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/127255
eHARE &HOUND e Best hi The Desert Series: Round 2 Danny Hamel (shown) teamed with National Hare &: Hound champ Dan Smith to win the Las Vegas 300. They finished 18 minutes ahead of the next team. KTM riders Greg Searle and Bryan Folks (X43) captured the 250cc class win in second overall. Second in class went to Kelly Sorenson and Corky Maughan, Smith/Hamel c ruise e as-300_ to Las Vg win By Donnetta Be Bob Murray HIKO, NV, MAR. 17 T M ' America 's Dan Smith and Danny Ham el paired together to meet the challe n ge of the Las Vegas 300 Championship T eam Ra ce, winnin g the grueling event nearly 18 minutes a head of th eir nearest competitor. Riders were treated to an entirel y virgi n course after leaving the start line, two a t a time at 15-second int ervals, with, the Open Pro riders leading the pack. Hamel poured it on through the first loop, passing all six riders starting in front of him. His final obstacle up K front was Honda rider Sam Rarnes, who he eventua lly passed. Hame l later ra n out of gas bu t filled up with gas th at he was carryi ng and steamed into the pits mor e th an three minutes ah ead of KTM 's Greg Sear le, wh o had started ou t on the third row of 250cc riders. Searl e 'd id his .sha re o f passing during the first loop. T he last"'rider he met was ATK's Paul Krau se. Searle said, " I just hopped o ut and bebopped around him. " Krause was third into ยท th e p its , foll owed by ATK's Ch ris Crandal. Rames was in fifth. KTM 's Harden was pressurin g Randy Moseley through a sand wash when Moseley hit a rock . and catapulted into the air. H arden rode into th e pi ts in 12th , whi le Moseley composed him self and was back in form by the time he turned th e bike over to his partner Cha rl ie Morris in 28th p lace. . T he first 125cc to make an appearance was KT M's Jimmy Le wis. Back in the pac k, Charl ie Klin e and J oey La ne were battlin g it o u t for the 125cc positio ns. Altho ugh Paul Doebereiner and J essie H eers led the Sportsme n th ro ugh th e p its in the first loop, Brad Fay's CR250 Honda had the lead on adj usted time. Fay, wh ose teamma te was David Sha rp; was passe d by Heers j us t after the stop chec k. Fay kep t o n h is tai l for the rest of the loo p , pull in g up next to Heers, but Heers picked up h is pace and was go ne to the pits. Sm ith had th e luxury of a dust-free ride on his first loop, but had the dub ious honor of breaking trail in the second loop. H e was abl e to keep pace and give th e lead back to partner Hamel a t the end of his trip. Krause's partner Garth Sweetland, and Crandall's partner Don Griewe were jockeying for position. Sweetland oversho t a turn, allowing Griewe to claim third. Down in th e pa ck, Lewi s' teammat e Todd Campbell led the 125s into th e pits, more th an two minutes ahea d of Mike Palmer, Kline's partner. Do eb erein ers teammate, J imm y Means, cruised in at 19th overa ll. Cork y Mau ghan was abl e to hang o nto second 250cc Pro, in spi te of . tak ing a nast y spill and injuring his . hip. . Hamel had a tro uble-free ride and had ga ined ano ther three m inutes o n h is closest compet itor by th e fin ish of the th ird loop. H is team 's pi t crew had cha nged both whe els and an ai r filt er and still allowed Smith to leave with time to sp are before Sea rle ca me charging into th e pits in seco nd. Crandall made up a little time o n Searle, bu t later said, "Searle 's fast an d looks lik e he has no fear. " Dar yl Folks had put the ru sh on Crandall ear lier in th e second pass through the 38-mile course one. Folks go t close to Crandall in the tight sectio ns; but Crandall stre tched o ut his lead in the faster portion s of the course. Folks was fourth . . Lewis was leading the l25cc class by over six minutes at th e end of th e th ird loo p . H alfway th rough th at loo p , though, J oey Lane held the lead , but was caug ht by Lewis, wh o then ran out of gas; had hi s filter plug up, and had a spark plug foul. Second Over30 Pro rider, Downhill Alexander, broke the cha in comp letely off hi s bike du ring his ride and was sweating it out through th e next loop that partner J im Eveland would be able to hang . on to that second pl ace. . Smith padded hi s team 's lead by nearl y another three minutes on .hi s second ri de of th e day, the fourth loo p of the race. "On these long Vegas races, the last loops are where th e race starts, because guys start having bike prob lems ," said Smith, as Hamel departed 'o n hi s fin al circ u it o n co urse one. Brian Folks was next into the pits with Crandall nipping at hi s heels: The filt er had to be changed on Folks' bike, before Searle took hi s turn, and Crandall/Griewe used th e op port u n ity ' to sn a tch the seco n d spot behind Ham el. Dicing it out for fourt h place were Danny Anderson and Brandon Gerber. Anderson stalled his m otor in a sandwash halfway through th e course when he looked beh ind to see Gerber in hot pursui t. Anderson held h im off for a few miles, but Gerber 's O pen KTM o u t-po wered And erson 's 300 in the fast cross-grain [ 0 tak e over fourth. Sco tt Morris attem p ted to pass Griewe for fifth , but hit a dirt em ba nk ment an d hi s bik e car tw heeled. Lee Pearson contin ued to hold the Open -30 Pro lead for his tea mmate H arden , taking it easy and j us t shoot. in g for the class win, wh ile occu pying a strong eighth overal l. Mau ghan felt well eno ug h to get a race go ing with Mark Mill er. Mill er event ua lly backed off, giving Mau ghan . the go-ahea d. The team of Dar in Sa nfo rd and Fred Will ert were runn in g II th overa ll at th is point. As' Cam pbell left o n his , second trip over course two, it was still run ni ng poorl y. Heers was forced to ride th e wh ole fourth lap o n a fro nt flat , wi th hi s team leading th e 250cc Spo rtsma n class . H am el didn 't see a soul on hi s fin al lap. H e stre tched hi s team 's lead by nearl y six mor e minutes (14:28 total lead ). Next was Crandall . wh o had broken three toes after hitting the m agai nst a roc k. Com ing in within a minute of Crandall was Searle. Daryl Folks and Brent Fox con tinued where th eir teammat es left off in the previous lap; dicing back and forth, until Folks got th e advantage I and ' pulled a he ad. Fox wa s n ext I pursued by Mark Morris, the partner r ' of Scott Morris, wh o raced with Fox to aro und the 25-mile marker. At th at point, Fox pulled ahea d by a mi nute . and Morris slacked off du e to th e du st. j Meanwhil e, Maughan' s co -p ilot Kell y Soren son was tryin g to make up time for a hurt partner. H is bars were tweaked and th e bik e was fairl y well hammered, but Sore nso n said he was tryin g to mak e th e best of it since they had a th ree minu te lead over th e th ird place 250. Powering in at six hours and 41 minutes from hi s start, Sm ith joined a jubilant Hamel at th e fini sh line to claim th ewinIor th e KTM America/ Hi-P oint / Answ er /M axim a / Scott/ Arai /F&L Fu el/ Met zel er /Rentha l/ Acerb is/ Su nl i n e/D esco /Z-R a ci n gspo nsored team . . " It was gr ea t," said Smi th . "The rougher it got , the better the bik e worked. I wished th ere wa s ano ther loo p, 1 cou ld han g o n for another. " . Leaving the pits sta rt ing the final lap, Brian Folks kn ew he had to stick to Griewe's du st to earn th e second pl ace. He even tua lly met up with Griewe, wh o was putterin g al ong in a san dwash and sig na led to Folks to go ahea d. Folks was next to cross th e chec kered flag with a time of just under seven minutes, good enough to gi ve him and Searl ea second overa ll and first in the 250cc Pro class. Scott Morr is picked off three rid ers o n hi s way to a third place at th e fini sh . H e out-powered And erson o n a fast roa d, four miles lat er passed Gerber wh o was hav in g p rob lem s in a rocky section and six miles from the finish passed th e slowing Griewe. The team earne d a th ird time-wise, also. Less than a minute in time behind the Morris team, Gerber and Fox pla ced fourth o vera ll. T hey were foll o wed by Daryl Folks and Anderso n, just 43 . seconds behind for fifth . Sixth p lace went to Crand all an d Griewe; who were hampered in the last lap by a p lug ged air filt er. Mau ghan did not let hi s injured hip sto p him from racing to a sevent h pl ace fin ish with partner Soren son. The winning l25cc Pro team was Klin e and Palmer , wh o came in 12th overall. Palmer saw th e dust of Lew is and kept pushin g. He fin all y saw Lewis in a rocky sectio n and was able to get by him after two to th ree mil es. L ewi s a n d Campb ell even tua lly