Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

for us passing the slower guys and it has to be really scary for them. The other riders made it tough beca use they had knocked down a lot of th e arrows some of the danger markings, too. I like it the old way where we g et to see everything first. " Despite the handicap of dust and traffic, Hamel started to pull awa y from Davis as the loop wore on and the tenacious second-place racer finally lo s t sight of his year-long rival. "The second loop was really stupid, I thought. It wasn't difficult at all - there was nothing to it excep t going across valleys and chop, an d he (Hamel) kind of p ulled away a little bit," said Davis . "I did n't have a big enough marbles set to go across there a t those speeds. I've never almos t crashed so many times in my life." The top nine racer s held th eir own th rou ghout the high-speed miles, keeping an even distance most of the way as th e loop circle d east, heade d towards Iron Rid g e and t hen turned back toward s the Soggy Dry Lake area. Zitterkopf foun d it im possible to make up time on the Open class entries in the wide-open terrain and ha d to be con tent with fifth, but Richardson managed to dodge around Capt's XR600R to take over eighth. Dircks had to opt for a slow-but-sure I finish when his kick starter broke and was left d angling like a broken kickI stand 30 miles fro m the finis h. Maxim I was struggling with blown front forks , and Jason Ka well crashed after he Tboned a rock in a sand wash. . But Kawell's crash was nothing compa red to the over-the-bars effort of Mike Korenwinder. Even th ose who d idn't cr as h h ad their share of problems as the rocky terrain took its toll lin one tire after another. Ondas, Hoy and Baumann had one flat apiece. Hen geveld followed his firstloop front flat with a rear flat in the second loop, and 250cc Expert Doug Duncan finished wit h no air front or rear, the rear tire rolling off the rim . But Hamel continued to race trouble- . free. ·He completed his lightning circuit of the second loop in just over 50 minutes and took his fifth checkered flag in the six-race series three and a half minutes ahead of the nearest competition. "Because the last race was cancelled, it took a lot of pressure off me. I didn't even ha ve to ride if I didn't want to, so 1000:'" th is was really good," sai d Kawasaki With only 10 points separating the Team Green/Dunlop /Braking /Thor I two top contenders in the Over 40 diviEndura/lMS/N-Style /Scottsl Alpinessi o n , the race between Bill Maxim tar I Bieffe I Ma x ima I ProCircu i t I (KX500) and ATK-mounted Steve Pitts Sprocket Spec./F&:L /RK /Magnum l was as close as ever . Pitts lost the early Ba ck Canteen /MAX /DCC-b ac k ed lead when he stopped to remove a bush H amel. " Th e other thing that mad e that got tangled in his shift lever, but toda y great was my bike. The bike. was onl y one pos ition separated the racers as awesome. I was ab le to pull a gear highthey made their way down pit row. The er than everybody else at th e bomb. It 125cc tussl e was eq ua lly tight, with worked so good." Quint Betts rec ov er ing from an ea rl y race crash to keep Meynard Harman at The new four-time National Hare & bay by just one posi tion. Hound champion was characteristically The race's un usual layou t saved the low-key about his win. fast trails for last and many of the front"It means a lot - it really is pretty sper u n ne rs were no t im p re ssed b y the cial," he said . "It would really be somewide-open terra in of the 42-mile second thing to w in it aga in next year and tie loop. Dan Smith's (five in a row ) record." In addition to fast trails, Hamel had Dav is, who raced in second almost all the way around the 55-mile course, to contend wi th dust kicked up by the beginners and quad racers who were would've been happier if the race ha d st ill trying to complete the ir first loop , stopped at the end of the first loop . "The first loop used a lot of virgin trail and he had to pass rider after rid er as the loop drew to a close. - it was fun. But the second loop wasn 't "When we're going so fast, it makes nearly as much fun. They should've just it a li ttl e m ore in te nse," sa id H amel, let the beginners go a rou nd it," said who ad mitted tha t he' s out of practice Kawasaki Te am Green /Braking l Motocross Fox /Endura /FMFI Shoei l passing slowe r riders and that his skill in th e d us t is starting to slip af ter so Sm ith /Scotts / MXA / LR Racing/Maxima-sponsored Davis. long at the head of the pack "It's scary when his KTM ran out of gas near the end of the loop . The first loop had its ups and downs for Rex Staten, who need ed a few extra points to secure the championship title in the Vet division. "I got off a couple of times ," said the KX500 racer. "The first time, I ca ught some rocks and went down about 10 miles out." Staten's first crash left him with a number of small cracks in his helmet and ground off so me impressive sections of his cus tom pain t job, bu t the worst was still to come. "I hit something wide-open in fifth gear co mi ng into th e p its. I th ou gh t I was goi ng over th e ba rs a t first, bu t I came back down. But instead of landing on the bike, I landed beside it, down by th e footp eg, " sai d Staten . " It dragged me along at 90 miles an hour for 50 or 60 feet, then I let go and ate it." The crash combina tion le ft Staten with a badly bru ised a r m th a t he couldn't straig hten an d a scra ped back, but he managed to continue the race. Just over an hour had pa ssed when Ha mel comp leted the first 43-mile loop an d cruised d own pit row, which was marked at 15 miles an hour. A fast pit had him back on his way in no time flat and Ka wasa ki's mechanical crew had two minutes to recove r before Davis hit the pits in second . H unnicu t t was a minute back in third, wi th another minute back to Roeseier in fo u r th . The Ka wasak i crew finally go t to take a rest as Zitterkopf pulled into the KTM pit in fifth. American Ho nda's Joh nny Cam pbell led the four-stro ke contende rs through in sixth overall on his Honda XR600R, ahead of Dave Ondas (KX500), Jeff Cap t (XR600R) and Dan Richardson (CRSOO). Abe Baumann was leading the Vets in 10th . With Staten limping through the pits in 16th, Baumann's nearest competition was Drey Dircks, who wa s tw o places back in 12th, bu t Baumann d idn't know it. "L'rn not very well -known in the desert," sa id Dircks, whose Vet class sta tus was further disguised by the pieplate number on the front of h is XR600R. "I was a pro motocrosser and su percrosser for years. Dese rt is pretty new to me, but I just sta rted riding for American Honda. I'm gong to be riding w ith Capt and Campbell in the Baja (Above) Ted Hunnicutt returned to act ion and finished third overall. (Lett) For the second year In a row, KTlJI's Greg Zltterkopf won the 250cc class title. I. i' The second-place fini sh, Davis ' fourth in the six-race series, coupled w ith his win in rou nd four, put him second overall in the National series for the second year in a row . . Six m inutes elapsed befo re third place could be hea rd off in the distance and, when the KX500 crossed the line, it was Roeseler, not Hunnicutt, who took the number-three trophy. "I did a sneak pass on him about five miles back," said Roeseler, laughing as he looked over at Hunnicutt, who finished just inches off his teammate's rear wheel. "I caugh t him, slowed down a bit, then got a run on him." "It was a pretty bitchin' race," sai d Roeseler. 'The first loop was awesome th e y really d id a good job, and th ey even over-d angered some stuff in the markings. Th e onl y problem was th e dust - it was brutal." Greg Zitterkopf completed the course in fifth overall to take his fifth 250cc win in this year 's series. Johnny Campbell turned a med iocre start in to sixth overa ll and firs t in the fou r-stro ke divis ion, ahead of Kawasak i-b acked Da ve Ondas, a n d Dan Rich ard son edged Jeff Capt out of eigh th. Jeff Capt's ninth overall clinched the series win in the four-stroke di vision. Open Expert Todd Hoy was the next racer to cross the line, pleased with a top 10 finish in his first race back after a broken arm . Ste ve Hengeveld and Jon Parks took 11th and 12th, respectively, in the 250cc Expert class, a n d Drey Dircks took the Vet Class honors in 13th ove ra ll, just ahead of Rex Stat en , who d as hed off in sea rch of a bandage the min ute he had clinched the Vet Cla ss championship. . Edging Steve Pitts in Over 40 class wa s Bill Max im, who finished 29th. Maxim finished two spots ahead of ra ce- and series-long rival Pitts, and edged Pitts in the title race by jus t five points. Pitts was hard of hearing after splitting his pipe 10 miles into the first loop. "Boy, are my ears a re ringing. My powerband was all or nothing and it was coming on in lots of bad places," said Pitts, who finished just ahead of thirdplaced Yamaha rider Gary Garland. The first Amateur racer to cross the line was KX2.5O-mounted John Kawell, who survived a couple of falls and the bike landing on him to take his eighth consecutive class win. Terry McDonald piloted his Honda to victory in a very comp eti tive Over 50 cla ss, and Quint Betts prevailed in the 125ee Expert d ivision. m AMA National Hare & Hound Lucerne Valley, california Results: October 23, 1994 (Round 6 of 6) 0/'" 1. Danny Ha rocl (!<.aw): 2. Ty Dav is (!<.a ; 3. w) Larry Roeseler (Ka w); 4. Ted H unnicutt (Kaw): 5. Greg Zitterkopf (KTM); 6. Johnny Campbell (Ho n): 7. Dav e O Rdas (Kaw); 8. Dan Richardson (Ho n) ; 9. Jeff Ca pl (Hon) ; 10. Todd Ho y (KTM); 11. Steve Hengeveld (Kaw ); 12. Jon Pa rks (Hon); 13. Drey Dircks (Hon ); 14. Rex Staten (!<.aw); 15. Abe Baumann (Ka w ); 16. Oa kley Lehman (H on) . OPEN EX: 1. Danny Hamel (Ka w) ; 2. Ty Davi s (!<.aw); 3. Larry Roeseler (Kaw). 250 EX: 1. Greg Zit terk opf (KTM); 2. Ste v e Hengeveld (Ka w ); 3. Jon Par ks (Han). US EX:1. Quinllletts (Ka w); 2. Ken Harman (Kaw). 4 STK: 1. J ohnny Campbell (Hon) ; 2. Jeff Capt (Hon) . 0-30 EX: 1. Drey Din:ks (Hon); 2. Rex Staten (!<.aw); 3. Abe Baumann (!<.aw). o-co EX: 1. BiD Maxim (Kaw); 2. Steve Pitts (AT1C); 3. Ga')' Garland (Yam) . 0-50 EX: 1. Terry McDona ld (Hun) . "'=!'l 0\ 0\ r-4

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