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eOFF·R A OD AM! National Championship Endwo Series: Round 3 ~ Randy Hawkins scored his third win in a row at the Sawmill Na t!onal Enduro. A runner-up finish moved Kelby Pepper up to second place in series point standings. . Defending Na tional champ Jeff Russell was sidelined with mechanical problems. mitted use of th eir land for the enduro. Steady rai ns prior to th e event had many worried, but th e co ndit io ns cleared and th e contest went on as scheduled. " We got four-te nt hs (of an inc h ) of ra in - if we go t one-tenth mo re, we would have had to cancel," sai d the cl ub's Brad Seder. "The on ly cha nge we had to make was cutting out abo ut 20 miles of the second loop. " T he first of the 405 starters left the start ing line at 8:00 a.m. to tackle the uphills, downh ill s and logging roa ds. Thou gh it had rained conside rably before the event , mud was not a major factor. H awk in s set the pace from the start , as he comp leted th e first loo p wit h a low score of seven. "T he course is' really tech nical, just the way I like it," ' said Hawkins , as he waited for his m echanic, Dal e Stega ll, to change the rear brake pad s on hi s factory-backed RMX250. " I just tried to rid e the ha rdest I could wit ho ut crashing." Hawk ins enco unte red a few scary momen ts on loop two as he waited for his new brake pa ds to seat. " I figure tha t I could've dropped one less point on loop two if the pads had seated sooner," said Hawkins. "They didn't stop too well at first, but they weren 't that mu ch of a problem." Hawkins rode the second and third loops in a calm, collected manner and fini shed the event without any crashes or mishaps. "I felt good , and I made no mi sta kes ," sa id American Suzuki/Pro C i rc u it/ MS/ Sp rocke t Special ists/ Acerbi s/ Bieffe/ ICO/ RKIU ni Filter/ Facto ry Connection/CTiiAnswer Pro Taper/ Co bra / EBC/ Me tzler-backed Hawkins. " I' d like to keep this win strea k go in g throughout the rest of the series, but there are so many things that can happen. All I can do is cont in ue to set the pace." " It' s real slippery out there," said Kelby Pepper, who finished second overall with a score of 29. " You have to stay on your toes to keep it straight. " I think I maybe could've tied Randy - but I messed up this one section," explained Pepper. " I thought I was seven seconds hot, but I ended up seven seconds late and lost a minute. It was Hawkinsforges ahead wiih Sawmill win Photos by Duane Martinson "I 22 SANTA ROSA, CA, APR. 12 set a goal for myself at the start of this season," said three-time National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins, who lost the battle for last year's title to Team KTM's Jeff Russ ell. " I want to set the pace and show that I'm not just lying on my back after losing last year." And set th e pace he has. The Suzuki factory team rider scored his third win in as many rounds of the series at the North Bay M.C.promoted Sawmill National, round three of the nine-race National Enduro Series, and boasts a perfect score of 90 in the po int standi ngs. Ru ssell ente red the event second in th e standings, but a seized motor left him with no points and the defending champ dropped to fourth in the standings. T aking over second in the title chase was Team KTM's Kelby Pepper, who turned in a strong second-place fin ish , while Husqvarna's Kevin Hines motored into third in series points with a similar third overall. The three-loop, 98-mile course ran through the private forests owned by Louisiana Pacific, a logging company that for the past four years has per- hard to mak e up time becau se it was so slip pery." Enjoying th e slippery conditions, though, was T eam Husqvarna's Kevin H ines, who p ilo ted a four-st ro ke 350WXC. "This thing hooks up great," said Hines, referring to h is motorcycle. "A four-stroke just mo tors where a twostroke wo uld be sp inn ing. " Hines thumped h is way around the course and finished with an event ual score of 32, tied wi th KT M factorybacked Ala n Gravitt. Better scores at two emerge ncy checks awarded H ines th ird-place honor s. " I got lost pretty bad in the first loop ," said KTM 's Gravitt. " When I found th e trail again I saw H in es ahead of me and tried to catch him, but my front end slid ou t and I crashed." Like many riders, Gravi tt fou nd the downhills on the course exci ting. " Man , they were so steep, it was like you were down them before you knew it!" he exclaimed. " I actually hit some gu ys and used them to stop. There were al so some jumps on the way down I bet motocrossers would've loved 'em, but I'd ra ther stay on th e ground." Finishing fifth overall , with a score of 35, was Team Suzuki's Steve Hatch , wh o too k an off-course excursion that cost him over a minute on loop on e and nearly ended hi s da y. " I tried to wheelie over a log lying in the road, but the rear swapped sideways and I flew off a 20 foot ledge," said Hatch. " I just jumped off the bike - Superman-style! I thought it was over, I banged up some ribs in my back pretty good. " Hatch recovered from his crash to finish the event with a score of 35, good enough for fifth overall. " O nce I calmed back down and stopped riding too aggressively, I was okay," added Hatch. "The rain made the course more rideable, but it was c:N really slippery in some areas. " Unofficial results 0 / A: I. Randy Hawkins (Suz); 2. Kelby Pepper (KTM); S. Kevin Hines {H us); 4. Alan Gravitt (KTM); 5. Steve Hatch (Suz); 6. Dan Neilson (H us); 7. Alan Randl (KTM ); 8. Da ve Bertram (Suz); 9. Mall Stavish (KTM); 10. Tom Wdlb (Hon). AMA NATIONAL C'SHIP ENDUItO SEJUES POINT STANDINGS: I. Randr Hawkins (90) (3 wins) ; 2. Kelby Pepper (61); 3. Kevin Hin es (56); 4. Jdf Ru",,11 (SO); 5. Alan Gravill (43).