Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.H R &HOUND AE . AMANational H re&Hound C a hampionship S eries Round 3: Shawn Gerber Memorial H&H , • \, Sy Anne Van Severen Phot os by Tom Van Severen JERICHO, UT, APR. 13 e ith er rain n or s now no r th e tightest, twistiest cours e of th e ' Nation al Hare & Houn d Series cou ld kee p Kaw asa ki's "Zip " Ty Davis from his ap poin tment w ith the chec kered flag. The Kawasaki KX500 racer exp loded off the sta rt of the eigh th Annu al Shaw n Gerber Memorial Hare & Hound to take the numb er-one spo t and staye d ou t in fron t all th e wa y as the three-loop, 95m ile course snaked thr ou gh tigh t trees, tw isty washe s and sh ou ld e r -he ig h t sagebrush. When the race wa s ove r, Davis had a winning margin of two and a half minut es and, like every racer in the almost 300-s trong fie ld , h e h a d n oth in g b ut praise for the course laid out by the Sage RidersM.C. . "I' d give it a 9," Dav is said . "Th e layou t was awesom e - r eal tig h t and tech nical, an d it was the coolest terrain'. Th e tr a ction w a s grea t, th ere was no dust. As races go, it was close to per- N fect." Th e p it crews a n d sp ecta to rs who s p en t al m os t three h ou r s stan d in g as ou n d waiting for the ra cers h a d a com pletely d ifferent opinion. The Utah round of the series is as well known for m is e ra b le w e at h e r as it is fo r gre a t cou rses an d th is yea r' s con d itions d id n othing to u n de rm in e th e ra ce 's less th an stellar rep u ta tion. Rain, m arb lesized hail and wind so strong it carrie d away awnings w ith mountain bikes tied to the m p lag ue d the pits the afternoon before the event, and a stiff breeze coupl ed w ith lightly falling snow at ra cetim e on Saturday aftern oon had ever ybody wh o wasn't riding bundled up in hats and gloves, jumping up and down to keep warm. The Sag e Riders p u sh ed th e, s ta rt ba ck fro m noon to 1 p .m . in th e vain hope that p atches of sno w around the sta rti ng ar ea w ould melt, but 'w eath er con ditions w ere forgotten th e m oment the banner finally dr opped . The race began with an undignified scramble through th e inf am ous san d dunes of the Lit tle Sahara Recreation Area, 130 miles southwest of Salt Lake . City, then dodged through the sagebrush to a fairl y we ll-de fine d trail and headed into 15 mile s of fa st te rrain . D avis led th e charge, lo cal Honda CR500 hotshot Dustin .Headman was number tw o, and Jeff Lundgreen (KTM 550), Greg Zitterkopf (KX500) and KTM 360- m o u n te d Jim Gray w ere close behind. Headman's char ge continued as far as th e se ve n- mile m ark, where h e parted company with his bik e in spec tacular fashio n an d ended up face-down on the trail. "Who was that gu y on the Honda? " Davis asked . "He was on me big time ri ght o n m y butt. W e were g oi ng thro u g h st uff w e cou ldn ' t see - bi g dit ches and thin gs. 1was takin g my time but he never backed off. 1 was just waiting for him to go down. " Headman w as far from the first racer to go down. "I fell right off the start," said Jimm y Lewis , w h o w as puttin g an ATK 605 through its p aces. "1 got a first-kick star t, bu t then two gu ys instantl y crashe d into (Top) Ty Davis carded the ove ra ll win at the Nat io nal Hare & Hou nd In Jeri ch o, Utah. It was Davis ' second win of the series . (Left) Greg Zilterkopf, the ser ies po ints lead, was the runner-up. me from both sides and 1 fell over. 1 had to slowly wo rk my w ay back up." The deep sand mad e life difficult for four -stroke racers like Honda-mou nted Jeff Cap t. "The four-stokes are really heavy and they wallow in the sand dunes, where the two- str okes get up on top and go a lot better. They have a h uge ad vant age," Capt sai d. "1 know 1 w as w ay back on the star t, but 1 just toug he d it ou t an d tried to w ork my wa y up." A four-kick st a rt put Scott Morris w ay back in th e loop-one charge, but, un like Honda's Drey Dir cks, he was still go ing st ro ng a t the end o f th e loo p . Dirc ks was forc ed to head back to the ' pits when a flyin g rock smashed into his fingers. Out in fr ont, Davi s w as e njoy in g every inch of the course. "A littl e bit of snow star ted coming down in the first loop but it wa s so cool, and right after th at th e su n came ou t everywhere we rode. It was great," said Davis . Zitterkopf was working hard off the st art and had e lbowed hi s way up to third by the time the course turned into the trees. A broken silen cer gav e th e quicker starters p lenty of warning that he was coming. "It broke about five miles in. The riv~ ets broke," Zitterkopf sa id. " It d idn't

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