Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'HARE &HOUND AMA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP •HARE &HOUND SERIES it was only 30 miles long and, lor the front-runners, was over in a little less than one hour. Davis had a one-minute lead over KX25D-mounted Brian Brown when he gassed up for the first time. Ondas had his KX500 in third, half a minute behind Brown, Hamel was running fourth and Steve Hengeveld had turned a fast charge up the bomb into fifth overall just a few seconds ahead of Krause. Ed McCoy led the Vet contenders in seventh overall, ahead of Paul Pitts, who captained the first four-stroke in the field, and Book, Nick Pearson, Gray and Abbott had all secured a toehold in the top 20. The opening section of the long second loop was a blessed relief. "The second loop was much better," Pearson s.aid. "After all those whoops and the really rough stuff, they got into. some really neat stuff. Loop two had a lot of neat washes - tight little washes like an enduro. It was fun. " The more technical terrain meant the slower starters finally got the break they were looking for. Abbott used the tighter terrain to make up nine places and Gray was also elbowing his way past one rider after another. "I started to charge real hard in the • second loop and caught a bunch of guys," Gray said. "It was so good to be in terrain that I could actually ride." The change of pace meant there was also a little more room for error. "I took myself out about four miles after the pits and Book and a couple of other people got by me, but the course was nice and tight by then and I could catch up:' Hengeveld said. "The whole course was more of a 250 course than a 500 course. Even on the bomb, if you got the jump on the big bikes you had them." Pearson was making up for time lost by a two-kick start and was moving up through the pack, despite a couple of tip-overs, and bJ hallway through the second loop, even Jim Loh had hit his stride. "The bike didn't really run off the start:' Loh said. "I was back in about 20th at the bomb, which wasn't too bad considering, but I stayed about there until the second half, when the bike started working again. By the .end, I was really moving up fast." Davis was moving well, despite feeling a little under the weather, and continued to lead the pack all the way to the alternate gas. "The second loop was much better than the first- not so many whoops, and Brown was .staying behind me so I didn't have to ride 110 percent all the time:' Davis said. "I just rode at about 90 percent and that was fairly comfortable." Brown chased hard and stayed in Davis' dust all th.e way to the alternate. The Idaho hotshot was only 45 seconds off the pace as he took on fuel for the second time, but any hopes of closing in were dashed when his Kawasaki stuck in second gear about four miles after the pit. . "I could keep going but I didn't have any chance IJf doing anything after that:' Brown said. "I still had a good time, though." Third overall and five minutes behind Davis at the alternate pit .was '. Book, who had been having anything but a good time almost from the moment the race began. • "I got a horrible start but the course was marked really well so I was able to make up a Jot of time and passed everybody back, but then 1 bent a disk and had to cruise," Book said. "Going down the roads was kind of scary without a rear brake, so I'd kind of cruise there and try to pick up the pace in the rough stuff. It was interesting." McCoy was still dominating the Over 30 competition in fourth overall, wi th Hengeveld in fifth, followed by Hamel and the brothers Nick and Russ Pearson. Kawasaki's pit crew were keeping their eyes peeled for Ondas and Krause, but gave up when Oakley Lehman stopped to report that both KX500 pilots had been stranded by mechanical problems and were parked alongside the trail. Davis raced steadily toward the home check, conserving his energy to make sure his strength would last for what was shaping up to be a three-hour journey and looking back every now and then to make sure he was still safety ahead of Brown. The race was almost in the bag when the wanna-be champ sudd.enly lost the course. "The arrowS kind of screwed me up and 1 veered off the trail and got lost:' Davis said. "When 1 came back, I saw (Bro~). He was within seeing distance so 1 pinned it all the way to the finish and made up 1 don't know how much towards the end." "How much" turned out to be about three minutes, but it was enough to net the tired rider hiS second National winina row. "The second loop was really good - it had some really fun stuff in it. It was just getting to it that nearly killed me," Davis said. "I had a pretty good day an.d just rode my own race until I had to wick it up a bit at the end." Brian Brown described his whole race as "fun but rough." "I like,d the first loop once I got around Ondas and got out of the dust, and the second loop was. great until the bike got stuck in second:' the 250ccclass winner Brown said. Third overall and second 250cc Expert went to Kawasaki-mounted Boo ,who overcame a bad start and-no (Right) Local rider Brian Brown stops for gas and water en route to a secondplace finish. (Below) Ed McCoy topped the 30+ Expert class in sixth overall. rear brake to finish just four minutes behind Brown, and Nick Pearson finished hard on his heels to capture fifth, and second in the Open Expert division, on his KTM 300. "I got dusted on the start and decided to take it easy for the first loop, just trying to stay up and make sure I didn't make any mistakes," Nick Pearson said. "I started riding beller in the second loop and caught people. 1 had a pretty good ride." A race-long game of catch-up put Hengeveld up into filth when the 100mile race was finally over, and Ed McCoy crossed the line in sixth, still at the head of the Vet Expert pack. "Great race - absolutely great, but what an incredibly rough course," McCoy said. ''I'm sore and tired. That was tough." Gray, who admitted to running out of steam in the last 20 miles, finished seventh overall, half a minute ahead of Russ Pearson, who was the only person ·in the field to wish that the course had been longer. "I needed more time to catch up:' Russ Pearson said. "I got a two-kick start and had to fight my way through the dust all day. You could only pass people in the tight sections or up in the hills where it was kind of wet." Vosburg Racing's Abbott and firsttime National competitor Pete Russell rounded out the top 10. "I usually ride local stuff - desert, motocross, woods," Russell said. "This is my first National race ever. This was' pretty fun. 1 would've done a little better if my-hands had held up better." Hamel completed the course in 11th overall, ahead of D. Bellinger and Chris Brown, and Dana Van Stee topped the 125cc Experts in 14th. "My start was real bad and I had to pick my way through the dust but things worked out," Van Stee said. "I liked the middle third of the course. The other two-thirds were all whooped out, which I could've done without today." Loh won the Four-Stroke division in 15th overall and Rex Staten took Senior class honors in 18th overall. "The course was marked really weI\. It was kind of tight for a 500, but 1 got the hang of it," Staten said. fN Idaho NlItlonal H"H Murphy, Idaho R.aulta: March 18, 1997 (Round 2 of 7) OIA:. 1. Ty Davis (Kaw); 2. Brian Brown (Kaw); 3. Donnie Book (Kaw); 4. Nick Pearson (KTM); 5. Steve Hengeveld (Kaw); 6. Ed McCoy (Kaw); 7. Jim Gray (KTM); 8. Russ Pe""",n (KTM); 9. Destry Abbott (KTM); 10. Pete Russell (KlM); 11. Dave Hamel (Kaw); 12. D. Bellinger (](aw); 13. Chris Brown (Kaw); 14. Dana Van St.. (Kaw); 15. Jim Loh (Kaw); 16. Tommy Ady (Kaw); 17. Rob Flagler (Yam); 18. Rex Staten (Kaw); 19. Eric Durray (Yam); 20. Jeff Lundgreen (Kaw). . OPEN EX: 1. Ty Davis (Kaw); 2. Nick Pearson (KTM); 3. Jim Gray (KlM). . 250 EX: 1. Brian Brown (Kaw); 2. Donnje Book (Kaw); 3. Steve Hengeveld (Kaw). 125 EX: 1. Dana Van Stee (Kaw). D-30 EX: 1. Ed McCoy (Kaw). Q..4O EX: 1. Rex Staten (Kaw). 4-STK EX: 1. Jim Loh (Kaw). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Jericho, UT. April 12 Round 4 • Lucerne Valley. CA, October 26

• Cover