Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

I was excited, bu t that day I was more concern ed ab out winn in g th e end u ro th an clin ch in g the champ ionship, as stra nge as that may seem, Ge tti ng th e cha m p io nshi p is grea t; it was a goa l I mad e in 1985 a nd I had reac hed the goal I had set. Who were you most concerned ab out a t the start of the 1988 season? Pro ba bly Kevin Hines a nd Dave Bertra m. But I figured Dave might have some problems getting used to shift bikes a fter ridi ng the autos for so long. (Bertra m also used to ride on the Husky team , aboard a 430cc Au to maric.) But Da ve has the determina tion . H e has about as m uch de termina tion as anybody out th ere. If he hadn ' t had p hysical p roblems this year, I feel he co uld' ve been seco nd o n th e year. But what about Kevin Hines? He was never really in the hunt all year. What happened to him? Kevin, well he had some problem s - a lo t of bad lu ck. I think he had more bad lu ck th an a n ybody all year. ' I guess Dave hadit worse with th e (cancer) surgery , but as far as nitpicking bad lu ck, Kevin had it worse. And I think he was surp rised how fast Kurt (Hough), Dave a nd I were going on o ur new bikes. I think he though t th e year was go ing to be eas ier tha n it was. H e j ust couldn' t ever get rolling. Who surprised you th e most "th is year? Kurt H oug h. Kurt really surprised me. H e did a reall y good job and I think next yea r he is go ing to be even mor e co mpetitive. Who do ' you think is the best timekeeper on the circui t, yourself? N o. I don ' t feel I'm the better timekeeper -I'm a good tim ekeeper but not the best. Who is? I think it 's between Bertram and T erry Cunningham. Both those guys still burn ch ecks, but they are better timekeepers. But when I'm saying better timekeepers , I'm not saying they have a big advantage as far as my bike up as good as possible for the cond itio ns at a particular event rea lly helped me a lot. Do you ever gamble, or take risk s rega rding timekeeping? No. A gamble would be like what ha p pe ned to me in Louisia na ; it was a gamble th at I lost a rid Kurt H ough won , and that lost th e enduro for me. It's like tie-br eaker ch ecks goi ng into a section - that's a gam ble righ t th ere. You see it (the check ) a nd you guess, 'Well , should I sta ll and hi t the tie-br eak check at 30 seco nds a nd go for the perfect score, or sho ul d I go in a littl e ea rly and hope it comes out okay on th e other end? ' In that . situation I will a lways ho ld back and go in a t 30 seco nds. You ca n't ga mb le too big or you 're going to bu rn yourse lf. Which National stands out in you r mind the most this year? The Ch erokee National in Georgia. It was near m y hometo wn a nd I wo n th e event n in e m inutes o ver th e next guy - Kurt H ough. I had just come back fro m Daytona and Iw as gett ing pumped for the rest of the season. My home crowd (SE&T R A) kept pulling for me. How was your life on the road this year? Any interesting stories? T here's a lways somethi ng going on (l eft) One of Hawkins' favorite pastimes is playing golf. but it sometimes gets a little expensive when he plays with hisfriend Dave Bertram. (Top) At this year's ISDE in France Hawkins earned a gold medal and was a U.S. Jr . World Team member. watching th e clock - it 's their experience that makes th em better. I get better every year. But if yo u're not th e best timekeeper, where do you excel? . I feel my strong points are the real tight a nd technical enduros. I feel I'm th e fastest in tha t type situatio n . I thin k that I have a pretty aggressive a nd smooth riding style, th a t' s just my op in io n. I don' t know. It seems like I'm usuall y better a t the end of the event. T hat seems to be m y stronger poi nt. I think another big part o f winning th is year is m y experience in setting up the bike. Being able to set wh en you trav el with Charles Hal comb and Dave Bertram. There 's never a du ll moment. I would have to say that this was th e best year I've ever ha d traveling to the even ts and being wi th Dave Bertram. He's a super ni ce g uy and easy to get along with. He's competi tive. You won' t find anyone m ore competitive than him. H e rea lly made the season fu n. I wo ul d fly u p to hi s' ho use or he would fly to my house - we wo uld just tr av el to gether. Everyt hi ng worked so we ll tha t it was lik e cheating some how. I have a good relationship with a ll the riders. I consider everyo ne o f them m y friend. I al so travel ed with Da le. He was kind o f lik e a coach, a -tra ine r - a best friend. What do you do. when you're not on the road or riding? Do you have a ' full -time job? I 'm the p reside nt o f a trucking compa ny - Hawk, Co. a nd Dal e is th e vice president. It used to be my fath er' s company . I went ahead a nd bought a ll th e transportation equipment he had. Now we've starte d our o w n co mpa ny a n d h av e s ta r te d branching o u t. What about hobbies? I like hunting and fishing , a lt ho ug h I don't do very much of it. That's what I used to do before I started riding motorcycles - that's all I did, hu nt and fis h. I like sports in general; I p lay a lot o f sports . We just finished a coed softba ll season , a nd I a lso pl a y ch urch baseball a nd basketball. I' m an ou tdoors person. I J et Ski - I ow n a cou ple of 550s - a nd I go lf. I enjoy go lf. Tha t' s proba bly the most relax ing thing to do. I shoot . a bo u t 80-82. Have you played against any of the other riders? I'v e p layed with Dave (Bert ram), but you have to have some money to play wi th h im . Last time" we played he knocked o u t a big pl ate glass window . in so meonc 's house. It was worth about 5000. He's kind of dangerous. I'v e a lso pl ayed with Cunningham, J eff Russell and .La rry Roe.seler . We're a ll pretty good . What abo u t next year's Nationals? Wh o is going to be your biggest conce rn? The top guys who I feel will be in th e hunt next year will be Kevin ' H ines, Dave Bertram, T erry Cunningham , J eff R u ssell a nd Kurt H ough. Why ? Kevin H in es. H e'll be going fast. I th in k Kevin is looking for a change. He's a good ri der. I thi n k he'll have more determ ina tio n next year than he d id th is year: Kevin is no q uitter. He ·do esn' t wa nt to go out o f the racing scene othe r th an being on th e top. Terry Cu n ningham . I've kn own Terry for several years , an d .when I was wi th Husky he was my boss. We have no kind of disagreements, you know, there ar e so me ot her people Terry hasn 't gotten alo ng with, but, I'll tell you , T err y is rea lly cha nged in th e last two years. I've a lways lik ed T erry, but espec iall y in th e last yea r. I respected T erry more last year than si nce . T ve kn own him. Ju st hi s a ttitude a bo u t rac ing, how he thinks a bo u t ra cing. H e's got more of m y respect now th an he ever had . T er ry's cha nged a nd I think he's going to be th ere. Dave Bertram. H e's determined; he'll be th ere.. He's tough - he's the " H a m me r." What can yo u say about him - he's just the Hammer. J eff R u sse l l. H e 's you ng an d hungry. He's the conservative one in a crowd. He puts in a good co nservat ive ride, ride after ride after ride. H e'll be on the gas. Kurt H ough. He's fast but lacks experie nce wi th ti mekeeping. H is .ability to ri de fast is goi ng to keep him in th e hunt, Ou t of a ll th e riders, he's p robably th e wi ldest. He's kind of out o f control, b ut in co n trol, if you kn ow what I mean. You just can' t ride 12 events like that. He needs to slow down to go faster, but he'll be a top co nte nder. . Did you have a ny heroes or any rider who you looked up to while you were growing up? No . I didn't know anybody , because I didn ' t rea lly start riding until five years ago. I had never heard o f Dick Burleson or T erry Cunningham. My on ly heroes were some o f the top local guys in m y area. H ow did you get your nickname "Jave lin?" Well, first o f a ll, I'm p rob abl y the sma lles t rider o n the circu it. I'm 5'11" a nd weigh 140 po u nds. One da y I was in California for th e first National and J oe Col ombero, Suzuki 's press relat ions g uy, H alcomb a nd I went to th e gym. We're workin g ou t and J oe says, " H ey, Randy, you better wat ch ou t." I said, 'Why?' a nd he sa id, " Bruce J enner works out here and if yo u don't watch it , he' ll pi ck you up a nd throw you lik e a Ja velin ." Then he proceeded to run across the gym, whistling as tho ugh he's flying through th e air like a spear and acted like he stuc k into the .wa ll , you know - boi nggg. The name stuck with me ever since. Have yo u made any com mitme nts with any team next year? Any th ing with Suzu ki? . Suzuki is the p lan ri ght now, but I'v e got a meeting with them co ming up to finalize our efforts next year. Ri gh t no w I plan on it, b ut you never know. Wha t wo uld you like to see changed at the Nationals? One thing I would reall y like to see a t a ll th e Na tional enduros is th e N ational Anth em p la yed a nd a prayer said at th e sta rt. If I ever have a n end uro, I kn ow th at would be mandatory. I would like to see more clubs do it. I would al so lik e to see th em wa it unti l Sunday morning and let all th e AA riders draw numbers o u t o f a hat for their starting ro w. Because right now, there is too wide of a gap between all the AA riders. You have a spread between numbers (ro ws) 20 through 40 and that can be too much of an -advantage or a d isadvantage from o ne rider to another. Say if there are eight AA riders, then they sho uld draw numbers between 20 an d 28; if th ere are 10 AA riders, then th ey should draw n u mb ers between ' 10 an d 30. I'm sure a ll AA riders wo uld agree with me. What will you remember the most of the 1988 season ? T he biggest th in g is th e people I worked with a ll year - Charles H a lcomb, Mark Blackwell and Dave. They are a ll o u tsta ndi ng. It 's ki nd o f like th e o ld gang at H usky. It 's been a great year. •

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