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/127381
BHARE ~ HOUND AMA National Championship Hare &Hound Series: Round 5 ; t L Garth Sweetland (8) an d Dann y Hamel (4) are curren tly tied (or the series points lead , no t counting each rider's two th row-away races. Hamel scored the day's overall win. Seri es title con tender La rry Roeseler stops (or gas en route to a second overall finish . Hamel, Roeseler 1ยท2 in Nevada By Anne Va n Beveren Photos by Tom Va n Beveren HIK XV, MAY 5 O, TM 's Danny Ha mel led (rom start to finis h in the 156-mile sp ri nt fro m Bristo l Well s Road to Crysta l Springs - abo ut 130 m iles north of Las Vegas - keeping his hopes of a National Ch ampionshi p title a live. T he 19-yea r-o ld who resides in Las Vegas , cro ssed the fin ish line four minutes a hea d of top series rival s Larry Roeseler a nd Ga rt h Sweetland. " I had a few prob lems wi th my back brake towards th e end of the race but the rest of it went rea lly well ," said Hamel. " It was a superb race a nd a rea lly well-ma rked co urse. I didn 't get lost o nce!" Ham el' s th ree wi ns giv es him a narrow lead over Roeseler, who has o ne win and two seconds tow ard s his best-of -five finishes. The o ther contender for overa ll honors with j ust two ro unds left, is Team Green's Sweetla nd, who took third overal l. With the best five even ts o u t of the total seven co unt ing towards the series cha m pion ship, the ba tt le for the tit le is sti ll very mu ch in the air. Adding up Sweetlan d 's, Ha mel' s a nd Roeseler 's total points to da te, Sweetla nd a nd H amel a re tied for th e series lead wit h 90, and Roeseler is th ird with 80. Cu rren tly in fourth with 79 points is Roeseler 's a nd Sweetla nd's teammate Paul Krause. " T he last two rounds are go ing to be prett y interest ing," said Sweetla nd, K 16 who has four top-five finishes and a 16th o vera ll. " H amel and Roeseler hav e used up their two throwaway races, so they have to finish the last two races a nd they have to bea t me in bo th of them to ge t the overall." Ro und five of the shortened sevenrace series was orga nized by Casey Fo lks' Best in the Desert Ra ce Prom otions a nd drew 132 of hare a nd hou nd 's top co mpetito rs. The point-to-point course began 45 m iles north of Hiko with four pits scheduled on the southerl y run to Crystal Springs, near the i ntersec tion of H ig h wa y 3 18 and H ighway 375. T he racers lined up two abreast for th e time-adjusted star t. The top 20 overa ll fini sh ers from la st yea r's Na tional Series were a t the head of the starting o rder and the ot her racers lin ed u p by class behi nd them . H amel and Sweetland dr ew front row starts, but few of the o the r racers wer e h appy with t h ei r sta rti ng po si tio n. . " The start and the dust determined th e whole race," said 250cc con tender Du ane Su m mers, wh o was back on row 13. " 1 got stuc k behind slow er people a nd o n virgin tra ils you can' t get off (the tra il) a nd go around them. You had to ri de righ t beh ind them and eat du st waitin g for them to blow a tum. Do in g th at chokes you ou t."