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hit gas one, bu t that was nothing compared to w hat la y ahead . The second section headed high into the mountains on gravelly horse trails, past the wreckage of a pla ne th at crashed years ag o, and then d isappeared over the edge of the ,"She's a Screamer" downhill, w hich race officials d escribed as a fast-paced 2000-foot drop. But it was the altitude that really had them spinning. "W he n we go t up on top o f th e mo untains, it was real foggy, and that mad e it hard to find th e course," sai d Ru ss Pearson , w h o h a d p a ss ed hi s b r oth er N ic k a n d was s na p p i ng at Book's heels. "Me and Book wer e go ing back and forth tryi ng to find the course, jus t hairballing it." "I was fee lin g p retty good head ing ou t into the second loop, but 1 bou nced off a co u p le of tr ees and w en t down o nce," sa id -Ni ck Pearson , wh o wiped the rear fender off his bike in the crash. "My rear brake locked going u p a hill and I didn't have the rig ht tools to fix it, so 1 bu mmed some tools, got that fixed , go t going and jus t kind of cruised and had a good time after that." Th e d el a v m eant N ick Pearson missed a lot O'f the cloudy confusion, but there wer e plenty of rac er s to tak e his .p lace, . "I s top p ed to give Nick m y fa nn ypack because he needed some too ls, and he told me 1 was in third, so 1 took off, but ' then I got lost real bad ," sa id TMmou nted Zitterkopf, w ho had sta rted in the top 10 an d worked his way gradually forward . "There we re a whole bu nch of u s t ha t go t lo st in the fog . Br ia n Brown passed me, Dave On d as passed me, and I think Eddie McCoy did, too. We we re all looking for the course, and whe n [ found the trail aga in like everybody else, it wa s a big, mad d ash, and I hit a tree and rip ped up my hand prett y good. " And the mad d ash still wasn't over. "We fou nd the cou rse , and then we went off th e d ownhill, w h ich 1 heard was like 3500 feet. Book and 1 were side by side, and 1 wa s reall y sca red becau se w e were b asi cally ju s t ha u ling d own thi s thin g," said Russ Pearson . " It was like fifth gear an d we look ed over at each other, and 1 saw him gas it , SO 1 gassed it , a n d h e sa w me, so he gassed it. It was wild," said Book with a laugh. Book wa s ahead at the bott om of the hill, but Pear son refu sed to back off.' "I saw a corner coming up, so I d arted off this hill and tried to cu t the corn er jus t a little bit short," sa id Pea rson. "I swu ng right in front of him; nex t thin g I kno w - bam, both ou r bikes are ta ken ou t. His bike's on top of mine, so when he finally ge ts up, he ends up in first. He pulls a wheelie and tips it over, and I get by him . We were so close." . Book and Pea rso n locked ha ndl ebars all the way to the second gas and were just seconds apart as they raced in to the fina l 37-mile section - and so me of the wors t w ea ther in th eir racing careers. The thi ck bla ck clouds tha t had threat ened rain all morning delivered on their p romise, treating the racers to sheets of water, pou ndi ng pea -sized hail , booming thu nd er an d spectacular ligh tning. "The rain and the hail didn't last for lo ng but th ey s u re sc rewed up you r goggles ," . said Neva da race r Da ve Hamel. "I had-to tak e m y goggles off. Then Abbott got by me an d I hit something in his dust and w ent down pr etty good . By the time I p icke d m yself up again,1 wa s back in seve nth." As th e 100 -mile co u rse drew to a close,'the pace a t the fro n t of th e pack finall y started to slow. Pearson tucked in behind Book and the pair approac hed the finish lin e behind Wendov er ' s Red Garter Casino in a fairly ord erly man ner . Book cro ssed the line -after almost three hours of racing to take the win by less than a min ut e. " It w as a good race and the cou rse was really good, too," said Book. "After last year's event that the same pr omoter put on , I kind of had my doubts, and I wa s a little bit worried, but it wa s 100percent better this time . The only problem 1 had with the markings was up in the fog, and ther e's no thing he can d o about that. "I had a great d ay ," co ntinue d th e Co lo ra d o-b a s ed ra cer, whos e fini sh bu mped him up from 10th overall in the cha m p io ns hi p points ra ce to fou rth . "T h e cou rse w as s o mu ch fun , m y Yamaha YZ250 w orked perfect, and I'm happy to be here first . This is gr eat." KTM-backed Rus s Pearson also gave the course a solid thumbs-up. "I thou ght it was a trick course," he said . "The markin g was good a nd th e trees wer e rea lly neat. We had a good race - we were so close all the way, but in the last loop 1 just hu ng ba ck right behind him into the finish." . Ab bo tt r ec o vered fr o m hi s ea rly probl ems a nd fin ish e d th e poi nt-topoint in third overall, takin g the Openclass win on his KX500. "Firs t Open - I' m happy wit h tha t," he said, sha king his head. "The w hole first loop, 1 jus t cras hed . At one point I thou ght 1 bro ke my leg 1 hit something so hard , and I stopped and ' let Da ve Hamel and Dave Ond as go by because I was hu rtin g . I actually th ou gh t I w as going to go into the pit and qu it because ·1 jus t cou ld n' t ge t anythi ng go ing, but towards the end I just put it in su rv ival mode and started picking up the pace a little. I'm just glad it's over wit h." Onda s also had a lot of grou n d to make up on his w ay to fou rth overa ll after a sha ky start left him way off the pace in about 30th. "Once I started going, I sta rted catchin g people and bein g consisten t," sai d O ndas. "It was a good course all in all, but it wasn't marked that well, 1 didn't th ink. You had to keep watching fro m comer to corne r, but I had a good time." Nick Pea rso n repaired his KTM 380 a nd mad e up enough tim e to capture fifth overa ll and second in the O pen Expe rt division . "A fter my wreck, I had to bu m so me tools to fix the bik e, and I just kind of cru ised and had a good time after that," said Pear son . "The course was awesome and it was ma rked real we ll. I thou ght Ron Dill on d id a good job of tha t, and the rain and hail didn't las t for long. It was a good race ." . <;i reg Z it te r ko pf b r ou ght his T M home in sixth overa ll at the head of the Over 30 Experts. "I got up as high as third overall but . my bike was just a little bit lean and my hand was starting to hu rt qui te a bit, so I let Ondas and one other guy by in the la st fiv e m il e s, " sai d Z i tterko p f. " I (Ab ove) Nick Pearson leads the . start of the 100-mil e National. (Right) Ed McCoy took second in the Vet class behind Greg Zilterkopf, should've probably pinned it and go t a little bit better overall, but I won my class and m y TM wo rked excellent , so I'm happy." Dave Ha me l, w ho ad mi tted to being more tha n a lit tle tir ed when th e race was over, followed Zitterkopf ho me . "My little gi rl - Ky lee Mo rga n - is thre e weeks old, so I've bee n a little low on sleep in the last three weeks," sa id Hamel, "bu t I thou ght the course was a lo t of fun - really tight, reall y technical. Then , a t the same tim e, there was so me really fast, reall y d angerous stuff . The ma rkings were bett er than last year but they sti ll need to improve." Ed McCoy, who had been as high as fou rth overall in the early running and who took seco nd overall in the Vet d ivision, followed Hamel home, and Dan Ric ha rdso n took th ird Ve t h a rd o n McCoy's heels in ninth. • "I was in wit h a bunch of guys, and we jus t ke p t passin g each ot he r ba ck and fort h all day long," sai d Richardson . "I was go ing just sl ow enough th at I never missed a comer and always knew whe re I was going. Right ou t of check two, it was raining real hard and it kind of messed up the goggles a little bit, but ot her than that it was fine . I just had it on cru ise contro l all da y and I loved the elevations." Te nt h o vera ll w ent to KT M 380 mou nted Vince Lucero, who u sed th e confusion in the cloud to his ad vantage to move u p from abo u t 20th at the sta rt. Bria n Brown crossed th e lin e in 11 th , jus t ahead o f top fo u r-s troke fin is he r Taber Murp hy in 12th, and YZ I25 racer Sh a n e Es posito sewed up the 125 cc Nationa l ti tle when h e ove ra lled h is d ivision in 13th overa ll. "I got off to a good start and passed a few guys, but then we' d hit alot of fire roa ds and they'd all get me back. Then we'd get back in the mountai ns and I'd get them again: It was like that all da y," sai d Esposito . " It was a real nea t cou rse, wi th a littl e bit of every thi ng . You had tigh t stuff, then you had stuff that was rea l fast; it was all-around for eve ryo ne and it eve ned thin gs ou t." Fou r-s tro ke pilot Aron Hu n ting ton, KX500-mo unted Mark Lu ndgreen, Steve Hengeveld , Cu r tis Dice , Tim St aab, Mike Boyert and Ed Sore nso n rounded C~ out the top 20. Wells-to-Wend over Wells, Nevada September 13, 1998 (Round 5 of 7) O IA: 1. Donnie Book (Yam ); 2. Russ Pearso n (JaM); 3. Destry Abbott (Ka w): 4. Dave On da s (Kaw): 5. Nick Pearson (KTM); 6. Greg Zitterkopf (TM); 7. Dave Hamel (Kaw ): 1:1. Ed McCoy (He n): 9. Dan RichardscnIxaw): 10. Vince Lucero (KTM); 11. Bria n Brown (Kaw): 12. Taber Mu rphy; 13. Shane Esposit o (Yam); 14. Aron Huntin gt on ; 15. M a rk Lundgreen (Kaw); 16. Ste ve Heng eveld ; 17. C urtis Dice; 18. Tim Staab; 19. Mike Boyett; 20. Ed So re nson ; 21. Ru ss Web st er ; 22. Jeff Lu ndg ree n; 23. Robert Phillips: 24. Kev in Brow n; 25. Dana Van Stcc . . O PEN EX: 1. De stry Abbott IKaw): 2. Dave Ondas (Kaw) : 3. N ick Pea rson (KTM). 250 EX: 1. Donn ie Book (Ya m ); 2. Russ Pea rson (KTM); 3. Steve Hen geveld (Ka w ). . V ET EX: 1. G reg Zitt c r ko pf (TM); 2. Ed McCoy (Ho n}; 3. Dan Richa rdon (Ka w). 125 EX: l . Sha ne Esposito (Ya m); 2. Dana Van Stee (Kaw) ; 3. Erik Gri ffith . 35+ EX: 1. BiU DeJcarillo; 2. Kevin Bogue . 40+ EX: 1. Da ro l Brown ; 2. Steve Pit ts ; 3. Nick Co llin. 50+ EX: 1. BiHMaxim . 4· STRK EX: 1. Taber Murphy; 2. Aron Huntingto n; 3. Curt is Dice. A M A NA TION AL C HA M P IO NS III P HAR E & HO UND .S ERIES (Afte r 5 of 7 rou n ds ); I. Ty Da vis ,(11012 Win s); 2. Destry Abbott (90/ 1); 3. Dave Ondas (68); 4. Donn ie Book (66 /1 ); 5. Paul Krau se (59); 6. Brian Brown (5 8 /1) ; 7 . Ste ve Hen g ev e ld (53) ; 8. Da n Richa rd so n (53) ; 9. Do ug C h ia p uz io (42); 10. (T IE) Dav id H a n~I / N ick Pearson / Russell Pea rso n (41). Upcoming Rounds: Round 6 • Murphy, Idaho, September 26 Round 7 - Luceme Valley, California. October25 31