Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

..... Cl) ..0 S Cl) ;> o Z Garth Sweetland, Smith 's Husqvarna teammate, powered home to third place, finish ing less than 30 seconds behind Smith . Team Husqvarna's Dan Smith took the overall w in at the Rabbit Creek Hare & Hound to wrap up his second consecutive National championship. AMA National Hare & Hound Championship Series: Round 8 Smith claims win, title in Rabbit Creek H&H By Anne & Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren MURPHY, ID, OCT. 25 In one of the closest finishes of the National series thus far, Team Husqvarna's Dan Smith streaked in to grab t h e overall win i n th e R abbi t C reek H a re & Hound, 6 finish ing l ess than half a happy ab~~t th e way everyth ing minute ahead of his n earest tufl! ed out. . . . 1 he Idah o rou nd o f co m pe u uon. n va ls. which was or ga nized by Dirt M.e. Aft er 100 mil es of tigh t , a n d spo nso red by Sm ith Goggles, Scott Goggles and Western Power technica l racin g, Sm ith took th e checkered flag just 10 seconds ah ead Sp orts , was held near th e sma ll town o f H onda privat eer Paul Krau se. of Murphy, abo ut 50 miles sou th west of Boise. The race dr ew a sma ll er Sm ith's Husk y teammate, Ga rt h Sweetla nd, fin ished in third a no ther fie ld th an som e o f th e mor e cent ra l 20 seco nds ba ck. events in th e seri es, but wh at the event lacked i.n quan~ ity , it cer ta in ly "T ha t was to ugh," Smith sa id a fter th e race. " I led all the way mad e.u p for 111 q ua h ~y ..The racmg arou nd but th ey were right behind was fierce a~ a ll the big gu ns turned out for then seco nd-to-las t shot a t me th e who le time. I think th e biggest lead I ever had was abo u t 5,'> ea rn ing National points, and t!1e seco nds a nd even th en I co uld see three-loop co urse laid o u t by DIn th e du st com ing up behind me." l\I. ~. p rovided pl enty o f cha llenging Sm it h's wi n marked hi s fourth in n~~ng. . . th e nine-round series. Wh en co u pled 1 I,t ..was a , N a~~0~1.a l -ca l.lber race, 1 , with seco nd, third and fourth p lace t a t ~ fo~ cer,t,a In, sa id local hotsh ot fin ish es in other rounds th e.victor y' C u rtis Dice. It was to ug her th an o ur . ,. ' usual races ou t here - th ey rea lly made it ha rd o n us tod a y. And th e ea rned th e AMA s 1987. Am a teur ' . 'I . I Athl et e o f th e Year ' h ls second N ' I CI . hi . co m pe ti tio n was someuung e se auona tam pions Ip 111 a row . you can 't get a ny to ug he r than th ese boys." • . " T he ser.ies was a lot closer this An unusu al 73-day drought mad e year tha n. 1l was last year - th ey re~lI y. ga ve m,e a ~,u n ,for. my m~ ney for dusty cond itio ns wh en the banner dro p ped for th e 10:30 a. m. sta n , but th is t~m e arou nd .' sa id Smi th, ~o r a while there I was wo nden ng If I that did no t slow down th e hard cha rging Sm ith. T he Ca li forn ia ace cou ld pull it o ff. I'm g lad it' s a ll sewn u p no w becaus e th a t tak es th e shot into the lead right off the start pressu re off, a nd, of course, I'm reall y a nd was soo n making th e mo st o f du st-free running at th e head of th e pa ck. As .the racers mad e short work of th e brush-li ttered, virgin terra in of th e bomb run and lea ped into th e first sand wash th at headed for the hi lls, it was Sm ith, Sweetl a nd and th en Krause racing with only 12 . secon ds betw een th em . ' Loca l rider Dan Lees powered through in fou rth overall , with last yea r' s a lmos t-win ner of the event, Ron Naylor, push ing hard in fifth . Ron Wehr wa s o ut in front of th e 250cc di vision in eighth overall, just in ch es in front of last year's overa ll win ner of the event, Sh awn Gerb er. Just ge tt ing to th e starting line had used up most o f Gerber's good-luck a llo tment for the race. . " I blew m y gear box th e day befor e th e race so I thought it was a ll over 'for me," th e Utah racer sa id. " We were in a motel in town that night and a local guy called Phil White found us clear over in Caldwell a t 10 o 'cloc k. H e had a brand new 500 Cagiva and he gave me th e who le lo wer end o ff it. T he guys from L & M Ra cing opened up th eir shop and cha nged it for me a nd m y bik e was rea dy ag ai n ab out 12:30 this morning. Without the lo wer end I was don e a nd I j ust ca n' t th ank those ' people enough . T hey did a ll tha t for me and they didn't even kn ow me. " T he 37-m ile first loop was described as "fast, flat a nd sandy," by course mark er Way ne Kingslien , bu t 'riders a t the tai l 'end of the field had o the r opi nions. " T ha t was a lot of. ha rd wo rk a nd it certain ly isn ' t a four-stroke loop ," sai d Woman Novice Ni co le Boulanger , wh o took two a nd a half hou rs to co m p lete loo p o ne o n a Honda XR200. "There were some nea t pl aces o u t th ere, like rea lly ta ll ruts lined with trees, but mo st o f it' was pr ett y to ugh. By the tim e I got ou t the re the silt was really deep and I had a lo t of troub le. If that was th e fast loop, I'd hate to see the techn ica l loop! " The loo p was no picnic for the frontrunner s ei ther. T he 37-m ile " fast" loop too k a n hour to com plete a nd sa w Sm ith thunder in to the pit s just 17 seco nds ahead of Ron Naylor 's Ca n -Am. Kra use was moving stro ngly in third, just 30 seco nds ' back fro In Naylor , wit h Sweetland a nd Wehr not far behind. Lees stormed out of loop one -in six th o vera ll but excessi ve spe ed through the pi ts a nd ignoring the " wa lk yo ur ,bike" sig ns at th e road cross ing going into loo p two disqualified the high -placed rider , letting ro u nd s ix winn er , J im Thompson of Co lorado, tak e over • th e number six spot. Loca l h otshot J eff 'Mill er was putting in the ride of his life. He had the Coors Extra Gold H onda o u t in front of th e 125cc divi sion in seventh overa ll at th e fir st pit, while southern Californ ia's Dan Daws on, o il a Kawasaki , led th e Vet div ision in eig h th overa l I. The technical terr ain of the second loopslowedthe riders to a near cra wl and saw th e frontrunners average just 25 mph for th e tough 25-mile sectio n. " T he loop runs ou t towards the Sn ak e River a nd we have some neat stuff ou t there," a spokesm an for Dirt M.C, said. "They have to make it th rou gh th e ' Ska tebo a rd Park' which is deep and twist y with rea lly ta ll sid es, go up the ' Wa ll of Death ; which is ne arl y vertical, a nd th en th ere' s th e . Murph y ' Free wa y, : which is mi les and mil es of wh oops: It's a tough seco nd loop, that's for sure." Ridin g in first and second gear much o f th e way, Sm ith was pushing har d to stay ou t in front a nd was enjo ying a relatively troubl e-free rid e. Back in second, Naylor 's o ld and decrepit Can-Am was deciding wh at to break in th is race and th e hard-ch arging rider was forced to p u ll over with mech anica l problems yet again before the half-way point. T ho m pson's p romi sing cha rge up th rough th e pa ck was al so cu t sho rt halfway th rough loo p two . " I was cro ssing a was h in the du st. It was so thic k I co uld n ' t see a thing, a nd whammo, I hit a big rock," Thompson exp laine d. " It was just bad lu ck , but I hit it so hard I go t a flat back tire and a flat front tir e a nd I th ink m y forks are gone too. T here wasn 't much point in stayin g in th e race a fter th at. " ' . As the gruel ing technical sectio n . came to· an end and the racers began th e wi de-o pe n drag race back to the pits. Sm ith had ope ne d up 45 seconds on second pl ace. A rapid performan ce by Smith 's pi t cre w had him back on th e gas after just '20 seconds.

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