Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127155
... v ,.0 o .... u o Defending National Champion Dan Smith was slowed by a f lat tire while runn ing second. Smith worked back up to finish second overall. Kawasaki's Paul Krause captured his first overall win ofthe 1988 National Hare 8< Hound Series at Winnemucca Dry Lake near Reno. AMA National Championship Har'e & Hound Series: Round 7 Kraus,eedges Smith in Reno By A nne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren R ENO , NV, OCT. 2 In a closely fought race through 80 miles of blinding dust, Kawasaki's P aul- Krause squeaked in to take the win at the National Championship 'H are & H ou nd at Winnem u cca Dry Lake 80 mil es . northeast of Reno. ' Af b 1" . ter a tt mg It out In a four-way duel for more than 16 two hours, Krause gr abbed th e lead for th e fir st time just two mil es from th e finish lin e a nd sp rinted in to tak e th e win less th an 10 seco nds a hea d of Husqvarna 's Dan Smith, with Kawasaki teammates Larry Ro eseler (L R) and T ed Hunni cutt less th an one minut e behirid. " I d idn't see an y of th e co urs e until thelast mile wh en I got out in fron t," Krause told Cy cle N ews. " T he dust was th e most diffi cult th in g ou t th ere. Every tim e you ca ugh t up ready to p ass so meone you 'd hit anothe r silt bed a n d hav e to fall rig h t back. I've n ever seen a ny th ing like it. " The second-to-Iast round of the eig h t-even t Nati on a l Ch ampionship , Series was sponsored by th e Western Stat es R~lCin g Association, a nd dr ew 175 en tries. . Riders go t th eir fir st taste o f th e dusty co nd itions before th e race even began. Th e nin e-mi le dirt road leadi ng to the sta rt in g ar ea was a silty ni ghtmare wh ich forced pit vehicles to p u ll over and wa it until billo wing clo uds o f dust th at co m p letely hid the ro ad ahead cleared. Wh en th e sta rt ing banner dropped j us t aft er 10 a.rn., dust was still th e p rime co nce rn. Open class racers went a fte r th e h oles hot with a ven gen ce to get ahe ad of th e dust , but racers in th e I25cc division were forc ed to try some different tactics. " For once in my life I didn 't want to get a good sta rt ," sai d Yamaha YZI25 pil ot J ohn Braas ch, wh o held th e 125cc class lead going into rou n d seven. " I knew I cou ld n' t ge t ou t in fro n t of every bo dy so I just took o ff rea l slo w, cu t out o f the du st an d took m y time. You ca n' t do a ny thi ng if yo u can ' t see, so I waited, kn ow ing I'd be a ble to p ass people lat er in th e race." Kawasaki KX500 pil ot Hunnicutt was ou t in front a t th e en d of th e two -mi le bomb run a nd led th e wa y down th e first sin gle-file goa t tra il and out onto the 42-mi le first loop . T he dust-free run a t the front of the pack gave Hunnicutt a n advan tage over th e rest of th e co m pe titors an d kept him o u t in fro nt th ro ugho u t th e first loop . Def endin g National H are & Hound cham p Sm ith was h ard on th e gas in seco nd, with Krause pushing through to tak e over third a nd Ro eseler , who had all bu t sewnup th e National title in th e 250cc division a nd was tied with Yam ah a' s Dan ' Ash cr aft for the overall series lead goin g into th e ra ce, in fourth. "The first loop wa sn 't reall y a rac e - wh erever yo u started you had to stay," sa id Ro eseler. "It was too fast and dusty to p ick up o n a n yo ne . T here were a few ti ght sa nd wa sh es, but nothing that let you do any ca tch ing u p an d p assing." Smi th 's run in th e number two spot hit th e skids a fter 25 miles. " I go t a flat just p ast halfway a ro u nd ," sai d Sm ith. " I cou ld kind of stay with T ed (H u n nicu tt) a fter th at but I bai led o nce and decided to slow down. " S m i th 's slo we r p a ce soo n h ad , Krause sna p pi ng a t his h eels . " I ca ught Dan just before we came into th e pits," sa id Krause. "T h e rear flat was holding him up and he moved over an d wav ed m e pa st. " Hunn icutt was still out in front as he p owered down th e p ol e line ro u te a t th e en d of th e first section a nd storme d into th e pits. Krause had m oved through into seco n d place, just 46 seconds behind the race leader, with half a minu te ba ck to Smith in third. Roeseler brought his KX500 into th e pits 'in fourth a nd , despite a record-setting tire change in th e Husky pits, stole third positio n from Smi th as th e second loo p go t underwa y. Ra cin g through in fifth w as Yamah a' s Ashcraft, with Ida h o 's Todd - Peugh , o n a Honda , two minutes back -in sixt h , a nd Kenny Parry was out in front o f th e Vet co m peti tors in seventh overall. Frank Smith, Husky , led th e 250cc co m pe titors through in ninth overa ll , less than 30 seconds ahead of Reno 's Dave Porter, KTM , and Braasch's " p lay-it-sa fe" tacti cs h ad paid off to giv e him th e lead in th e I25cc di vision (15th overa ll) . Loop two wa s just as dusty as th e firs t sec tion of th e race, but provided a ch an ge o f scen ery as th e rac ers h eaded out in a north easterly di rection. A four-way battle for th e lea d started to shape up a s th e racers . tackled th e second lo op. " T hi n g s st arted to tighten u p wh en Dan got the .flat at th e en d of lo op one ," said Ro eseler, " a nd in the second lap we wer e all bunched up . It was getting to be a n exci tin g race towards the en d bu t the dust was a rea l factor. You h ad to be so careful you co u ldn 't really do much ra cing. " Whi le th e top four com pe titors jockeyed for th e lead, some equa lly tough battles were being fough t further p a ck in th e pack. Dave Porter was hard on th e gas trying to ca p ture first place in the 250cc division, and Jim Clark was p ouring on th e pace . trying to hold onto th e Amateur clas s lead. , Hunni cutt co n ti n ue d his ra celong domination as th e event drew to a close, but the rac ers who had followed him for nearl y 80 mi les were still not ca lling it quits. " I led a ll th e way until probab ly o ne an d a half miles fro m the finish," said Hunnicutt, "then Paul (Kra use) made a real hard charge through so me virgin bush es and ro cks right a t the end. H e was riding so far over his head, it was suicide. I just kept . my pace going an d tried to ge t back by him , thinking he'd have to crash if he kept goi n g like that, th en I hit a rock and went down." Hunni cutt 's misfortun e left Krause with a clear run in to the fini sh line, but Smith was chargin g . hard lOO . . "The whole las t loop we were bun ch ed up an d I just . go t lu ck y towards th e en d," said th e 500XC pi lot. " I hit so me good trails and got out of the du st a bi t. I passed Larry a nd T ed ab out two miles from th e finish ." Roeseler a lso slipped p ast wh ile H unnicutt wa s picking himself up from th e fall and, with less than two mi les to go , there was littl e the racelong leader could do to recapture his number one position. " I was still on th e ground in a p ile of dust wh en ' everyone .went past, " said KawasakiiD u n lop/Tsu bakii Bel -Ra y/Ren th a l/AXO /Pro C i r cu it/Scott-backed Hun nicu tt. "I h ad a good race up until then. I thought