Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

nning races has always been what the Pearson family has been accus tomed to ; however, it is quite an impressive feat for the family to sweep the first two pos itions at a Nat ional Hare & Hound event. As the Pearson cousins , Russ and David, grew up in Nevada, they would always ride together. Then over the years they began racing and have never looked back. This weekend they got to ride together again, and the whole family couldn't have been happier with the outcome. Going into the race , most of the riders felt that the dust was going to be an issue. Everyone wanted to be the first to the end of the bomb run , including defending champ Russ Pearso n. "We got to pract ice the start, and I de finitely want to be first to the end of the bomb ," Russ said. David Pearson had the sa me idea exce pt, unlike Russ, he was able to jump out ahe ad of everyone else on his powerful KX500. As the dust settled , it was David Pearson leading the way, with his Team Green Kawasa ki teamm ates Destry Abbott and Brian Brown, all on the big W 68 500 Kawis, following close ly beh ind. Russ Pearson, on his Montclair YamahalZip-Ty Racing VZ450F four-st ro ke, ro unded out the top four. But it would not take long before Russ would begin to move up in the stand ings. "Destry was in front of me at some po int ," Russ said. "Then he peeled right, and I hooked into the main line and got ahea d of him right after the gate." From there Russ had relatively smooth sailingfor the rest of the race even though he was behind his cous in David. Brown did not have the same luck as Russ and had a horri fic crash halfway through the first loop . "I was in third try ing to catch Destry, and there were two separate trails ," Brown said of the crash that took him out of the race . "The tra il I chose was sandy and whooped ou t and sent me into a rolling sand hill. I got a little sideways going into it, and the bike flew out... I had to throw it away. The front end was bent, and the front brake wouldn't work. It's disappo inting. I've never had to throw the bike away before." MAY 26, 2004 • CYC LE N EW S "I went by, and his bike was stuck in the sand upside down and backwards," Russ said. With Brown out of the way the lead group settled down to three : Dav id Pearson, Russ Pearson and Abbott . After 55 minutes the crowd of spectators waiting in the pit area began to see a lone cloud in the distance , followed close ly by another cloud . As the riders pulled into the pits, it was soon apparent what the running order was. David came into the pits first, follow ed by his cousin Russ. Then suddenly there was noth ing; Destry's bike had bro ken out on the course, "His bike didn't sound too good; it just died right the re , and he waved me by," said Russ Pearson of Abbott's fate out in the Utah desert. In most desert races the seco nd loop is where all of the changes in the run ning o rder occur; however, th is hare and hound was a little different. The ride rs who made it through the wide -open first loop had clea r sailingfor the technical sec - 40th Anniversary ond loop . But like most races ride rs were challenged, and David was lucky to have such a big lead going into the second loop . David saw his lead dwindle, and by the time the riders approached the final stream crossing, which at this point in the race must have seemed like a mirage, his two minute lead was now more like eight seconds . But with only about a quarter mile to go, David could almost taste the victory. After more than BO miles of racing. it came down to a sprint race between the two Pearsons, and it was David bare lyhang. ing on to take his second win of the series. "O nce I got ahead, I tried to pull a lead in that first loop . which I did," David said. '" th ink I had at least a minute and a half going into loop two. I don' t know; I re ally need to wo rk on my second loops . I started cruising inste ad of charging. and Russ caught me . I didn't know how far beh ind me he was." Russ ended up finishing a close second. and with Abbott and Brown posting DNFs

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