Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eENDURO e AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Round5 ;11 Defendin g champ Randy Hawkins reco rded his second victory of the season. H k ke his cool awins eps at Magnolia ClassicII . . , By Suzann e Mackenroth 14 WIGGINS, MS, JULY 14 efending National Enduro Champion Ra ndy Hawkins recorded his second overa ll victory of the year with a slim o ne-poin tadvantage D over run ner -up Jeff Ru ssell at the Magnolia Classi c II National Enduro. The th ree-time Na tional champ, Hawkins, totalled 11.632 points, with th e next three clos est riders scorin g . 15 po ints. Series points leader Ru ssell dropped a g rand total o f 15.68 1, nipping Suzuki su pport r ider George Wall er J r.'s ta lly of 15.752. Fourth o verall was Russell 's KTM tea mm a te Allen Gr avitt, who car ded a 15.731. Ro u nd in g out the top five was anothe r Suzuki support rider Steve Hatch with 16. More than 260 riders came out to test their timekeep ing skills, desp ite tem pera tures th at nearly reac hed th e cen tu ry mar k. T he first section of th e course, wh ich was originally sche duled to be run a t 20 mph, was cha nged to 18 mph, mostly to help the rid ers co pe with th e hea t a nd co n ser ve ene rgy. And accor di ng to Hawkins , tha t was a very good decisi on . "At first Lthough t that th e 18 mph section would be too easy, but I' m glad they cha nge d it, because if they hadn't, the faster speed average really co u ld 've hurt someone." . " We got a lot o f rain th e weeken d before the endu ro ," said referee G lenn H un t of the hos ti ng Mast erlinks Enduro T eam Motorcycle Club, " b u t then we had about five days with no rain at all a nd very hot weather, so th at allo wed the trails todry o u t. Since th e terrain is mostly sand dow n here, the rai n soaks in pre tty fast. " T he co ur se was laid out wh ere th e B, C class riders wo uld only rid e to the seco nd gas sto p, where their finish was recorded. "The trails tested them (B, C classes) well wit ho u t ki lli ng th em," said Hunt. " O n the th ird loo p , to test th e AA ri ders , we put th em through a section with a 30 mph speed a verage that was im poss ible for th em to maint a in. I'm sure everyo ne is go in g to lose time in th at section. T here's going to be a lot o f rid ers com ing in tired after they finish th at th ird loop ." After th e end of the first loo p , most of the top contenders hadn 't drop ped a ny points, except for th e tiebrea ker seco nds. O ne o f the un fortuna te ri ders to drop points was 1987 National Enduro Champion , Suzuki's Kevin Hi n es w ho was r id ing his first National si nce inj uring his hip las t March . At the third chec k, H ines arrived a litt le too ea rly and came to a com p lete stop when he saw the check. H e was scored at that m oment, thus burning the check. H in es' teammate Hatch als o ran in to problems shortly thereaft er when he bu rn ed th e fourth chec k. H at ch said he ro lled u p to the chec k approxi mately 15 seco nds too hot , but pu t hi s foo t do wn while tryin g to " tria ls-it" into th e chec k and was scored as a burn. How ever, Hatch la ter protested that scoring, a rgu ing tha t acco rd in g to AMA rules, it is lega l to dab yo ur foot as lon g as you don't stop forward progress , h o wever , u n d e r lo cal SE&TRA (Southern Enduro & T rai l Riding Associa tio n) ru les, though , dabbing is illega l wheth er or not forw ar d progress is being made, hen ce th e confus io n. Hatch 's p rot est was reviewed by the AMA a few da ys after the event and was declared that Hatch 's score will stand. I " I respe ct th e AMA's and th e club's judgement," said H a tch short ly after. th e decision was made. " I' ve worked chec ks before an d it's ha rd to tell whether or not th e bi ke is sti ll maki ng forward progress or not when th ey're go ing that slo w. It 's a judgem ent call that cou ld go eithe r way. I don 't have a problem wi th that. Basicall y, it was my mis ta ke in the first plac e ar riv ing early." Russell also had a scary mo me nt a t the fou rth chec k. He, too, ro lled up to it - abo u t 30 seconds - too soo n a nd, lik e H at ch had don e, trials- it into the chec k b ut di d so with ou t da bb ing his foo t and score d a zero . Team Gree n' s Kurt Hough, who finished six th overall , also joined th e " too hot club" when he burned check five by six seconds. The th ird and final loop of th e day, whe re two checks hid, wo u ld decide th e overa ll wi n ner betw een Russell a nd H awkin s. H awkin s h eld a sli gh t points ad vantage over Russell going into the third loop, a nd 'when it was all over, both Russell and Hawkins dropped a co m bine d tot al o f 7.14 points a t th e last two chec ks, cli nching th e overa ll for Hawkins. " I kn ew goi ng into th e last loop I had everybody o n th e tiebreak ers," sai d Hawkins . "So all I tried to do was ma tch everybody else 's scores; I d idn 't ride as hard as I co uld 've." "The trails were p retty easy tod a y, but the heat mad e it toug h," said Russell. " I felt pr ett y good, b u t I ca ugh t Wall er in th e last section a nd he kind o f dusted me out. The tra ils were tig ht and I cou ld n' t get arou nd him ." Show ing u p both riders in th e last sec tio n , though, was Ha tch, wh o recorded th e fastest tim e with a co mbi ned score of 7.22. If Hatch had not burned the fo urth check, he would have m a tch ed Ha wkins' overa ll points, a lthough Hawkins wo ul d have st ill wo n out on the tiebrea kers. "I basicall y had no probl ems all day lo ng," said winner Haw kins. "I j ust wat ch ed m y clocks, rode about 15 seco nds into my m inute, whi ch is a liule ho ner th an I usually do, beca use the cl ub is pretty tri cky and is us uall y up to someth ing. Overa ll, I felt I was off my usual pace by just a lit tle bit." "It was a rea l good endu ro ," said Hi nes. "The speed a verages were a lit tle slow in the morning, b u t th e club di d a good job give n th e heat . T hat was a ma jor factor. Conserving yourself, stay ing health y a nd finis hi ng . That's wh at you had to do ." In the amateur ranks, the Bai ley fam ily had a very good weekend. Roger wo n the Sen ior A class , his wife G wen was seco nd in the Wo men 's d ivisio n , and the ir four-year -old daugh ter won th e 0·50cc You th class , which was held o n Sa turday. £N Resul ts AA: I. Ran dy H aw ki ns (, Ul ); 2. J eff Ru ssell S (KT M); 3. Ge orge Wall er , J r. (Suz ): 1. Allen Gravi tt (KT M); ,. Steve Hatch (5uz); 6. Kun Hou gh (Ka w); 7. Alan Ran dt (KT M); 8. Raym ond Dav is; 9. Kev in H ines (Su z); 10. Mal Slav ish ( KT M). 200 A: I. Stephen Reed ; 2. Ga ry Doer : 3. Mich ael T hiel. 250 A: I. Raymon d Davis; 2. J erry O tbso nr S. Dou g Deat on . 200 A 1S T : I. O rer Pett erson; 2. Buddy Pi erce; 3. Ph il William s. 4·STRK A: l . Kevin Benn ett; 2. Dwigh t Rudder; 3. La rry Arring ton . SR A: . Roger Bail ey; 2. Sam m y Paulk; 3. J im my Ma y. O PEN A: I. Ron Whipple; 2. Gary Coo k; 3. Ronald Walters. . OPEN A INT; I. Milch McRee; 2. Gary Ga el; 3. Budd y H ollingswonh. S/SR A: l. Cha rlie Burk : 2. Robert Rob inso n : 3. George Hoffer. 125 B: 1. La rr y Pea vey, Jr.; 2. Ja son Rein e; ~ . Joe Beasley. 200 B: I. Dan iel Williams; 2. Kevin Smyrer: 3. Bru ce Bragg. 250 B: I. Rob in Dubose; 2. G len Myatt; 3. Troy Sweeney. O PEN B: I. Bob Schi emmer; 2. Larry Decker: 3. Edw in Petty. 200 B INT: I. Ch ris Burch field ; 2. Mik e H erlikoffer: 3. All en Yines. . OPEN B [NT: I. Bob Schiemmer ; 2. Larry Decker; 3. Edwin P ett y. 4·STRK B: l. Roger Cro w; 2. Michael Fredrick; 3. G reg: H ol der . SR B: , 1. T ommy La ne; 2. J immy Gt'ffitry; 3. Stewart H arrison . S/S R B: I. T om Tarver; 2. Thomas Barr: 3. Larry Lott . 200 C: I. Jeff T hompson: 2. Ed Bow en; 3. Scott Yerigan . . O PE N C: I. J ared Smit h; 2. Bruck j efloa is: 3. Tim G ilmore. WMN: 1. Ela ine Nobl es: 2. Gwen Bailey; 3. Ca ro l J o nes. JR: 1. Na tha n Knigh t: 2. Bra d Lane; 3. Paul May. 200 TRAIL RIDER: J. J ames Owen ; 2. Ron ald Robinson ; 3. Davy Murray. OPEN T RAIL RIDER: I. J im Mitchell ; 2. J eff T arv er; 3. Ji mmy H artz og.

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