Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127583
making some time. Then I passed
Roeseler again and I wa s back in the
race."
'1 got by Andrews at one po int on the
first la p, then Du ane Conner and
"Possum." (Ma rk Hyd e)," said Roeseler
of his opening lap. "Everything seemed
to be going pretty good b ut then
Andrews passed me back and Ty (Davis)
came up through from the fifth row and
passed me . I thought, Good job, Ty ! I
latched on to him and we bo th caught
back up to Fred. I th ink Ty actually
passed him at the beginning of the second
lap. I just kept it going and hoped for the
best; I didn't want to cr ash out there
today or water out or anything."
At the completion of the first lap
Norton was the popular leader with
Hawkins coming in 20 second s off the
pace. But Norton was forced to gas after
the first lap while Hawkins bypassed his
pit ar ea and took th e lead. He would
remain there for the next two hours.
" I really didn't feel comfortable leading a race like thi s for so long," said .
Hawkins. "I'm used to end u re s, where
we're pacing ourselves the whole time. I
didn't feel like I was riding that fast today
but no one seemed to be catching me .
Tommy gassed and I d idn 't and that gave
me a chance to get away from him. I tried
to wo rk that to my advantage, kind of
hoping that he would be able to block
everyone while I snuck away. It almost
worked !"
Hawkins led Norton, Russell, Davis,
And rews and'Roeseler to start the second
lap after a first loop of approximately 55
minutes . Russell, the runner-up of last
year's race on his KTM 250, appeared
ready to make a bid for the lead before
bad luck caught up with him and his bike
momentarily died in the river.
"I didn't actually drown out. The vent
hoses were down in the water and the
bike vapor-locked," sa id Russell of his
costly stop. Russell ' s teammate Sco tt
Plessinger, the defending National Hare
Scrambles champ, was having problems
of his own and was forced to withdraw
from the rac e after one lap . Likewise,
Conner, who was in contention for the
lead in the early stages, and Hyde, who
was beset by the flu in the week leading
up to the race.
.
.
. .
The Am erican Suzukiy l' ro-Clrcuit/
MSR/Bi effe /Braking/W.E.R. /Boyesen/
Sco tt-backed H awkins led everyone
throughout the second lap, checking into
the barrels a full minute ahead of Norton.
Homestate favorit e Doug Blackwell was
making great strides towards the front.
At the halfway point he climbed to third
overa ll, two and a half minutes behind
Hawkins. But he began losing his steam
in the closing stages of the race.
"I just got too sick and dehydrated at
the end," said Blackwell after falling all
the way back to eighth overall. " I was
using my water bottle to wet my mouth
and then just spitting it all out, but I ran
out of water trying to keep the dust out of
my mouth. The last lap I was trying to
keep myself focused but I was too dizzy I had to slow down."
And re ws was the first to demote
Blackwell and when the white flag came
out, the part-time pro motocrosse r was
within 75 seconds of Hawkins and closing, th o ugh th e s tu bborn ~orton
remaine d between th em. Ha w kins lost
sev eral valuable seconds in the pits to
straighten a ben t shif~lever. Russell w~
fourth place at this point and, at ~ deficit
of six minu tes. Blackwell, RIcketts,
Roeseler an d Davis filled out the order
behind Russell.
'1 saw the 'Turtle' (Norton) about two
miles into the last lap going through the
river," said Andrews. "He was going up
through the rocks on the power line bet- _
ter than me. I followed him for about a
mile up through th e rocks because I
didn't want him to know whe re I was or
who I was. I waited until we got to the
fast section so I could just go by him as
quick as I could. He was on a 125 and he
coul d n't hold me off in a section that
fast."
"And rews just plain ou t-motored me
on the big hill," said Norton. "I had the
thro ttle pinned in fifth (gear) and he came
by me like I was sitting stilL He gave me a
little look and then it was 'See ya' later!'''
After passing Norton for second
Andrews was ready to settle for second.
"I really wasn't going after Hawkins
because I didn' t know where he was,"
said Andrews. "I want to win the series
and I figured seco nd -place points were
more than enough in a race like this. But
when I got to the second river crossing I
saw a flash of yellow on the other side.
Suzuki's Mark Hyde was stand ing there .
and when he saw me his eyes got big as
basketballs and his jaw just drop ped . I
knew it was Randy and I thought, Man, I
can win this thing!"
Andrew s fin all y cau ght Hawkins a
few miles later and settled into th e
enduro star's still brisk pace.
"When I got with Randy we just rode
together, almost like we were trail riding," said Andrews. "I think we were
both resting, waiting to just settle it at the
end. But I knew that was the wrong thing
to do with someone like Randy Hawkins.
With half a lap to go it had to be now or
never."
Andrews made his firs t bid for th e
lead in a fas t secti on, out-motoring his
oppo nen t before re-entering the woods.
But Hawkins kept his composure.
"At the end I could stilI ride the tight
woods bette r than him and ev en p ull
away a little, but on the roads and in the
rocks he was just stronger than me,"
admitted Hawkins. "Even though I was
tired, if they would ' ve kept us in the
woods longer and out of the fast stuff I
think I could ha ve pulled away from
Freddy."
"Randy is definitely a fast rider, but he
was going a little slower than I wa s
through the rocks," said Andrews. "In
fact, I think that's where I got most of the
people today. But w hen we go t in th e
tight woods Randy passed me right back
and started to p ull away. But wh en we
got to the Moon Rocks I was able to pass
him again and that was the last I saw of
him."
Andrews threw his hands over his
head as he rode under the checkered flag.
Hawkins came through 44 seconds later.
Norton, in a full sprint, came home eight
seconds shy of Hawkins with a GNCC
season-high of third overa ll.
" I cou ldn't have done it without my
girl friend, my mom an d dad , and especially my brother, becau se he gets that
thing ready and running," said Andrews
of his mechanic/brother Joel "Everyone
out on the course was great, helpin g me
to get through those water crossings and
all. Doesn't mailer who you are or what
you are, they help you. The crowd was
great. "
"Freddy rode well - better than I did and he deserved to win," said Hawkins.
"I've ridden this race three times. I have a
third and two seconds - that's not too bad
a record. I like showing peo ple tha t we
en d u ro guys can rid e anything; I hope
tod a y proved that. I'd love to ha ve
Freddy come and try an enduro with me;
maybe we could have a best two out of
three!"
"I gave it my best, that's for sure," said
Norton. "Randy passed me on the second
lap while I was sitting in the pits screwing my gas cap on. I had to gas every lap ,
wh ich no doubt hurt my chances. I was
real close to Rand y, th ough. Eight seconds... I lost that in the pits each lap." C'I
Results
Randr
O/A : I. Fred A n d~s (ya m ); 2.
Hawkins
(Suz); 3. Tom N o rt on (Ka w); 4. Joff Russel (KTM); S.
Randy Hawkins led for much of the race, but was passed by Andrews on the final lap.
Tom Norton walked his bike across a river on his way to a third-overall finish.
Larry Reeseler (Kaw); 6. Shad Ric~", (II us) ; 7. Chris
Smith (Suz); 8. Doug Blackwell (Kaw); 9. Ty Davis (!