Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeff Russell. riding a Yamaha YZ250WR. finished in the middle of a three-way tie for second. He ended up third based on tie-breaker scores. Terry Cunningham finished one point ahead of Kurt Hough. Jeff Russell and Randy Hawkins to win the Cherokee National Enduro in Georgia. AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Round 2 . Cunningham captures Cherokee National win By Lynn McRee File photos by Bob Murray MAXEYS, GA, MAR. 19 A mere one point separated former National Enduro Champion Terry Cunningham from teammate Kurt Hough, Yamaha's Jeff Russell and Suzuki's Randy Hawkins to win his first National Enduro in almost two and a half years. Th T G '1 C . e earn. r~en plOt, unmngham, nding a KDX200 10 Kawasaki, dropped five points, edging Hough, Russell and defending National champ Hawkins, all of whom dropped six points each at the Ch k N ti I Ch . h' ero ee a ona amplOns lp Enduro. The event was hosted by the C~~ro~ee Motorcycle Club. . ThIS has bee~ a long dry spell WIth !Dy .Iast Na~~om~l Enduro ov~rall Will III 198?, . ~ald the Acerbls/ Scott USA/HI-POI'.lt ~aclllg/Be.lRay/Dunlop/Pro-ClrcuIt/Tsubaki/ RenthaliLoctite/Bell Helmet-sponsored Cunnin~ham. "This was by far my best n~e. in a I?ng time." ~unnmgh~ ftmshed ftfth .0ver~JI III the senes opener III Califorma, February 19. The win also gives Cunningham a big boost in confidence, which he' hasn't had in quite some time. "Last year I just wasn't in shape and I didn't have th.e mental. attitude It took to go racmg," said Cunnin~ham. "I kind of rode (the 1988 NatIonals) for the company (Cagiva) just to. be ~t:re, but th~s year my e'.lth';lslasm ~s Just ultr~hlgh and the b,ike IS working good. ~ ve alw;:tys.felt I ve never been out of l~, bu~ I ve Just had some problems With bikes, and in '87 I tore up my leg and stuff like that. I still feel I'm as good a rider or maybe a smarter rider than anybody else out there on the circuit right now, but a lot of people don't believe this because I haven't been winning lately." Team Suzuki's Hawkins who won the the California National burned a check which cost th~ RMX250 pilot the win. This suddenly became apparent when, in the following check, Hawkins was the only rider to score a two, with Cunningham, Larry Roeseler and other AA riders arriving three minutes late. The first five riders led the field through a course of red Georgia clay with slick roots. The enduro itself was more of a timekeeping event this year rather than going into a section and riding as hard as you can till the end and losing many points. The first 37.8 actual miles to the first gas stop was uneventful with most of the top riders only dropping two points. Joey Hopkins, who recently won the Alligator Enduro in Florida:, burned the first check riding a little I too eagerly. The second 38.8 actual miles were very eventful for Hawkins who burned check number eight, the check that cost him the win. Cunningham explained going into this sec;tion. "First o[ ~II, ri~ht 0[[ the bat, we took 0([ and the fust couple of checks were zeroes - you kind of had to ride good, but they were pretty easy zeroes. The third check we dropped two. It was the first points taken away and everybody dropped at least two. Then we rode a little bit more and had some, what I call 'tricky' checks -. you kind of had to ride good but yet if you rode too good, or too fast and weren't watching your time, you could get early and burn one. Then right before tile second gas you had to watch your time and mileage markings, and coming into the gas they had an emergency check. J was kind of expecting it and J just timed into it at zero 30 - as perfect as you can get on an emergency check. J guess Hawkins, Kevin Hines, Larry Roeseier and George Waller Jr. all burned it. Randy only burned it by three seconds - it was just a matter of not keeping on top of things. I think that's what happened to Randy. The word from the Suzuki camp was that Hawkins missed a mileage marker that was written on one of the course markers, so he did not reset his odometer and his mileage was slightly 0[[. This put Hawkins into the check just a few seconds too early. "Right after that check," said Cunningham, "I ~ot little bit of a headache, because ltstarted warming up (about 80 degrees), and in the next section, I just wasn't real sharp and I fell three times. When I got to the check I hit it at 3: 18, and I knew somebody was going to hit it on two. As it turned out only Randy was to hit two. J thought more would. That burn really hurt Randy." The fast section was a fast powerline trail where Cunningham suffered one of his crashes. KTM's Allan Gravitt also gave the spectators something to watch as he took a trip over the handlebars. Gravitt finished the day with eight points. "The trail was really good but some of the sections were a little dry and fast for my liking," said Cunningham. "They also didn't have as many check-ins as they did last year, but having all the check-ins last year and in past years still kept all the riders honest. All the guys were a little leary going in a little early, and I wok the club may have wanted it that way." Indiana's Hough finished one point back to claim second overall, based on tie-breaker scores against Russell and Hawkins. Hough finished ninth in the series opener in California. Bryan Adams, riding a Suzuki RM250, took his first overall A win with a score of six. The Suzuki of Dalton/Dunlop/Smith/Answer/ Sprockett Specialties/Moose Racing/Maier Mfg.-backed Adams said he had a great time but didn't like havin~ to timekeep so much. He used mud tues thinking of past Cherokee runs when it was much wetter. Another Suzuki rider, Dalton, Georgia's Greg Roberts put in one of his best rides with a 10, although he felt the enduro could've been a little tougher. Rober~ came back to the start with plenty of energy, ready· to ride some more. He took first place in the 250cc A class with Mark Hyde

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