Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ni ng a nd elbo wed his way through to the fro n t of th e pack. He was jus t settlin g into his stride when he was surpri sed by a fast-moving Brian Brown. "Tha t wa s so frustrating," Davis said . "I'd p ulled ou t a lead, and here comes Bria n abou t 50 feet ov e r, going lik e... w /wooII/, right by me, no t ev en in th e tight wash. So I figu red, 'I'm ge tting in the tra in, too.' I pu lled ou t of the wash and we all jus t followed him ." Brown led the way, wi th Russ Pearson in second and Davis ridin g furiously in thi rd . A lipov er in the whoop s had knocked N ick Pearson back a spo t o r two, and he wa s di cing it out with Boo k in th e tr ees. Da vi s pushed pas t Ru ss Pearson and was moving in for ano ther sho t at the lead when he sudden ly ra n out of cou rse. "I had got up in to second a nd w e w ere up in th e fog," Da vi s sa id . "My gogg les we re getting scre wed u p, an d I wasn' t look in g for ina"rkings becau se I w asn't leading . We went d ow n a hill a nd (Bro w n) s ta r ted lookin g a ro u nd . Pea rson w as n 't behind m e a nvmo re, an d I thought, 'O h, cra p.' I went 'back to the cou rse a nd cau ght it, bu t by then I was eighth or ninth . I was four minutes down at the first pit ." Th e une xpected d e tour tu rned th e lea d o ve r to Ru s s Pearso n, who h ad made a sharp right to follow the ribbo n as Davis and Brown continue d s traigh t ahead, and moved the Boo k/ Nick Pearson duel into second . "Book wa s second , and I was th ird after Davis got lost, and we were havin g so m uch fun in th e trees, just sid e b y side, passing eac h other back an d forth ," Nick Pearson said . "One of us would tip over an d the other on e would ge t by . It was just too mu ch fun up there. It wa s raining on u s, a nd th e co u rse was all slick and m ud dy." Book had the lead as the front-runners comp leted section one, but a fast pit pu t Russ Pearso n in to the nu mber-one spot as the 35-mile charge to pit two bega n. N ick Pearson w a s running third , inches behind Book, and Brown, Abbott , Oakley Lehman and Davis mad e up the lead pa ck. By th e tim e th ey reache d p it two, Nick Pea rso n had battl ed th ro ugh int o th e lead, Russ Pea rson w as in second , and Book, now riding withou t a viso r on his helme t, had bee n relegated to third . "I don 't know if Book go t fogged or what , but he basically let me and N ick by," Russ Pearson sai d . "And after that la st ra ce (ro u n d fi ve , in w hich Bo ok top ped Pearson by less than a minute to . take the overall win), I wanted to stick it to him, so I hooked onto Nick and kind of rode off Nick for a bit." " It wa s goggle problems," said Book, w ho was eager to ex pla in th at he d id not lose his vis or in a crash. "I started messin g around with m y goggles an d they jus t pulled away from me. I was going down th e road , and I lifted m y head up to kind of loo k, and m y viso r went flyi ng off. I co uld n' t beli eve it. I was so bu mmed ." Fourth overall at pit two belon ged to Da v is, w ho ra ced th rou g h ahead o f Brown , Lehma n and Hengeveld, but the Yama ha a ce was s till n ot ou t of th e wood s. "At the second pit I got a rock in my carb uretor ," Davi s said . "It kept su cking the rock up into the main jet in the highspeed s tuff, so it w ouldn't run . In the whoop s, the pou nd ing knocked the rock d own and I could rid e pretty good, but it wou ld suck it u p ther e aga in as soon as we hit some more fast stu ff." Trouble for Davis eq ua ted to a lot of fun for Leh man . KX500 racers Brian Brown an d Dave O ndas were the next racers to cross the line, and Steve He ngeveld (on a KX25O), Destr y Abbott (on a KX500) a nd Curtis C":\ Dice round ed ou t the top 10. (Right) Davis' teamma te Donnie Book was sporting a rather stream lined look after .unexpectedly los ing his visor while making a gogg le ad justment. Book sh rugged off the stylistic faux pas and went on to finish third overall. " I was kind of m o tiv a ted to try to stay wit h him , and we we re goi ng back a n d forth," Lehm a n sai d . "We rod e together prett y mu ch the whole seco nd half and it was a blas t." Abbo tt was having no fun a t all. "In the second section I was just tryin g to stay consist ent, and I caugh t ba ck u p and passed Rus s Pearson," Abbott said . "I passed Brown . and I d on ' t think I was that far beh ind Book and N ick Pearson , a nd th en I go t all tang led up in so me barbed wi re. It wa s right in the middle of the second loop, and it took me abou t 10 m inu tes to get ou t of i t. I w as so angry." Bu t th ere w ere no p rob le ms ou t in fron t. Nick Pearson enjoyed a tro ublefree rid e th roughout the tigh t 20-m ile finis hing section and too k the chec kered flag about a minute ahead of his brother Russ. "1 jus t tried to stay smooth a nd not ma ke too m an y mi stak es," sai d th e KT M /Dun lop / Ace rb is-backe d p ilot, w ho overa lled a round of the N ational series once befor e, w hen he was just 17. "1 kep t looki ng ba ck eve ry once in a w hile, and Rus s would be th ere, but I jus t had a rea lly good lime. The club did a really good marki ng job, es pecia lly with th e wea th er as bad as it was - I neve r go t lost once, and m y bike was great. It's my second ride on it, and the thing wor ks awesome." Ru ss Pea rson fini shed les s than a minute behind his older brother to take se co nd ov era ll an d first in th e 250 cc Expert class . "I w as righ t be h ind him the w ho le last section," Russ Pea rson sa id . "He'd leave me, a nd I' d ca tch him, a nd he' d leave me aga in . He ended u p bea ting me by a little bit, but I had fun . Pro Circuit jus t hooked me up with a pipe, and it ju st w ork ed so we ll. I wa s h appy tod ay." Donni e Boo k brou ght hi s YZ2 50 Idaho National Hare & Hound Murphy, Idaho Unofficial Resu lts: September 26, 1998 (Round 6 of 6) ho me th ree minu tes behind the Pearso n duo to claim thi rd ov erall . 'T ha t was coo l. It was a major m ud race, and we don't get to see that ver y often : Book said. "The Pearson boys ride real grea t, and they d id a good job. I just couldn' t ca tch them at the end." Davis su rvi ved his carbu re to r p roblem s to cross the line in fourth. It wasn 't the finis h he had been hoping for, but it did sew u p the ov era ll cha m p io ns hi p and make up for so me of the weekend's trials. "We were dri ving to the race site this morning in the d ark a nd so me one in a car co ming th e oth er way threw w ha t we thi nk was a cu p full of rocks a t us. It na iled m y wi nds hield righ t where my face wa s and it was like, Wham," Davis said . "I thou ght the tru ck had exp loded - th a t' s w ha t it felt like. It wa s such a loud so und . I couldn't see a thin g, and I ha d g la ss a ll over me . That w a s m y wa ke-u p call for the morning." Davis continu ed on to the even t and, w it h so me help fro m th e local racers, locat ed a repairman who would come ou t to replace the Wind shie ld w hile he raced. " It cos t m e a p r etty pe n n y , but I expected tha t," Davis said. "I was in the middle of now here, and it was raining, but it was worth it not to have to d rive like tha t. The race finished okay for me, and I could just load up and go home." Da vi s w as foll owed in by KX250 mounted Oa kley Lehman . "I wa s probably abo u t seventh off the s ta r t; th en m y a r ms pumped up s o everyone kind of go t away from me, but every thi ng wa s look in g good b y th e lime Davis caught me and I just tried to stay wi th him," Lehman said . "We rod e together pretty mu ch the wh ole seco nd half. Th ere were pl ac es where it w a s hard to follow the course but I think a lot of it had to do with the goggles and the fog. I liked the course. " O /A : 1. N ic k Pe arson ( KTM); 2. Ru ss Pearson (KTM); 3. Donnie Book (Ya m ); 4. Ty Da v is (Yam); 5 . Oa kley Lehman (Kaw) : b. Brian Brown U(aw); 7. Dave O n das (Ka w) : 8 . Ste w Hen gev eld (Ka w ): 9. Dc st rv Abbo tt (Ka w) : 10. Curtis Dire (KTM); 11. Eric Hall gath (KTM); 12. To m m y Ady (Ka w) : 13. Alan De yc (KTM); 14. Taber Murphy (Ho n): 15. joey Lanza (ATK); 16. Matt Murph y Kaw): 17. Matt Corwi n ( Ka w ): 18. Mark Lundgreen (Ka w): 19. Michael Baxter (Yam ); 20. D.1Vl.' Ha mel ( Kaw): 21. Brian Bruming ( Kaw) : 22 . Darrol Brown ( He n): 23. Stt'VI.' Pitt!> (ATK) ; 24. Aa ron Evans (K.1W); 25. j erry Os tler (ATK); 26. Erik Griff ith (Ka w): 27. [ cf f Al te r (KTM ); 28 . Sco tty McM a nu s (Ho n ): 29 . Steve Harper (Yam); 30. Mon te Benso n (Hen) . O PEN EX: 1. Nic k Pearson (KTM ); 2. Ty Davis (Yam ); 3. Brian Brown (Kaw) . 125 EX: 1. Eric Hall ga rh (KT M). 250 EX: 1. Ru ss Pea rson (KTM); 2. Do n n ie Boo k (Yam ); 3. Oa kley Leh man (K.1W) . 4·S TR K EX: 1. Curtis Dice (KTM); 2. Taber Mu rphy (Lion) : 3. Michael Baxter (Yam ). 3 0+ EX: 1. Mark Lundgrecn (Kaw): 2. Jef f AItC'r (KTM); 3. Mo n te Benso n (Ho n). 40+ EX: 1. Alan Devo (KT M); 2. Darrol Brown (Hun); 2 Stev e Pitts (ATId . Upcoming Round: Round 7 - Lucerne, California. October 25 (Below) Wake-up call from hell: Davis' box van showed the effects of iIImeaning yahoos, who threw unidentified debris at him while he was driving to the race s ite in the ear ly morning, . Silk urse from sow's ear hen it began, 1998 did not look like a promising year for reigning Na tiona l Hare & Hound Champio n Ty Davis. After adding a Hare & Hound title to his long list of existing honors in 1997, the racer suddenly found himself without a ride as the new year of racing was about to begin. "Kawasaki let me know they didn't need me so late I couldn't have a good deal for the following year," Davis said. 'They just sent me a letter and, by the time I got it, I had a week and a half to put a deal together before people went on a W two-w eek vacati on." Dav is high -tailed it over to Yamaha a nd lay his cards on the table. "I told them the position I was in," Davis said. "I said, 'I have no offers, and I'm not trying to get one from you so [ can go back and get more money out of somebody else.:" Davis talked to Yamaha Motor Corpo ra tion and Montclair Ya maha a nd ca me away with a deal for him and 250cc co-rider Donnie Book. "Everything just worked out," he explained. "It's a joint sponsorship. Yamaha Corporas tion supplies the four-strokes and Montclair Yamaha supplie the twostrokes. I've ridden a four-stroke all year in the Hare and Hounds, but it was a joint deal with Donnie (Book) and he rides the two-strokes, plus I ride one in events like the Adelanto Grand Prix. They arc just giving me bikes, parts and bonuses - no salary," Davis continued. "And I didn't sign a contract all year. It's all been a verbal deal, and it shows you what Yamaha would do. I really TCSpt.'Ct them for doing what they agreed to. They are a really good company to ride for." Davis describes 1998as the biggest challenge he has ever faced . "I'm my own mechanic, and ther e's been a lot of hard hours out her e in the shop," Davis said. "1 build all the bikes, plus try to ride and train, order parts, and make travel arrangements at the same time. It's probably been the toughest year I've had in my life." But his second National Hare & Hound championship in a row has made all the hard work worthwhile. "It's great to win, but this year I put together my own program and to see it be successful is even better yet," Davis said. "I can really be proud of it. It's awesome for Yamaha, too. It basically fell in their lap. When I called them, [ said, 'Do you want the number-one plate on your bike next year?' And now I've won it again for them. This provl'S that the Yamaha is a four-stroke that's really competitive. I don' t think 1 could've done it on a KLX or an XR Honda, but the Yamaha really works. It isn't the fastest bike out there, and I'm at a disadvantage on the starting line, and I have to work my butt off and outride them, but I can do it on this bike. I feel better about my wins because I know I've reaily done something. "It's been a lot of hard work but it's paid off,and Donnie (Book) and [ are in the hunt to win the Best in the Desert series this year, too," Davis said, "We are really looking forward to that. This could end up being a really good year." OCI 0\ 0\ ,..... ,..... "'" l-< OJ ..0 o ..... u o 55

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