Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 O"l ........ Yamaha-mounted Fritz Kadlec took his very first National endu ro overa ll victory w ith his w in at the Boothill National in Colorado. AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Round 5 . Boothill National win to Kadlec By, Roger Dowden Photos by Mark Kariya/Dirt Rider Magazine . DEL NORTE, CO, JULY 17 Rocky' Mountain Enduro Circuit regulars have long speculated that perennial RMEC . Champion , Fritz Kadlec, could best the nation's top riders on his home turf. This week Kadlec rewarded 'th eir regi orial pride with a clear-cut . . h bi . victory oyer t e 19 n ames ~n enduro circles a t the Boo th ill National. " After my win last week at the Colorado National Hare Scrambles, I was really hoping for a double-pla y and my first National end u ro win. Boothill is the only end uro in the Rockies that I have never won. There has always been a mech anical failure or something tha t kept me from th e overall here. " But today , Kadl ec finall y beat th e ' jinx and proved that, on this day a t least, he was the best in th e west in the rocks. The Pel Norte Motorcycle Club incorporated lots o f local grani te into thei r three loops, 100 m i le course , and a good deal o f loamy for est trails and spectacular scenery. The start . of eac h loop began in a dusty, high desert valley, and the riders were pl easantl y surprised as the trail quickl y climbed in to moist, al pine for ests. Double A riders Kevi n H ines, Terry Cunningham , Ku rt H ough, Jeff Fredette, .J eff Russell and Allen Randt all made the trek to Colorado and without ex cep tio n . were all mounted on 250cc machines, Consp icu o u s by their absence were Suzuki teammates, Dave Bert ram and Randy Hawkins. Bertram is recovering from surgery and Hawkins was down wi th chicken pox. . . The first loop; which used 18 and 24 mph averages, went sm oothly for most of the AA riders, with most dropping only one or two points. Kadlec dropped one point at check two after a crash, and Hines burned chec k four where most of the A and B riders were dropping points. The excep tio n was H ough, who had to fix two fla ts by th e fir st gas stop. Three of th e top local riders cras he d o ut o f contention before th e fir st ga s: Ex -ISDE r ide r Denni s Larratt , in jured his back ; Mark Mau z, who is presen tly second in th e 250cc A class, separated his shoulder and Joh n Bru ckbau er, who is always a threat, was also out with a shoulder injury. The secon d loop was almost entirely trail an d too k the rid ers ab ove timb erl i n e and through breath-taking alp ine valleys. All of the riders agreed that this was the De fend ing N ational Enduro Champion Kevin Hines collected second overall. fi n ish ingfiv~ points behind wi nner Kadlec . toughest loop with its abundance of rocks and mazes of forest trails that gave no p lac e for a rest. The field of AA co n tenders narrowed considerabl y during this loop. Both Fr edette and Hough burned the same . che ck .by two minutes, effectively e n d in g their chances for a top p lacing. Cunningham ended what had been a good ride when he fell and broke a bone in his hand. "I went to pass a ' sta lled rider in a n erosio n-made gully and he rolled into me. It was a freak thing - 'two inches either way and my barkbuster would have p ro tected my hand. " Kad lec, on , a 250cc Yamaha, and Hines, on a 250cc KTM, emerged as the two riders with ' the best chance of victory. They both dropped one p oint at the seventh check, but Kadlec bested Hines at the IOth check with only four points compared to Hines' six points. R u ssell , on another Yamaha 250, was the only rider wi thin striking distance, but was severa l points down on the two leaders. The third and final loop was for A and AA riders only and the average speeds were upped accordingly. The ra cers were first challenged with a 30 mph average up "Colorado Boulevard." This notorious section is a steep two mile trail through a jumble of rocks, boulders and trees. Kadlec dropped four minutes at the following check, wh ile Hines dropped five. The 14th a nd final section was tight woods trail , with a speed average o f 36 mph. Kadlec crashed hard here bending his handlebars, but still only scorin g a five point loss to Hines' six. Kadl ec's fin al score was just 15 points dropped and Hines en de d up wi th 20 . Ru ssell was another five m in utes back wi th a score of 25. Kad lec" sponsored b y Ma lcolm Smith , Bel- Ray , Sh o ei H elmet s, Ren th al , T su ba ki, Ra ce Tech, a nd Smith G o ggl es was em o tio n a lly . drained. H e exp la ined , " I put .a lo t o f p ressu re on m yself to win this one. I didn 't tal k to a nyone u ntil th e second gas . I didn 't want to know how' the others were doing. At the second gas I foul!d out that Hough a nd Cunningham were ou t of co ntention, but I was told that Kevin had zeroed th e first loop so I knew I had to really bear down to win. After thes e two wins, I hope they'll put me on the ISDE Trophy Team this year." Hines, sponsored by KTM, Mal colm Smith/White Bros .!Arai/Dun lop / Sco tt and Du ral ube said of his second place finish, " I could have perhaps shaved a few points off my score, but I'm satisfied with my ride." Hines, who was hospitalized earlier th is summer with a serious staph infection resulting from a knee injury, further stated, " I' m feeling rea lly good now. In fact, I wis h the co urse had been longer. I really enjoyed riding the 250 toda y. I owe a bi g than ks to White ' Br o th ers for the terrific job they did on the suspension." H in es agreed with Kadlec that " Randy (Haw kins) wouldn 't have been competitive with us in these rocks." Russell (Yamaha/ICO/Hi Point/ White Bro s.!ScottiArai and Acerbis) said of his ride, "I just tried to .ride my own rac e, and not worry about how the others were doing." Three-time ISDE veteran, Kevin Davis, on a 250 KTM dropped 29 points for four th overall. When asked about his decision earlier in the season to switch from an end uro m odel to a ' m oto crosser, he responded, " You kn ow it works well when an old codger like me finishes th is high at a National even t." Or perhaps it was th at he sp ent the past week trail ridi n g wi th Hines. Always improving Dav e Zehner, on a 350 KTM, a lso dropped 29 points, finishing 23 seco nds behind Da vi s fo r firs t o vera ll A rid er. An other KTM 350 ri der T im Willbanks dr opped 30 points for six th overall. H apless H ough, on a 250 _ KX, was seven th overall wi th 34 poin ts dropped. " I ha d planne d to ride th e who le Na tiona l enduro circu it, until today. If the flat s a nd the bu rned checks weren 't enough, my odometer went o u t on the last loop . Bu t i t was a (Con tinued to page 25) . 19

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