Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ HARE &HOUND AMA National Championship H&H Series: Round 2 m Ted H unnicutt assumed the lead just before the halfway point and went on to win by nearly two minutes. Hunnicutt hopsto Red Mountain win By An ne and Tom Van Beveren P hotos by T o m Van Beveren RIDGECREST, CA, FEB. 10 a wasa ki Team Green 's Ted Hunnicutt sprinted 86 miles to win th e 41st Annual Moose Ru n Hare & Hound held nea r Red Mountain in the southern Ca lifornia desert. The factory-backed KX500 pilo t inherited the lead just before the halfway pit and kept the pace goi ng all the way to the checkered flag . " It feels good to win and it really boo sts my morale for the rest of the series," said Hunnicutt, wh o won by a mar gin of nearly two minutes over Don Griewe. "I got o££ to a bad start with a DNF in th e first race, but hopefull y this means things will get better. " The second round of the eight-race National Championship Hare & Hound Series was organized by AMA District 37's Four Aces M.e. The event began at Charlie's Place on Trona Road and drew a £ield o f 430 riders. Warm, su n ny wea the r p rovided a perfect da y [or raci ng as th e co m pe titors lin ed up [or th e 9:00 a.m. sta rt , but th e dust was a no ther story . wh en th e banner dropped [or th e first wa ve. " T he du st was unbeli evabl e," said Ca nadian cross co u nt ry cha m p Guy Perrett, wh o was trying Cal ifornia desert racin g for o nly th e second time. " I ' m sti ll not used to it a nd I get reall y ch icken . As soo n as 1 see dust 1 sh u t it right down , so 1 was pr etty slo w o££ th e sta rt." Danny Hamel go t th e holesh ot o n th e Expert sta rt a nd was stretching o ut a lead as he pounded u p the bomb run a nd par allel ed Trona Road so u th into the 46-mil e first loop. Hunnicutt was charg ing ha rd in the KTM 's du st y wa ke, with Kawasak i teammat e La rry Roeseler a nd ATK pi lots Ch ris Cranda ll a nd J ohn Rudder not Car behind. A sur p rised Ch uck Miller £lash ed past th e bomb in six th overal l. " I fin all y go t a good start ," th e XR600 pil ot said. " It 's hard to believe K 10 becau se I'm always last 0[[ the line, but today everything just came together." As th e co urse headed into th e hills tow ards H ighway 39S, Ham el used th e dust-Iree point position to bu ild up hi s lead throughout the opening mi les. Back in second, Hunnicutt was co ncent ra ting on keeping a steady pace go ing in the dust. " H a mel got a good start and pulled out som e time. I lo st probably 30 seconds to him right o££ the bat but th e du st wa s reall y bad so 1 just sta yed back and rod e my o wn race," Hunni cutt explained. " It was real rock y a t first and you couldn 't see a thing, so I took it easy." There was nothing easy about Roeseler's bid [or Na tional points. The Ka wasaki KXSOO hopeful su ffered hi s seco nd DNF of th e series wh en he reportedly dropped out with brake problems in th e fir st half of th e ope ni ng loop. Rear shock trouble was hampering J immy Lew is' ride in th e 2S0cc division, and 2SOcc pil ot Duane Su m mers had to ca ll it qu its a fter he lost hi s rear brake at th e IS-mile mark. " I just clipped a big rock in th e dust a nd took my brak es o u t. You ca n' t ride wi tho u t br ak es," sai d Summers. " I 'm a bit di sappoin ted, I was sixth overa ll a nd first, 2S0 wh en it happened." H am el was out in front by o ne a nd a hal£ minutes wh en he dash ed past th e 30-m ile mark and sto p ped [or gas at th e alt ernate pit. Hunnicutt was in a hurry to make up tim e wh en he hit th e a ltern a te pit in seco nd o vera ll , bu t he backed o££ just rive mil es af ter th e gas wh en an un expected break handed him th e number o ne spo t. "Hamel was sitting th ere o n th e side of th e cou rse," Hunnicutt said. " He'd b rok en hi s chain an d th at p u t me o u t in fron t." " Everything was going well a t the start," said Hamel, who won round o ne of the series two weeks before. " I got the holeshot and led a ll the way, a nd 1 had a two-m inu te lead when the bike brok e. I ' wanted to win this one to get a go6d lead in the series, but I gu ess I'll just have to try again next time." The co urse crossed Trona Road at Teagle Wash and zig-zagged back and forth between the hills and th e valley on the lfi-rnile run to th e en d of the loop. Hun ni cutt com pleted the 46mi le first loo p in just over an hour and was two and a hal£ minutes ahea d as he headed into pit row . Garth Sweetland entered the pits second, despite riding ha le a loop on a back flat, and Chuck Miller was smoking the Vet clas s contenders half a minute back in third. Crandall thundered th rough fourth overall a t th e head o f th e Fou r-Stroke division , Ka wasaki p ri vateer Abe Baumann rushed th rou gh a n impressive fifth o vera ll , a n d Randy Mo sel ey wa s running sixth. Don Gri ewe, recruited by ATK the week before th e ra ce, co m p le ted a n impressive first-loop bl itz in seventh. " I go t a bad sta rt," said Griewe. " I was prob abl y 2Sth at th e bomb. 1 kept pushing and push in g a ll the wa y on th e first lap a nd 1 was doing ok ay by th e tim e 1 got to th e pit." Vet pilot J ohn Sil va raced through [our minutes beh ind th e leader in eigh th overa ll a nd defending Over 30 cha m p , Paul Ostbo , co mp leted the first half of th e race in n inth. Yamaha 's J ohn Braasch headed the 12Scc contender s in 13th overall and .T om Barbero was go ing stro ng in th e Over 40 lead. Loop two was a 40-mi le run through the mountains behind Charlie's Pl ace a nd out to th e eas t end of Teagle Wash. Four Aces' President John Nordb lad ' described th e second half of th e course as being more technical. " It has a co up le of uphills a nd downhills that will cha llenge th e riders," said Nordblad. Hunnicutt was en joying every minu te a t th e front o f th e pa ck. " Everyth ing started cli cking and going really well abou t halfway through the race," he said. " I had my doubts this morning. 1 had a bad feeling and 1 thought it was the start of another bad weekend but it turned ou t fine." Back in th e pack, the racing was fast a nd furious. Sweetland was wide open tryin g to regain second overall after time o ut in the pits to change a flat, and the miles were flashing past Crandall and Gri ewe in a blur. "Those two passed me like they were on a mission from God," said Miller , who had inherited second overall going into loop two. "They were definitely trying to impress somebody so 1 just let them go by. Then Sweetland got me." Elbow-to-elbow racing was also going on in the 25Occ. class, as KTM's Greg Sear le tried to push a rapid run up the ranks all the way to the class lead. " I got a bad start and had to hang back in the dust, so 1 had a lot of time to make up," said Searle. " I got the class lead about half way round the second loop when 1 passed Scott Stearns and we scrapped back and forth pretty good for a while." The top cont enders in the l25cc class were wrung out all the way. Smith's last hurrah n a n Smith wrapped up a distinguished desert racing career with o ne last hurrah at Red Mountain. But in stead of racing at th e head of th e pack as he did for th e last rive years, Smith sa id goodby to th e National Ch ampionship Hare & Hound Seri es, and to desert racin g, without swing ing his leg over a mot orcycle. ''I'm not allowed to race motorcycles a nymore, it' s in my new contract," said Smith, who is now racing a factory-backed Ford Bronco in the SCORE International Off-Road Series. The former KTM rid er was on hand [or a trophy pr esentation,by AMA Amateur Competition Manager Roger Ans el. The presentation ma rked Smith's victory in th e 1990 National Championship Hare & Hound Seri es - th e fifth time he had won th e prestigious title in the five years since the series began, " I miss riding," said Smith. "I haven 't even sat on a bi ke since November of last year wh en 1 bl ew my kn ee up in Mexico, pre-running for the Baja 1000. " I' ve been so busy trying to learn everything about th e truck racing industry that 1 didn 't hav e time to think about it before, but 1 came out to the race today to help some friends, a nd it brought it all back. It 's hard not to be part of this anymore, "

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