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/127252
BmDUWA~~~C~_~_~_~_~_~_O_ '&_ri_~_R_~_d_l ~ __ e KTM's Kevin H ines found the fastest lines through the m udholes an d took th e'overall .victory at th e open ing round of the Nati onal Champ ionship Enduro Series in T exas. Defending National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins was one of onl y seven riders to compl ete all four loops withou t houring ou t; he finished fifth overall, Hines masters Texas mud By Kenny J on es Photos by Mark Kariya/Dirt Rider NEWW AVERLY TX, FEB, 25 , iles and mil es of Texas mud gree ted th e 160 riders who turned ou t for the opening event of the eigh t-ro und Nati on al Championship Enduro Seri es a t the Lon e Star 100 in New Waverly. Factory KTM pi lot and 1987 Nati onal Champion Kevin Hines, aboa rd a KTM 250 E/XC, too k th e hard-earned overall victory, despite . an ear ly ch arge, by Yamaha's Jeff Russell , who later dropped out with ' mech an ical problems. . Hines topped the field of National riders by posting a rather high 155point score. Fellow KTM teammate Allen Gravitt came in second overall with a 188-point score. Jeff Plunkett, fro m Louisiana, riding a Yamaha YZ250WR in the A division, finished .third overall with a 216-point score to top the 12 rema ining AA rid ers. Only seven entrants finished all four loops without houring out, all of them A or AA class riders. The course consisted of four loops; the first was 21.4 mil es long, the second 33.0 mi les, the third 21.6 miles and the fourth 35.2 mi les. Only the A and AA rid ers were ab le to complete th e fourth loop, which prov ed to be more gruelling and tiresome than any of the en trant s had anticipated. Mud was the overwhelming factor , which would take its toll on all classes. Four inches of rain had fallen on the Houston area . the week before the event, which only added to the a lready rain -soa ked course. By the first check at 7.6 miles, Hines M 18 dropped j ust five points. How ever, Yamaha YZ250WR pil ot J eff Russell stayed with H in es, dropping th e same amou nt of points. Bu t th e next check proved to be a ll Hines'. The Massach usetts rider top ped Russell there 17.8 m il es - by o ne point (o ne minute). " T h is is wha t en d u ros are all about," said Hines. " In the past it has come down to seconds and it shou ldn' t be tha t way. I though t thiswas a real good enduro , I kept saying to myself , 'Don 't do anything dumb , don 't try to go too fast.' I only got really stuck once, that was becaus e a bike was stuck right in th e middle of the trail, " said Hines. Wh en KTM 's Gravitt was asked about his race stra tegy he said , " I went anywhere the bike wanted to go, I'm just glad I didn't ride my 125. You just had to keep going further and further out into the woods and find a pl ace where no one had been, but even that sometimes wasn't a hot ticket." Finishing fourth overall was Suzuki's Dave Bertram who dropped 236 points. He said, "This was my worst nightmare, I got stuck 10 to 20 times, I eventually lost count. Comparing this (event) to Blackwater, this was way worse. I think both my brakes are metal to metal, I wanted to change them before the four th loop, but I was late.' I don't think I could ha ve gone an y faster with brakes, anyway. I got to a check and they sai d there was only 12 miles left, I could have died, I might j ust as well have quit there. "