By Matt Freeman
LUCERNE, CA, MAR. 8
or a short time, it appeared as
though round eight of the District 37
Desert Racing Series would be canceled. However, the Dirt Diggers MC
stepped in at the last minute and put on
a hare scrambles event that Team
Green's Paul Krause wasted little time
in completing. Krause pulled the
holeshot and led the entire 76 miles
aboard his KX500 from start to finish.
The event marked the first time this year
thaf everyone else; with the exception of'
Krause's teammate Doug Chiapuzio,
was left in the dust.
On the second of two laps around the
fast 38-mile loop, Chiapuzio and his
KX250 worked their way up through the
dust from a fourth-place position to put
the heat on Krause in the final few miles
of the race. Chiapuzio's second-loop
sprint was not enough for the overall,
but it did net him ·first 250cc honors in
the end.
When the banner fell at 10 a.m.,
Krause had a jump on the 280 racers
who showed up to participate. From
that point on, the real racing went on'
behind Krause and his dust. Vet racer
Abe Baumann and Team Green's Jeff
Capt were among those closest to the
leader's tail. At the end of the bomb run,
however, some of the front-runners
blew a turn, causing some position
changes that would be hard 'to make up
in the dust.
"1 was second once it got like five
miles out," said KX500-mounted Capt,
shaking his head. "Then 1 missed the
wash, went right instead of left, and
about five guys got by me,and_after that
1 just slowed down. 1 was right behind
Paul (Krause) and then 1 just. bobbled
and went the wrong way. Next time."
With Capt out of 'the picture, Bau,
...... mann momentarily had control of the
...... number-two spot, followed by Team
I-<
Green's 2S0cc ace Steve Hengeveld,
P.. KTM 200M/XC-mounted Eric Hallgath
.
