Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

the regular enduros go out and see more qualifiers come in. I've got a lot of local friends that ride motocross and trail ride and I'll ask them to come ride an enduro at Minden or so mething. They go, 'Oh, well I d on' t have a speedometer or a clock: I tell them they don't need it and explain how it works, and they go, 'Oh, that would be cool:" Tho ugh his p reference for the"qualifier" series is obvious, Smith - not one to limi t his options, has also been contesting the Na tional Cha mpions hip H ar e Scra mbles circuit for the first time th is year. He was leading tha t series un til he failed to score at round five and sat out round six, but two "throw-away" rides a re allowed, and with one ro und remaining, he sits in secon d place w ith a good shot at earning the title. " At th e end of las t year, Kaw asa ki called me and asked if I want ed to ride th e whole qualifier series and do Six Days. I thou ght that was weird becau se la st ye a r th ey co u ld ha ve ca re d less about it (the series). I don 't like to burn br id ges, an d Suz uki gave me my firs t shot. Also, Kawasak i said they want ed me to do just those races and if I wanted to do hare scrambles or whatever, I'd d o it on my own. I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to get a coupl e championships going. "The two (qualifiers and hare scrambles) are totally d ifferent. A qualifie r is a five- mi n u te sprin t and hare scra mbles are three hou rs of hard riding. I couldn 't decide on the cross country series or the ha re scra mbles series, b ut I chose hare scra mb les because it has a little more recognition. As it turned out, I did quite a few cross count ries anyhow, but couldn't quite do the w hole se ries. It's ki nd of d iffe rent for me because th e tracks are all new to me. Same with a lot of races on the qu al ifier series. Havin g the experience alwa ys help s." Though he still sta nds a shot at winning the har e scra mb les se ries, Sm ith suffered a se tback at the sweltering fifth ro u nd in H ookstown, Pennsy lvani a. There, Smith was leading on the final lap wh en he passed out. No one - including Smith - is sure exactly what happened . "My water bottle broke in the third turn, and co ve re d m e with wa ter," exp lains Smith. "I thought it was gas, but on the seco nd lap, I went to take a d rink and realized what had really happened. It was really hot. Duane Conner pulled out at the hal fway point after we were dicing, and Sco tt Plessin ger fell wit h abo ut half a lap to go and alm ost quit. I never felt weak , but I don't know exactly what happened . Some people say I fell and hit my head, but I do n' t th ink so. Luckily, the ambulance was close by, and they put me on an air fligh t to the hospital. I guess they said on the flight tha t they didn't think I was going to make it, but I woke up in the hospital in the middle of the night 'The next round was two weeks later, and I almost rode it. I bo ught the plane ticket and everything, and I felt pretty good, but I was still getting headaches. I decided it would be better to just wail and prepare for the last few rounds, and do my best to win those. I've used up both my throw-aways, but I sho uld still do pretty good as long as I don't screw up." Smi th will be under consider able pressure to perfo rm well at the fina l ha re scrambles round, and while he faced little scrutiny at last year's ISDE, a ll eyes will be on him in Holla nd this October. But don't count him ou t. After all, we're talkin g about a guy who finished as the h ighest-ev er pl acing American in hi s first-ever Six Days, and who scored the National Reliability End uro Championship on his first try . Now that he's got some experience under his belt, Smilh sho uld be unstoppable. 0\' ... \,Q ~ OJ ..0 o .... u o HARLEY-DAVIDSON HarleyD avidsonDealersAssociation 01 Southern calnomia, Inc. ck~t~~~ '" Carr '" Graham £:1;'"Springsteen '"Morehead ~ '"Parker '" Po o vey '"Ferris ~ Box Seats $ 20.00 Donate to THECLAYTON FOUNDATION 2201 Cherr y Avenue Long Beach, CA 90806 310/427-7433 'We want tobe yourfiruorite chilrity" 19

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