Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HARE &HOUND AlIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HARE &HOUND SERIES (Left) Ty Davis started off the AMA National Championship H&H series with the overall win. (Above) Nearly 500 dderS'turned out for the series opener, and they all seemed to arrive at this narrow downhill at the same time. By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren 10 LUCERNE VALLEY, CA, JAN. 26 £ter' finishing 1996 with no ationa! title to call his own, Kawasaki's.Ty Davis let the desert world know that he is title bound in 1997 with a runaway win in the opening round of the AMA National Hare & Hound Series. Davis, who missed critical rounds of last year's H&H series to battle for the National Enduro title only to lose his shot at that title in the final event, led the fITst round of the new year's competition from start to finish and promised to be back for the rest of the five-race series. "Thi.s year I will ride all of the races in tms series, plus the Best in the Desert Series, and I'll do a couple of enduros, the Four Stroke Nationals, and that'll be my year," said Davis, who was all smiles after he took the checkered flag a comfortable four and a half minutes ahead of second-place fini.sher Greg Zit· terkopf. ''I'm hoping this will be my year for the hare and hounds." After a week of stormy weather, Southern California racers were expecting the worst as they battled rain and low clouds on therr way to LucemeValley, but the storm front stopped just 15 miles from the starting line near Means Dry Lake and the northerly lie of the course kept the riders under clear, sunny sIGes all day. The fITst shot at national points, coupled with a course laid out by Desert MC, had close to 500 riders lined up when the banner dropped at 10 a.m. Kawasaki's Paul Krause shot off the line in a big hurry and Davis was making ms presence felt, along with KTM-mounted Nick Pearson and Honda's Jeff Capt, who got his XR628 off to a one-kick start, but it was Abe Baumann who led the way to the bomb. "What a great way to start the series," the KX500-mounted Vet said. "My line really paid off." But Baumann's number-one spot did not last long. "I looked over and he was about five bike lengths ahead of me, and then I pinned it," said Davis, who took a wide line around the bomb. "I knew he had to back off because the bomb got into deep washes and stuff where he was, and I just kept it pinned from there. When I got past the bomb I was in front." Dreams of a great start faded fast for defending National H&H champ Zitterkopf. "I fouled a spark plug right on the start," the KTM 360 racer explained. "The banner went down and I went to sfart it, and it just wouldn't. I sat there and I kicked and kicked and ldcked. I had to change the plug, so I was way behi.nd everybody else - at least two minutes down by the time I got started." Jim Gray thought his KIM might be down for the count. "l got a good start but then, toward the end of the bomb run, I seized my bike," Gray said. "I think I've got my jet· ting too lean. It locked up and I almost came to a complete stop, then it got going again and after that it worked great." Minor problems were causing havoc as the .racers picked up the ribbon and started out into the first of the two 36mile loops. Chri.s Brown, who had crashed a couple of times right off the start, was struggling with an on-again, off-again front brake. KX500-mounted Mark Lundgreen had lost his front brake after pounding his front disc on a rock. And Donnie Book was out, thanks to a stick that pierced ms radiator hose. Despite all the rai.n of the preceding week, tail-end riders found themselves battli.ng dust. "Yes, it really was dusty back there where I was off the start - a lot dustier than1 expected," Zitterkopf said. Davi.s was out in front as the course headed north toward Galloway Dry Lake, turned northwest into the Iron Ridge area, then headed for Bessemer Mine Road. Krause slotted into second and Pearson took up a position just off his rear wheel. '1 was pulling (Krause) for a little bit, then he took a bad line and I got into second, but after that my arms pumped up," Pearson said. "They were so pumped up I couldn't hang on and I went down, so Krause got back by me and Capt too, so I was runni.ng fourth." Baumann was thanking rus lucky stars he was runni.ng at all. "Right after the second check I rut a whoop and my right foot came off and went between the fender and the wheel," Baumann said, shaking his head. ''I'm going through the whoop with my foot twisted in there and it's just crunching, and the only thing I could do was pin it to try to keep it straight. I had enough time during that to actually pray." When Baumann eventually hi.t the

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