Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

utes back in third overall, just ahead of Krause and Capt. Laughlin's Open-class KTM was sixth, Abe Baumann was running sec ond Vet beh ind Zitterkopf in seventh and Jim Gray's KTM360 was eighth. Destry Abbott on his KTM2s0 led a close ba ttle for 250cc Expert honors in ni n th overall, ju st ahead of Donnie Book on a KX, Yamaha-mounted Oakley Lehman and Jon Parks on a CR250. "We were p retty m u ch together the whole w ay in the firs t loop - me, Book and Abbott;" sa id Gray. " I was way back on th e start an d I ha d to catch all kinds of guys, but once I go t up to the m, we we re really close." Ove r 40 Expert Terry Kyle turned heads when his KTM hi t p it row in 13th overall, seven p laces ahea d of "Rocket" Re x St at en, who h a s dominated the series' Senior Division on a KX 5oo. John Ru d der was runnin g th ird Vet in 14th overall, ahead o f 2s0cc Expert s Brian Br own a n d John Spae t h, and Jo h n Braasch had a 12-second lead over Dana Van Stee in the 12s cc class in 17th overall. Conv ince d that Zi tte rko p f was ha rd on his heel s, Davis set a fast pace as he headed into the second 4O-mi le loop, but his KX500 riva l's challenge was already over. Before he made the first turn at the end of pit row, Zitterkopf clip ped a 6inc h -high concrete lip embed ded in a railroad access road and d evelop ed a slo w leak in his rear tire . "Everything was going so well. I h ad go t lost in the first loop but I caught up an d reeled Davis in, and I was getting really close. Unti l that happened, I had a reall y good chan ce of winning it," said Zitterkopf. " I had to rid e the whole loo p on the flat an d I didn't wan t the tire to come off the rim or any of that stuff, so I just cruised." A s the rac e rs go t fu rt her in to th e cou rse and d iscovered even m ore rocks and deeper whoops than loop one had, combined with trick y can yon drop-offs and tight, single- track tra ils, cruisin g was the furthest thing from their minds. Ca mpbell crashed in th e rocks and lost thi rd overall to Krause after it took ' h im thr ee m in u tes to get h is XR628 restarted. Lau ghlin battl ed h is way up tw o p laces to grab fou rt h, only to fa ll back again when he su ffered a front flat in th e rocks. A w rong turn cost Brian Brown s o me pl a ce s, wh ile Pa rk s crushed hi s pipe when he tried to put the wron g foot down at the wrong tim e, and Over-40 Expert Steve Pitts go t held up in traffic. "The downhills were great congregators," said the ATK racer from Uta h . "The first one' was jus t p ast the h alfway point - tha t one was tricky and stopped a lot of people, and there were a couple of smaller ones after that. It was a good tough course-a really good N ationalcourse. I just don' t rem ember so many rocks being her e las t tim e I raced in this area." Eve n Davis agreed that the Vikings had laid ou t a course wo rthy of Nation al-cali ber ride rs. " It was rocky a nd te chnica l - th e ground w as mor e of a challenge than it' s been at othe r Nation als, and I thought they did a reall y good job for as man y w h oops as th ere are ou t there, " said Davis. "You know it's a good race when it s ta r ts to seem lo n g . I didn't know when the second loop was going to end. W e kept g oing up and down these can yons." Just when the riders th ou gh t they h ad seen every thi n g, the co u rse got e ven rougher and rocki er as they entered the last 20 miles. "I loved it - what a blast," said Utah's Mark Lundgreen, " It was technical, not just fifth gear, wide open, see whose bike is geared th e fas test. You had to pick your way through and ride smart." And as the terr ain got tou gh er, so d id the competition. . Capt used the relative agility of his XR600 to close in on Campbell's XR628 in th e rocks. Gray went head -t o-h ead w ith Ba uma nn and stole a position, while Van Stee dodged aro und Bra asch to gra b the 12Scc le a d , and th e Abbo tt/ Book/Lehman 250cc d ue l raged on until Abbott took a header 10 miles from the finis h. " I w as tryi ng to pass Book to take the lead and I ate it in the rocks w id e open," said Abbott. " It's o ne of th e h a rd est crashes I've don e in a lon g while and I w a s so sh aky from ther e on I could hardly rid e." . Out in front, things were going a littl e be tter. Da vis was still enjo ying a tro uble-free run in first, Zitterkopf wa s still cr uising in se co n d, a nd th e only chall enge Krause faced for th ird came from his own bike. " Maybe I plug ged an ai r fil ter. It w ou ld ru n rough , then it w ould run fine, then it woul d be rough again," sa id Krause. "I cou ld n't tell w hether the bike was go ing to rev or b obble, and that mad e it hard in the rocks. I just rode as ha rd as I could and hoped for the best. " Davis completed the second 40-mile loop in one hour and ten minutes, and took his third checkered flag of the Hare & Hound series with plenty of breathing roo m . "I felt re a ll y good in the second loop: ' Da vis said. "No problems the w hole way. It was a great course, especially tha t last section. It was really, really rocky - totally gnarly. You had .to just putt th rou gh it an d be real careful. That made it fun ." "Th e second loo p was really tough rea lly, rea lly rocky the who le way:' second- placed Zitterkopf ag ree d . "You had to b e in good sha pe to b e able to d o goo d . M y Pro Circu it s us pension worked really well tod ay. It rea lly paid off." Krause sputtered home seven and a half minu tes behind the race leader to capture third overall and secon d in the Open Expert division. . "Great race course - reall y fun : ' said Kr ause . "We h ad to w ork the whole tim e, but they rea lly didn't beat us up too much. The y too k their tim e to find good stuff - tou gh trails, not jus t beaten (Abo ve left) Paul Krause grabbed third overall. (Abo ve) Honda's Jeff Capt won th e Four-Stroke class In fourt h overall . (Left) Fin ish ing right beh ind Capt was teammete Johnny Campbell. up stu ff. I cou ld n' t d o much once th e bik e started running badly. I just tried to rid e smooth and easy an d get a ll th e way back here." . There w as no riding sm ooth or easy m entioned in th e battle fo r top fourstroke honors. Capt p assed Campbell less than a mile from the checkered flag and raced w ide open all the way int o the finishing chute to take the class win and fourth overall by six seconds. "Cap t was going be tter in the rocks than me. I was fighting the bigger motor and probably the last half of the second loop was loose, kind of fast rocks, sometimes no trail at all, so he caug ht up and then he made a last ditch bonzai effort a mile from the finish. He di d a good job." said Campbell. "I thought -it was a good course for Red Mountain - an awesome course." Ji m Gray 's first ride in the Red Mo untain area netted six th overall for the KTM360 pilot. "It's pretty fun:' said Gray, "but I coul d tell some of the se guys re ally know the terrain. I had to pass a couple of guys a couple of tim es. Tha t' s frustrating." KX2 s 0-m o u n te d Book w on t h e motocross-like tussle in the 250cc Expert d ivision an d took the honor s in seventh overall, ahead of Vet Expert Baumann, Lehman and Abbott. Laughlin rode his flat tire to 11th, just ahead of 125cc w inner Van Stee, who finished nine places ahead of race-long riv al Braasch. "I caugh t him in the rocks h alfw ay through loop two," sai d Van Stee, "He was m aking a bunch of mi stakes and he just pulled out and let m e by. I d idn' t see him after that." KTM2s 0 racer Rus sell Pearson put a hole in his cases 10 miles ou t in his quest for 13th over all, John Spaeth nipped fellow KX2s 0 racer Brian Brown for 14th, and Summers came up from 26th at the halfway point to capture 16th overall in the final standings. Staten top ped the Over 40 division in 20th, five places ahead of Terry "boy am I tired" Kyle, and Richard Jackson took the Over 50 honors . a Red Mountain National Hare & Houn d Red Mountain , Californ ia April 28, 1996 (Round 4 of 7) OIA: 1. Ty Davi s (Kaw ~ 2. Greg Zitter kopf (Kaw ~ 3. Pau l Krause (Kaw ); 4 . Jef f Capt (H o n); S. Johnny Cam pbe ll (Ho n); 6. Jim Gra y (KTM); 7. Donni e Book (Ka w ); 8. Ab e Baumann (Kaw ); 9. O akl ey l ehman (Yam ): 10. Destry Abbott (KTM); 11. Robert Laughlin (KTM); 12. Dana Van Stee (Kaw ); 13. Russell Pe arson (K1M); 14. John Spaeth (Kaw ): 15. Brian Brown (Kaw ); 16. James Summers (Yam); 17. John Rudder (Yam) ; 18. Jon Par ks (Hon) ; 19. Tommy Ady (Kaw) ; 20. Rex Staten (Ke w ), OPEN EX: 1. Ty Da vis (Kaw); 2. Paul Krause (Kaw ); 3. Jim Gray (K1M). %SO EX: 1. Donnie Book (Kaw); 2. Oakley Lehman (y am ); 3. Destry Abbott (K1M~ US EX: 1. Dana Van Stee (}(aw); 2. JO Braasch. M 30+ EX: 1. Greg Zitterkopf (Kaw ); 2. Abe Baumann (Kaw); 3. John Rudder (Yam ). 4-STK EX: 1. Jeff .Cap ' (Hon); 2. Joh nny Cam pbell (Hon ). 40+ EX: 1. Rex Staten (Kaw) ; 2. Terry Ky le (KTM). 50+ EX: 1. Richard Jackso n AMA NATIONAL HAR E &0 HOUND CHAMPI ON· SHIP PO INT STANDINGS (Aft... 4 of 7 Ro un d• ., I. Greg Zitterkop f (94/1 win) ; 2. Ty Davi s (90/3); 3. Paul Krause (71); 4. Destty Abbott (54); 5. Jeff Capt (59~ Upcom ing Rounds: Round 5 - Yerington , Nevada, September 15 Round 6 - Reno. Nevada. October 6

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