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District 37 Desert Racing Series, Final Round: Dirt Diggers Me Winter Hare
Team Green's Paul Krause sewed up his
fourth consecutive District 37 Open-class
championship by needling the
competition at the 12th annual Winter
Hare.
...
By Meredith Freeman
Photo by Photos By Grumpy
RED MOUNTAIN, CA, DEC. 13
eam Green's Paul Krause
wrapped up the District 37
desert-racing year by capturing
the _overall win at the Dirt Diggers
Motorcycle Club's 12th annual Winter
Hare hare scrambles. In doing so,
Krause captured his fourth consecutive
Open Expert championship, making
him the D-37 number-one plate holder.
"I had to finish to get points for the
number-one plate," said Krause, who
was back for his first race after suffering
a shoulder injury, "but I'd much rather
win than just finish."
The banner dropped at 10 a.rn., sending a mad swarm of desert racers across
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the California desert, each trying their
hardest to finish the year off with a win.
Krause captured the holeshot and led
the horde from the beginning until the
end, and he came into the finish more
than a minute before second overall,
Kawasaki-mounted Open Expert Ron
Schuler.
"It was a good course," said Schuler.
"I rode great. It was the best 1 rode all
year."
Finishing behind Schuler was Roger
McCabe, whose third-overall position
earned him the first Open Vet Expert
honors.
Early in the race, Schuler and
McCabe raced back and forth until
Schuler finally stepped up the pace.
"I started dicing with Schuler and
then he finally disappeared," McCabe
said. "1 had a real good ride. No problems at all."
Vet Expert 250cc racer Paul Shafer
finished fourth overall, and his was also
the first 250cc motorcycle to cross the
finish line. Shafer, however, was second
in the ultracompetitive class coming into
the pits. Shafer finally caught fellow
Yamaha rider Rick Lundin out on the
second lelO!?
"It was a fun, well-marked course,"
said YZ250 pilot Shafer. "It was a good
race between me and my competitor
(Lundin); we were really dicing."
Although mo t of the racers agreed'
that the Dirt Diggers set up a fun, wellmarked course, there were a few desert
disasters. Vet Expert Rick Daniel
crashed hard on the bomb run and separated his shoulder. Luckily, Daniel had
enough points racked up to capture the
Vet Open championship.
Four-Stroke Expert Casey Longman
also got off to a bad start. XR600-mounted Longman came through the pits third
four-stroke, 12th overall. Determined to
make the last race of the year worthwhile, Longm'!D made his move in the
second loop to take first in -class and
fifth ov~all.
"it was a fun, really fast course," said
Longman at the finish. "1 got off to a
two-kick start, and in the first loop 1 was
riding like an idiot. 1 fell two times. I
was in second place in class, so 1 knew I
had to push it."
Senior Open Expert-class racer Phil
Cloward took seventh overall on a
KX500 that suffered a badly broken
muffler. Despite the bike problems,
Cloward was another rider who made
up time toward the end of the race,
gaining seven places in the second loop.
"The second loop was a little choppy," said Cloward, who was the first
Senior to cross the finish line. "It was
marked well. My muffler came off. I
didn't go down; it just came loose."
.
Cloward was not the only one to
mention the deteriorating condition of
the course the second time around.
Krause and Shafer also said it was choppyand dusty.
"The second loop was dusty," said
Krause. "My shoulder was sore and I
had to fight to hold on."
Four-Stroke Expert Mike Koncur fin-
ished off his year with an eighth-overall
finish, followed by Vet 250cc racer Fred
Hatch and Four-Stroker Donnie Morrison, who rounded out the top 10. For the
first time all year, KX250-mounted Luke
Dodson took first place in the 250cc.
Exper.t class, finishing 16th overall.
Despite the dust and choppy second
loop, many racers agreed that the Winter
Hare was the perfect way to end the
year. First-placed Senior 250cc rider
Kevin Hasten summed up the year - and
the thoughts of all the winners - when he
said, "Whenever you win, it's fun!" CIII
Dirt Diggers Me Winter Hare
Red Mountain, California
Results: December 13,1998 (Final Round)
80 BEC: 1. Josh Roche (Hon); 2. Luke Gearhart
(Hon); 3. JefJ Leonard 0-100).
80 EX: 1. Craig Cuiledge (Suu.
US BEG, 1. G. . PlJ ...... (Yam); 2. Sam Valenzuela
(Hon); 3. Jeff DiUon (Kaw).
us NOV: 1. Craig Simpson (Yam).
125 [NT, 1. Colby Guiledge (5u.t); 2. jason Lighlhart
(Kaw); 3. Scott H1