Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GHARE ~ H0UND AMA National Championship_H_&H_Se_rie_s: _ O_ d 2------'---R Ull_ e Winner La rry Roeseler (3) swapp ed th e lead many times wi th team m~ te Ted H unnicutt (I) throughout the IOO-mile race. R score oeseler sMoose Run win By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren RIDGECREST, CA, FEB. 9 ust-free conditio ns provided an exciting fin ish at the 42nd running of the Four Aces M.C.' s Moose Run Nation al , as Kawasaki Team Green 's Lar ry Roeseler dash ed across th e finish lin e to score th e overa ll win ju st 38 seco nds ahead of teammate Ted Hunnicutt. Roeseler, riding a Kaw asak i KX250, and Hunnicutt, aboa rd a KX500, were never mo re than ha lf a m inu te apart for most of the IOO-mile even t. At tim es the two racers swapped lead po sit ions back and forth in th e clear air left by two days of ra in in the T eagle Wash riding area. D 10 " Wi th no du st, you could stay righ t beh ind somebody and that made it a . lot close r," said Roeseler. "T oday it was easi er to foll o w than it was to lead, so we too k tu rns in front." Roeseler made sur e he had th e lead in th e fin al section of rocky hills and stayed , in front all the way to earn im portant poi nts towards th e ,prestigous cha mp io ns h i p tit le tha t has eluded him for six years. 'The prom ise of National and AMA Distr ict 37 points coupled wit h perfec t riding conditions attracted 550 riders to the Moose Run Na tional. Bu t the pr e-race rain became a mixed blessing wh en it was hed out o ne of the mai n access roads to the ridin g area. Man y Los Ang eles-area racers were forced to take a 40-m ile detour and officia ls delay ed the start half a n hou r to accommoda te late sign-i ns. Team Green 's Pau l Krause was at the head of the pac k when the bann er fin a lly droppe d a t 9.30 a .m . The Kawasaki KX500 racer led the way south from the starting line at Trona Road and flashed past the bomb just ahead of Hunnicutt and ATK's Don Griewe. Defend ing Nati on al Champion Danny Ham el was battling Roeseler for sixth when he reached the bomb. _ With o ne win in th e seven-race series already under his belt, Hamel was hoping for back-to-back wins to open up an earl y seri es points lead , bu t his hopes were das hed when he went do wn hard just th ree mil es from the sta rt. " I rode con servatively unt il I go t to th e bomb, then I sta rted passi ng peo ple o ne by o ne.. I was doi ng well but I hit a rock that I didn 't see a nd crashed, " sa id th e T eam Gre en rider. Hamel r et urned to the p its, shake n and bru ised, with a broken thro ttle cable. " My knees ar e a little bi t sore but other th an that I' m fin e," he said. Krau se was the nex t rider to go down. He led through the first check but came to gr ief in a wash near the five-mile mark. " We got int o a litt le creek that just happened to be fu ll of water and I clipped a rock and went over," said Krau se, wh o was soon back o n the bike, but Hunni cutt a nd R oesel er ha d a lready sho t by. , J eff Kawell was n ' t as lucky when he hi t a wet spot at the lO-mi le mark . T he Kaw asak i KXI2 5 pi lo t slid out awk wa rd l y a n d suffe re d a d is lo cated shou lder. The first loo p circle d southw est towards H igh way 395 and then headed north to Navy Road. It doub led back to th e p its for an alternate gas a t 40 miles then ran back towards Na vy Road for another 18-mile loo p. Hunnicutt led the way in th e early going, while Roeseler mad e the most of th e wet g ro und just a few feet behind him. A wet handgrip that kep t spinning on -t he bars had Krause stru ggling to stay in third, and Gr iewe was falling back steadily. " I went all the way back to 10th in the first few mi les because 1 was on someon e else's bik e," said Gr iewe. " I j ust rode it as it was and it wasn 't set up for me at all." T he lack of dust help ed racers who had slow starts. Jeff Capt too k fo ur ki cks to get his Kawasaki KX I 25 underw ay but soon mo ved up to cha llenge 125cc cla ss lead er J ame s Su mmers. Vet racer Paul Ostbo was a lso gaining grou nd . "I was the last on e off th e line," said Ostbo. " I got a four-kick start and then 1 got a rock in th e eyeball. 1 had som e focusi ng prob lems for a wh ile the re." Hu nn icu tt an d Roeseler ran neck and neck all the way th ro ug h the first part of loop on e, tradin g off the top spot over m iles of fast-paced, cho ppy terrain. "The course was all right. It was just reall y choppy ," said H un nicu tt. "There was cho ppy cross-gra in alm ost th e whole way." " I tho ugh t th is was probably o ne of th e best Nationa ls that I've ridden in a cou p le of years," said Over-Sf cla ss rider Bill Maxim. "T here was eno ugh technica l stuff wh ere you cou ld catch g uys and get by them, and there wasn 't that mu ch fast stuff wher e th e local guys cou ld get awa y." Roeseler had the lead as he com p leted the first 40 miles and headed int o the alternate gas , but Hunn icutt was less than five feet behind hi m, T hey entered the Kawasak i pi t together and after a few frenzie d seconds, it was H u nnic u tt who led off into the 18-mi le second part of the first loop. "I had to take my sho ulder pads off and th at too k a co u p le of ex tra seconds, " said Roeseler. " They came apart and un screwed near the end of th e first sectio n." Jimmy Lewi s broug h t his KTM 250 in to the p it one minute beh ind Roeseler, and Krau se and fell ow Kawasaki KX500 racer David Ondas hit pit row side by sid e in fourth. G riewe thun dered through at th e head of th e FourStro ke division in sixth o verall, with Ka wasaki KX500 -m ounted C hr is

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