Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eHARE &HOUND e . . AMA National Championship Hare ~ Hound Series: Final round 1-4 V ..0 o ..... u o The National Championship Hare &: Hound Series title was decided at the final round; KTM 's Danny Hamel prevailed. Hamel clinches title at Wendover By Anne Van Beveren WENDOV NV, SEPT. 29 ER, hen the racers staged for the final round of the Na tion al Ch am pi on ship Hare &: Hound Series, four riders were hoping to becom e only th e second different rid er ever to own the National Championship Hare &: Hound Crown. After more than three hou rs of racin g over a three-loo p , 100mil e-plus course , it was KTM 's Danny H am el emerging above the rest, scoring th e overa ll win as well as the 1991 Ch ampion ship title. . The KTM MOE/XC-mounted rider , H am el, was in striking distance of the lead from th e minute th e banner dropped. He even tually rocketed to th e front in the fast-pa ced terrain of loop two and stayed there for the rest of the race. Hamel's fourth overall win of the season put him 23 ne t poin ts ahead of th e nearest competition at the end of th e shortened six-race series and W 28 cont in ued th e KTM domination of th e series begun by Hamel' s now -retired teammate, five-tim e Na tio na l Hare &: Hound Ch ampion Dan Smith. Besides H am el, no other rider has ever worn the Har e and H ound crow n other th an Smith. " I don 't think words ca n reall y express how I feel. It hasn 't reall y sunk in yet," said Hamel, after taking th e victor y. "I'm still in shock bu t I' m really happy." The pressur e was on as the field of 200 riders lined up for th e start of the race, which was or gan ized by th e Utah Desert Fox es. The cancella tion of two rounds late in the series meant the,97mi le even t nea r the Nevad a/ Utah border was the last cha nce -to "gai n cha mpions h ip points, and the' overa ll title and four of th e six expert classes were still up for gra bs. " I t was betw een me , Garth (Sweet land) an d Larry (Roe seler) for th e overall," Hamel explai ned. " If Lar ry wo n , I ha d to fin ish th ird to beat him and if Garth won, I had to ge t better tha n 13th. I was really nervou s before th e race . I wanted to do really go od ." The banner dropped for th e first time just before 10:00 a.m, and Kawasaki's Paul Krause led the Expert classes in the cha rge u p the dusty bomb ru n and into the first section of the three-loop course . Kawasaki KX500 p ilo ts T ed Hunnicutt and Sweetlan d were hard on h is heels as H am el flashed past the bomb . Ham el' s 250cc teammate Jimmy Lewis was not far behind . T he rest of the field disap peared under a blanket of blinding dust. "T he dust was pretty bad. I felt I had a decent bomb but it was too du sty to tell ," said Lewis. " If you' d been any furt her back you wo uld 've been in real trouble." Roeseler's chance of hi s first an d on ly Na tio na l title was on the li ne as soon as th e banner dropped. " My foo t slipped off at the sta rt and it took a couple of kicks. I rnu st've been th e last bike off th e lin e," said Roeseler. " It was super dusty. You couldn' t see a th ing back there." Nevada 's infamous rocks kept th e racers close to th e ri bbon and passing 'was almost impo ssible until the worst of the dust had cleared. Kraus e led th e first half of the 23mil e openi ng loop, then Hunnicutt moved up for his shot at the dust-free lead. " I got him in the trees. We started reall y go ing at it, back and for th," said Hunnicutt. " It was so tight in that section that you 'd end up first or second depend ing on which side of th e tree you went aro u nd. I go t stuck in a tree, finall y. I coul dn't get the bik e ou t and by the tim e I go t goi ng H am el was right behind me." Krau se was 13 seconds ahead of Hunnicu tt as he charged into pi t row at th e end of the fir st 40 minutes of raci ng . H amel was half a min u te back in th ird , Sweetland was on the gas in fourt h and Lewis, tryi ng to hold on to , th e points lead for th e 250cc Na tio na l title, headed the 250cc contenders in fifth . " I had to fin ish eigh th or better in my classso there wasn 't a whole lot of pressu re. I pre tty mu ch approached it th e same as any other race," said Lewis. "M y stra tegy was to ride safely in the dust and pass everybody when' I got to th e trees and that's wha t I did ." Scott Morr is was goi ng stro ng with th e tight terrain of loop one behind him and Roeseler had wor ked through 1 th e pack to cla im 10th overa ll. Loop two headed out to the west an d the 32-m ile 'circu it gave Hamel th e brea k he was looking for. " I kn ew it was go ing to be rea lly fast and I wan ted to make up time," said Ham el. " H unnic u tt had crashed about 10 mil es into the loop. I made ure he was alright, then I took off aft er Krause. I caught him halfway through the loop in a reall y tight canyon." Further back in the pack, Hamel's ri vals for the overall title were start ing to get into stride. Roeseler had battled through th e tail -end dust to break into the top five and Sweetland had dashed past Hunnicutt to claim third. " I wasn't feeling that good at the start and I wasn 't riding well," said Sweetland. " I just wasn't in the right mode. That lasted until halfway round the first loop but I started feeling better after that." Utah's Brent Fox was on th e move after a two-kick start du sted him out in the earl y running. Todd Peugh was picking off the competitio n at a steady rat e and Husab erg-mounted David Rhodes was making his mov e o n ATK 's Don Griewe, who had alrea dy sewn up th e Four-Stroke class championship titl e and still had an outside shot at the overal l. " I had to win it overa ll and H am el had to break. Roeseler was one point ah ead of me going into th e race and I still had to worry abo u t (Sweetland), but there was a chance," said Griewe. But Griewe's hop es were dashed when a broken chain sideli ned him 10 miles from th e end of loop two. Over-3 0 Expert Paul O stb o was wrapping up hi s class champ ionsh ip from more than 700 mil es away in Los Angel es. Injuries forced the Kawasak i rider to mi ss the final event of th e series but a no-show by Grant Palen ske, the only racer within striking distance of th e lead, ga ve Os tb o th e class champ ionsh ip .

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