Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GOFF·R A AMA/National Championship Hareand Hound Series:Round6 OD ~_...r- m Defending Na tional Hare &: Hound Champion Dan Smith moved in to the series po ints lead with the overall win at Wendover. Team Green's Ted Hunnicutt tops off with gas during a pit stop . Hunnicutt ended up finishing third overall and second place in the 500cc division. Smith takes over w ithWendover win By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren W ENDOVER, NV, SEPT. 30 T M's Dan Smith grabbed the lead in thi syear's National Hare and H ound Championship with a wire-to-w ire win in the sixt h ro u nd of the series. The Open class pilot headed up an impressive KTM blitz that saw Danny K 14 Ham el take the 250cc win in second overa ll and J immy Lewis overa ll the 125cc divisio n in 12th . Wit h j ust one ro u n d o f co m pe tition remaining, Smi th is close to tak ing hi s fifth cha mp ionship in a ro w. The only thing tha t stan ds in the way of Sm ith's clea n sweep of the fiveyear-o ld series, is Kawasak i's Ted Hunnicutt, who could stea l the ti tle by on e point if he overa lls the final ro und of competi tion a t Wells , Nevada, on Oc tober 14. " It's going to be toug h ," said Hunni cutt. " T he way th e points worked o ut I have to get the overa ll a t the next race - I can't get second or third, I have to win it. I'll be going for it and I gu ess we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out." Round six of the seven-race series was hos ted by Uta h 's Desert Foxes M.C. , wit h sponso rsh ip from Wen dover U.S .A . a n d Tooe le Vall ey -Suzuki. T he three-loo p, 93-mile event bega n 12 miles south of Wendover, near the Nevad a/ Ut ah border.. and drew 200 riders from throughou t the western states. T he Experts left the line in a mass start a t 10.30 a.m. and Smith was out in front all the way. The KTM ace led the way to the bomb and enjoyed a du st-free run as he leaped into the first rocky was h. Hun nicutt was hard on his heels in second. "(Sm ith) got a great start and I was right behind him," said the KX500 pi lo t. " I followed him for a wh ile but the du st was really bad so I backed off." . Kell y Sorens on's KX250 was in third overa ll as the front-runners pi cked up the orang e-ribboned trail , with Brandon Gerber (KT M) and Kawasaki pil ots Scott Morris and Tommy Ady cha rging thro ugh in hi s wak e. H amel' s 250cc KTM was caught in the d us t back in eig hth: " It was a reall y fast start and it was reall y du sty. 1 though t I had a pretty good start for the circumstances," he sai d. Back in 28th overa ll, Team Gree n 's Larry Roeseler had nothin g nice to say abo u t his start. "I got a two-kick start and that just killed me," sai d Roeseler, who was leading the series by five points when the banner dropped . "The start is so important at this kind of rac e, especia lly since (Sm ith) an d (H un nicu tt) are suc h good starters . 1 knew it was cri tica l and whe n I didn't get a good sta rt I proba bly cou ld' ve just stopped righ t then ." Ji mmy Lewi s was struggling to overco me thick du st in 20th overa ll. " I go t a reall y good start but it was so du sty 1 didn 't want to cha rge and abo u t 20 guys passed me," the 125cc pil ot said. " You cou ld n't see a th in g but they kept go ing ." Despite ra in two days before the race, the field battled du st for most of the 36-mile first loop. O ut-ol-towners were on th e loo ko ut for o ther obstacles as well. " T hey have some na sty rocks o ut here a nd you have to be reall y carefu l," exp lained Arizon a 's Garth Sweetland. "They 're really big and you can ' t see them becau se they blend in with the dus t. They're the same color as the dirt and th e bu shes so you're into th em befor e you kn ow it. You can 't get off th e course here or you' ll be in trouble." " Smith was o u t in front all th e way arou nd the first loop, but the sta rti ng or der was turning over behind him. Ham el was comi ng up steadily from sixth and broke through into second when Hunnicutt mi ssed a corne r just 10 mil es from the end of the loop. " I co u ld see (Ha me l) a nd (Bra ndo n Gerber ) behind me and then I blew a turn ," said Hunnicutt. "I didn 't see any arro ws and I cou ldn' t find the co urse . ( Ha me l) go t it first so ' I follo wed in righ t behind him." At th e end of the first hour of racing, Smith was 26 seconds ah ead of Ham el wi th a not her 15 seco n ds back to Hunnicu tt in third. Gerber raced h is Open class KTM throug h in fourth, wit h Honda-mounted Dan Richardson, Morris and Sore nso n close beh ind. Roeseler headed into pit row in 10th overall, one place ahead of ATK pilots Sweetla nd and Ch ris Cra ndall, a nd Lew is raced through in 14th. Loo p one's ever-changing terrain gave way to a high-speed sprint in loop two . It too k Smith on ly 30 minutes to complete the 27-rnile second section, but H amel was right on hi s tail all the way. "(S mit h) was 35 o r 40 seconds ahead of me ou t th ere," said Hamel. "B ut th en he go t lost and we were only about 40 feet ap art for the rest of the loop." Hamel dashed out of loop two just 20 seconds beh ind hi s Open class teammate and as he headed into the KTM pit he tangled whee ls with Smith , who was heading into the final 30-mi le loop of the course. . "We were so close we had a little collision in th e pits but it was a friendly thing - no big deal for ei ther of us," said Smith. The top seven came out of loop two in the same order they went into it, with Hunnicutt a minute behind Smi th in third , and Gerb er a n d R ichardso n rounding out the top five. Morris headed into pit row in sixth, ahead of Sorenson, R oeseler a nd Sweetland, but was six places back lea vin g th e pits after time-out to change a melted mousse in his rear tire. Lewis led the I25cc field through the pits in 14th overall and KXSOO pilot Bill Maxim was leading the Over-38 class for the sixth straight time in the National series , despite having what he described 'as " a pretty bad ride." " I had no incentive toda y. 1 don 't kn ow what it was, 1 just didn 't feel lik e riding," sa id Maxim. "I was n' t feeling too well and I just th ou gh t I'd use this o ne as a throw aw ay." T he th ird and fin al loop of th e course headed o u t to th e north, sharing the same opening sectio n as loop two. " I got lost somewhere ou t there and missed the turnoff to loop three," said Tom my Ady, wh o was a promising 13th overall wh en he left pit row. " I kept going o n loop two and mad e it all th e way to the first check befor e I found out what r'd done. I was 20 miles into it by then and I couldn't ride backwards on the course, so I had

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