Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 5: K Philip National ing • er or loes respectively. Fairfax, a local 250cc A hot-shoe, checked in with a 3:02, beatin g Hatch' s 3:25 and Hawkins' 3:53 scores. The riders then ventured into "Misera ble Mile," and it was here that Moose Racing 's Kelby Pepper bu rned the next check, later explaining that the mileage in his computer was off. Most of the National riders zeroed the section. Hines set a blis tering pace through th e next few ba ck-to-ba ck sections, dropping zero points in one and claiming a pair of 4s in the other two . He carried a Hl-point deficit headi ng into the first gas. Michael Lafferty was next with a 14, followed by Hatch with a 15 and Hawkins with a 16. Hatch ran into problems ear ly in the (Left) Kevin Hines made good use of havi ng the home co urt advantage to win the King Phili p National Enduro In Massac husetts. It was his second win of the season. (Below) Series points leader Steve Hatch fin ished second overall. By Mike Snyde r WRENIHAM, MA, JUNE 5 assachusetts resident and former Na tional Enduro champ Kev in Hines has always stated that he longs for the end u ros of old long, po ints-robbing sections, where the riders are tested for both speed and stamina. He openly despises the current trend of short three or four mile MX type sections where speed is a more decisive factor. In Wrentham, Hines had the chance to show that he could not only talk the talk but could also walk the walk by winning what many of the rid ers agreed was the toughest enduro in which they've competed in a long time. And with his second win of the series, Hines remi nde d series points leade r Steve Hatch, who finished second, that his apparent romp will not go unchallenged. Five-t ime Nat ional Enduro ch amp ' Randy Hawk ins fin ished thir d, while Kelby Peppe r and Mont Fairfax rounded ou t the top five overall. The King Philip Trail Riders and trail boss Steve Vanasse put together a very demand ing nO-mile (g ro u nd miles) course th at wo ul d de finitel y tes t th e nearly 200 entrants. It was quite apparent that Hines was on a mission, propelling his CRE in to a lead that he wo uld never relinqu ish . Although Suzuki's Ha tch put in a valiant effort and was the only rider to keep hi s adversary - and the even t leader - in sight all day, he would ha ve his own problems in the form of reigning ECEA Cha mpion Michael Lafferty. The youthful Team Green competitor M 22 matched Hatch's pa ce ne arly all day and lingered dangerously close enough to keep him honest, unt il the combination of heat and exhaustion dropped Lafferty out of th e ev en t. Lafferty's departure allowed Hawkins to take sole control of third place. "I knew what I had to do here," said winner Hines. "Despite what everyone thought, I didn't let the pressure get to me , seeing as how th is even t is right dow n the road from my home. I've been in this game too long to let tha t sort of thing mess me up mentally. My plan was to get the jump on my com petitors here in the first couple of sections, because I felt that would be very important in the da y's fina l out come and, as it turns out, it was." Hines still had some problems early on. "I had to stop in the midd le of the first section when I realized that I had made a mistake and faile d to tig h ten my front brake lever. I made the decision that if I d idn't stop and fix it, it would de finite ly fall off and possibly ruin my day." Despite his unsched uled p it stop, . Hines blitzed through the tigh t trails to be one of only tw o zeros at th e firs t check; Hawkins claimed the other perfect score. Also h avin g ea rly problems .was 1992 champ Jeff Russell, who experienced brake prob lems wit h his bike' s rear brake ma st er cylin d er an d was unable to match the pace set by the front-runners. A timed check was next, and Hines, on ce again, clicked off th e quickes t time, checking in with a 1:45. Brothers Michael and Jack Lafferty followed Hines through to claim the second and third best times, with a 2:18 and 2:41, seco nd loop. "There was a long mud hole section be fore the first gas and I ha d to slip the clutch a lot to ge t through it, whic h, I guess, toasted it. I was a little surprised, as we put in a brand new clutch right before this event. It mus t have la sted just lo ng eno ug h to get me into and out of my next gas stop . When I was riding do wn the road toward the next trail section, I would open the throttle all the way and th e bike d idn't fee l like it wa s going an ywher e. I had a 40-mile sectio n to look forward to before I could have it fixed . So I figured that was it for me, but surprisingly, it stayed together. The b ik e s tarte d to mak in g so me very expensive grinding noises at the end of tha t 40-m ile loo p, so I· can thank my lucky stars I made it before the mo tor was history." Nearly all the contenders would mirror each other's scores in the next couple of checks through the Diamond Hill area ; they all claimed a two and a zero on their scorecards. Thi ngs, however, would get interesting for the front-runners as they began a security section in

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