Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Ted Hunnicutt's victory at the Moose Run National Ha re & Ho u nd moves h im into the series points lead. Yamaha rid er Brad Fay (left) chased Team Green's Kenny Parry (rig ht) , who topped the Vet Expert class. AMA National Championship Hare & Hound Series: Round 2 Hunnicutt tames the Moose By Anne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren RIDG ECREST , CA, FE B. II T eam Green Kawasaki 's Ted H u n n icu tt grabbed top honors in rou nd two of the Na tional Cham pionship H are & H ou nd Series near R idgecrest. After a slow start that left him battling in th e dust for the firs t 40 mi les, the KX500 . k he lead . . p~ lot too t e ea gomg in to pit row and never looked back. 10 Hunnicu tt was three minutes a hea d of the com petition wh en th e check- ered f1 ~ g fell. at on ly did Hunnicu rt wm th.e ract;, but he a lso took over th e senes pomts lead from fourtim e defending Nati onal Ch ampion Dan Smith, wh o was kn ocked o u t of the race with a brok en cha in. " T hat was' a tough cou rse!" sa id Hun nicu tt. " It was really ro ugh and cros s-gra in y and you couldn't see an ything in the dust. It's great to win o ne , though, a nd I'm sure goi ng to tr y to stay a head in the series. Wi nning th e cha m pionship is m y goa l th is year. " Rou nd two of the seven -event hare and hound series was hos ted by AMA District 37' s Fo ur Aces M.e., wh ich attra ct ed 4 15 racers to th e R ed Mountain/Teag le Wash area. La yin g o u t the co urse for the 40th Annu al Mo ose R u n ca used o ne head ach e a fter ano the r for th e Four Aces' orga nizers. " We had a lot o f trouble with th e BLM a nd Fish and Game this year ," sa id Fo u r Aces ' president J o h n Nordblad. " O u r original map showed a much larger ar ea than what th ey fina lly gave us. T hey made us tear down th e SO-mile cou rse we had laid out and put the race in a much smaller, more concentra ted area. We mad e it as to ug h as we co uld g iven th e land we had to work with , but we co uld n 't use th e tough, tough st uff we wa nted on the south side of T eagle Wash." . T he banner dropped for the first wave just after 10:00 a.m, and the Ama teur/Experts were ha rd o n the gas as they battled on the u phill bomb run . KT M' s Dan Smi th go t o ff to a fast start on th e left side of th e bomb a nd was ou t in fro nt when he picked up the ribboned cou rse, but racers who had moved to the right on th e bomb pi cked up the co urse abo u t half a mi le furth er o n and kn ocked Smith back a lmo st 30 pl aces. " I· was pretty mad ," said Sm ith . " T he y had to be quarter o f a m il e o ff th e co urse!" Sm ith, who won round one of the series a t Lucerne Vall ey, was o ut o f the running just th ree m iles later with a brok en chai n.' Kawasaki 's Dan Ashcraft emerged o n to p wh en the starti ng l in es co n verge d a nd led th e way into the 40-mile first loo p. " Da n went to th e left o n the bomb, but th ey told us on th e start lin e to go to th e rig ht, so that 's wh ere I headed," Ashcra ft to ld Cycle N ews. "A lo t of us got lost for a while and I just lu cked onto th e course. I found it ha lf a mi le a fter the bomb. " A flying start put AT K's G reg Zitterkopf, wh o wo n th e o pe n ing ro u nd of the Nat io nal Championsh ip Hare Scrambles Seri es last week in T exas, in co n tentio n for th e lead, a n d Over -30 a ce Team Green 's Kenn y Pa rry was hard on hi s heels. But th e rest o f the field was lost in the dust. " I don' t kn ow how I was do in g at th e bomb - I got lost," said Hunn icutt. " I co uld n' t find the co u rse fo r a whil e a nd wh en I dropped ba ck in I was abou t 15th. You co uldn ' t see an ything th ro ug h the rocks and it was kind of a ha iry ride fo r 15 o r 20 m iles." AT K's P au l Krau se wa s even furth er behi nd . " It was so d us ty I co uld n' t see a thi ng and for the first five or six miles people were all over the p lace, cris scro ssing back and forth beca use they co u ld n' t fi nd the course, " said Krause, who missed his kicksta rter when th e banner drop ped and ended up. . . " abou t one -mill io nth a t the bomb ." " It sett led down a fter th e first check a nd we starte d to race, bu t it was d us ty and fast all the way ro u nd th e firs t loop a nd tha t's a bad · combina tion when you're tryin g to catch up to people," sai d Krause. Ashcraft was out in fro nt as the racers sett led into stri de fo r th e 40m ile ru n arou nd Teagle Wash Valley a nd mad e the most o f the du st-free lead. Honda CR500 pi lot Robert La ug h lin had moved up into second and Roeseler was elbow ing h is wa y past the faster sta rters to wards third. Hunn icu tt was co mi ng u p fast further back in the pack a nd KT M's Danny Hamel was charging hard to make u p for a two- kick stan that left him way back off the start. In th e 125cc class ,' defe nding Na tio na l cham p J imm y Lewis was ha vin g p roblems getti ng up to speed. " I was read y to go fast but th e markings weren 't good eno ugh, " said the KT M pilot. " I got lost all over th e p lace in th e first loop. There were no dangers or turn arrows and th e first 10 miles was lik e o ne big bomb run. T he re wasn 't a ny tra il it was just criss-cro ssing all o ver."

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