Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

gENDURO OA ~~~ C~m~m~_fu_d_n_S_ff__:R_ou_n_l~~~~~~~~~~~ ro ~ d ~ ...... T hree- rime Na tio nal Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins opened the 1992 champ ionsh ip series wit h a so lid win. Defending National Champion Jeff Russell (1) was the runner-up. fini shing three points behind H awkins. Hawkins'aces Quic silve a n l k rNtio a By Kit Pa lmer P ho tos by Kinney Jones and Palm er COALINGA, CA, FEB. 16 eam Suzuki 's Randy Hawkins, wh o se three-strai ght Na tio nal E n d uro Cha mpio ns h i p titl e streak came to a skiddi ng halt last year. mad e it kn own that he's out for revenge T 6 an d a i m in g for a fo urt h ti tle by soundly beat in g the field a t Quicksilver End uro. th e opening ro und of the '92 Nati onal seri es. After approximately 100 miles of a lmos t every th in g Mother N ature could dish o ut, in cludin g mud. sno w, rain , fog , cold tem perat ur es an d mo re rain. Hawkins emerged on to p of the charts with three po ints to spare over ru n ner-u p J eff Russell . the factory KTM ri der w ho en de d Ha wk in s' cha m p io ns h ip- wi n n i ng strea k last year. When th e score cards were tallied, H awkins had recorded a lo w 22-po int score to Russell 's 25. " It mak es me feel real good to stan th e season off with- a win." sa id H a wkin s, wh o ha ils fro m South Carolina. " But there's a lo t of racing left; 1 have to ta ke it one round at a time and do the best that 1 can. Come the end of the year, it's just a matter of counting up all the points." " 1 feel good, " said Ohio's Russell. " 1 knew if I could come to Ca liforn ia and fin ish in th e top three, the n everythi ng wou ld be okay. It's j ust the first race , there's eigh t more to go." Fi nishi ng th ird, j us t o ne p o int behind Russell , was 1987 Nat io nal End uro Ch ampion Kevin Hines. no w rid ing fo r the H usq varn a team. Hi nes and Hawkins were Su zuki teammates last year. . " 1came here to fin ish in the to p 10," said Hin es. W1 10 rode a WXE350 fou rstro ke. "1 didn 't have my com p uter set right for the second loo p, so 1 was riding in the blind and that's no t how you win Nat io nal end uros. I was lucky to do as well as I did. " Roun ding o ut the top five overall was T eam Su zuki 's newest recru it, New Yorker Steve H atch, who dro pped 28 points, and no rt hern Ca lifornian Dan Nielsen . who dropped 30 points. The 21st run ni ng of th e Q u icksilver Na tional End uro, hosted by the Sal inas Ramblers :'I1.C., drew 269 riders. The field incl ud ed I I AA class riders, and they were put to the test at the Clear Creek Recrea tion area in the Cho lame H ill s ap proximately 25 miles north of Coalinga . Heavy rain and sno w in the cent ra l Ca liforn ia area throug ho u t the week p rior to the event had ma ny riders wondering if th e end uro would be canceled at th e last mom ent . Despite the extreme ly wet and muddy conditio ns. plus sno w at high er eleva tio ns . t he Sa li na s Ramblers were determi ned to ru n the even t. " We had to mak e a lot of modificatio ns to the course, mai nly beca use of the sn ow a ro und th e 4000-foot level," sai d a club member. " We basicall y had to eli m inate the wh ole secon d loop . We were just going to run the first 50-mi le loo p , but we decided to use that loo p twice. so we could get 100 mil es. AMA rul es sa y th at a I ' atio na l mu st be a t least IOU mil es in length. There are go ing to be a lot of C rid ers hating life. today," A to ta l o f II che cks were us ed throughout the two loops, but the sloppy sonditio ns made thi s year's Quicksilver Enduro more of a survival ru n than a tim ekeeping even t. Some riders referred to the end uro as " hare scra mbles-ish." All of the riders were o n the gas all day and arrived at most of th e chec ks behind sched u le. It soon becam e appa rent that the fastest rider , not necessarily the best tim ekeeper. would scor e the overa ll win . And Hawkins proved that he was the fastest. " I think the clu b did an excellent jo b. with th e wea ther and a ll." said H awkins. " T hese g uys burned the mid n ig h t oi l to mak e th e co urse passabl e for us. T hey deserve a lo t of credit." As far as th e enduro. Hawkin s said it was fairl y un eventful. " Everything just went reall y well . and my bik e ran grea t a ll day lon g ," said Hawkins. wh o rode a bo rro wed Suzuki RMX 250. " I basicall y spent the day chas ing Sieve (H atch). H e was on th e minute a hea d of me and we had a lot of fun ." The on ly problem Hawkins had was

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