Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eOFF·ROAD AMA WisecolYamahalDunloE _N_CC S_en es_:_ou nd 7 L-G _ _' R _ _ ~ Fred Andrews cro sses the finis h line in triumph after winning the Bla ckwater 100 on his first attempt. Andrews edges Hawkins in B lackwater 100 Jan Hrehor rights his mach ine after falling in a stream. For en vironmental reasons, only two of the water crossings were used, but the event was still chall enging. 14 By Davey Coombs JJW DAVIS, WV,)UNE20 hen I passed Randy Hawkins halfway through the last lap I figured it was time to w in this race or lose it," sa id Yamaha ' s Fred Andrews of his la te-race battle for the overall w in at the 19th Annual Blackwa ter 100. " I thought to myself, 'Man, I can win this thing, but it's now or never: So I pinned the thro ttle and just held on:' And rew s, 27, was able to ge t away from fo ur-time N a tion al Enduro Champion Hawkins and Team Mirage's Tomm y Norton and win the nearly fourhour long race by 45 seconds. Norton, in the top three all da y lon g abo a r d a Kawasaki KXl25, took the checkered flag just eight seconds be hind th e Suzuki RMX25O-moun ted Hawkins in one of the closest Blackw a ter finis hes ever. Team KTM's Jeff Russell was a dis tan t four th overall. Team Green's Larry Roeseler and Husqvarna-mou nted Shad Ricke tts rounded out the top six in the massive 507-rider field. "My dad got a second in '77 and my brother got thi rd las t year, so my win means we got 1-2-3, which is a pretty good family record ," said the Yamaha/Andrews Cycle /Wiseco / ProCircuit/ A ns wer / D u n lo p/ Acerb is / Maxima/l00"lo/Hombres/Smith/Shoei/ Boyesen/ Hammerhead Graphics/Spor t Cycles Raci ng/ Mo ose Racing /Works Enduro Racing-sponsored Andrews, who currently leads the GNCC point stand ings by more than 30 points . The top non-Pro class rid er w as Suzuki Suppor t/W.E.R./Yo ko /Cyde Gear /Dunlop-backe d Chris Smith, winner of the Fou r-Stroke A class and sev enth overall. The 21-year-old Smith finished approximately 16 min utes behind And rews. As the ce nter p iece of the Grand Na tional Cross Co untry Series, the Blac kwa ter 100 - billed as "America 's Toughes t Race " - is the sing le m ost important round of the series. A crowd estimated at around 30,000 watched this _ year's event, which was held on the outskirts of the remo te town of Davis, and hosted by the Alpin e Festival. The event also draws a lot of attention from environmental groups conce rned with the race's impact on Canaa n Valley. Racer Producti ons' Dave Coombs, the organizer and founder of the event, tried to design a course that skirted the controversial mud bogs and river banks that ha ve becom e the focal po int of a n ongoing debate between p ro-usa ge a nd a n ti- usage groups. "Each la p will be 19 m il es . Even though there are no bogs and only two riv er crossings, th is will be on e of th e to u gh es t Bla ck waters of a ll ," said Coombs at the rider's meeting. "The new sections will be tight and slow and filled with rocks; the rest will be fas t and dusty." This year' s tra il included th e treacherous Moon Rocks section but skirted the infamous Route 93 river crossing . Organizers feared a repeat of last year's rowdy scene, where the h uge crowd of spectators gathered at the crossing created a hazardous situation. Nevertheless, most riders considered this version of the Blackwater 100 to be one of the tougher ones. "I thought it was one of the toughest races I've ever rod e in my life,".said Team Green's Ty Davis afterwards. "I expected mud and deep bogs, not all the rocks and stuff. It was dry today but someho w the track was really slick. The dust was a factor in th e beg inning; the rest was jus t tough. Man , so many stinki n' rocks... it was unbel ie vab le." Da v is, w ho, like Andrews, was mak ing his Black wa ter debut, carded a respectable ninth overall. The race usually begins from the main stree t of Davis, but du e to traffic considerations the starting area was moved to the outskirts of town. Team Yam ah a's Jan Hrehor led the front five out of the chu te, followed by Sidi/ Arai/Link/ Sinisalobacked Norton, Hawki ns , fo u r- time Blackwat er Cham pion Mark Hyde, an d Tea m Husqva rn a ' s Duane Co n ner. Hrehor, wh o was compe ting with a badly bruised hand, d idn 't lead for long. "I took the lead right after the s ta rt when Jan hit a hole or something," said Norton, wh o won the Blackwater 100 in 1990. "He cam e over and slamme d me and I almos t hit a ca mpe r in th e fir st tum ." "I got the holeshot but Norton passed me when I almost fell," said Hrehor, who wo uld soo n drop out of the event. "We raced together and I fell dow n but it was nothing much. My hand was perfect, it felt good . But the bike had problems with the head gasket on the first lap; I had to push maybe three miles, from Moon Rocks to Highway 93:' At the first crossing of the Blackwater River a crowd of several thousand wa ited in the waters and on the banks to watch the racers come through, and Norton was the first one they saw. The Team Green rider rolled halfway across the 10D-feet wide river before stepping off and walking his bike thro ugh the slippery rocks to the other shore. Amo ng those unfo rtunate eno ugh to d rown out in the firs t river we re Dave Cunn, Te rry Cu nni ng ha m, and Barry Hawk, wh o won the Saturday afternoon quad race. "I got around Russell and Roeseler in the first wat er hole, wh ich got me up to third ," said Andrews. Unfor tu na te ly fo r Andrews, he crash ed big-tim e on the first lap , going down so hard on one fast straightawa y that he nearly quit the race. "I was racing down a road, hit something I could n' t see and my back,end passed my fron t and I just tumbled - 1 almost quit right then ! The du st was so thick that I was thinking, 'No way, I want to ride next week: But I went slow for awhile, got my head together and started

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