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/127180
The defend ing Nationa l champ, Team Suzuki's Randy Hawkins scored the overall win at the Quicksilve r National Enduro in Californ ia. AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Round 1 Hawkins conquers Quicksilver National By Donnetta and Bob Murray CLEAR CREEK, CA, FEB. 19 Defen ding National Enduro Ch a m p io n Randy Hawkins started the n ew season in great style by win nin g the l Sth Annual Salinas ' R a mblers Q u icksi lver N ation a l Enduro, the first round of the 1989 National Enduro Series. The R MX 250 Suzu ki d Yid k h . rnpunte r~ er. touldn' t pull ove~," ~i~ Second went to Kevin Hines who, like Hawkins, dropped seven points. However. Hawkins beat Hines by three seconds at the t ie-breakers. rider. " H e got squirrell y, I hit him and we both cra shed." That put Roeseler into tiebreak er check 10 o ne minute and seven seconds late. He lost more valuable tim e before the next check. This tim e it was a flat tire th at slowed him do wn. p utting him into check II two m inutes late. _ Check 10 proved to be the deciding facto r for the win . Hawkins got the wi n ni ng . n od at th e tiebreaker, bestin g Hin es by a m ere three seconds and Roeseler by 16 seconds. " I just rode my same pace all da y," sai d the Am eri can Suzuki/Smi th Gogg les / Yo ko / Me tzele r Tiresl Alpi ne Star/ Wh ite Broth er s/BelRa y/RK /Sp ro ck et Specia l is tl Cobra/ Renthal-sponsored Hawkins. " I hate ridin g fast a nd this was a little too fast for me. I need those tight , trees we have back home (So u th Carol ina ). I had to be fast eno ugh , though , to make the checks on tim e. The others may have been a littl e too anxious." Hawkins, who placed second at last year 's Quicksilver, noted he wasn 't letting his def ending the National Championship add any pr essure to his quest for this year 's title. . " I don 't take the cham pionsh ip that way ," he said. " My goal is to have fun . I plan to have a good season , riding a hard pace now and then backing off halfway through th e season . It 's a lways toug her . catching up. T his win gives me a . ' good start. " H e added that winning in Californ ia was particu larly pleasing since California enduros usually don 't provide th e type of race he pr efers; he thinks they 're too fast. Although, he did feel that th e Salinas Ramblers did an excellent job of , setting up th e course and it was the best California race he's ridden. . Hines, aboard a KTM 350, took seco nd with an uneventful ride other than the flat tire and some traffic " A guy almost got me once on the course," said Hines. "And I know that I hit chec k 10 at 24.50 (he was on minute 24) but by the time the others ahead of me had their cards marked, it was 25. That's just end uro racing." Hines, who hails from Massachusetts , was th e 1987 National enduro tit le holder and is hoping to repeat that performance this year . Roeseler's near flawl ess execu tion of the third loop, vaulted him into co nte n tion for the trophy with a score of seven at th e finish line. He dropped only one point riding his KDX200 during the last loop, compared to two points for Hines and three for even tual winner Hawkins. Dave Bertram, ab oard a RMX250 , felt he didn 't have a good day although h e dropped o n ly nine points and finished fourth overall. "J ust little stuff like cra shing and missing some checks gave me problems. "My bik e wasn't a problem, it was runni ng good. " Both ta llying 12 points were Kawasaki 's T err y Cunningham, on a KDX200 and A rider Todd Harris, mo unted on a 250cc Yamaha. Computer glitches were Cu nningham's downfall for the day . " I would be going along thi nking I was on good time with the computer right on, bu t I'd be 45 seconds off," said Cunningham. "T hat sucker ran fast all day long." , Harris was real happy with his ride which was "the first time in thi s part of the coun try." Harris from Odessa, Texas, was impressed w i th the balanced and well-marked enduro that "didn't keep you raci ng' yet staying up on your toes. " H e was also first' in the 250cc A class. Testing enduro racing for the first time was former 250cc MX World Champion Danny LaPorte. " T h is enduro rea lly surprised me," said LaPorte, who dropped 15 P?ints.fo~ an ~!g~~h ov~l!:md th~r~