Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Honda CR500-mounted 'Chuck M iller scored the overall victory at the National Championship Hare &. Hound Series opener in Lucerne Valley. Team Green's Larry Roeseler, the 1988 250cc National champ, piloted a KX500 to second overall. He finished two minutes beh ind Miller. Eric Hallgath convincingly won the 12 5cc class, f inishing fourth overa ll . on a Yamaha YZ125 . He is the defending 125cc National H&.H Champion. AMA National Championship Hare & Hound Series: Round 1 Miller captures • • series opener win By Anne and Tom Van Beveren · Photos by Tom Van Beveren L UCERNE VALLEY, CA, J AN.22 Honda-mounted Chuck Miller took the competition by storm in rou nd one of the AMA N a tion a l. Championship H are & H ou nd Series, sprin ting alm ost 84 miles to ta~e the wi,n at the AMA/ DIStnet 37 s Desert M. C. hosted event. Miller was pushing hard from th e moment the starting banner dropped. His CR500 burst through to grab the lead just 20 miles int o th e race and stayed out in front all th e way , taking the checkered fiag almost two minutes ahead of the topclass competition. " T his feels great," Miller told Cycle News. " It 's about five or .six. years since I won a race overall , so this is really something. The course was aweso me and I had a grea t ride." More than 550 racers turned out for the event and were greeted by clear and warm weather, but dust was a problem. Expert class competi tors were hard on the gas when the starting banner fell for the first time and launched an all-ou t drag race up the bomb run. Amateur clas s racers left the line 15 minutes later followed by the Novi - . ces and Beginners . Kawasaki 's Paul Krau se led the way as the Expert wave swept past th e bomb and set a sizzling pace after the course funneled into th e first narrow , wh ooped-out sand wash. Mi ller was push in g hard in second an d three-time AMA National H are & Hound Ch ampion Dan Smith had his 500DXC KTM up in third despi te a sluggi sh sta rt. " I' ve had th e flu for the last two weeks so it too k me a l on ~ tim e to get go ing th is morning," said Smith. " I just cou ld n 't ge t into it o n th e first loop." Kawasaki 's Ted Hunnicutt was also havin g problem s in th e ea rly . goi ng . " I got a reall y bad start ," said th e KX250 pilo t. " I was stuck in th e dust and 1crashed real bad a bout five mil es ou t." Grant Pal enske was also caug ht in the du st. "My bike wouldn't start off the line - 1 just don't know how to start th is thing yet," said the new Yamaha recrui t. Out in front, the closely-bunched lead ers were still charg ing hard. Krause continued to lead throughout the fast -paced first section but dropped back to second as he reached the halfway point in the 40-mil e first , loop. " No th ing went wrong, Chuck was just going a little faster than me at that stage," said Krau se. " I took it easy because I thought I'd have a shot at catching him in the second loop." Miller took fu ll advantage of the dust-free run at the head of the pack and launched a hard charge for th e last 20 miles that put him 47 secon ds ahead of Krause as the front-runni ng duo raced into pit row . . Spectators were in for a shock wh en third overall hit .the pits just two minutes la ter. Heads turned and . jaws dropped as Yamaha privateer Eric Hallgath headed down pit row o n a YZ125. " I had a reall y good rid e all 'th e way," said Hallgath. " I had a lot of fu n and no problems at all ." Smith was a m inute behind Hallgath in fou rth overall at the pit, with Husky pilot Dal e Knapp and Char lie Morris battling for fifth overall and first in th e 250cc division. " Da le and I were reall y close comi ng into the pi ts bu t th en our tra ils came togeth er and we co llided, " said Morr is. " I hi t the gro und reall y hard and it almos t kn ocked th e wind o ut of me, so 1 sat there and go t my act togethe r before I got back on the bike." T eam Green 's Larry Roesel er stormed o u t of th e first loo p in sevent h overa ll desp ite ridi ng almost 20 miles on a rear fiat and Scot Harden 's KTM led the Vet class . co nte nders th rough in eigh th. Hunni cutt and Stearns rounded o u t th e top 10 and beh ind them was a long lin e of flat tires and bik es with bits and pi eces missing or dangl ing. T op Vet conte nder Mike Sixbery was ou t of the runn in g .with a rear fiat, T om Willis called it quits with no rear brake and Morris abandoned his bid for th e 250cc honors when he (Con tinued to page 26)

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