Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.HARE &HOUND ..AMA N ational Hare &Holind C pionshipseries ham R u d3: S on hawn Gerber Memorial Hare &Hound • By An ne Van Be veren Phot os by Tom Van Beveren JERICHO, UT, APR. 8 t was a race that Da nny Hamel would like to forget. It started badly 'when the Kawasaki ace missed his usual holeshot and found himself back in 15th at the bomb. It got worse when he worked his wa y up into second on ly to find th at blind ing d us t prevented him from ma king a move on Team Green teamm ate Ty Davis. And it hi t an all -time low w he n h e mi ssed a comer in the dust and di d a spectacular endo tha t left him face down in the dirt with his Kawasaki 10<500 on top of him. But desp ite one setback after another, Ham el refuse d to give up and, when the checkered flag d ropped at the end of 86 miles of dusty racing, the Nevada ho tshot ac hi eved what e ve n h e th ou ght was impossible and had chalk ed up his third overall win in this year's best-fourout-of-s ix AMA N ationa l H are & Hound series. "That w as abo ut th e hard est race I can reme mber," said Ha mel, shaking his head as he caught his breath on the finish line. "1 was struggling right from the start and to tell yo u the truth, I didn't think I was goi ng to wi n this one. I'm jus t gla d it's over and th at I only need one mor e (overall wi n) to sew u p th e series." Despite a long trip for Sout hern California racers, most of whom spent about 11 hours on the road to get to the starting line at the Little Sahara Recreation Area, 100 miles south of Salt Lake Citv, the Hare & Hound contenders tumid out in force and the Expert class alone reached almost 100 entries by the time the event got underw ay. The racers were gree ted by a th reeloop course an d a wide variety of terrain, which have worked together over the years to make the Sage Riders M.C.'s Shawn Gerber Memorial Hare & Hound one of the favorite rounds of the champ ions hip series. They we re also greeted by what has become kn own as the event's "typical" weather - th e not -so-favorit e combination o f th rea tening d ark gray clo uds, cool temperatures and gusty winds tha t ro cke d pit ve hi cles back an d for th on their springs an d blanketed the pit area wi th thick dust. The start line in th e mid d le of th e region's infamous sand dunes was just as fa miliar and it was slow goi ng for mo s t of the ra cer s w hen the b a nner dropped ju st after noon on Sa turda y. The dunes sec tio n had been cut to less tha n a mile but a tricky across- the-grain layo ut made it the tou ghest mile of the race . "If you weren' t first off the line, you were in trouble," said Over 40 series leader, Rex Staten, who got a slow start and was back in the 20s at the bomb. "Every body was falling all over th e place in the sand. You had to keep sto pp ing to miss them and I lost a lot of time trying to pick my way around them." Over 30 ace Drey Dircks was one of the fallen . "That was my first time in the sand dunes and I didn't know any better," said the motocrosser-turned-desert racer, who tackled the sand fu ll speed ahead . "I went flying into one of the I .... - 1-0 0... -< 10 dunes and the bike just stopped . It pitched me over the bars - a complete endo right off the start." But experience didn't seem to help a whole lo t, ei the r. Hamel missed his ' jump w hen th e b an n er d ro pped and was 20-something when he hi t the bomb. Jeff Capt discovered that Honda's XR628 fou r-stroke leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to popping up on top of sand dunes, while, on the other end of the horsepower scale, Jimmy Lewis re ported tha t he had to get off and p us h to help his Yamaha YZ125 ove r a d une or two in the thick traffic . For a while, there seemed to be more compe tition for last place than for first. " I got the worst start of my career six kicks," said KTM racer Todd Hoy. "I must' ve been about last to the bomb." "No way - I was dead-last," said Donny Griewe, who also reported six kicks. "Being 60th a t the bo mb has to count for so me thi ng ." Johnny Campbell la u nched his b id for last when he fell over rig ht off the start and cou ldn' t ge t his Honda XR628 res tarted . A fall in the sand left Dave On das' KXSOO ru nni ng too badly to continue, and Jeff Lundgreen lost his electrics while he was riding to the starting line. "I go t a DNS - a 'did not start:" said Lundgreen. "Is that any better th an a DN F?" The on ly racer who seemed to be having fun was Ty Davis. . "I was leading it to the bomb on my side of the start:' Davis reported . "Some gu y on a KTM got in front of me right at the end but I bagged him and once we got to the silty stuff, I kn ew I had an advantage because of the dust." Lo cal ho tshot Dustin Hea dman tu cked his Yamaha YZ250 int o second as the 36-m ile first loo p go t u nderway and Hamel worked h ard to push his way through to third. "It was so, so du sty:' sa id Hamel. "By the time I got b y (Headman), I couldn't see his (Davis') dust or nothing, and I thought, 'Boy, this is going to be a long day.' 1 started riding really hard. I was pushing as hard as I cou ld and 1 started to see glimpses of his dust, and that's when I we nt off the road at speed u p through the cedar trees." Hamel was closing on the 25-mile marker and he has just removed h is fogged-up goggles when h e cha rged into the wilderness to take an unscheduled soil sample. ''I'm riding without goggles, my eyes are watering, the course went righ t and I went straight ahead through the trees. I'm flying off the road and I'm th inking, 'Oh m an, th is is no t m y day:" sai d Hamel. who cartwheeled off the course and ended up face-down in the dirt with the bike on his back. " It scared me pretty good. Thewind was Knocked ou t " f me a nd I was wheezing. And it wiped out my viso r. The firs t thi ng I thou gh t was, 'I'm not go ing to go bu ll e t -h ead the w ho le race: " It took an hour and five minu tes to co m p lete th e 35-m ile first loop. Da vis le d t h e way d o wn pit row and was gassed and gone in 22 seconds. Ha me l was one minute behind when he made (Above) After a rough sta rt that left him 15th at the bomb, Team Green's Danny Hamel worked up through the pack to take the lead and the overa ll from teammate Ty Davis. (Right) Fresh off his fourth consecutive National Enduro win, Ty Davis took time out to contest round three of the National Hare & Hound se ries. Davis led for most of the race but ultimately finished a slim 14 seccnds - second overall - behind Hamel. -----

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