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/127672
Round 3: Ely Gran Prix By Mark Kariy aIDirt Rider a el ret lia es ELY NY,JUNE 11 , TM's Scot Harden and Daryl Folks had front -row seats for a pretty amazing sight: Team Green's Danny Hamel crashing. And this was early on the first lap of the Duralube Ely Gran Prix, round three of the Best in the Desert's Silver State Series . It appeared that maybe his recent run of bad luck wasn't over yet. After all, Hamel had seen his win streak in the AMA National Hare & Hound Series come to an end at 15 races over a two-year period. Bike problems also bit him at t he recent SCORE Tecate Baja SOO. Now, there he was on the ground almost within sight of the start. But what followed was - for Har den, especially - eve n more amazing. As Harden recalled, Hamel did hit the g r o u nd - bare ly . Though he swap ped out in some whoops, he never stopped and never got passed! "He even crashes fast!" joked Harden. "I d idn' t wan t to lay there and feel sorry for myself because it's the start of th e race and ev ery bo dy's gonna pa ss you," said Hamel. "I just picked myself up as fast as I could and took off." Ah ead of him was Honda of Las Vegas' CRSOO-mounted Tony Bergman, who'd dr awn the number-one starting position an d was trying to take advantage of his solo 15-second head sta rt on th e 14-mile, five-lap course through Ely' s streets and surrounding hills ides, woods and fields . D r y conditions meant those in front had m uch less dust to contend with, and with a grand total of 160 s tarters; a little d us t was guaranteed. Team Green/THOR/Dunlop-sponsored Hamel wasted little time in dosing the gap on his KX500, bu t he H (Above left) Despne crashing right ofIthe start, National Hare & Hound Champio n Danny Hamel came back to win the Ely Gran Prix going away. (Above) Destry Abbott fought off the dust to come fro m behind and fi nish th ird overall. (Left) Scot Harden fi nished second overall and scored the 30+ class win. 46 couldn't find a go od way around. "About five miles into the loop I caught the leader, Tony Bergman, but there was nothing I could do. He 's a fast en ough rider and he could see good enough, and I was eating his dust. I just couldn't get through his dust. " A t the start of the second lap, I caught up to Tony (agai n), and he looked back, saw me and pulled over to let me by. I've gotta thank him for that. I had no problems from there on in; it was dear sailing." Hamel finished - with a rear tire that absorbed a nail but didn't go flat - in 1:58:39. The expected challenge from Greg Zitterkopf, who'd won both Silver State Series races this season, never materialized. While slicing his wa y through the pack, his bike ' s ig n ition reportedly expired, leaving him sitting beside the trail. His boss Harden, on the other hand, had 'an exceptional ride. Harden admitted, "Starting up front was a big advantage with the dust and everything. But I can't believ e I' m ri di ng this good! " - Physically, he cr ossed the line second overall, prompting him to quip, "I was the first human across. Hamel doesn't count because he 's not human; he's a machine!" On corrected time, however, Harden got bumped by KTM-mounted Destry Abbott - 2:03:42 to 2:04:04. "I started on the second-to-last row of the Pros which r eally sucked because I had to go through the dust," Abbott said. "About the fourth and fifth laps , my (air filter) was getting dogged up. Other than that, I ha d a really good ride. "O n my four th la p I pitted, a nd I • know Scot only pitted once. I saw him in , fron t of me on the third lap, and I said, 'Aw shoot, I've gotta make up a lot of time to catch him: because he was running second overall. "So on my fifth lap I we nt out, and I guess he had a minute lead . I made up 30 seconds which got me second overa ll so I'm real ha ppy." Brothers Ma rk an d Jeff Lundgreen took their KTM 5SOs to fou rth and fifth overall, resp ectively, separa ted by just 25 seco n ds . Bergma n finished si xth overall and fou rth Open Pro, ahead of Kawa saki of 51.George's Brent Bush, the first Expert finishe r. In the Amateur rac e that followed , Lake Havasu Roo fing ' s Mark Steven Brouillette took the overall and Over 30 Amateur wins in 2:27:43. Less than two minutes behind him, though, was 14year-old Russell Pearson on a Pearson Br o s ./Sp o r ts m a n Cycle-supported Suzuki RMl25, followed by 250cc winner Bryan Ma rtin. Pea rson was d oing