Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA National Championship Hare & Hound Series Final Round: 100's Motorcycle Club Lanza came through in third place on his KX250, followed by Walch on the borrowed Price Racing KX500. Lanza dropped out on the second loop, moving Walch to third place, followed by David Pearson's YZ250 and Paul Krause's KTM 520 MXC. Steve Hengeveld held sixth on his Honda XR650R over Vet-class entrant Ron Shuler on his Kawasaki of Riverside KX500, MS Concrete's Kirk Stephensen on his KX500, Honda XR650R racer Johnny Campbell and Luke Dodson on his Two Trick KX250. " (Left) The winner· again! Destry Abbott won his sixth National at the fOO's Motorcycle Club's season finale in Luceme, successfully and easily defending his number-one plate. He started out the year with a win and maintained the series points lead all year. (Below) Kellon Walch rode a 500 in a National for the first time and finished a career-best second overall. However, he's going to put racing on hold for two years and go on a mission for his church. chance of doing well in his desert debut. As they continued on the 40-mile first loop east of Bessemer Mine Road, Brown remained in front, with Abbott passing Esposito for second. The two leaders put a sizeable gap on the pack in that initial 40 miles, while Esposito dropped out with terminal waterpump problems late on the loop. Brown carried a decent lead into the end of the first loop, which proved to be a bit confusing, as he followed the markings that were meant for the one-loop-only riders, who were finishing at that point. "I thought we [were supposed] to take [that] in the first time," he said. "I came into that wrong, and they pointed me back, so Destry caught right back up to me there. We pretty much stayed that close for the rest of the day until my bike decided to quit on me. I felt pretty good." Abbott noted, "[Brown] was riding really good, and I knew we were pulling away from everybody because I didn't see any more dust behind us, so I knew we had a great pace going." Indeed, Brown led Abbott into the pits for the first time, and several minutes seemed to pass before Joey STORY AND PHOTOS BY MARK KARIYA LUCERNE VALLEY, CA, OCT. 28 estry Abbott put his personal exclamation mark on his 2001 Hare & Hound title defense by winning the finale, giving him six wins in the eight-race season. And since riders are scored by their six best finishes, it again gave the Arizona resident the maximum 180 points possible to best Kawasaki Team Green teammate and '99 champ Brian Brown, who led the race until his bike broke about 60 miles into the 110-mile event. Kellon Walch made his National debut on a 500 memorable by finishing second, while David Pearson claimed third on his YZ250. Approximately 340 riders lined up for the two-mile bomb run heading roughly east-southeast of The Rock Pile off Bessemer Mine Road. Brown shot into the lead quickly, shadowed by Price Racing's Shane Esposito and Abbott's John Braasch-prepped Pro Circuit/Dunlop/O'Neal KX500. Former GNCC champ Shane Watts got a good jump off the line on his electricstart KTM 520 MXC and tucked into fourth (by his estimation) until a broken chain put him on the sidelines for a long time, effectively ending his D 52 NOVEMBER 14, 2001 • cue I • n e _ s Heading out onto the final 40-plusmile loop, Brown continued to lead but only for a while. About a mile from the pits, he rolled to a stop with an unknown mechanical failure. "Corning into the pits, it started making some rattling, [but] I took off for the third loop and made it maybe a mile, and it was just rattling, so I stopped," Brown said. "I tapped the skid plate and it was loose, so I thought, 'Oh, okay, that's it.' Destry got by me there. So I took off again, and it went maybe 50 feet and it died. " "Leaving pit two, he broke or something," Abbott recalled. "He said the bike started knocking or something. He pulled over, and I slowed down to make sure he was okay. He said, 'Yeah, I'm fine.' He just waved me on. It's unfortunate that he had that problem because he definitely would've been tough to beat. After that, I backed it down a lot because we had a pretty good lead - which kind of backfired on me a little bit because when I got [into the technical portion] I kind of lost my pace and Most top riders agreed that the club did a great job on the event - the last loop in particular. "It was great to see [a club] putting on good events here in Luceme," Destry Abbott said. "Before, everybody would just run through the valleys. Now, they're running us in the mountains, especially on the last loop, because that's where it separates the fastest riders. I like to see that, and I was glad to see them do over 100 miles [110, to be precise). That was a National. They did a reaJJy good job. It's neat riding stuff that we never have {before]." David Pearson agreed, saying, "The last loop was awesome. If every race was like the last loop, they would be awesome races out here. [The tight sections] reminded me a lot of Laughlin, [Nevada]." The loops were 40, 20 and 40 miles in length, and the final loop featured over 90 percent new terrain. "It was a real good course," fifth-place finisher and Vet-class winner Ron Shuler praised. "I've been riding out here since I was five years old, and J've never, ever been in those sections I I had no idea where we were. It was really nice; it was kind of technical, but not junky - no whoops at all. They did a great job; they must've spent a month laying this course out because it went everywhere."

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