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/127202
Team Suzuki's Randy Hawkins extended his series points lead after w inning his third National of the year. Yamaha's Jeff Russell continued to cl imb up the points ladder with another consistent finish; he took second overall at the Pole Pen National. AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Round 6 Hawkins captures third win at Pole Pen National ' By Merle Acord G OO DMAN , MS, JULY 23 Defending Nationa l En d uro Champion Randy H awkin s, riding a RMX250 Suzuki, squeaked by Team Yamaha 's"J eff R u ssell, on a YZ250W ,with a six-seco n d m argin at the tie-breaker aft er both .\ An nual Pol e Pen Na tional Enduro, hosted by th e Central 6 drop ped 20 points at the 10th Mississippi Enduro Team Motorcycle Club. Former National Enduro C ha m p io n Kevin H i nes wa s II seconds back a t the tie break er for third o vera ll. Don Knight and Lewi s Whatley, trai l bosses and work horses for the CMET M.C. using p ri va te land, laid o ut three 40-m ile loops over a nd throug h steep ridges, den se woods, ro lli ng hill s, near swamps and fast logging roads. " Las t yea r, we had complaints that it was too easy. Well , they 'll know they 've rode an end uro this year ," said Do n Knight. " It (the course) was a littl e ho t and a littl e long," said Ha wkins, " but I had a good ride. I screwed up a littl e thi s morning. I shou ld' ve been three po ints better than wha t I was . I got stuck on the second tie brea ker o n th e first loop goi ng in a nd hit it abo ut 30 seconds, on the other end (third loo p ) I h it it a t 08. Tha t wo uld'v e been a nother point easy. T hen, a t first gas, we ha d to do some cha nges o n m y bike, brakes a nd stuff, and I went into th e woods late and I hit th at next check 12 seconds la te. And o n the last chec k I hit it 00, so I co uld've had a two, for sure, and a three, maybe, but I had a good day . " T h is was my third overall," sa id Hawkins, wh o is a member of the 1989 ' ISD E Junior . Trop hy tea m . "And it sho u ld' ve been the fifth . I ha ve a third and a fourth . I'll prob abl y have a 20-point spread after tod ay. I p lan a nd hope to win a cou p le more. They're go n na have to sta rt chas ing me. My goal whe n I lea ve for Six Days in Sep tember is to have a 30-point lead." "This Na tio nal was tougher tha n I figured it wo uld be," said Russell. " It gets hot down here bu t wi th a ll the wa ter (rai n) they had this year, it was es pecially tou gh. In th e morning I took a co uple of wrong lin es and go t ta ngled up with some guys an d lost some time. It doesn 't seem like much , but against Ran d y, it was enoug h . " The mud hol es were tri cky, but wh en we ran th e loo p again in th e af ternoon it was much better," said Russell. " I was able to mak e up th at minute I dropped in the morning. We ran across th e ruts a nd that worked prett y good. You co uldn' t just drive off into them. I saw severa l g uys tha t did a nd they mi ght still be th ere with the ir bikes pointing stra ight up, The second loop had some tech n ica l stuff but no killer hills o r any th ing. An yway, wh en we hit th e last check, I had had eno ugh. My bike ra n good and I have to th ank Greg Quador (Ya maha Tech nicia n) for that. Greg did a lot of good work." Kevin H ines' KTM 250 ran ou t of gas two miles from first gas stop at the end of the first loo p, but beca use of a 2.2-mile reset and a five mph speed average, hi s pit crew had tim e to find hi m a nd gas hi s bike witho ut Hines losin g a ny tra il po in ts. Six weeks ago, while competi ng in the Incas Rall y in Cuzco, Peru, H in es hit a boulder a t speed a nd unloaded. " I fractur ed m y co lla rbone and th ree ri bs, " said Hines. " And o ne was the to p rib. The doctor told me that there is a high fatali ty rat e whe n that top rib is brok en. I was in bed and co uldn' t move for three days. After I go t back to th e Stines th e doctor tol d me tha t I mi ght be riding in two months if I was lucky." "The shoulder felt good today," said H ines. " But I' m a littl e wea k. I've o nly been riding about a week a nd a half. I m issed the tie breaker by six seconds a nd ended up with 2 1. T he first loop was pretty fast a nd mudd y, but th e last loop was better. We' ve been ge tti ng too many easy enduros. We're finish in g end uros with a ยท half dozen of us only a few seco nds apart. So today they dropped off the Band C riders on the last loop and let us go at it. The B riders were co ntent a nd it ma de it bette r for us. I liked it, it was grea t. " Ra n dy ex te n ded h is p o int cus hi o n, but I'm happy with my ride," sa id Hines. " We 're a t th e midpoint of th e seaso n. I expec t th e po ints chase to go down to Rhode Island, the last run of th e seaso n." " I was riding good, but I mad e so me stu pid mistakes th a t cost me a few checks," said KTM 's Alle n Gravitt, who finis hed eigh t poin ts off th e pace in fourth overa ll , o n a KTM 250. " On th at last loo p I was hurtin g bad, th e hea t was getting to me a nd I was tired. But when Kevin passed me on th e last loop, I perked up a little and rode with him until I a lmos t did an endo . I got crossed u p and had m y feet on th e back fender and my helmet o n the front fender, so I eased up a bit. I ca lmed down for. a little while, th en here cam e Randy. I stayed with him till th e last chec k. It was a good end uro , th e wa y they ough t to be - tough." "T here was some good technica l stuff," sa id Gravitt. " I overshot o ne turn a nd ended up using a ditch for a berm. " ISDE Trophy team member Da ve Bertram, riding a RMX250 Suzuki, finished seventh o vera ll a nd had th ese comments. " I got stuc k in a mudhole on th e first loop and it took three or four minutes to get ou~d on the seco nd loop I go t stuc k in another mudhole. I just don't think it was my da y. The bike worked good a nd the club did an excellent job layin g out the trai ls. I hea rd th at someone told the m that it was too easy the last time so they mad e up for it - this time it was just ab out right. That last loop was good and tough and that's the way Nationals sho uld be. " I mi ssed my reg ular bike today," said Bertram. " I ca n 't ri de my Open class bi ke in the National End ures, because it 's a one-off a nd th e AMA says you have to ri de a production model. I rode it in the ISDE qualifiers because th ey are go vern ed by