Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Suzuki's Randy Hawkins is j ust two points shy of wrapping up his second National Championship Enduro title after winning in Iowa. AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Round 10 Hawkins.snares Rattlesnake Nationalwin By Merle Acord WIN T ERS ET, lA , SE PT. 10 Defending Na ti on a l Enduro Ch am p ion Ran dy Hawkins overcame torrential rains that turned mild-mannered creeks into raging bike-eaters at the 14th Annual 100m ile Rattl esnake Enduro and won hi s fifth Nati onal overa ll so n Hawkins ' aboard o f the sea . . . a Tea m Suzu k i RMX250, 18 dropped 32 poi nts but had to go to the tie-breakers for a n II -second edge to beat o u t fo u r- ti m e Nati o nal Endu ro C hampio n Terry C u n ningham , riding a KX 125. Tea m G reen' s Kurt Hough was third wi th a score of 33. G reg Mapes a nd Chuck Craig, trail co-ch ai rm en for th e hosting Des Moin es Enduro Riders M.C. sai d, " We had two inch es o f rain Thursday and six in ch es on Fri day, a nd a ll th e creeks were o u t of their banks. We m ad e the decision Saturday a ftern oo n, when the wea ther ma n sai d more rain was on th e way, to cu t o u t the first IS-mil e secti on. T hat's where th e treac herous wa ter . crossings were. But ta king o u t the first sectio n made for a strange star t. We d idn't have tim e to cha nge a ll the corners so to keep it sim p le and no t ha ve a bu nc h of riders sitt ing 15 mi les ou t on a gravel road waiti ng ou t a 30minu te reset we started th em and rod e them two-t enths o f a mile o n th e Madison County Fai rgrounds, (sta rting area )..'and prom p tly ga ve th em a 14.5-mIi e reset. "These guys di d a grea t job with th e event," said Hawkins. "There were some major pro bl ems the y had to wo rk arou nd . I lik ed the lo ng sections righ t af ter gas th e best, a nd when I went in to th e last section I fel t a little bi t ' tingley', I kn ew I was lead ing and I didn 't want to do anything stu p id like getting off in on e o f those big d itches (ra vines) which is pr etty easy to do aro u nd here. I fell dow n a couple times. O nce o n a n off -camber hi ll wh ere I had to get u p careful and tha t took ex tra seconds. Bu t that wasn't any ·p ro blem , I wasn't the on ly one that fell tod ay. I sho uld 've went a four in th at last section, as it was I o n ly m issed it by two seconds. " "Toda y's wi n is go ing to hel p th e po in t si tuation for me," said Hawkin s. "T he re ar e two . Na tiona ls left to ri de o u t of the 12-round series and . I have five wins a nd th e po ints lead , th ey ha ve to chase me." T eam Green 's Cu n n ing ham said , " Ha wkins a nd I tied in the first Team Green's Terry Cunningham lost out to Hawkins by just 11 seconds at the tie-breakers. He wound up fin ishing second overall. secti on. I went 4.8 an'd he went 4.8. In th e next section, I went one and he went two, soI had him by a point wh en we reset at lOS-miles. In the lo ng section after gas Randy wen t 5. 18 and I went 6.04. He had a rea l good ride. And in th e next to last sec tio n, th ey chec ked us in and chec ked us out, I went nin e and he went eight, so he had me by one point going into the last section. I kn ew that going into the last section so I unplugged - I let it go. I went 4.27 and he went 5.02. Jeff (R ussell ) went 5.03 and Kurt had a 4.43. I even . crashed in th ere and 'still went 4.27, but I kn ew I had to get the point back. I got th e point back, but Randy still beat me by 21 seconds at the tiebrea kers." Cunningham, who likes his endu ros to ugh, said, " T h is was a real endu ro . I like it and I hope th ey ca n keep th e land a nd keep putting on the ir run , a nd that's why a nytime I go by a far me r who 's wat ching the race , I a lways say ' than k you, sir.' I don 't kn ow if he kn ow s wha t .I' m th anking him for but ma ybe he'll thi n k abo u t it la ter. I a lwa ys try to do tha t a nd I respect th ere cro ps. It does mak e a difference a nd we've go t to keep good end u ros like th e Rattlesn ak e 100." . " La st week I was first and Randy was third,' : said Hough. " T h is week I'm th ird and Randy is first. I felt tha t I was ridin g as fast as a n ybod y here toda y, but I mad e a few mistak es and th ey cost me. I hi t a tree going down hill a nd go t st uc k. I co uld n't pull it off th e tree, I had to d rag the back end aro u nd th en dr ag th e fro nt end arou nd a nd th e clock kept righ t o n running. T his mo rni ng I was havin g tro u ble read ing th e tra il s. Some pl aces it was slick a nd in some pl aces th e tra ction was good. I can usu all y tell by just looki ng a t th e gro u nd wh en th e tracti on is good, but tod ay I was goi ng into th e turns a nd j us t fa lling over. I must have fell five tim es. In th at sectio n I went five a nd Randy went four and th en I got used to it and I . went seven in th e next secti on' and Randy was eigh t. I had a pretty good ride exce p t for tha t long section. Randy went 5.8 a nd I went 6.10. I had troub le sett ing u p a rh ythm in th e wood s." . " I think Randy has pr ett y well go t it won (the cha m p io nsh ip) if he doesn' t do so meth ing stu pi d like getting hurt," said Hough. "My plans now are to get it together and look forward to next year and hopefully I' ll be up th ere." "I rode good today," said T eam Yamaha 's Russell , who finish ed with a 34 for fourth overall. "I just had some mishaps. The most serious mishap was getting into a bottleneck in the longest section right after gas . We came out of a creek on to a offcamber path and had to line up. I tried going arou nd a cou p le of times before I finally got through. Then Randy, who was riding a minute behind me, caugh t me and we ended up riding about 12 miles together. I would lead and when I wo uld mess up and Randy would get in front th en he would mess up and I would get in front. It was fun, o nly it would have been a lot more fun if Ra ndy had been a minute ah ead of me instead of a minute behind. There were chec ks ba ck to back in that sectio n and I carried that ex tra point through both chec ks and I think I'm going to come up two points shy of overa ll. It 's a lmost like whoever gets th e little break s is th e one that gets th e nod . Any way; it was close. T eam Green 's J eff Fredette, riding a KDX200 , dropped 34 points to eq ua l Russell 's effort but lost th e tie breaker and settled for fifth overa ll. " I was just a co up le of points o ff th e pa ce a nd that's not too bad," sa id Fredette. "There are a lot of fast guys out the re. T he trails were good a nd they were slick. T he re were some pastures bu t mostly it was woods a nd ravi nes. Maybe a little more road . than I li ke but the club made up fo r it when th ey threw us in the woods. Yama ha's Mike T ool e carded a 37, three ta llys behind Fredette for six th o vera ll. " I d ropped 10 in th e ninth check a nd th at hurt me," sa id Toole. " I broke a rear bra ke lever abo u t a half m ile into the first woods," said for mer C ha mp io n Kevin Hin es, " And I rode t he whol e sec t io n wi thout a brake a nd in th e p rocess some thi ng happen ed to m y front brak e. Th e pi stons weren't returning - or something a nd I was riding with th e brak e o n. I went 5. 10 in those first two checks. I dropped 38 and fini sh ed seven th overa ll. I was on the new 1990 model and I have to work with it a litt le mor e." " It was not a banner day ," said Tea m Suzuki's Dave Bertrum. " I

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