Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

OFF-R AD,"" O . .. AMA N ational Cha pionshipHare ScrambleSeries m R u 1: Lake'Nim o nd rod 1 111 FOURSCHE JUNCTION, AR, JAN, 30 andy Hawkins, you've just won your fourth Na tional Enduro Champ ions h ip , What are you going to do now?" "I'm going to Lake Nimrod, to win me a Na tional Ha re Scrambles!" Though not documen ted, that conversation may well have taken place during th e off-season, beca u se just months after sewin g up on e of the hardest-con tes ted National En du ro titles in history, Hawkins celebrated by snaring the first National Hare Scrambles win of his illustri ous career. The victory came at the opening round on the circu it, and while the Team Suzu ki rider no w enjo ys a lead in the point st and in gs, he won't attempt to m ainta in it . Li ke las t yea r, Ha wkins will concen trate on defending his enduro title, with his second priority being the National Reliability Enduro Series . "I'm rea lly pum ped about it (t he win)," said Ha wkins, who piloted a Factory Connection/Pro C ircuitprepped RMX2S0. "It's one of the highlights of my racing career, to beat the best guys there are in hare scrambles at hare scrambles. I've led har e scrambles Nationals before, bu t it seems like something bad always happens." When you consider the condit ions under which that the series opener was held, Hawkins' win becomes less of a surprise, but in no way less im p ressive. In the weeks prior to race day, the surrounding area was soaked by rain, and many said the cou rse reminded them of Blackwa ter. "The race wa s very tight and technical, and that's to my advantage," said Hawkins. "I still got stuck, though, but so did everyone else." While Hawkins enjoyed th e we t conditions, th e ev en t promoters we re less thrilled. "We had a IS-m ile course laid ou t, bu t the lake rose 15 feet and most of our arrows we re barely visibl e above the water," sai d event chairman Tony Orihuela. "We had to cut seven miles . o u t of the co u r s e, and it wa s s ti ll muddy - pretty much a survival run." . Despite brutal co nd iti ons, nearly 250 riders tu rne d out for the Lake Nim rod National Ha re Scrambles race. And while the wet wea ther may have worked to Hawkins' advan tage, the South Carolinian 's fir st w in didn 't come easily. Throughout the eight-lap race, the lead po sition was swapped back and forth between Hawk in s, Team Mirage's Tom Norton and Team Honda's Scott Summers. "It was like one of us would lead, get stuck; somebody else would lead, get s tuck; som ebody else would lead, get st uck ..." sa id Hawkins. "A t this p a rticu la r race, I don't necessaril y think that the fastest guy won, but perhaps the smartest and the luckiest; you had to pick the best lines." "This wa s one of the worst courses I've raced on, just beca use of the mu d," sai d ru nn er-u p Summers. "It was just so tough. I walked th e course before the ra ce, and I pretty mu ch pred icted th at the ligh tes t guy wo u ld wi n, and that was Hawkin s. I' m pretty heavy, and so is my bike, so tha t put me at a big d isadvantage. I'm just happy I did as well as I d id ." After the race had been com pleted , the w ork still wasn't over for the hosting Texarkana Dirt Rid er s Mot orcycle C lub . Se v era l riders h ad turned in im possibly fast lap tim es, a nd quick exami nation of th e b ack-up books revealed tha t man y had missed a check in the back section. (Editor's note. As of this writing, only the topfour overall posi- tions are official). "Th e re was one secti on of the course where the trail came very close tog ether - about 10 feet ," said 125cc class competit or Jo h n Scheiuha uer. "Ther e were about 50 bikes stuck all over th e place. It was a bad are a, bu t chall e ng ing; it was cle ar -cu t wi th n o trail, j us t markers." In tentionalIy or n ot , so me r iders cu t t he course, resultin g in the unusually fas t lap times. Nonetheless, the course took its to ll on the riders. "It was nasty," said Scheiuhauer. " It was very Blackwater-ish; mud and ruts from one' end to the othe r, and half of it was five inches under water." Fortunately, the top th r ee riders never even got the opportunit y to cut the course. "Whe n I was walking the course the d ay before, I could tell that there w as go ing to be some controver sy," said Summers. "You could see cou rse ma rkers for the returning trail, and it w as ea sy to cut the trail. It wo rked o ut good wi th Randy and Tom my and I, because we were tog ether an d w e could kind of keep an ey e on e ac h other." Aware o f how unpredi ct a b le muddy races can be, Ha wk ins used a slow-b ut-stead y approach to earn the win. "I sta rt ed off about m id-pack, but every bod y ahead of me began pili ng up in the mud on the firs t lap, and I just went around them," he said. "I hit one gu y on the second lap and ben t the rotor on my front brake, so I basically didn't have a front brake the w hole race, but it rea lly didn't matter in a race like this. I finally caught up to those guys (Sum mers and No rton ) and we began swapping bac k and forth. "On th e thi rd lap, I saw Scott (Summe rs) s tuck and I passed him," said Hawkins. "Then I got stuck on a fence and he pa ssed me back. It was kind of like tha t the whole race." It wasn't until the second-to-last lap that Hawkins took over for good. "Scott wa s lead in g an d wa s trying to get away," sai d Hawkins . "Then we all (H aw kins, Norton a nd Summers) came to a ba d water crossing and 1 think he (Summe rs) mad e a bad decision on a line and got stu ck; I believe he got water in his bi ke. I kn ew thi s was my chance of getting away fr om h im . I pu lled out abou t a 30-s eco nd lead on Tommy, who had also p ulled awa y fr om Summ e r s h e r e. I knew To m m y was back t h e r e a nd I just wo rked real ha rd on getting away and I ended up about a mi nute ah ead of Tommy at the finish." " It was pretty deep, and I got abo ut a gallon of water in my airbox," said Summers. "I wanted to take my float bowl off, but it was pret ty cold, and I could n 't m a ke m y fin ge rs t urn t he w rench. The bi ke w ould st art, b ut it died if I tried to give it gas. I think it was just crea ting a vacu um an d sucking wa ter through the filter, beca use I took it ou t and shook o u t th e water, and it started fine. I con sid er myself really lucky tha t the bike would start. That crossing was basically the d ifference in the race. " H a wk in s d e d icated h is win to friend Jan Hre ho r. "He had to retu rn home to Slova kia to be wi th his wife wh o has ca nc er," sai d H awkin s . "I thou ght ho w Jan would've loved thi s; I felt as though I had a littl e Czech following me around all da y." C\' Foursche Junction, Arkansas Results: January 3D, 1994 (Round 1 of 9) O / A: 1. Randy Hawkins (Suz) ; 2. To m Norton (Kaw); 3, Scott Summers (Hon); 4, Tim Tabe r (Hon ). AMA N ATI ON AL CHAMPIO NSH IP HAR E SCRAMBLES SERIES POINT STANDI NGS (Best 7 finishes count): 1. Randy Haw kins (30/1 win); 2. Tom Norton (25) ; 3. Scott Summers (21); 4. Tun Taber (18~ Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Hollister, California, February 6 Hurricane Mills, Tennessee , March 27

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