Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Defend in g Na tio na l Enduro Champi on Ran dy Hawkins mo ved in to the series points lea d a fter racking up hi s third overa ll victory of th e season . On e of the hometown favorit es was Yamaha's Fritz Kadlec. Despite getting off to an inauspicious start, Kadlec came on stron g in the late stages to finish fourth overall. Recen tl y elec ted to the 1990 ISDE U.S. Jun ior World team, Kel by Pepper ref ue ls at o ne o f the pit stops. Pepper th reatene d H awkins for the ove rall -win. hono rs, but with just five poi nts cu rre ntly separating him and 1987 title holder KTM 's Kevin H ines, Hawkin s' three-in -a-row title bid is far fro m in the bag. Th e Block-N-Tack le Natio nal Enduro was sponsor ed by th e H ig h Country Motor cycle Trail Riders and a ttracted an impressive field of 400 riders from 25 sta tes. The route cha rt showed 199 mi les of riding ah ead with speed averages as high as 36 mph and the tra il, which began a t 10,000 feet went as high as 13,000 feet. " We wan ted to introduce the riders 10 the Colorado Rocky Mountai ns and I th ink we've don e a pretty good jo b," said race p ro moter Du an e Gray, T he event began at eight a.m. and all eves were o n the Nation al conte nders. ' H awkins was only I I po ints behind H ines for the overa ll title go ing into the event . Hin es' lead was i n trou ble th e minu te he left the line. " I started o ut wit h a fau lty odometer - it was read ing in kilometers and I was having problem s abou t 1.4 miles off th e start," said Hi nes. " I threw away three minutes earl y in th e race just being overly ca utio us because I didn 't have an odometer and things j us t go t worse from there." Local favori te Fritz Kadlec was in tro uble, 100. " I was tryi ng too hard, that was my bigge st problem," said ' the Gunnison resident. " I fell down and broke my ro ll chart off right off the start and I had 10 get a kid to give me his.", Fou r-tim e Na tional Enduro cham p T erry Cunn ing ha m was no t off to a good start either. The Kawasaki pi lot en doed h is wa y to a o ne -m i n u te pen alty just three turns from th e firs t check and go t two flat tir es 18 mil es before the ga s stop at 70.8 mi les. Even racers en joying a troubl e-free ride found it hard to keep up whe n the sp eed rose from 18 to 24 mph near the first ga s and the po ints sta rted to stack up fast. T he co u rs e wa s so tou gh th a t mechan ical pro blems were almost a bl essing, acc o rd i n g to Garth Sweetland . "The re are n 't 100 man y riders o n ti me," said th e Arizona racer who was sideli ned a t gas one. " It's pretty tou gh. Hawkins takes control in Colorado Rockies By An ne Van Beveren P h o tos by Tom Van Beveren Gl'I'\l'\ ISOK CO. j u tv 22 uzu ki's Randy Hawkins moved into the Na tio nal Cha mp io ns hip End uro Series po ints lead with a stella r perfo rman ce in an event tha t som e to p-rank ed contenders descri bed as th.. lon gest a nd tough est Na tio na l Enduro thev'd ever ridden . T he seven-ho ur, 199·mi le cont est pushed the riders to their lim it, but it was still too close 10 call when Ha wkins and Kawasaki pil ot s Kelb y S Pepper a nd Larry Roeseler sto rme d into th e fini sh. Poin ts were q u ickly added a nd the back-up shee ts were chec ked, a nd wh en th e score were fin all y ta ll ied , Haw kins had a slim two po in t' adva ntage o ver Roeseler wit h Pepper two mor e point s back in th ird. It was Hawki ns ' thi rd win of the series wh ich puts hi m out in front in the race for the overall cha m pionshi p I' m almost glad I' m not out there . And we didn 't get to th e 36 mp h part yet!" T he tig h t trai ls never let up and the casualties grew as th e day wore on. A promising ride by Suzuki's Da ve Bert ram was cu t short when he withd rew wit h stomach ailment s near the 115-mi le mark. J eff Russell came out of the timherline section after ca tch ing his foo t on rock tryin g to skirt around a bottleneck, and Kadlec's bid for a ho meto wn win went fro m bad to wors e. " I got a flat abou t 80 miles into the ride - it didn 't cost me any tim e but I dro pped the bi ke in a creek and wa tered o ut ," said Ru ssell. " I had 10 tip th e bike up side down and drain the water o u t. T he wor st thing was there was a check abo u t 150 feet from wh ere I was but I didn 't kn ow it. I could 've pu shed the bik e th ere and ma ybe lost a mi nu te, but I dropped a minim um of five m inu tes getting the bik e started agai n." Cunn in gh am too k hi mse lf o ut of the race at mi le 82. " I cha nged my two flat s at the gas stop at 70.8 miles and then I had to stop and fix the odometer because changing th e flats goofed up the magnet ," said Cunningham, " I went ano ther six miles aft er that and crashed big tim e go ing really fast on a twotra ck. I thought I cou ld jump a pile of rocks but it turned o ut to be bigger th an I expected. I tore the bik e up and rip ped a big hunk of meat o u t of my finge r. So I quit there." KT M's Jeff Fredett e was trying a gentler approach. "I was ou t wat chi ng the scenery," said Fredette. " I didn' t want to push beca use I know th ere's no air up here and you ca n' t pus h very far, I tried to make no mi stakes and just keep go ing - nothi ng exciting, I didn 't fall all da y and I made it to th e finis h in on e piece. That 's the main th ing." T he pac e was fast and furious as the frontrunn ers pitted at 133 mi les and head ed "in to the fin a l A-on ly section of the course. A trouble-free ride had Pepper fraction a lly ahea d of H awkins for the lead, bu t fender cards showed Roeseler, Kadlec and Bruckhauer were ju st a few points back and still within striking distan ce of the leaders. The A loop was everyth ing race organ izers had promised and more:

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