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McKenna now has two Shasta Dam GP victories under his belt; his first w in came back in 1984. McKenna led for most of the 85 m ile-plus race . Fritz Kadlec passed leader Eric McKenna just before the finish line but crashed Into a tapper moments later and dropped back to second overall. AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series: Round 4 . McKenna edges Kadlec at Shasta Dam GP By Kit Palmer REDDING , CA , APR. 17 After three hours and more than 85 m il es of racin g, an d with just two miles left to go, the 7th Annual National Shasta Dam Grand Prix was far from being decided. Honda CR500 -mounted Eric McKenna was leading hardcharging Yamaha YZ250ยท wi armed Fritz Kadl ec, an d wrthiIn . 16 those last two miles a lot happened. The two riders crashed into each other (p lus McKenna crash ed once on hiIS own), an d th ey swap ped t h e lead position three times. But when the smoke had settled, it was still the Arai Helmets/Sinisalo/Torro/Scott USA-sponsored McKenna crossing the finish line first 26' seconds ahead of secondpla~e Kadlec, to take the hard-fought overall victory and the Vet Expert clas s win. "It was close" said two-time Shasta Dam GP 'win n er McKenna. His last win was in 1984, which was al so a cra s h -b a m, h and lebarban ging affair with th en Huskymounted Charl es Halcomb. This year, however , it wa s a battle aga inst Col orado 's Kadlec, wh o said, " It wa s a great race although I finished second, but I'm happy. I've n,ever ~0!1 one of th ese things, but I. ve !~ nJ s h ed se co n d co u n tless urnes. Yamaha/Malcolm Smith/ The B I R /S . h G I b k d e - e y. mit og~ es- ac e Kadlec did, ho~ever, claim the 250cc Expert d Thi class wm.fi . hi II 41 d . ir overa , mrs mg seron s .beh in d Kadlec on a Yama~a YZ250, wa s seco nd place 250cc nder . Dean J oyn er, .who was foll owed. m by Honda nder Duke Dowell (third ?50 ) and Dave Bertram (fo urt h 250). SIxth overall went to .125cc class winner Glen S!1bo1, whi le seventh ove rall was claimed by Open Expert wi nner Jerome Heiberger on a Honda. Eighth went to second Vet Expert Phi l Douglas, followed by Wa shing ton's John Ni elsen a n d ce n tra l Ca liforn ia 's Donnie Simon e. David Rhod es p ilo ted hi s Ans wer Products/ Sm ith/M aru sh in /Pirell i/ m om a nd dad -sp onsored Husk y to th e Four-St rok e cl ass win. The National Shasta Dam Grand Prix, hosted by Dr . Terry R ust and hi s V-R Racin g crew , was th e best Shasta Dam G P ever, according to most riders. It was well organized, as usua l, but most of th is year's success had to do with pre-race rains and ov er cast race-day conditions which kept th e normally dusty race virtually dust free. Three approximately 28-mile loops were run with 274 riders competing in the five-wave, deadengine start race. Two rows of Experts were needed with current National hare scrambles points leader Tony Hendon and hi s ATK 406cc two-stroke blasting off the line first, bidding for his fourth straight National hare scrambles win. H owever , it wasn 't to be. Du ri n g th e second loop Hendon surprisingly pulled into the pits, ca ll in g it quits for the day. "I came into the second checkpoint on the first loop ," said Kentu ckian Hendon. " I stopped, th ey took my number, I took a left and headed out. The seco nd 'time around , I get there (check two ), I stop, and th ey wave me down to go to the right ' this time. There was an A trail and a Novice trail, and th e first time around I went down th e Novice traiL The second time I went down the A trail. It was real foggy up there and it was hard to see, and I missed th e signs leading into th e trails and nobody said anything. " _ This wasn't the only time Hendon had problems with getting lost at the Shasta Da m GP. "I did the same th ing last year, too," said Hendon. "I got off the trail somewhere on the three-wheeler trail and I never knew it until after the ra ce when they disqualified me .' So ' there was no use in continuing today and try and kill myself when I know I'm j ust going to get disqualified." Curtis Dice, a top runner in the Open Expert class, was DQed for the same reason. With Hendon out of th e running, and with local favorite and manytime Shasta Da m GP winner Ro n Naylor not competing due to a broken co ll a rb o n e h e sustained while practi cing a week before th e race , th e ov erall wa s up for gr ab s. McKenna took over th e lead headin g into th e seco n d lap , whil e a nothe r local favorite, Dow ell , h ad to take a long p it heading into lap three to change a flat rear tire. Back in fourth was Kadlec, who was just ahead of a moving-up Heiberger. "T h e first lap wasn 't good for me, " said Kadlec. " I was hating life. It was foggy and I was scared because I didn't want to go as fast as everybody. I was tense and fighting the bike." But he soon got over it and started gaining ground on McKenna. It was during the final lap when all the action took place. McKenna was enjoying a fairly co mfortable lead while Kadlec was busy dicing with Joyner, who had been battling with Heiberser before the Honda rider pulled mto th e pits before the final lap to refuel, giving Joyner some brea th in g room. Bu t J oyner 's breathing room was soon taken up by Kadlec. Kadlec eventually got arou n d J oyner , and while they were ba ttling, Kad lec snuck up on McKenna. " I didn 't even know he (Kadlec) was there," said McKenna. " Kadlec and Joyner were pushing each other and were closi ng on me with two miles to go. So , all of a sudden, here co mes Kad lec. I was following some lappers in some rea l tight Manzanitas (bushesjat the time." "I tried to pass (the lappers)," said McKenna, " but I clipped a bush and, boom, I crashed - Kadlec went by. Then Kad lec tried to pass the lappers too, and I come around the comer and he 's (Kadl ec) lying there. I locked on my bra kes and I couldn 't stop; I was going too fast. I slammed into th e back of him and knocked him about eight feet down the traiL I grabbed my clutch, it was stiIl running, I picked my bike up and said, 'I'm sorry Fritz,' and took off." " H e was trying to pass these riders," said Kad lec, "and I got by everyone. Eric didn't even know I was there. I just came up on h im and passed 'em all , except one guy that h it me and we both went down. I'm si tting there and Eric smashe s right into me. It almost tore my boot off and it smashed my rear fen der in . Finally I got my bi ke sta rted a nd I just followed him in ." McKenna rolled across th e Iinish line shortly after just 26 seconds ahead of Kadle c, th en ca me Joyner, Dice and Dowell. " I got a fift h p lace start," said Dowell , "and had McKenna in sight a fte r th e pavemen t. J erome was running seco nd and a co up le of guys went down a nd I was th ird. Then