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his pit row debut and extra time to change helmets put him a minute and a half back when he followed Davis out into loop two. Donnie Book had his KX250 in third, three minutes behind Hamel; Zitterkopf led the four-stroke racers in fourth; and KTM racer Jim Gray, U tah's Dustin Headman and Tod d Hoy followed in quick succession. Dan Richardson brought his Honda CR500 into the pits in eighth but a quick look at the rear brake told him that was as far as he was going to go. "It's completely fried . I've had no b rake since abou t th e I S-m ile mark," said th e Southern California privateer . "The bi ke head shakes real bad a nd it helps if you drag the brake. I've h ad a hard time w ith it go ing throu gh brake pads but thi s is the first tim e I've ever not fini shed a National bec au se of a bike problem w ith the Honda. What a long drive for nothing." Mark Lu ndgree n and 1S-y e ar-old N ic k Pea r s o n , b oth pil o ti n g KT M s, • rounded out the top ten, ahead of Brian Brown, and Jimmy Lewis' 12th overa ll put h im 16 places ahead of the nearest 125cc com petitio n. Over 40 lead er Rex Staten was three spots ahead of class rival Steve Pitts in 21st overall, and Drey Dircks headed up the Over 30 racers in 22nd overall. Honda pilots Jeff Capt and Johnny Campbell both took time out for a filter change. "My filter dogged really early in the . loop," said Campbell. "I rode most of the first loop like that and only had quarter-throttle." The 20-mile second loop headed for the hills. Locals warned that the gray clouds that hung over the pits could mean snow flurries in the higher elevations, but Davis and Hamel had no time to think about the weather. "I had a pretty good lead at the en d of the first loop. I couldn' t see anybody behind me a n d I d idn't know w here (Hamel) was, w h ich is ki nd of ra re, " said Davis. "I was making mi stake s here and there, and I was thinking, '(Hamel) mu st've broken or cras hed. He should be on me by now : Then all of a sud den he was, and it was full -panic racing as fast as I could go after that:' There was no time to appreciate the scenery as Davis and H amel charged through the second loo p, making sho rt work of the back-and -forth trails tha t wou n d through th e trees, an d H amel w a s o n ly eigh t secon ds b ehind his Kawasaki teammate as they head ed into the desert terrain of th e final 3D-mile loop. Beh ind the lead duo, litt le had changed. Book was still in .third ov erall but he had lost so me time and was four and a half minutes behind the leaders, and h e sli p ped ba ck to fourth overall when a qu ick pit put Zitterkopf back on the course jus t in front of him . Gray held fifth , Hoy h ad passed Headma n for sixth, a nd Pearson, Mark Lundgreen and Brown rounded out the top ten. Like many of the racers, Lundgreen praised the layou t of the course and his only co mplaints were about the wi nd an d the dust. " It was a really good mix-up of terrain - fast roads, tigh t trees, lots of rocks. There was a lot of good stuff out there," said Lundgreen. "The dust made it really hard to pa ss and the wind - well, th at was really different. It was blo wing pretty h ard and it wo uld kick yo u around on the fast roads: ' Kurt Hintz cou ld have do ne without the tight trees . "Some of th e trees were a little too short for me . They can be a problem when you're six -foot-seven and I knocked myself off the bike twice," said Hintz. It was throttles open all the way as Davis and Hamel tacklea"tl1e --d rt terrain of the final 3D-mile loop. Davis' determination, plus the blinding dust, worked to his advantage and kept Hamel back in the number-two spot mile after mile. "He pulled away a bit in the sand dunes because it was so dusty and he was holding the lead in the long valleys, too, but then we got into what looked like a bum area with grass and stumps," said Hamel. "The ribbon was really, rea lly hard to follow and there were no trails. We both came over a rise and he lost the ribbo n. Th at w as the one mistake I needed: ' D av is co ntinu e d s traigh t w hil e H am el peeled off to th e right in search of the cou rse. Ham el spotted the ribbon first and, wh en the chase began aga in, it was Davis who was back in the dust. "That was all it took - jus t one little mistake, and he was out in front," said Davis. "I thou ght 1 would be Mr. Sneaky on him right at the end but he saw me when we sta rted getting in to the lapped riders on the com mon course, and was 110 percent all the way to the finish. He rode an awesome race." Hamel described the final sprint to the finish as "full-on motocross all the way - just wide open," and when the racelong rivals flashed past the checkered flag at the end of S6 miles and almost two hours of racing, Hamel took the win by just 14 seconds. "I looked back at the last check and he was right behind me. I thought, 'No way. I rode this hard all day, I can't give it up now: so 1 went for it:' said Team Green's Hamel. "We had a great race and the Sage Riders did an awesome job laying out the course. It had everything and th e course markings were excellent:' Hamel's clean sweep of the th reerace-old series leaves him just on e win away from tyin g u p h is fifth National Hare & Hound Ch ampionship in a row and, with Davis makin g other plans for th e rest of h is race year, vic to ry cou ld com e in as littl e as tw o wee ks at round fou r of the se ries in Sou thern Ca lifornia's Lucern e Valley. "This was probably my last Nation al Hare & Ho un d thi s year: ' sa id Davis, w ho s w itc hed h is a tt e n tio n to the Na tional Enduro series at the beginning of 1995. "I'm p retty tied up for most of th e other rounds . I had a lo t of fu n tod ay - 1 like this area. I thou gh t I was tough enough to ride a 500 here but I don't th in k so now. I wou ld've d one better with a 250." KTM-backed Greg Z itterk o p f brought his LC4 home eight minutes beh in d Davis to capture third overall and take his second Four-Stroke win in a row. "This wasn't a four-stroke course at all . It was all sand," said Zit terko p f. " I'm very, very hap py to get thi rd an d I'm su rprised to do as well as I did . I go t a top 15 start, so I was happy with tha t, and I had no problems. I just got really tired becau se I've been sick for the las t wee k." Ca pt took p oi nt s for second in th e Four-Stro ke division in 14th ove rall, just two pla ces ahead of Ho nda XR62S teammate Johnny Campbell. "This puts me in a rea lly good position: ' sai d Capt, who ove ralled the fourstro ke competition in rou nd one of the series. "Especially because I'm going to win (roun d four at) Lucerne. That's my favo rite. I always d o well there:' Fourth overa ll and first 250cc Expert (Left) KX25Dmounted Donnie Book ducks as he negotiates one of the more interesting po ints in the course layout an over-under section. He finished fourth overall. w a s claimed by KX250 ra cer Donn ie Book, who got a great start that put him u p in fro n t of Ham e l in th e ea rly running. "I let him (Hamel) by on a straightaway. Well, actually he just we nt by me, but I had a pretty good ride:' sai d Book. KTM pilot Todd Hoy turned the worst start of his career into fifth overall, comi ng in just ahe ad of Jim Gray, who he passed in the final 15 miles. "It took me six kicks to get going and I just p inned it a fte r tha t, " Hoy ex p lai ned . " I re ally h ad to ride more over my head than I had want ed to in order to ca tch up, bu t th ings worke d . out:' A disappointed Gray explained that he lost time when he got lost in the second loop. "I got lost for probably 30 or 40 seconds," said Gray. "My goggles were really dirty from the sweat and the d us t and I jus t missed a tu m . I d idn't see it and kep t going stra ight, an d it took me awhile to find the course aga in. Then, in the last loop going out through the sand dunes, I endoed rea lly bad and that cost me a lot of time:' Gray was followed in by Mark Lund green ' and Du stin Headman, who h ad ke pt Hamel at bay in the early go ing. "I just wasn 't on today:' said Yamaha-mounted Headman, "And it doesn't help when a N ational is the first desert race of the year for me:' Jimmy Lewis took a w ire- to-wire wi n in the 125cc d iv is ion in 12th overa ll, despi te a complete lack of preparation. "I tho ug h t the race was on Sunday, (Abo ve) Under th reatening skies the large field - Incl udi ng nearly 100 Expert class riders - got off to a tou gh start . The mil e ru n through so ft sand to the bomb was said to be one of the tou ghest parts of t he co urse. not Saturday. I was goi ng to come up and get the b ike se t up tod ay but inst ead, I had to race," sa id a surprised Lew is. "T h is isn ' t a b ad fin ish fo r a minibike considering all th e sa nd and it's not too bad for so meo ne who d idn't k now h e was su pposed to be racing today. It w as tighter than most hare and ho unds, which is good, but it sure was dusty:' a Utile Sahara Recreati o n Area Jericho, Utah Results: Apri l 8, 1995 (Round 3 of 6) O/A; I. Danny Hamel (Kaw); 2. Ty Davis (Kaw); 3. Greg Zitterkopf (KTM~ 4. Donnie Book (Kaw~ 5. Todd Hoy (KTM); 6. Jim Gray (KTM); 7. Mark Lundgreen (KTM); 8. Dustin Headman (Yam); 9. Nick Pearson (KTM); 10. Brian Brown (Kaw); 11. Drey Dircks (Hon); 12. Jimmy Lewis (Yarn); 13. Craig Smith (Kaw); 14. Jeff Capt (Hon); 15. Kurt .Hintz (Kaw); 16. Johnny Campbell (Han); 17. Rex Staten (Kaw); 18. Abc Baumann (Kaw); 19. Brad Christensen; 20. Sam Taylor (Yam); 21. Nelson Lucero (Han); 22. Brook FinJinson (Kaw); 23. Steve Pitts (A TK); 24. Ed Sorenson (KTM); 24 . Tony Bergman (Hon); 25. Quint Betts (Kaw). OPEN EX: 1. Da n ny Hamel (Kaw); 2. Ty Davis (Kaw); 3. Todd Hoy (KTM). 250 EX: 1. Donn ie Book (Kaw); 2. Jim C ray (KTM); 3. Dustin Headma n (Yam). 125 EX: 1. Jimm y Lewis (Yam ); 2. Quint Betts (Kaw). 4-STK EX: I. Greg Zitterkopf (KTM); 2. Jeff Capt (Hon); 3. Johnny Campbell (Ho n). 0·30 EX: 1. Drey Dircks (Ho n); 2. Abe Bau m ann (Kaw); 3. Alan Peterson (Yam). ll-4O EX: I. Rex Staten (Kaw); 2. Steve Pitts (ATK). Upcoming rounds: Round 4 - Lucerne, CA, April 23 Round 5 - Reno , NV, October 1 ..... l-< 0... ~ 11