Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ OFF·ROAD AMA National Championship Hare &Hound Series: Final round .~ Danny Hamel led ~m start to finish, notching his sixth win of the seven-race series for a perf~l50-point tally on the seasonr Hamel·caps off championship season with Lucerne win By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren · W LUCERNE,CA,OCT.~ 8 ith the 1992 championship title already sewn up, the pressure was off Danny Hamel when the banner dropped for the final round of the seven-race National Hare & Hound Series. But· the Team Green Kawasaki KX500 pilot was out in front anyway. Hamel got the holeshot at the bomb and kept the lead all the way .to the checkered flag, completing the 86-mile run a comfortable six minutes ahead of the rest of the field. "This was probably my best race of the series," said Hamel, who finished the championship with six overall wins and one DNF. "I was really relaxed and I just had fun. I rode really well all day and the bike worked excellent. " The last National of the year was organized by the lOO's M.e., which was celebrating its- 25th year as a desert club. Despite the closure of three nearby highways due to flooding, the event drew 374 riders to the Soggy Dry Lake area of Lucerne Valley, which featured perfect traction and nearly dust-free conditions after heavy rain over the days leading up to the race. Race day was warm when the banner dropped for the Amateur and Expert class wave at 9 a.m. Hamel was first off the line and led the fast-paced charge across the valley towards the bomb, which was marked by a blinking strobe light at the end of the run. As the single-file trail began, it was Hamel in the lead, Paul Ostbo - who had already tied up National honors in the Vet class - in second, Todd Hoy In third and Larry Roeseler in fourth. "It started off pretty good. I passed Hoy and caught up to Ostbo," said Kawasaki's Roeseler, who had changed to a KX500 after wrapping up the National title in the 250cc Expert division with wins in each of the first five rounds. "I guess I fouled a plug about six or seven miles out. I think maybe a bit of dirt got in there because it cleared up after a couple of miles, but Hoy and (Four-Stroke title-winner Don) Griewe went by me." Bill Maxim, who went into the race with the Senior title already clinched, was out of the running at the five-mile marker. "The clutch went out on me and I didn't want to get into any bad stuff in case I got stuck," said Maxim. "I had a broken chain last race and I'm out again this time. What's the deal?" The course crossed fault damage from the recent· Landers earthquake, then headed through Victor Pass on its way to the first check at the 15-mile mark. Hamel raced through with a three-minute lead and continued towards the northern-most point of the first loop near Iron Ridge. The loop turned fast as it headed south again and the 48-miIe distance had many of the racers pulling in for gas at the al ternate pit near the halfway point. Hamel decided to keep going. "When I was going across the dry lake bed, I was looking at the tank. My gas looked pretty low, so I started taking it easy from there and I managed to make it," said Hamel. Other racers were not as lucky. "We put a new cam in the bike and it eats more gas," said Husky pilot Griewe. "I was running behind Ostbo in third overall when I ran out of gas 10 miles from the end of the loop." Griewe got gas from his father, who was spectating on the loop, and reached the pit 20 minutes behind the leaders in 50th place overall. He raced into loop two but was forced to withdraw after he T-boned a boulder and tweaked the front end. "This just wasn't my day," Griewe said. Ron Bragdon made a split-second decision when he brought his bike into the alternate gas stop. "I hadn't planned to stop, but I'd forgotten to carry gas with me," Bragdon explained "1 have no idea who I got gas from but I wouldn't have made it if they hadn't helped me." Hamel completed the first loop in one hour flat, and charged into the second, 3~-mile loop with a threeminute lead. Ostbo was charging hard in second position, and Roeseler passed Hoy for third place in the pits. Dave Ondas was five minutes behind the leader in fifth, and Ted Hunnicutt was sixth. "I got a bad start because I didn't really ride the bomb, and I just didn't have my mind into racing. I would have it in spurts but I would lose it again," said Hunnicutt. Hunnicutt was followed through by 250cc Expert Charlie Morris Jr., National Four-Stroke Motocross Champion Mike Young, who was trying his first desert race on a 610cc Husqvarna, and Brandon Gerber, whose visor was hanging in shreds. Kawasaki's Jimmy Lewis cleared pit row in 10th place. "It was a really fast start and I was quite a way back," said. Lewis. "I waited until I didn't have any dust, then just picked people off one by one." Back one place, Kenny Parry was fighting a different battle. "This is the race that nearly killed me last year," said Parry. "It took me a while to get off the emotional rollercoaster of whether to race or not." Jeff Capt headed the 125cc contenders in 12th position, and Wes Anderson topped the Over-40 field in 31st. The second loop headed northeast through the moon rocks to the far end of the riding area near Ford's Knob, then doubled back through fast washes that alternated between tight rocks and goat trails. Senior rider Steve Thompson called the race the "best one I've ridden all year." "It's an excellent course and the rain didn't hurt anything, either," Thompson said. Even out-of-state riders had some favorable comments about the California terrain. "I thought they had a good mix of technical stuff, and this is coming from a Utah rider, so it's a compliment," said Vet racer Steve Pitts. Pitts' son, Paul, who had run out of gas in the first loop and had to push into the pits, was less impressed. "I didn't have a good day," said the younger Pitts. "This is a friend's bike and the suspension is too stiff. It beat me to death and I went down a few times." Hamel was still enjoying a flawless ride at the head of the pack, and problems for second-placed Ostbo were slowly increasing Hamel's lead. "I had trouble with my color blindness in loop two," Ostbo explained ··When the bushes are small and the ribbons hang low, I have trouble and I made a lot of mistakes. I did some flailing through the rocks, too. I had some interesting airborne activity that I didn't need because I did some lastminute suspension changes." Roeseler, Hoy and Ondas reported trouble-free rides throughout the second loop. "I never really saw anyone out there," said Ondas. "I was riding by myself the whole day." But further back, the battles were raging. Lewis and Morris went back arid forth all the way to 10 miles from the finish, when Morris jammed his ankle and was forced to slow. Bragdon chased Phil Gorgone for half a loop, until Gorgone broke near check two, and Capt, who was riding with a suspected broken foot after he smashed a rock 10 miles into loop two, had hi'S work cut out trying to keep fellow Kawasaki pilot Jeff Kawell out of the 125cc lead "I caught up and I was following him, waiting until we got close to the end; then I lost the nut out of my shifter," said Kawell. Kawell had to stop to change his bIke out of sixth gear and gave up hope of catching Capt as he struggled towards the finish line stuck in fourth gear. The Over-50 Expert title was one of few that were still up for grabs when

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