Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

• ~. ~ 00 00 0') ~ '" r- c-r >- ~ ~ I---) Defending hare scrambles 'cham p, Husqvarna-mounted Ed Lojak was ga in ing on Kad lec near the end but came up 20-seconds short. Fritz Kadlec captured his very first National Championship Hare Scrambles overall with the win in Colorado. AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series: Round 8 Kadlec blasts Sand Hill National By Roger Dowden WAL DEN, co, JULY 10 Yamaha support rider Fritz Kadlec bested a field ' of the nation 's top hare scrambles riders to post h is first ever National Champ ionship Hare Scrambles victory. After a poor start an d despite several crashes Kadlec on a YZ250 , h dI ' took the.lea~ on t e secon ap and mamtamed that lead for 12 the remaining four. He was not unchallenged though, as reigning , National Champion Eddie Loj ak was ripping at his rear fender for the last half of the race. "1 kn ow everybody thinks 1 hometowned 'em, but I've never ridden this course before," said Kadlec, who calls Gunnison, Colorado, home. " O ur trails are much rockier than this, but I do think it helps that I am accli ma ted to this altitude. Also, 1 a m accus tomed to its horsepower robbing effect on a motorcycle." Promoters, Carl Watson a nd Ed Shear, had laid out an II-mi le loo p that included a variety of terrain not usuall y found in a hare scra mbles co urse. The co urse ran th rough abo u t 'a mil e of sa nd dunes, before funn eling into sa ndy trails and fire roads. A series of tight trails a nd rocky switch back jeep roads took th e racers up into the mountains. The descent to the lower Portions of the course was via some arm -pumping downhills: The most formidable of these downhills was mainly granite, nearly vertical, and a half mile long. The tra il then passed through a series of aspen groves and then ba ck to th e sand dunes. Despite thundershowers in the area, the course was still dry and dusty. Starting th e race in th e middle of th e sa nd dunes allowed th e entire A class to start a t one time, with the B class following a minute later. As the 50 or so A riders neared th e edge of the dunes Kevin Brown, on a Yamaha 250, was in th e lead , followed by Colorado r ider J a-mi e Thompson, o n a H onda CR500. Former ISDE rid er, Dennis Larrett, on a 250 Honda, attempted to pas s Thompson and' cras hed bi g-time. This a ll owed form er cha m p io n Mark Hyde, on a Husky 430CR, to move into third. He was foll owed by an other Col orad o rider, J ohn Bru ckbau er, who in turn was tailed by T on y H endon a nd Sco tt Summers. ' Both Kadl ec a nd Loja k had po or I sta rts . Kadl ec was mid pack a n d ; Lojak was nearly last. T he y were virt ually £l ying blind th rough th e dust, but th ey picked off o ne rider af ter another as th ey worked th eir way up through th e pack. Midway through the first loop, Kadlec had moved into third behind Brown and Jamie Thompson. Kadlec was followed by Bru ckbau er, Hendon, Hyde and Summers. ' It was at this point that Hendon mi ssed a turn in the dust on th e swi tch backs, taking him up the wrong road. Hyde and Summers mi st aken ly followed him. Hendon quickly relocated th e course, but Hyde and Summers weren't so lucky. H yde remarked, " Sco tt and I, and several others saw some ribbon and head ed for it, but it turned out to be for blocking jeep traffic from entering th e race course. By th e time we found th e course we were in am on g the B riders, and we ended up fighting the dust for the rest of th e da y." The lost riders' misfortune worked to Lojak's adva n tage. It reduced the dust a nd traffi c' he had to contend with, enabling him to work his way th rough to th e front of the pack. . As th e front runners fini shed the first lap, the top five riders consisted o f Brown, Thompson , Kadlec , Bru ckbauer, a nd Hendon. Midway through th e seco n d la p Br o w n crashed on a rocky tr a il in the mountai ns, allowing T hompson to move into first. Kad lec passed both Thompson and Brown when they pitted for gas at the end of the seco nd lap. In his haste to regain lost time, Brown eviden tly forg ot about the deep gully at the edge of the rolling dunes, flew acro ss, and flartened himself into the opposite bank, injuring his back and end ing his day of racing. As Thompson chased Kad lec into the mountains, he crashed in exac tly the sa me spot that Brown had on the previ ous lap. Shortly th er eafter, Lojak a nd Bruckbauer pa ssed the slowing Thompson and set th eir sights on Kadlec. Those three riders pi tted a t th e end of th e third lap, and Loj ak's speedy pit crew allo wed him to cu t Kadl ec's lead to 30 seconds. At thi s po int, Kad lec sized up his com pe titio n and decided o n his winning strategy. " My Yam ah a was raster , so I pegg ed it on th e fast stuff, because I kn ew Lojak would be tough in th e trees ," sa id Kadlec. Bru ckbauer was a nother minute behind th e front running duo, and Thompson and Hendon co mp letedthe top five som e distance back. Thompson, sponsored by Fa y Meyers Honda, waved Hendon by on the fifth lap. Thompson, Colorado's only top caliber desert rider , exp lained, " I just got tired. I'm not used to th is tight stuff. " Lojak had been glued to Kadlec's rear fender for two laps. A thunderstorm was beginning to settle the dust wh en the two started th eir sixth and fina l lap. . "My pit board said I was 37 seconds down. I closed th e gap to 20, but that was so close as I cou ld get ," said a disappointed Lojak, as he thanked his sponsors Husqvarna/ Smith Gogg le s/Hi-Point, and Metzel er, Kadlec, sponsored by Malcolm S m i th /Yamaha/B e 1-Ra y / S h o ei/ Smith Goggles/ RenthaIlTsubaki, and Ra ce T ech , was ecstatic over his win. " T h is is my first National hare scrambles win. I'm hopi ng my fir st National enduro victory com es next week. " Bru ckbauer, on a YZ250, fin ished third - three minutes behind Lojak. "This is great. I' ve been doing a lot of motocross this season and I hav en't done as well as I would have li ked. I've been working on my starts at motocross and I wanted a good sta rt here. People really freak ed ou t when I dug that starting trench out in the sand dunes, but it worked. I got a great start and I was ab le to maintain a good position throughout the race. I'd like to give a big thanks to Bill Vickery of Vickery Yamaha, Malcolm Smith and Smith Goggles." Fourth overall and first Open A went to ATK/Dunlop/Smith Goggl es/ An sw er/Tsubaki -spon sored H endon, who finished six minutes in back of Bruckbauer. " I' ve never ridden on sand dunes before. I went off that same dune wide open that go t K.B. (Kevin Brown), but I manage d to save it. This was a go od race and a good co urse , but it 's go ing to be good to get back to some eastern even ts. A tired Thompson hung on for fifth overall and second Open A. Eighteen-year-old Kelby Pepper, on a 250 Honda, worked hi s way up th rough th e ranks to fini sh sixth overa ll and fourth 250cc A. Summers continued to amaze everyone by finishi ng seven th overall on

• Cover