Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128310
It 's a girtl Ty Davis reported that his wife Andrea delivered a healthy baby girl four days before the race. Brooklyn Raye weighed in at six poun ds and was 2 1 inches long. "It's awesome!" Davis said of being a father for the first time . ':t\ndrea couldn't come up with a name. and she's asking me. I go, 'Look, jf it's a girl, you name her; if it' s a boy, I'll name her.' And she had to stay in the hospital an extra day. She was healthy enough to leave, but you're supposed to file all the birth certificate stuff before being released. so she had to stay." Even though Ty Davis is a two-time hare and hound champion, he rode just three races last year but still eamed enough points for eighth overall. At sign up, Davis did not know what his new National number was, so the former champ simply entered as a " pie-plate " Expert. Brian Brown was 'o n e of three former H&H champs to make the podium. the bomb with roo m to spare over Abbott and KTM's Kurt Caselli, on the Precisio n Concepts/909/Moo sespo nsored 525 MXC. "It was one of my bette r starts, that's for sure," Brown said. "The bike took right off, I loo ke d back, and there was no bo dy even close." He held the lead for practically the entire first 40-mile loop, though Abbott tried to put a wheel under him once. Brown said, "I closed the door on him going into a sand wash and held the lead into the pits." Brown led the way into the second 38-mile loop. When he reached an off-camber section , however, he lost the lead for the first time. "I hit a rock with my front wheel and dropped the bike," Brown said. But, according to Abbott, there was more to it than that. "I was right on him," Abbott said, "and [Brown] went over the bars. I plowed into his bike and got stuck between his rear wheel and the fender when he was on the ground. We're on the side of a hill, and I'm trying to hurry up and get going because I knew Ty was there. Ty passed both of us. Just as I finally got unstuck, I pulled in behind Ty and follow ed him for the next few miles." After falling, Brown struggled to find his speed aga in. "For some reason, it just wore me out, and I couldn't go any more," he said. "I couldn't control the bike after that. I didn't have anything for them after that." Davis suddenly foun d himself in the lead . "I put a little time on Destry, the n I got lost," Davis said. "We came right onto a road, and there we re roost marks. Guys [from the club usually] prerun the co urse, so I just figured it was the co urse. I didn't even think ab out looking to the le ft . The second loop wasn't marked as good as the first; the first was awesome. T he se cond loop, ter- as it the co ld? Was it the wind? Or was it just opening-race jitters? Whatever it was, somethi ng affected the le a d ers a t the De se r t Motorcycle Club's 37 th annual Wi nter C lassic Hare & Hound, w here lead ing the race didn't seem to be the best position to be in. But after nearly 80 miles of rocks, whoops, pucker bushes and sand, it was Team Green's De st ry Abbott who pulled through at the end and was in the lead at the finish - when it was, for once, a good time to be out in front. In a race that saw three different point men, Abbott finally put an end to his winless spell, scoring a hard-fought and close victory on his FMF/Acme Suspension/O'Neal backed KX500 . Abbott eventually edged out Ty Davis, on the Montcla ir Yamaha/Race Tech/Moose YZ450F, by a few seconds, while early leader Brian Brown, Abbott's teammate, rounded out the top three. The afterma rket exhaust pipe companies were, no Brow n had the jump off the line and made it to doubt, busy places Monday morning. W www.cyc lenews.com Nathan Woods added a new dimens ion to his racing career - a National Hare and Hound . Riding out of the Montclair Yamaha transporter on a Yl450F, one of the latest pro motocrossers to tum off-road racer finished II th overall. "In the tight stuff I think I was going just as fast, but on the flats, those guys just go," Woods said of his fellow desert racers . "I get so tired in my arms . It was a lot of fun, though . I didn't have any grea t expectations of coming out here and winning or anything, but I did want to come out here and finish well and learn a lot, and that' s what I did - I learned a lot today just by watchi ng the guys in front of me . Those guys - they can read the terrai n so we ll!" The folks at Carl's Jr. certainly knew where to find a lot of people with big appetites. The fastfood giant drove one of its mobile restaurants to the race , much to the delight of the riders who , no doubt, needed to replenish a lot of spent "fue l" during the long and grueling race . Dakar racer Larry Roe seler also made his appearance at the Lucerne Nat ional, but he only came to watch . Rarely seen at National Hare & Hounds . Honda's Johnny Ca m p be ll came out and raced . "I've been a little under the weather, and I wanted to come out and do some training and some suspension test ing." Campbell said. "It was a good opportunity to do that. I had a really good jump off the line. and I had a good line. I think a lot of the fast guys were on the other end of the starting line, and the wind was blowing the dust the opposite way. so I had some different tra il opportunities than if I'd stayed on the right. I just rode my own race . I didn't come out here to try to win or anything; I just wanted to run a good race pace and not fall down and get some good testing done ." Destry Abbott and many ot hers praised the Desert Motorcycle Club . "The club did a good job." he said. "The first loop was pretty fast, but I liked the seco nd loop. The second loop was good until I got into the lead; then I wanted the race to hurry up and get over with. They had a cool little waterfall section. They had some really neat stuff. but once you get in the lead and havingsomeone 20 seconds back from you, you know you can't make any mistakes." The cold wind Saturday night was so strong that it blew over two of the porta-potties in the pits. Fortunately, the wind died down a little. though there was stilla stiff breeze by Sunday's start. When asked to compare the pace between District-37 races and the Nationals, 0 -37 Dese rt 250cc Expert numberone Luke Dodson answered, "Everyone runs a lot faster! You don't have time to look back and look over your shoulder in a National." Dodson finished 10th overall on his Barstow Motorcycle Center/FMFlToo Trick R&D Suzuki RM250. 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