Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Jeff Capt powered his XR600 Honda 'to the FourStroke-class win. (Right) Tenth overall we", to 125cc-class winner John Braasch. (Below) Previousround winner Nick Pearson got off to a slow, two-kick start but still finished eighth overall. Further back in the pack, most of the racers were just trying to survive. Nick Pearson, the 17-year-old KTM ace who overalled round five of the series, was lagging behind after it took two kicks to get his 2S0cc mount up and running. A six- or seven-kick start left Vet 250 racer John Rudder even further behind and Hunnicutt was left back in the dust when his KXSOO started fouling plugs. . "It must have a main seal bad or something. It wasn't running good off the bomb and it fouled a plug about 7 miles into it," said Hunnicutt, who changed' the plug only to tun into the same problem 10 miles later. "1 was afraid it was going to'end up leaving me in the middle of nowhere, so 1 called it quits at the end of the loop. It was really disappointing." Jim Gray also called it quits after he cartwheeled his KTM 360 in a wash early in the first loop. Gray reportedly hi t a bush when he was riding in thick dust and catapulted from one side of the trail to the other, knocking the wind out of himself when he landed. Out in front, it was smooth sailing almost all the way for Davis, who put the 100's M.C.'s generous course markings to good use. "I can't read terrain really well but they did an awesome job of marking it and that worked out good for 'me," said 'Davis. "There were a couple of road crossings that were kind of scary coming up at speed. There were so many road crossings out there and some you just couldn't see. They started marking them and they were really easy ones, so you'd get used to blowing through them, and then you'd hit one that was really gnarly. 1 had a couple of exciting moments in loop one with those." Davis completed the first 40-mile loop in just under an hour and was. nearly three minutes ahead of secondplaced Krause as he powered off into loop two. Abe Baumann led the Over 30 racers down pit row in third overall a minute behind Krause, with Ondas and Four-Stroke leader Capt hard on his heels, and Kawasaki-mounted Donnie Book brought the first 2S0cc entry into the pits in sixth overall, just ahead of KX2S0 rivals Steve Hengeveld and Destry Abbott. Drey Dircks' Honda XR600R was the next 'bike through, and John Braasch rounded out the top 10, four places ahead of Jimmy Lewis in the battle for 12Scc honors. Speeds dropped as ·the racers entered the tighter terrain of the second loop terrain that earned high marks from everybody at the front of the pack. "It was a great course and a lot of it was new, which made it even better," said Jeff Lundgreen, who was back in the mid-20s thanks to a two-kick start. "It was a· pretty challenging course all the way and that second loop was tough. You had a lot of side hills with virgin rocks - the type that rolled' around when you rode on them." "Loop two was a little technical and it would wear you out in a hurry," said Richard Jackson, who was racing at the head of the Senior class. "1 just concentrated on keeping it moving. You didn't want to stall the engine in a lot of that stuff. It's amazing how many guys you'd go by with flat tires that had stalled and fallen over, and couldn't get going again." . Baumann saw the number-three spot slip away thanks to a particularly tricky section of the loop. "1 was having a hard time following the ribbon, so 1 was trying to be really conservative," Baumann explained. "There were some ledges 1 needed to leap over in some really rocky cross grain and 1 didn't have the speed, so 1 ended u'p going down in one of them and got stuck in a ravine. 1 rode down it one way and couldn't get out, so 1 had to ride back up it the other way. About five people passed me there and that kind of took the wind out of my sails." Destry Abbott, who had battled back to eighth overall after seizing his KX2S0 early in race, was also losing time. "Once it cooled off, 1 got going again and 1 caught up, but in the second loop, in the tight stuff when 1 needed the midrange, there was nothing there," said Abbott, who compounded his problems by bending the chain guard. "1 got up into fourth but then the chain popped off, and after that it just wouldn't even run. I had the first three gears and that was it, so everybody passed me." , Davis had stretched his lead to five minutes by the time he reached the halfway point in loop two. Krause was enjoying a troublefree run in second, ahead of Ondas who had a firm hold on third, and Book, Capt and Hengeveld were locked in a three-way battle for fourth. Pearson was coming on strong from back in 14th and was steadily leap-frogging his way towards the front of the pack, and John Rudder and Craig Smith were following suit. "I ended up on the ATV course in the first loop. They had a separa te trail tha t went around a gnarly section and 1 lost a couple of places right there," said Smith. "The second loop was kind of nasty, which was cool. It let me make up some time." But nobody could make up time on Da,vis. The National Endmo Champion made short work of the second loop and dashed home to capture the final win in the Hare and Hound series by just under seven minutes. "That was a great course - especially the second loop, which was' tight," said Davis, as officials from the 100's M.e. handed him the winner's trophy on the finish line. "There was a little bit of everything out there, which made it interesting, and they did an awesome job of marking it. They had a lot !If arrows, which helped so much when you're going across the flats, and you could follow the course even when the wind was blowing the ribbon back into the bushes where you couldn't see it." Davis was pleased with finishing third overall in the Hare and Hound ser-ies. "I've only done three of the races 'this year - I missed some to do the enduros, so it's pretty good," said Davis. "This is only my second race in Lucerne this year. 1 kind of forgot about the speeds. It's so fast out here." Paul Krause, who sat out most of the series due to injuries, reported a troublefree ride on his way to second overall. "No problems at all," said Krause. "It was a good race course and a lot of fun. It was just good to ride a national and finish second after missing so many." Dave Ondas finished almost two minutes behind Krause to claim third overall and made it three-for-three for Kawasaki'g Team Green. "1 stayed about the same distance behind Krause the whole second loop," said Ondas. ''I'm glad he was there because it made me go a little faster. I could key off him. The second loop was awesome - all virgin rocks and trails." Capt dodged around Book just before the finish to take fourth overall as well as a wire-to-wire win in the Four-Stroke division. The XR600R pilot's nearest competition came from Kawasaki's Bill FWmer in 17th overall. "No problems - good start, the Honda ran great, and just a clean ride the whole way," said Capt. "We were all really close, going back and forth the whole second loop." The racers who had dogged Capt for 40 miles finished hard on his heels. Book took fifth by a bike length from Hengeveld, to grab the 2S0cc class honors, and Baumann crossed the line seconds behind to take the Vet Class win. "That was close. Capt passed me back right before the end," said Book. "Everybody was riding really well. I ,had a few problems - fell over a couple of times, but nothing big." Hengeveld told a similar story. "1. had a couple of little things go wrong. 1 bobbled on the first loop and Book passed me, and then I slid out and he pulled away," he said. "But 1 caught back up to him right at the end. We were so dose." Baumann was followed home by Nick Pearson, who rocketed up through the ranks after escaping the thick dust of a two-kick start, and Brian Brown of Nampa, Idaho brought his KX2S0 home in ninth. "It was 'good until I wrecked in the rocks at the start of the second loop and Pearson got around me," said. Brown. 'T m really just here to practice for next year' 5 series." Braasch topped the 12Scc racers in 10th overall, just ahead of John Rudder, who turned a seven-kick start into second. in the Vet division, and Craig Smith. One place back in 13th overall, Destry Abbott was looking forward to trading his ailing Kawasaki for the brand new KTM he will be campaigning in the 1996 Hare & Hound series. Richard Jackson topped the Over 40 racers in 29th· overall and AI Hull, who put in a fast-paced run on his Yamaha, had the last word in the Super Senior divi-' sion. "That was a really good course," said Hull. "It didn't have any rough stuff at all. I kept waiting for it to get worse, but it never did. I thought it was fun." CN l00's M.C. Lucerne Valley, CA Results: October 22, 1995 (Round 6 of 6 ) O/A: 1. Ty Davis (Kaw); 2. Paul Krause (Kaw); 3. Dave Ondas (Kaw); 4. Jeff Capt (Hon); 5. Donnie BQok (Kaw); 6. Steve Hengeveld (Kaw); 7. Abe Baumann (Kaw); 8. Nick Pearson (KTM); 9. Brian Brown (J

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