Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GHARE &HOUND AM! National Championship_H&_H_Se_ries_:R_oUD_d_I _ e The day after winning the Parker 400 in Arizona, Hamel aced the opening round of the National Championship Hare &: Hound Series in Lucerne Valley , California. Hamel stars a tWinter C lassic By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren LUCERNE VALLEY, CA, JA 26 N. awasaki 's Danny Hamel left the co m pe titio n ou t in the cold at th e Desert M.C.'s Winter Classic Hare &: Hound. In a bid to take the early lead in this year 's seven race cha mp io nship series , the defending National Hareje Hound Ch ampion was on the gas all the way. H e was half a mile a head of th e pack just 15 miles off th e start and remained unchallenged until the checkered flag fell two hours later. " It was a really good, challengi n g race," sai d H amel. " Everythi ng just fell into place today. And I' m gl ad to be here first. This makes things easier later in the series ." The first round of the 1992 seri es drew more than 475 racers to the start line a t the end of Bessemer Mine Road near Lucerne Valley. The race was sched u led to start a t 10 a.m., but despite th e lat er-than -usual banner, many of the top contenders barel y mad e it into th e sta rting lineup. Hamel had just one practi ce a t th e bo mb before he took hi s pl ace on the line, a nd Over 30 ho peful Paul Ostbo, who had teamed Hamel and Garth Sweetla nd to victory a t the SCO RE Parker 400 the da y before, saw the trail for the first tim e after the banner had dropped. K 12 "The bomb was about th ree mil es lon g. It was really fast a nd kind of dangerous a t th e end beca use there were a few hidden rocks ," said Hamel. But th e rocks did not alter H am el 's ga me plan. "This morning wh en'I was si tting on the line, 1 kn ew 1 had to ge t the hol eshot or I'd be in dus t all da y," Hamel said. " T he banner dro pped and 1 took off." Hamel's Kawa saki KX500 shot o ut in to the lead a nd remained unchal- . lenged all the wa y to the bomb. Wh en the dust cloud behind hi m sorted itself ou t 10 miles into th e first loop, David Ondas was in second with Kawasaki T eam . G reen 's Pau l Krau se cl ose behind. Kaw asak i- m o un ted Ch ri s Crandall was in the top five and J ames Sum mers was a t the head of th e 125cc cla ss, but some of the biggest threa ts for the overall Na tional title were nowh ere to be seen. " I go t a reall y bad start, " said Kawasak i 's Ted , H un ni cu tt. "Some guy cras hed in front of me. 1 slowed down to see if he was okay and another couple of guys go t on my trail. 1 was probably eig h th or ninth a t the bomb." Larry Roeseler's hopes of a fast start were das hed when he ta ngled with Crandall near th e bomb a nd wen t Larry Roeseler finished third overal l/first 250cc despite crashing in the bomb run. down. T he fall left him struggling to ma ke up tim e. " I go t goi ng again, but you can 't see what you 're doing," said Roesler. " You 're trying to go fast in the du st and the rocks , and 1 ended up cra sh ing again before the end of the first loop." KT M's Jimmy Lewis went down in a heap right beside his 250cc rival, Roeseler, and the two went back and forth five times before Roeseler established a su stainable lead . A spectacu lar crash near the 10-mile mark too k Garth Sweetl and out of the race altogether. "I cra she d and burned. Som ebody came over from two lines across a nd j ust took m y front end out," said Sweetland, wh o came away with tire trac ks on hi s helmet, a sore wri st and a sor e neck. " I' m prett y di sgusted, but there's no point in riding when you can 't hold on." Sweetl and retired a t th e end of the first loop. Ostbo's late a rrival left him tackling th e bom b run sig h t unseen. " I didn 't get to preru n the bomb and 1 ended u p wi th a terrib le start," said Ostbo. " I go t tangled up with some guys and 1 went through a cactus. I can' t cou nt as far back as I was at th e bomb." But as Utah's Brandon Gerber found OUl , even a lot of practice ca n ' t guarantee a fast start. " I've never ridden here before and the start was unreal," said Gerb er. " I had a two kick sta rt and I coul dn' t see a thing. 1 said ' H oly cow, th is is going to be bad.' " And things di dn 't get much better o nce he started moving. " I took off and I was following th e course . It wound back and fort h, but people were just straight shooting it all over. I was wasting time," said Gerber. The first loop ra n due north from Besseme r Mine Road and then headed out to the northwestern-most corner of th e com pe tition area. It wound through the Fry Mountains, past Anderson Dry Lake and across to Cougar Buttes, th en went back into the tigh t, technical terrain of the Fry Mountain range. H amel was unchallenged th roughout the 39-mile first loop, but there was a lot . of ba ck-and-forth racing going on behind him. Krause elbow ed hi s way past th e faster starters until he was challenging Ondas for second. "I got past him and had dust-free co ndi tions but Hamel was way out by then," said Krause. "He had stretched out enough that 1 cou ld see where he was wa y across the valleys but that was as close as 1 got." At th e end of the first hour of racing, Hamel was two and a half minutes a head of Krau se when he entered pit ro w. Hunnicutt was another minute back in th ird and Roese1er brought th e first 250cc en try through in fourth. "T ea m Green has everybody else on 5OOs, so 1 thought I'd ride a 250 (for the series)," said Roeseler. " I'Il probably end up going faster on a 250 any way if the races are lik e the Check Ch ase and Utah. They're tight. " Ondas was in the number five spot when he entered th e Kawasaki pit. Lewis was a minute shy of the 25,Occ lead in six th, ahead of Crandall and Gerb er, a nd Lee Scheffers turned heads when he bro ugh t the first Vet class bike through in seventh. " I had a good sta rt a nd 1 ran rea lly good, but 1 started getting tired at the end of the first loo p," said Scheffers, who is staging a comeback after

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