Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HARE &HOUND 1----------1 '..".. AMA NATIO ALHARE &HOUND N CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES r-, 0\ 0\ ...... 00 ... Q) ..0 o ..... u o 48 who y o u ' re passing or what yo u 're do ing ." Dave Hamel cleared p it row in fifth overa ll. De st ry Abbott headed out in si xth, follo wed by 250cc Experts Russ Pea rso n a n d Ch r is Br o w n. Da n Richardson led the Vet Expert class in n in th and Jeff Capt headed the fourstroke ra cers in 10th, tw o spo ts ahead of Pa ul Ostbo, w ho had led th e fourstroke co n te n ders w hen th e firs t loop got und er way. "I was abou t two spo ts ahead of Jeff Capt, but I made a m ist ak e in a sand wa sh and mangled my shifter, and the res t of th e ra ce, I co u ld n' t upshift," Ostb o sa id . '1 could put it in first, but I could n't get it ou t of first - I kept hitti ng a neutral, so for the w hole race I just had to keep it in second and thir d , and kind of lug it." After pu sh in g to establish a lead in t he ea rly go ing , Da v is settled in to hi s s tride and rela xed as the tighter , more technical terrain of th e secon d loop began . " I knew th ey we re kin d of a ways back ther e, so I jus t crui sed the seco nd lnop - jus t kind o f rod e a stea dy pa ce and had fun , and e njoyed th e da y," Davis said. "The course jus t kept ge tting better. I didn't think it was going to be like that at al l. I thought it was going to be a lot tigh ter, but it was just fun . Just that med ium-speed, rhythmy stu ff. You jus t ge t into the g roo ve, and it's ju st a blast. " Wi th Pearson a nd Book bre athing down his neck, Krause had less time to relax. "The th ree of us wen t into th e pits riglit togeth er, pitted , go t out and headed ou t in to the hills," Pear son sa id . "It ga l real tight an d I go t a little pu mped up . Boo k ca ug h t m e in a corne r and passed me, a nd I foll owed in hi s dus t pretty mu ch all the wa y to the finish ." Book wasn' t content wit h third ove ra ll a nd was soon tr yin g to m ake h is mar k on second. " "He caug ht me a couple of times in the tight stu ff, but then we w ould ge t into a littl e bit fas ter stu ff and th e 500 wo uld wa lk away from the 250," Krause sa id . "I had two th ings: I had clear ai r an d a littl e m o re ho rsepowe r to m y ad vantage, and I was ab le to ho ld him off." Ham el ro d e a s tead y pa ce in fif th overall and was never seriously cha llenged , but Ab bott d isap peared from the runn ing and return ed to the p i ts, which moved 250cc ace Russ Pearson up int o the number-six spot. Da n Richar dson's loop-tw o excitement con sisted of moving past Ch ris Brown to steal seventh overall, and a tip-over was all that Capt could come up wi th. "I passed abou t three gu ys on the second loop and laid it down one tim e just slid out th e front end," Capt said . " Every th in g jus t w ent w ell . It w as a good course - sm ooth, not all wh ooped out like Lucerne Valley. This is a grea t place to ride." Fou r -stroke r iv al Paul Pitts w a s push ing hard just one spot behind Capt, tr yin g to close th e ga p on th e cl a ss lead er. "I was chasing Ca p t the whole first loop: ' Pitts sa id . "Every rider he passed, I passed, and I alm ost caug ht him in certa in spo ts, but it was just too dusty to st a y with h im . On th e second loop, I w as tr yi ng to ca tch him agai n . I w a s starting to, but then 1 hit a rock an d it busted off my pipe an d my rear br ake about halfwa y around the seco nd loop, and that was abo ut it." About the o nly racer wh o was making an y serious progress was Gray, who was s till battling back from a two-kick s ta r t that le ft h im 17th overall a t th e halfw ay poi nt of th e race. "I was jus t playing catch-u p all day," G ra y sa id. "Yo u couldn't d o any big passing - yo u jus t had to pick off the guys in the tigh t stuff when you could, and it was so d us ty, it was really hard to pass. It wa s frustrating because I wo uld catch up to guys in the tight stu ff a nd then, all of a sudden, we would break ou t on a fast road , and I would have to slow down because I w as in their dust again . I jus t rode smoo th a nd smarl. I nev er fell over, nev er fe ll o ut of co ntrol." Patric k Ga rra ha n w as also trying to recov er fro m a slow start that left him back in 29t h ove ra ll as he s tarted out into loo p two. "I go t a three-kick start, so I was in dust all d ay and just wo rke d th ro u gh the pack as best I could," the KTM 2.;0 ' racer sa id . "I really wicked it up and passed a bunch of peopl e in the second lap . Tha t's wh ere I made up my lime." But nobody could make up tim e o n Da vis. Th e newlyw ed racer rod e safe and sane all th e way to the chec ke re d fla g and continued his clean s weep of th e se ries by taking w in nu mb er four with an impres siv e 6 l / Z· minute ma rgin. "I rod e a pretty fast pace in the first loop , but I slowed down a bit in the second loop to pi ck my way through the ro cks a nd make s u re I did n' t have a problem:' Davis said. "This hasn't been a grea t yea t: for m e, and I w a nted to make it to th e finish . I only need on e more win after this (to clinch the series ), so it really feels so good to be here." Wi th Da vi s so fa r ahead, seco ndpl a ced Kra use enjoyed dus t-free run ning for most of his 93-mile race. " It was g rea t," the Kawasaki Tea m G reen-backe d Kra use sa id . "The bike wo rked su per, and I had a really good time. It was fun , weIl-marked - jus t really nea t d esert, and finishing second to Ty is like wi nn ing, as far as I'm co ncerned, with everyone who' s behind me. I ha ve m y two throwaways al ready in the series, so I' ve go t to do rea lly well th e r est of the se ason. If I can log a bunch of second-place finis hes or pick up a first every no w an d then, it would be perfect." Book held Nick Pearson at bay all th e way to th e finish to take th ird ov era ll, and also scored th e win in the 250cc Expert d ivision. "It was kin d of hard, going from a KX500 on Frid ay (at the Vegas-to-Reno point-to -poin t team ra ce ) to a KX250 tod ay, and it took me a while to adjust to that, but on ce I did that I was able to pick up the pace again," Book said . "I've ridden a 250 all the wa y through th is series. I didn' t finish the first round, but T th ink this shou ld move me up to so methin g like th ird in the overa ll standings , and I believe I'm lied for firs t in the 250 class." N ick Pearson rep orted a trou ble-fr ee ride all the way to fou rth ove rall, ahead of Dave Hamel on a Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX500, as well as KTM 250 racer Russ Pearson, who co m p le te d hi s ri de in sixth. "I thought the course was okay ," said Russ, the younger of th e Pearson brothers. "The first loo p was fast, with lots of rocks. It was just a little dan gerou s with the rocks, but it wasn 't bad. The second loop got fun . The rocks there slowed the speed down, a nd y o u co u ld ac tually have some fun up in the hills." Richardson topped th e Vet division in seven th overall, seven places ah ead of his nearest Over 30 rival. Jon Parks, and Capt held out lon g eno ug h to claim the Four-Stroke w in , o ne pl ac e a head of ATK-m oun ted Pitts, a nd three p laces ahead of Ho nda-mo unted Os tbo, who is h is main r i val fo r th e class cha mpionship. " I' ve got tw o firsts so far i n th e series," Capt said . "I missed the races in Ida ho and Uta h, so I've got to finish out the rest of the series and hopefully wi n again." . "That was one of the funnes t th ings I've done in a lon g time," Ostbo said. "The course was beau tiful. I don't know w hy Na tiona ls don't have third loops anymore, though . I'm read y to go for a th ird loop. All these kids, th ey've go t the ir tongues hanging ou l. You've got to figure it' s too man y Pop Tarts or something." Van Stee tu rn ed in a stella r rid e aboard his KXI25 to continue his clean sweep of the 125cc divi sion wi th a finish in 12th overa Il. "T h e first lo op was ri ght u p my alley," Van Stee said. "It was reaIly fast, an d the d ust was able to clear a little bit fro m the rid er in fron t of you before you coul d ge t there, so you could go really good . It was awesome. And t he second loop was what a Na tional should be: It was light an d it was good." Jim Gra y' s sp ri nt too k him a ll th e way up to 15th in th e fina l st andings. Alan Deyo rod e a KTM 300 and took the Senior-class win wi th a 28th overall finish, and Gary Vanderpool led the Super Seniors home in 36th overall. " I go t a g ood s tar t and ki nd o f worked m y way back to her e: ' De yo said with a grin. "It was all pretty fast (Top) Davis· Team Green teammate Paul Krause led the race off the start. but soon dropped some 30 seconds behind the flying Davis. Krause went on to finis h second overall. (Above) Donnie Book was on the gas, as he chased KTM 's Nic k Pearson for much of the second loop. Book passed Pearson In a corner and went on to f in ish t hi rd overall and f irst 250Cc Expert for 8 clean Team Gree n sweep of the top three pos itions. for where I'm from. I' m from Idaho. I like to ride in the trees." '" Yerington Nat ional Hare & Hound Yerington , Neva da ReSUlts, September 21, 1997 (Round 4 of 7) O/A: 1. Ty Davi~ (Kaw); 2. Pau l Krau se (Kaw); .l Donn ie Book (K" w); 4. Nic k Pearson (KTM); 5. Dave Ha mel (Ka w) : b . Ru s s Pearson (KTM); 7. Da n Richardso n (K,1 w); 8. Jeff Ca pt (Hen): 9 . Pau l Pitt s (A TK); to. Chris Brown (K.:lw ); 11. Pau l Os tbo Gf c n): 12. Da na Van SIt.£' (Kaw ); 13. Mark Weldy (Kaw ): H . Jon ' Parks (Hon); 15. Jim Gray (KT M); 16. Brian Garra han (KTM); 17. Tod d Davis (Kaw) ; 18. Patrick Gar ra ha n (KTM ); 19. [onah Stree t (Hun); 20. Cu lt! Man- hall (CCM) ; 21. J,,'fl LuJgrt."t!Il (Kriw); 22. Sco tt Wibun (Hu n); 23. Jim Loh (Ka w) ; 24. T",h>r Murph y (Ho n); .2S. M,\It Murphy {Ho n): 26. Craig Wt"'int'f (Ka w ); 27. Tr,wis Slud Pr (K",w ); 28. Alan Deyo (KT M); 29. David Fry (SU7.) 30. Kevin ; Brown (Ha n). OPEN EX: 1. Ty Da vis O

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