Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ O"l ..... Q.) ..0 8 Q.) ::> o ·z Husqvarna's Dan Sm ith led from start to finish to win the 100s M.C.'s . Championship Hare & Hound in Lucerne Valley, California . Best of the West Series Smith wins 100s M.C. C'ship Hare & Hound' By Tom and Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren L UC ERN E VALLEY, CA, OCT. 23 Husqvarna ace Dan Smith shut the door on the competition to score a wire-to-wire victory at the 21st Annual Championship Hare &'Hound hosted by the 100s M,C. near Soggy Dry Lake. Th rough 40 mi les of fastdd . h Iir st loon and pace . u st In t e. irs t oo p an 40 miles o f grueling rocks th a t 8 kept average speeds below 30 mph in the second loop, Smi th never mi ssed ~ bea t. The hard-ch arging Husky p ilot was ou t in fro nt a ll the way and had ope ned up a lmos t two min ut es o n h is nea rest rival b y the time he strea ked in to tak e th e chec kered £l ag. " O ne hour a nd 37 m inutes for the second loo p? Tha t's a n a wfu lly lo ng time for 40 mil es. It shows you how to ug h that la s t lo op was," a n obvious ly tired Smi th to ld .Cycle News. "T he seco nd loop was reall y tigh t a nd tech nica l - virgin rocks a ll the way, a nd it went on fore ver. I stopped a nd too k so me extra gas a bo ut a mil e back a nd 1 don 't kn o w if I wo uld 've mad e it in wi tho ut that. It wo uld 've been rea lly close." Sm ith too k com ma nd a lmo st as soo n as the sta rt ing bann er dropped a t 9.45 a m. A q uick j ump o rr the starti ng line put him o u t in fro nt of th e d us t, a nd he was push in g hard o n the sa ndy run u p the first va lley. Also qu ick off th e line were Kawa saki p ilot s Ro n Shuler and Cli ff " Diver" Thomas, and Vet Expe rt Ph il Clo wa rd, but wh en th e wide o pe n terrain o f t~ e bomb runrnarro wed to ~mg le file throug h ' icto r Pass, Sm tt h sq ueezed th rough to grab the nu mb er one spot. " T here were three of us a ll dicing for the lead ," sai d Sm ith. " I fin all y aced the m righ t wh en we go t to th e end o f the bomb, a nd just as wel l. T he dust o n the first lo o p was unbeli evabl e. Bein g o ut in fro nt mad e a lot o f differen ce." Ka wasa ki's Pau l Kra use was push ing ha rd in fifth as th e race rs pi cked up th e pink-ribboned trai l, with 250cc teamm at e Gra nt Palensk e lead in g h is class th rough in sevent h overa ll. a nd Honda 's Ch uck Mill er brought u p th e rea r of th e pack. " I d id n' t get a very good start a t a ll," said Mill er. " I th ink 1 was dead last orr th e line a nd 1 had to ride in du st for the wh o le first loo p. It mad e it pr ett y difficult to ma ke up ti me." Krau se spe n t the first 40 mil es maki ng the most of the fast-p aced ter rai n. "I go t u p in to fourth go ing ac ross the first valley and tried to keep p ushi ng from there," sa id the determi ned KX500 pi lot. " It too k me for ever to ca tch up to Sh uler, and the n 1 go t Cli ff (Tho mas) just as we came into the pits." Smit h was sti ll goi ng strong when he led th e way into the pits a t th e end of the fir st hour o f rac ing. A Paul Krause was in fifth place after the bomb run. He would eventually push his big-bore Kawasaki into second by the finish. quick refuel, a cha nge of goggles a nd a mouthf u l o f wat er had th e race leader back in the sadd le before anyone else appeared on the horizon, a nd the dust leading o u t into loop two had a ll bu t settled whe n Tho mas a nd Kra use cha rged int o the pi ts j ust over a mi n u te la ter. So me fast work in the Tea m Green pits p ut Krau se a few seco nds a hea d o f Thomas, as th ey raced o u t into th e 40-m ile second loo p , and Krause' s adva n tage increased even mor e wh en T ho mas went down in the roc ks just a few hundred yards furth er on. Sh uler was still up wi th the pace in fourth as he hit pi t row , with P al ensk e still lea d ing the 250cc com pe titors in fifth, more than two min ut es a head of fellow 250 pilot Sco tt Stearns in sixth. Miller 's neversay -d ie a tt itude had lea p -fro gged hi m u p to sevent h, a lmost neck-in neck with fro nt-run ning Vet Ph il Cloward. Phil Gargone a nd Kirk Kovaleff ro u nded ou t the top 10. C ha rley Barney was o u t in front of th e Vet 250cc co nte nders in 14th 'o vera ll ; J ohn Braasch was aboard th e first 125cc to ap pear in the pits, a nd So.. Ca l's Bobby Ow en s was o ut in fro nt of the Ama teur di vision. The wide-open racing came to a screech ing halt as soon as loo p two bega n. " It goes th rough th e Fry Moun ta in s a nd it' s over 50 percent virg in," one o f th e 100s M.C.' s co urse wo rkers to ld Cycle News. "There a re a lot o f breath-taking down hi lls a nd humungous roc ks a ll over th e pl ace. It 's tigh t, rea l tight a ll th e way." The brutal co urse was righ t up Sm it h 's a lley. " It was reall y tight a nd technica l just lik e th e last loo p of the Check Chase but th ere was 40 miles of it today, " he sai d. " I th ough t it was grea t." " It was rea ll y tough th e who le wa y," Kra use agreed. " It was good and technical with a lo t of rocks a nd lots o f p laces with no trail a t a ll. It look ed like (the 100s M.C.) took their tim e and p ut together a good cou rse for us." Furth er ba ck in the pack , th e co urse reviews were not nearl y as posi tive. "Too lo ng, too mu ch ," was th e com me nt from P hil Gor gone. " 1£ it was 15 mi les shorter it would 've been fun. Onl y 10 pe rcent o f th e guys out here are in good enoug h sha pe to ride th at stu ff. Unfort u na tely, I' m no t o ne of them ." Shu ler agreed. " I didn 't thi n k 1 was go ing to ma ke it," sai d the KX500 pilo t. "The first loo p was good b u t th e seco nd loop - that was o nly good for th e top two per cent o f th e riders. Not for me, th at 's for su re." T he tough terra in cou p led wit h unusua ll y hi gh temperatures proved too much for so me of th e racers. Th omas ca lled i t qu it s m idway around the seco nd loo p ; Cloward, who had led th e Vet division a ll the way, reported ly succu m bed to the heat shortly after Thomas, a nd man y o f the o ther racers a lso ba iled o u t and too k the shortest rou te back to the pits. Bu t the gr ueling terrain gave som e of th e rac ers the edge th ey were look in g for. " I lost m y rear brake in the second loo p a nd you should 've seen me com ing dow n some o f those hill s, " said ' Yama ha pilot Scott Anderson. " It let me pass quite a few guys, but not on purpose. 1 didn't mean to go down the hill s like that !" Sm ith was sti ll ma intain ing a stea dy two -minute lead wh en he passed th e halfwa y point in th e seco nd loop a nd head ed down the infamous boulder hill just befor e check seven. Tire tracks sho wed that o nly two riders had braved the roc kstrew n virgin descent befor e Smith arrived, a nd it was no wonder tha t man y riders were mi ssing check seven's brown crayon mark a t the end o f th e race. . Back in second, Krau se was still tryi ng to mak e u p li me o n th e race lead er, bu t his bid for th e number o ne spot was not going well. " I could see Dan p retty much all th e way bu t in the last loop 1 just kept tip ping over," Kra use. Miller's co me- fro m- beh ind effort was movi ng him stea dily up through the pa ck, and Pa lenske was still going strong a t the head o f th e 250cc di vision. " It was excellent - the seco nd loop was fan tastic," said th e KX250 racer. " I was having a gr eat time but th en my swing a rm ax le start ing com ing ou t abo u t 10 mil es

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