Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

One of desert racing's hottest up-and-coming riders Danny Hamel (X04) f inished second overall on a factory 250cc KTM , Reno's Greg Searle found the hot li ne in the snow-covered Nevada desert for the overall victory at the Go ld Strike Hare & Hound. Casey Folks' Best in The Desert Series: Round 1 Searle sizzles to snowy. Gold Strike victory By Anne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren LAS VEGAS, NV, FEB. 3 KT M pilot G reg Searl e forged his way through snow an d ice to take the 'overall win a t the 70-m ile Gold Strike World Championship H are & Hound VII. It was touch and go all th e way as th e KTM pilot from Reno, N d bId . eva a , att e to oy~rcom e the top-class compeunon a t 32 the o pe ni ng ro und of the Best in T he Desert Series. The race was still too dose to call when th e checkered flag fell a nd it was u p to officia l timekeepers to declare Searle th e winner, by a slim l 2-second margin over fell ow 250cc pi lo t Danny H amel. "The co mpetitio n is always good a t th is race, so it's grea t to win it," said Searle, wh o picked up $303 for the 250cc class win a nd a $1000 co nt ingency prize from KTM for overa lli ng the event on th e Austrian marque. " It was a rea lly fun race a nd I liked th e snow - it mad e it d ifferent from th e regular desert races we have." The race, whi ch is th e first event in th e five-race Best in The Desert Series, was as tou ch and go as was Searle's win. BLM paperw ork prob. lem s forced th e race to be postponed for a month, th en problem s with th e desert tortoise . forced a cha nge in venue j ust 10 days before th e rescheduled race was d ue to sta rt. "The BLM ass ured me I was go ing to ge t the race - th at 's why they had me mov e it 30 da ys, but it fell th rough right at th e end a nd I had 10 days to move the course," Folks to ld C.ycle News. The sta rt was moved back to .1 0:00 a.m. to a llo w ~x tra lim e to dn ve to the new location, and wh en racers arrive d they found two inches of sno w blanketing th e starti ng area and six inch es of white powder in the hi gh er sectio ns of the cour se. . The snow ca used a flurry of lastmi n ute prepara tio ns. Som e racers screwed sheet- meta l screws into their tires for better traction, wh ile ot he rs spe nt th e last few m inutes before the sta rt warm ing their feet a nd ridi ng boot s in motorhom e ovens. T he competitors slipped a nd sli d on the mile-long road that led to the sta rti ng area and man y of the bik es were alrea dy sport ing bent levers a nd . crac ked pl astics when they took th eir pl ace o n the line. T he bikes were flagged orr two a t a tim e, every 15 seconds, an d the icy condi tio ns were soo n Iogouen in the cha rge for th e early lead . Bu t th e sno w could not be ignored for long. To p co n te n de r a n d four-tim e Nati ona l H are & Hound Cha mp ion Dan Sm ith fell vict im to the snow . at th e four-mi le mark . " I was whipping o ut to pass a guy a nd I hit a bu sh in the sno w and cras hed," Sm ith ex plained. " I kept goi ng fo r another two or three m iles, but so methi ng was wrong wit h my sho u lder a nd I co uld n' t go on , so I thought I' d better go back and ha ve it checked o ut. " Positi ons were turni ng over fast as th e racers headed north to Oak Springs Summ it a nd th en turned towa rds Burnt Peak . Arizona 's Mark Mill er was cha rging up from the last row of the Open Pro start and Hamel was making the most of a first-row start in the 250cc Pro class. Fu rt her back in th e start ing lineup, a four-way battl e was raging for th e Over 30 honors . Lee Pearson led th e wa y, but Yamah a 's Grant Pal en ske and Carlos Serrano were hard on his heels, and Harden was co ming up fast. " Abo ut 10 miles into the race I went to pass (Pa lens ke) going down a hill and I got out of the groove and hit so me ice," sa id Serrano. " I did a 180 and ended up sliding down th e hill backwards. I was tumblirig a nd everythi ng." Harden made his mov e a few miles further down the course and had the lead as the Vets hit a dr y lake bed. " I should've known so meth ing was up because there was a g uy sta nding there and a whole lo t of debris, but I kept going, hit a patch of ice and sp un out," said Harden. " I picked th e bike back up .and in "my rush to stay ahead I dumped the clutch and th e bike went down aga in. " "He did a complete 360 - he was sp inn ing around in circles," said Pal en ske. " T ha t slowed us down a bit a nd ever ybody was just trail . rid in g for th e next few miles." So ut he rn California 's Jimm y Lewis was enjoying every minute of his rid e back in the l25cc Pro class. T he layer of snow and th e slick icy ground beneath it continued to test th e racers through the High Paroch Range a nd th en through th e Lo w Paroch s, but conditions started to improve on the southerl y run to th e gas stop. Ham el was ou t in front as he came in a t th e end of th e 38-mile first section a nd th e 250cc p ilot, who had sta rted three minutes behind th e first O pen Pro co ntender, took the KTM pi t by sur prise. KT M's Ma rk Miller had blasted past the earlier starters to led the Open Pros in second o ve ra ll , just' 28 sec o n ds behind H am el, a nd ATK 's Paul Kra use dashed through the pits in third. Sea rle was the fourt h rider in , half a minute behind Hamel o n adj usted tim e, w ith Crandall. and KTM mounted rid ers Scott Morris and Dar yl Folks close beh ind. KTM pilot Todd Campbell led th e l25cc Pros into th e pits, but Lewi s wa s o n ly a minute behind on adjusted-time, as he followed his KTM rival into th e 33-mile second section of the point-to-point race. " I knew he was ahead of me, but I didn 't know how far until I got to the pit," sa id Lewis. " T hey told me he had two minutes on me and I really turned it on after that." The snow lessened in the southern section of the course and the riders started to pick up th e pace. Hamel was running wid e open across the long, flat valley that led out of the pits and Searle was pushing hard to close th e gap. In the race for the Open class honors, Miller's bid for the lead was in trouble. " I got a rear flat right after the gas an d that made it pretty squirrely, " said Miller. " It was a sprint all the way and a flat tire slowed me down." Krause was enjoying a trouble-free ride and was soon hard on Miller's heels, and Morris was chasing as hard as he could close behind. " I passed Crandall after we left th e pit but I killed the motor on a tu rn and fell over and ended up behind him again," said Morris. "Then I hit a rock buried in th e snow and a bunch of people passed me, so I just tried to maintain from there to the finish." The rocks got worse and worse as the loop wore on and many of the riders opted to sto p charging and play it safe for th e last few miles. L e wi s used th e rocks to his advantage. " I caught Campbell ab out halfway through the loop in some really tight i rocks - I love that tight stuff," said Lewis. " I knew I co uld beat him on time, so Ljust took it easy after that and he passed me back. When I saw . th e finish orr in th e distance I wanted to be the first one in so I started racing again, but I did a big endo right before th e fini sh. I wa s all clean and pretty up until then. " Daryl Fo lks ran into trouble at the sam e time. • " I was right behind ' Bra n do n Gerber about five mi les from the finish - I'd guess we were fourth or fift h overall, and my rear wheel locked u p ," said Folks. " T he axle had moved over and caused the disk to bind. I fixed it and kept going but it did it again, then it did it one more time in the very last corner. " Hamel was still out in front when he stormed into the fini sh. The KTM pilot crossed th e line with a total elapsed time of one hour and 35 minutes, but wh en Searle raced in half a minute later, he grabbed the

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