Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ Interview: 1989 AMA National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins ~ From chasin' cows to ~K ~~lmer 0") 00 0") ...... ~~ >- ~ chasin' titles . Five years ago Randy Hawkins didn 't even know what an enduro was, nor had he" ever heard of th e legendary Dick Burleson or more recen t multi-time cham p T erry Cunningham. H is only motorcycling experience was rou nding up cows on his grandfather's farm in Sou th Carol ina , yet, five years later, he would become the 1988 AMA National Enduro Champion. On October 30, 1988, in Louisiana , 22-year-old Hawkins clinched his first ever championship titl e, the first rider in 18 years to do it aboard a Japanese motorcycle aack McLane won the title on a Honda in 1970). Th e Suz uk i- mount ed rider from Traveler's R est, South Carolina, dominated th is year's series, stripping Massachusetts' Kevin Hin es of the title. Ha wk ins collected fou r ove rall wins in 1988 and was the only rider to score more than on e overall win besides Easterner Kevin Bennett , who cap tured two overall victories on th e year. We caught up w ith Ha wkins and chatted about his motorcycl ing career, a littl e bit about h is personal life, his champion sh ip win ning season , and w ho he feels w ill be title contenders in the 1989 N ational Series. ~ r:: ro ~ How and whe n did you first get involved in riding en duros? My friend Dal e Segard - it 's his fault. H e's the whole reason I got started in enduros. We used 10 pal around together and one day, in 1983, he asked me if I wanted 10 go and ride an enduro with him and" I said 'sure.' But I cut my finger the Friday before the event and I couldn't ride. I went with him anyway and wat ched. I had never been to one before in my life. Every time I saw him in th e event, he was at a reset or going down th e road and I thought, 'I cou ld do this.' So not too long after that I went to another end uro and rode it. It was probabl y th e toughest one I've ridden in my life so far! It was a really muddy and rainy enduro and I think I almost houred oUL I got .stuck abo u t five tim es a nd I ended up fourth in the 125cc C class. What was your first motorcycle, and what kind of riding d id you do before competing? . My first motorcycle was an Indian 50, and then a Yamaha 100. But after I watched my first enduro, I saw that everybody was riding Huskys, so I figured it was the hot bike to hav e, so I bought a Husky 125. (H awkins wou ld eventuall y ride Huskys for th e next four years as well as be a member of the Husky factory enduro team for two years - 1986-'87. ) Before that time, I just used to chase cows with my grandfather on my Yamaha, and I could get th e cows better on my mo torcycle than he co uld with his horses. That's all th e riding I ever did was chase those cows. I knew how to herd ca ttle because I co uld rid e horses, th en I started doing it o n motorcycles. Shoot, I was chasin' a ny thing down from wild horses to cows. I would u su all y go wh er e it was rea lly woodsy, a nd I think that 's wh ere I go t m y ba si cs in woods riding, cha si n g th ese h erds, especi a lly horses. They would cut back and forth through the trees and I would hav e to be a ble to stay close and make th e cu ts behind them. It got to th e point wh ere I could get all the horses, gather 'em up and the y would head towards the farm. I didn't chase 'em to harm 'em, or anything, I just rode behind th em . Then you would hav e a few strays tha t you would hav e to run out and bring back into the herd. .T ha t's where myfirst enduro background ever came from . Once I got into enduros I started riding th e SE&TRA (So u theas tern Enduro and Trail Riders Associ ation ) Series . In my first year I was the 125cc C class champion, and the following year I was the 125cc B cha mp .' T he n Kevin Hines took me to a co u p le of Nationals in 1985 and I went from a B rid er to an AA rider in o ne year. I'm kind of proud of th at and I won my first National in 1986 in Texas. Many people felt you had a good chance of winning . th e ch ampionshi p in 1987, but yo u were seriously injured before th e season began . Wha t happened? On January 19 (1987) Linjured both my knees , and that pretty much messed th e year up for me. I was in a local hare scrambles and the front wheel kicked out in a turn , and wh en it did, I tried to save it and th e momentum carried me to the outside of this co rner and into som e pine trees. I hit one of the p ine trees with · my knee s. It shattered my right knee cap and tor e ligaments in my left kn ee. I had dual surgery a nd had a cast o n both legs from the wai st down. ' I started therapy in February twi ce a week and th en every day from March - wh en I got out of my casts - .to June. I didn't even try ridi ng during that time. H ow did you feel once you started riding again? I started riding aga in in June and won my first time out, a SE&TRA en d u ro . I mi ssed m o st o f th e National Series but I fin ish ed fifth overall and then I won th e Tecate 250K Enduro in Mex ico in December, Going into the 1988 season you were back on form, but you were riding for the first time someth ing other than a H usq varn a. Why did you leave Husq~ y It boiled down to that th ey told me that I was just lucky, and with my injuries, they thought ! I would never make / it. They b lindly th ought I wouldn't make it and were looking at Dave Bertram or J eff ( ' Ru ssell to be T erry Cunnin gh am 's teammate.I kn ew I , could do it, but if that was th e a u itime they had, th en that was fin e with me - I'd bu y a bike before I would rid e with th em . Then th ey kind of screwed a ro und wi th J eff and Dave, and th en they didn 't want to ride for th em (H usky) ei ther. Then I sta rted talking with' Ch arles (H alco mb) a t Su zuki , a nd I kind of mov ed on from th ere. Did you have any difficulties ada pting to th e Suzuki? I had no problems . My Huskys were always quick. On my Huskys Lput in intern al ro tor s, So I was always used to having a quick bike. Huskys were good bikes. I. think I probabl y had th e best 250cc Huskys you co uld have. The transition from th at bik e to the J apanese, well , my Suzuki is lighter a nd just seems to fit my style of riding. What was your reactio n when you fin ally clinched the championship in Louisia na? How did you feel? I When he's not zeroing checks, or on the ' greens sinking putts, 22-year-old Rlndy Hlwkins spends the majority ofhistime behind I desk keeping his trucking business on the road. (Inset) Fritz. the three-legged Golden Retriever, bitches a ridefrom hismasteron tbe Hawkins homestead in .Tru eler's Rest. SoatIl Carofilla.

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