Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

o ~ . ~ ...... Terry Cunningha m finished seven th overall and was only a few seconds shy from houring out. H e dropped 276 points compared to H ines' winning score of 155. Defending N ati o na l Cham p ion Randy Hawkin s, who finished fifth overall today, droppin g 245 po ints, said, " I guess you cou ld say tha t this is the kind of enduro that will mak e a man out of you. At least I made it through without houring o u t. Last year was too easy. T his would've been an excelle nt race if it wo uld n 't have rained. You can't call the weather, so you do th e best you can. T he club did a super job; yo u j us t can't control the weat her. " In the first loop, I ju st tried to pi ck my way th ro ugh the people stuck in the mud," explained H awkins. " I felt li ke I was doing good, I just dropped six or seven mi nutes to Kevin , Allen and Jeff - I couldn 't believe it. The second loop went o kay, bu t in the third loo p I decid ed to really go for it. I was ri di ng really aggressive a n d was catchi ng people ahea d of me, so I had in my mind tha t I was goi ng to catch everyone. Then there was a mudhole where I went righ t whe re I shou ld' ve gone left. I go t stuck and couldn't get loose. I just jerked and pulled my bike out until I was exhausted." Desp ite finishing fifth, Hawkins was still in nig h sp irits after the event. "Not to take anything away from Kevin and Alle n , because they both rode good, but I feel a lot of i t (their top placings) had to do with luck," said Hawkin s. "I thought it was a matter of choosing the right (COITect) lines through the mud holes. This ain't going to be the story for the rest of the series. " According to Russell wh o dropped out at the eigh th check , " My bike was running good and I kn ew I was close (for the lead ), but I go t stuck and boiled all the water out of the bike." Ru ssell was no t the o nly o ne to en d his day stuck in the mud, Kawa sak i's Kurt Hough, who won the 1989 Trail R id er s o f H ouston Can ey Creek Na tional , had his day en d appro ximately 10 miles in to the fir st loop. "I not only go t the bike stuc k, but I was stuck right wi th i t," said Hough. "The only way we co uld get the bike ou t was to pile logs , then lif t the bike. The bike was stra igh t up in the hole and Alan Rand t, wh o was also stuck, pulled on the front wh eel - the bike just kept o n sin king. It finally took four guys to get it o ut ." Washington's John N ielsen , ri di ng a Suzuki RMX2 50, su rvived th e mud to fin ish sixth overall wit h 255 points. Four-time National Enduro Champi on Terry Cunni ngham fin ished the course by makin g it to th e 13th and final check onl y seconds from houring out. T eam Green 's Cunnin gh am settl ed for seventh overa ll with a 276point tally. T ra il boss Ted Ryan said, " I rode the entire cours e the day befor e th e event. I rea lly though t that the co urse was going to hold up. Boy, was I shocked af ter ri di ng sweep . We had no idea that th e scores were go ing to be th is high." Overa ll B honors went to loca l Trail Riders of Houston rider J ohn Maldona do, ridin g a Yamaha YZ250. Maldonad o reach ed the seventh check before ca lling it a da y. Overall sho rt course ho no rs went to Larry Peevy, wh o rode the 16-and -Under Big Wheel class. At the tro phy ceremo ny a special presen ta tion was made to Kawasaki 's Larry Roe sel er , who was spendi ng his birthday in Texas. U n fort u na tely , KXI25-mounted Roeseler didn't fin ish the even t. Th e Trail Riders of H ouston expressed their a p p rec iat io n to Richard Sanders , who sponsored the trophies through his dea lerships, Iron Horse Motorcycle Supply, Cycl e Shack, Wild West H onda and Cycle Shack North , an of H o u st on , Texas. Q Results 0 1A: I. Kevin Hines (KTM) t55 : 2. Allen Graviu (KTM) 188; 3. j

• Cover