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/126974
KTM 's Kev in Hines extended his ser ies points lead ove r Dave Bertram with his overall victory at the Firecracker Na t ional. Wally Wilson (19C) and John DeVito (16B) were top A class contenders. Wilson finished second in the Open class. ANA National Championship Enduro Series: Round 6 . \ Bines burns Firecracker 1Z5' By Larry Bell LOGAN , OH, J ULY 5 Jeff Fredette took third overall on his KDX200. Hines edged Randy Hawkins by four points for the 0/ A. " I just want to win 'em," said a kick-backed bu t very h appy Kevin H ines sh ortly after win n in g the Firecracker 125 Enduro in the . Wayne National Forest. Hines drop ped a mere 37 points over 138.5 miles . ' of de ns el y <:over ed . tra I' lS In southern OhIO on his H & H KTM /Ma1colm Smith Racin g/Dunlop/ Arai- su pported KTM 350. Virtually all the event was run in tight ly wooded trails with 15 chec ks interspers ed with three gaso line stops on the loop. Coming into th e compe titio n o nly a handful of points sepa ra ted Hines and seco nd place Da ve Bertram. Hines' Firecracker overa ll put him on solid ground in th e seri es lead . Team H usq varna 's Randy H awkins put hi s stam p back on th e enduro map by dropping 41 points, and served notice th at he is almost full y healthy again after two kn ee injuries. Finishing with High Point A and making a rare enduro a ppeara nce was hare scra I? bler Kev.in ~rown wh o brought hi s CR 250 In with 42 poi nts dropped. T eam Husqvarna's Dave Bertram who's in the points race - second overa ll in the series behind Hines finis hed second AA with 51 points d ~opped ~>n hi s 43~ Au tomatic desp lte. getti ng l? st In th e. last long section a nd losing four minutes. J eff Fredett e, J eff Irwin, a nd .Drew Smith d.ropped 5~, .67, 6~ POints , resl?ectively, to finish third, fourth, fifth AA. . . Th~ Firecra cker was put on by th e H ocking Vall ey Motorcycle Club wi.th co urse la yout a nd leg wor k being done by J ak e Douglas, Larry Saurer and Bob Warga . One hundred forty-six rid ers mad e u p th e field. T he. event was held in th e Wayn e National Forest. "1 rode ca u tio us. In so me sections I was hooking up and it felt good. But I 'was not a ttac king it like I shou ld 've been ," sa id Hin es. " If you win by a second you got it a nd that's all 1 want. I just want to win 'em . " I lost two points at a check 1 shou ldn' t have. I go t stuc k behind some guy a nd I dropped th e bike. 1 just mi ssed the check (14th of 15) by a co u p le of seconds and I carr ied that into 15. I did burn a chec k early in th e morning," Hines said, " I didn 't think it was that tough," said Hawkins. " I d idn 't ge t lost (reference to some riders taking a n early marked trail in stead of the proper one a few yards away). But my bigg est problem was my knees . They sta rted giving o u t a nd it makes me feel lazy. " I h ad n o brak es a n d Kevin (H ines) put a lot of tim e on me, said H awkins. " T he rest of the da y we tied-it o ut . The brakes just glazed u p a nd wouldn 't work, but I was really co m in g o n stro ng the la st four miles." Brown survi ved severa l mechanical failures with his odo meter and comp u ter a nd dropped a few minutes wh en he go t lost o n a section of unmarked trail. Brown said, " I did o kay and had a fun da y. My odometer a n d co m p u te r would a lter n a te between working a nd not working." Brown added, " I go t lost really bad one tim e. The markers were down and I had to find my way out. I have to thank Jeff Irwin for giving me m y watch and a guy from Waldo 's shop for his wat ch . They did a good job with this cour se, but it would have been bett er if th ey would have buffed it o u t with more markers." A dejected Bert ram said, " I'm out of the hunt for th is o ne. I lost time on the last long section before check 10. I lost four minutes th ere. It was a turn, and I went on some old cou rse