Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·.H E&HOUND' ~ Roun AR d2:Idaho N ational ..AMA National Hare &H olindSeries I Kawasaki's Danny Hamel co nt inues his winning ways. The defending hare and hound cha mp scored an easy victory in Idaho. By Anne Van Beveren MURPHY,!D, MAR. 19 t was an incredible dust-free race. One of those rare days when you go to .a race and you don 't even get dirty." Those were the words of defending National Hare & Hound Champion Danny Hamel who was describing round two of the National Championship Hare & Hound Series in Murphy, Idaho, about an hour's drive southwest of Boise, where thunderstorms the day be fore the race had left the course damp and the traction perfect. But as far as his fellow racers are concerned, the Kaw asaki ace could have been describing pretty much any event "I in the championship series' last four years. As he has been for more races than any competitor likes to count, .Hamel was out in front in Idaho, leading the field from the five-mile mark all the way to the checkered flag. With two wins in two rounds under his kidney belt, and only two more to go to be unbeatable in this year's bestfour-of-six race format, Hamel's hope of taking five championship wins in a row is little more than a heartbeat away. And the Kawasaki KX500 racer couldn't be happier. "I 'm really happy that the series is four out of six - it makes it that much easier," said Hamel. "This wa s another good one. Everything went perfect and I ha d no problems." The Idaho race, which was organized by Dirt Inc., coincided with the start of NCAA basketball's March Madness in Boise, which made accommodations difficult to find, but there wasn't a racer in the pack that wasn't happy he had made the trip . "It's great terrain. There's some sagebrush, a few rocks, a lot of sandwashes it's fun riding. " said Jim Gray, who finished fifth overall. "I like it because it's kind of like where 1ride in Colorado." Southern California's Ted Hunnicutt agreed, describing the terrain as "the greatest," but he was surprised to find that Idaho isn't quite as whoop-free as he had imagined. "I'm not complaining and they're nothing like we get down in our desert, but I was a little surprised," said Hunni- cutt. "I wasn't expecting to see any whoops at all." Whoops or no whoops, the ground could not have been better for the start of the 90-mile event. Heavy rain the day before had given way to bright sunshine and there wasn't a speck of dust to be seen as the racers powered up the bomb. Hamel reached the end of the mile and a half uphill sprint through the sagebrush in second overall, just behind Dan Richardson, and the top 10 included the familiar helmets of Dave Ondas, Gray, and Greg Zitterkopf. Hamel was dodging around Richardson a mile or two past the bomb to take over the lead just about the time that Honda's Drey. Dircks was leaving the start. '''1 probably started further back than 20th," said Dircks, who pilots a Honda XR628 in th e Over 30 division. "My background is motocross and supercross. I'm still learning (desert racing) and 1didn't get that good of a start." But e v e n those who are used to desert racing had to do a little bit of learning at the out-of-town event. "They had the banner way up on this mountain . It was like a mile away," said Honda racer Johnnie Campbell. "It was hard . to see and you really had to concentrate. My concentration was a bit off and 1 got a two-kick start that put me back." Know ing there was no dust to hinder the racers behind him, Hamel wa s hard on the gas as often as possible in the tight terrain of the SO-mile first loop. Ondas worked his way up to second overall and his only early challenger, Gray, misju dged a pass attempt and wrecked in a pile of rocks, which let the seven racers that he had laboriously picked off since the end of the bomb run get past him . "I had to pass th em all back again and, after that, Greg Zitterkopf and I pretty much rode the whole first loop behind Dan Richardson and Abe Baumann," said Gray, who pilots a KTM 250. "We couldn't get by Richardson. There were some tight sections where you couldn't pass, plus when you got into the sandwashes, Richardson on h is 500 would motor away from us, and we'd have to play catch-up with him again when we got back into the tight stuff." At the end of the fir st loop, it wa s Hamel in the number-one spot by two minutes, Donnie Bookwas number two, and andas, Zitterkopf, Richardson and Gray rounded out the top six. Hamel was concentrating on stretching out the lead as he headed into the 40-mile second loop. He had no problems with the club's markings, which included yellow ribbon instead o f arrows to mark the comers, but the rest of the front-runners didn't adapt to the local marking system qu ite as well. Gray reali zed he'd run into trouble abou t 25 miles from the start of loop two when he saw the racers he was trying to catch racing back toward him. "Going out on the second loop was really high speed and reall y whoopedout. 1 didn't see anybody for the first half of th e loop," said Gray. "Then, 1 was going down a sandwash and all of a sudden these bikes were com ing back toward me. Everybody in front of me got lost and they were all heading back down the sand wash lo ok in g for the trail." Hamel had negotiated the tricky section of the course safely but the next 10 riders, including Ondas, Zitterkopf, Dircks and other top contenders, ended up milli ng around in th e midd le of nowhere sea rching for ribbon. "All of us saw it at the same time and

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