te through the local mountains. Southern California's Paul Krause was next through in fiuh overall. Krause, whose unbeatable style on a 250 Suzuki has already sewn up the win in the 250cc class of the National series, was riding an Open class Honda in a practice run for the Barstow-to-Vegas race on November 29. Krause was followed out by Ross Boyd, with AMA District 37 250 hotshot Charlie Morris, J r. pushin!; "'ard in seventh. Joe McCormick had fallen back to eighth, and was already being challenged by Southern California's Number One plate holder in the Vet 250cc class - Yamaha pilot Mike Sixbery. The first 125 bike to complete the loop was Jeff Miller on the Coors Extra Gold-sponsored Kawasaki, running a high 13th overall. Loop two took the riders through a variety of challenging terrain that ranged from tree-lined trails so narrow the handlebars would barely clear, to treacherous icy ground in the higher regions. At the front of the field, the Gerber/Naylor battle continued. Naylor grabbed the lead back from Gerber just after the pi ts, and raced off 'to tackle the 43 miles of the race's'longest loop. Seeming at home in the steep, rugged terrain of th,e mouiuain loop, Naylor started to gradually open upa lead over the tenacious Gerber and, for the first time in the race, got far enough in front to break visual contact with the Utah rider. "He had me worried in the second loop," Gerber said "The way I had it figured, the first and last loops were to my advantage, but he had the advantage in the mountains. And that was the firsl time I lost sight of him. "U p till then, the whole race had been visual," he said. "I could see him out there the whole way, but in the mountains he got away from me and I was working hard. I was really amazed with my riding up there. I'm nota mountain man, but today things up there really came together and I think I did really well in that part." While Gerber pushed.to the limit to keep up with Naylor's fact(xy CanAm, some reshuffling was going on further back in the pack. A strong bid for the lead was launched by Paul Krause, and took him up into lourth overall before he bit the dU5t about half way round the loop when the rear cham guard on the big Honda came off, forcing Krause to drop out of the running. "Everything got wrapped round the wheel, and that was it," said a disappointed Krause, whodtove more than 900 miles to compete in the race. "I was making up a'ton of time out there, and was right up on the tail of whoever was running third. I couldn't believe how fast I was going. I figured I had finally worked out how to ride that Open bikel" With Krause out of the running, Bright's third overall was safe for ,the time being and Huskey moved back up into fourth. The mountain goat of the race turned out to be John Nielsen, a Champion Cycle-sponsored rider out of Bellingham, Washington. Nielsen's sure footed Husky 400 scrambled its way up from 10th overall going into the mountain loop to a high fifth overall going into the pits for the second time. Morris came out of loop two in fifth overall, and was showing ,signs of wear and tear after a head-on collision with a tree. "There were a lot of branches across the trail up in that section, and I was ducking under one, then all of a sudden I looked up and there was a tree trunk right in front of me," Morris said while nursing a swollen wrist. "I smacked that thing hard." As the leaders came down out of the mountains and headed out into the final loop - a 30-mile section of tough desert terrain - Naylor was still out in front, but only by 20 seconds. The tired riders took a beating in the tough terrain of loop three and just when they thought they had seen it all, they were sent headlong into the area's'infamous "Murphy Freeway" - a seven-mile sec;tion of continuous whoop-de-doos guaranteed ·to separate the men from the boys. The Naylor/Gerber tussle was still undecided as the course turned for the final run in to the finish. When the closely-matched duo came into sight about a quarter mile from the finish, Naylor was out in front by about a bike length, riding wide open in the final run down the valley towards the checkered Hag. But the persistent Gerber had not given up. A desperate burst as the checkered flag came into view took him up alongside Naylor, and at the last possible moment a do-or-die twist of the throttle put him through into first overall only a few feet from the finish line. "That's about the dosest I've ever had it," the happy rider from Lehi, Utah said. "He (Naylor) is a great rider, and we had quite a racer "He can ride in tight things a lot better and faster than I can," said Gerber. "Every time I would get by him we'd get into a tight bit and he would pass me back. The only way I was passing him was when he made . little mistakes. A little one here, a little one there - if he hadn't made those, I don't think I would've got hi m. .. The win was the first in the championship series for Gerber, who,had to be content with second place behind Team Husky's Dan Smith in his last appearance - at round five of the competition at Cherry Creek, Utah. Smith, who currently holds an unbeatable points lead in the Championship's Open Expert class, as well as a number of other, top contenders

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