Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

e~DUROw~~~~~~~~E_~_m_oS m _:Ro_~_d7 _ _'~ _ ~_ m ~ o C<") l-< Q.) ..0 o ..... u o Dan Nielson surviv ed the extre me ly dusty condit ions fo r third overall. Kevin Hin es kep t his titl e hopes alive with the overall win at the Redding Nalional. Series poin ts leader Jeff Russell had mechanical problems and fin ished 15th overa ll. Hines dusts 'em at Redding By Davey Coombs ' 10 REDDING, CA, ocr. 13 ea m Suzuki's Kevin H ines scored his second consecutive Nati ona l End uro victo ry with th e overall win at th e R eddi n g R ed R id ers' r Buckhorn 100, staged near Shasta Dam in northern Cal ifo rn ia. The factory , Suzuki rider edged o ut a loca l rider. AT K-moun ted Kriss Kudl a. o n the tie- breakers 10 keep hi s title hopes al ive. Bo th Hines and Kud la dro pped 40 po ints in the 100.7-m ile event. Husqvarna rider Dan Neil son was third ove ra ll with Suzuki-m ounted privateer Mall Cullins and Hines ' team mate Dave Bertram ro unding o u t the top five overa ll. respectively. The extreme ly dry and dusty co nditi ons at th e Spor'Trax/Spro ck et S pecia lis ts/ Yo ko / Fa de r C ycl esponsored National proved costly for two of th e seri es' title co nte nde rs. Points leader J eff Russell. a KTM rid er. su ffered an engine seizure 10 rail es into the end uro and would spend the rest of th e da y nursin g hi s machine 10 the fini sh line. And Suzuki 's defending three-time Nati onal Ch ampion Randy Hawkins was elim inat ed from titl e co nte n tio n after fini sh in g six th overall. When asked if the dusty co nditio ns affected his performance. Hawkin s ' rep lied. " Dus ty? It was the worst event I've ever been inl In 15 years of racing th is was the wor st. I never go t o ut of th e du st in th e first sectio n and had 10 stop four o r five tim es because I cou ldn't see an ything." Hawkins. how ever. added that he felt that the organizin g cl ub did a great jo b layin g out the trails and that they cou ld not be blam ed for the dusty condi tio ns. There was some co n troversy as well. The Suzuki team was seen making wha t a ppea red to be an ill egal gas sto p out on the trail . lar awa y from the designat ed p it areas. When informed of the possible infraction, the KTM camp consi dered having Russell file a prot est, wh ich, if ruled in hi s favor, would have effectively handed him the ser ies cha m p io ns h ip . But Russell declined the opportunity to perhaps take the cham p ionsh ip via a protest. " I don 't want there to be any doubt wh en I win the titl e." said Russell, who has led sin ce wi nn ing the seco nd round of the series in Louisiana . " I want to win th is cha mpionship outright. I'v e wor ked hard for a long time 10get here; I don't want to win it like thi s." The first group of 142 riders left the start ar ea at 7:30 a.m . and San Rafael Yamaha!ATK of San Jose-spo nsored Kudla , riding on mi nute o ne, wo uld spe n d th e en ti re day in d u st -free conditions. "Since I started first, it was clear sai ling all day long," said 34-year-o ld Kudla, who rode an AT K 406. " I knew it was goi ng to be real dusty and I knew that I had a good cha nce becau se I was starting o ut front." Ru ssell was the first of the AA riders 10 tackle the trai l, bu t was still back o n th e 20th ro w, so he was in thick du st right from the sta rt. After 10 miles hi s KTM came to a sto p as dust in th e air box su ffocated the engine. " I thought that there might be a cover on th e airbox that was clogged up ," said Russell, " bu t when I pulled the seat olf there was nothing covering the filt er. I pulled the filt er out and bea t the dust off, then tri ed to go for a few mor e miles. After th at I had 10 pull the filt er o ut com p letely. I rode th e last 25 m iles of the sectio n without a Iiher." Several KTM rid ers were having airbox troubl e, bu t that wasn't the case over in the Suzuki pits. Team manager Charles Ha lcomb mentioned after th e ra ce tha t h is fo ur riders (H ine s , Bertram, Hawkins and Czech import J an Hreh or) went through a total .of 13 air filters. Hr ehor , who finish ed 10th overall. had 10rid e the first section with two 1001kits a ttac hed to hi s wa ist. Hi s teammate Hawk ins left the start area without hi s too l bag and Hreh or, starting on th e 28th ro w, o ne beh ind Hawkins, gave Hawkins his 1001 bag later on down the trail. Before th e leaders arrived at the first gas , several rid ers dr opped o ut of the competition . including la st yea r' s Buckho rn 100 overall winner Marty Walden. " I just cou ldn ' t see anyth ing o ut th ere," said Walden , wh o quit after eight mil es. " It was lik e riding in a big cloud. I sepa ra ted m y sho u lder three weeks ago and I didn 't wan t to risk it out there today. It 's a gr eat trai l but the du st made it impossible to ride. A check of the scores at the first gas showed Husqvarna p ilot Dan Neilson with a low score 01 20, foll owed by H a wk in s wi th 26 , H i n es 27 a n d Bert ram 32. When Russell arrived at the first gas, his bike was stripped of its carb and airbox lor some frantic clea ning and resea li ng . T he KTM /M SR/EK/ Du nl o p -ba ck ed O h io rider h ad dropped nearly 50 points and was o ut of the ru nn ing for the overall. He wou ld eventua lly finis h 15th, mak ing four more fiIter changes in the last 60 miles. The rest of the run proved 10 be a Jt

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