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(Left) Team Green's
Donnie Book took his
KX250 to third overall and
first 250cc Expert.
(Right) Team Green's Dana
VanStee finished 15th
overall and first 125cc
Expert after dicing with
Dave Ondas, who was
riding a borrowed KX125,
early in the race.
(Below) Paul Ostbo rode to
12th overall at the finish
and first Four-Stroke
Expert honors after over
two hours of racing.
Book was just three seconds back in
third overall at the start of pit row, and
Destry Abbott and KX250-mounted
Brian Brown were all tied up for fourth
a minute behind the leader. Russ Pearson's KTM 250 appeared two minutes
later in sixth overall, just ahead of Vetclass leader Eddie McCoy, and Steve
Hengeveld and Jim Gray rounded out
the top nine.
"I got a bad start and it was really too
tight to pass most of the time, and a couple of 500s roosted me real bad, too,"
Russ Pearson said. "It wasn't all bad,
though. At least being back where 1 was
there were a couple of tracks to follow.
It was easy for me to follow, but I don't
know how it was for the leaders. 1 think
they could've got lost pretty easily
because a lot of it was new ground."
One of the tightest races of the day
was shaping up just a little further back
between Open-class racer Dan Richardson and Paul Ostbo, who was leading
the Four-Stroke division.
"He's an arch-family-rival," Ostbo
explained. "We had a really fun battle
most of the way. We were yelling at
each other and crashing in the same corner. At one stage when we crashed, the
bike landed on my hand - the hand 1
broke in Tecate last week, so 1 limped
for a little bit of the second loop, but
then I caught Richardson again and we
had another heck of a run."
One of the biggest surprises at the
end of loop one was Dave Ondas, who
dashed into the pits aboard a KXl25.
"1 had problems this morning with
my KX500 and it was too late to fix anything, so 1 just borrowed a bike from
John Braasch," Ondas said. "I'm here to
get points, so I'm entered in the Open
class. I'd forgotten how much work 125s
are. I got a lot more tired on this thing
then I ever do on a 500."
Davis continued to lead the way as
loop two unfolded and, the further he
got, the more advantage he got from the
terrain.
"The first loop was great because you
had the snow and the mud, which
meant really perfect traction most of the
time. Then, heading out on the second
loop, about.10 to 15 miles into it, we
started getting into some really tigpt
trees, with really loose rock and virgin
ground," Mark Lundgreen said. "If you
got behind somebody in that stuff you
were really stuck."
Pearson chased hard through the
tight sections, sticking doggedly to
Davis' tail all the way.
few obscenities
at me to get me
to move out of
the way," said
Richardson,
who found the
words were just
what he needed
to get a new
burst of energy.
"That fired me
up. 1 wasn't
going to let him
go by after that,
so whoever was
behind me just
had to follow
me. He was
right on my tail
"I loved the course-it was awesome," said Pearson. "They got us up in
the tight trees - you'd just twist around
in there for miles, which was so cool,
then they'd put us onto some fast jeep
roads and stretch it out, then you'd get
back in the tight trees again."
But the KTM pilot began to lose his
hold on the race leader as the grueling
loop started to draw to a close.
"We rode together for a long time but
when we got into some faster stuff, he
kind of pulled on me," Pearson said.
"After that, 1 didn't see very much of
him. 1 just maintained and tried to keep
it upright."
The faster terrain near the end of the
loop also caused trouble for Book, who
was all set to make a move for second
overall when disaster struck on a highspeed road.
"1 was going to pass Pearson and I
just .flipped off the road and cartwheeled through the trees," Book said.
"I smashed the pipe real bad and had no
horsepower for like the last 10 miles. It
was like riding a KDX200 or something,
and I was really worried that Abbott
was going to catch me."
But back in fourth, Abbott had worries of his own. .
"Brown had caught and passed me at
the end of the first loop and we went
out together on the second loop. He hit
a bush. and 1 slid out, but 1 got back up a
little quicker than he did and from then
on 1 rode a really good race," Abbott
said. "But things started going wrong
right at the end. My bike started dying
because it was running out of gas. 1 just
made it in on fumes."
The exertion of battling through
miles of tight trees started to take its toll
as the racers neared the end of the loop.
"It was really tight - a little too tight
for a SOO, I thought, and 1 got really tired
about halfway through the loop. 1 know
-I had slowed down a bit, but then somebody came up behind me and yelled a
for the last 20 miles."
When the checkered flag finally
dropped after two-and-a-quarter hours
of exhausting racing, Davis had captured his third victory in the three-raceold competition, but he knew the battle
had gone right to the wire.
"That :was close - a tough day," the
Kawasaki Team Green rider said. "The
course was really tight - the kind of
course that makes you wish you were
on a 250, not a 500. I really had to work
my butt off this time throwing this thing
around, but the traction was awesome.
All in all, it was a really good course
and a good race."
Pearson held on all the way to second, less than a minute behind Davis.
The young racer was as impressed as
Davis with the course, and just as
impressed with the performance of his
KTM300.
"1 had no problems all day. The bike
ran great and I didn't even have any
flats," said Pearson, a factory-sponsored
KTM racer. "1 wish they all went this
good."
With a crushed pipe robbing him of
power, Book was looking over his
shoulder all the way to third overall and
first in the 250cc division.
"1 was just waiting for Abbott to
catch me but luckily, everything came
together and 1 held onto third. Hopefully this puts me in better shape for the
series," Book said."
Abbott brought his KTM 360 home
close behind Book to take fourth overall
and third in the Open Expert class.
"1 wish the courses were like this at
every race. It was really neat," he said."
Brian Brown overcame a lot of bumping handlebars off the start to grab fifth
and second in the 250cc division, ahead
of KTM 250-racer Russ Pearson.
"I got tired and kind of cruised in the
second loop," Brown said. "1 got turned
around a couple of times, but nothing
bad. I just missed a few corners. Abbott
got around me when I crashed, but
that's about all that happened. 1 tried to
catch him for the rest of the loop but 1
couldn't do it."
Seventh overall was claimed by Steve
Hengeveld, who limped in after crashing just 10 miles from the finish, and
Eddie McCoy took a wire-to-wire win in
the Vet division in eighth, more than a
dozen places ahead of his nearest Over
30 rival.
"A woods rider I'm not," McCoy
said. "The trees beat me to death but I'm
not broke and my bike ain't broke, and
that's all tha! counts. It was a tough
course for me because I'm not used to
the trees but I survived."
Dan Richardson and Dave Hamel
rounded out the top 10, and were followed home by Jim Gray, Four-Stroke
winner Ostbo, Krause, who was hampered by sand-induced vision problems
throughout the race, Ady, and 125cc
class winner Dana Van Stee.
"I diced a bit with Ondas in the first
loop but the'n I got down to business
and led the rest of the way," 'said Van
Stee, who finished 15th overall. "The
course was awesome - good dirt, minimal whoops. 1 had a blast and I'm glad 1
came."
But nobody was happier than Steve
Pitts, who hung on all the way to take
the honors in the Over 40 division.
"You definitely got your government's recommended daily allowance of
trees out there but it was an excellent
course and it was marked really well,"
said Pitts. "The only problem I had was
that 1 knocked a few trees down, and 1
had problems working out what some
of the turns meant - was it a sharp turn
or just a directional arrow? But 1 never
got lost and it was an excellent race all
around."
f~
Jericho National H&H
Jericho, ~h
Results: April 13, 1997 (Round 3 of 7)
Olk 1. Ty Davis (Kaw); 2. Nick Pea""'" (KTM); 3.
Donnie Book (Kaw); 4. Destry Abbott (KTM); 5. Brian
Brown (Kaw); 6. Russell Pearson (KTM); 7. Steve
Hengeveld (Kaw); 8. Ed McCoy; 9. Dan Richardson
(Kaw); 10. Dave Hamel (!