Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeff Irwin survived the dusty conditions and the manzanita bushes to claim his first-ever National enduro win. "I didn't set the woods on fire." said Randy Hawkins, but he did claim fifth overall on his 250cc Husqvarna at the Wild Bore National. Despite running out of gas on his Honda CR250R, Grant Palenske finished 18 points behind Irwin to claim second overall and first 250. AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Final round Irwin thumps to Wild Bore victory By Kit Palmer NEW IDRIA, CA, NOV. 9 Hi-Poillt-sponsoredJeff Irwin said he's been riding better than ever since switching to his new Husqvarna 510cc four-stroke mount, and today he proved it by nabbing his first- 8 ever National enduro overall win at the Clear Creek Recrea. . I Cal'f' uon ';Irea In centra .1 orma, 30 mIles north of Coalmga. Irwin handily topped the Time- keeper's Wild Bore National Enduro afterdroppin~just37 points, beating second-place hnlsher Honda-mounted Grant Palenske by 18 points. Palenske (Metzeler/O'Neal) and Huskymounted Duke Lambert tied at 37 points apiece but tie-breaker points gave Palenske the advantage over Lambert. There was a three-way tie for fourth place between Randy Hawkins, Rob Mesecher and Matt Collins at 61 points each, but after all the tie-breaker points were added, Collins came out ahe-dd over Hawkins and Mesecher. While Irwin was busy trying to stay on schedule, a lot of attention was focused on Husky team rider Dave Bertram. Winner of last week's Last Chance National Enduro in Red Mountain, California, Bertram wanted to finish in the top four at Clear Creek in order to pass KTM's Kevin Hines for second overdll in the series points final. Hines, who was a noshow at Clear Creek and Red Mountain, is still mending from injuries suffered four weeks ago in Delaware. While in contention for the overall win at the start of the second and final 20-mile loop, Bertram's 430cc Auto broke down with transmission problems. He had to drop out of the enduro and take a tough DNF. This cost Bertram two places in the final points standings where he unolficially finishes fourth behind winner Terry Cunningham, Hines and Randy Hawkins. Cunningham planned to ride the Wild Bore Enduro and showed up the day before the event then went on a tune-up trail ride with some of his Husqvarna teammates. But because 01 terribly dry conditions, dust was a major factor, so Cunningham decided not to compete, knowing he had wrapped up the 1987 National Enduro Championship four weeks ago in Delaware. The enduro consisted of two loops; the first totalling 80 miles and the next 20 miles. The trails through the hilly terrain consisted mostly of hardpacked and dry dirt that wound tightly through miles and miles of barbed wired-like manzanita bushes. Bertram's problems with his Husky began to surface even before he left the start. "I rode the bike all day yesterday and it was working perfectly," said Bertram, "then as I rode to the start today, it suddenly slipped out of ge-dr and started giving me problems." He managed to temporarily fix the problem and start the first loop. The fint 15 miles of the enduro turned out to be one of the toughest sections.Jtiding into the early morning sun and dust created problems for the riders, and things got even worse when they reached a steep hillclimb. Early number riders didn't have too many problems on the dry, dusty and powdery hill, but the Band Criders had a tough time, especially the Cs. Many Criders houred out or quit at the hill; as it turned out, the enduro was extremeI y tough on the Criders. Out of 116 C riders that started only II actually finished the event. In the B class 74 riders started and 15 finished. It was also in this section where Hawkins lost time. "I was riding pretty good - I thought," said Hawkins, "but in one of the very first sections, I went off one of the sandy hills and got totally stuck. I couldn't believe it. It was a tie-breaker check, and while everybody else was zeroing it I ended up losing five points." Irwin had a run-in with another rider during the first loop that almost endedhisday. "About IO miles before the first gas," said Irwin, "I rearended this guy. I hit the back of his bike and it ripped off my lower radiator hose. The bike. lost all of its coolant with the hosejust sitting there. So I rode it for the next 10 miles to the gas stop without any coolant. When I got there,' fixed the hose and filled it back up with water and continued. , got pretty lucky. The bike never' missed a he'dt." He-dding into the second loop, both Irwin and Bertram were tied with three points. After the gas stop before the second loop, however, Bertram's Husky finally had enough. "The fork that holds the neutral drive ge-dr into ge-dr broke a tooth off," said Bertram, "and it just wouldn't go into ge-dr. I'm pretty bummed, because now I'll probably finish lourth in the series, but I guess itdoesn 't really matter where you finish if you don't win." With Bertram out, Irwin had a clear shot at the overall with top contenders Jeff Russell and Hawkins both having problems in the final loop, which had a very fast speed average that was impossible to maintain. Russell's problems actually began during the first loop. "This morning we came up a creek along this blacktop road," said Russell, "and the trail popped up on the blacktop. When I got upon the road I guess the trail went across the road, but a guy pointed me in the wrong (Continued to page 45)

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